B.Stanley,
First off, welcome to LRH. We always need more young shooters on the board and you will learn more from the guys and gals on this board then anywhere else on the web in my opinion. On top of that they are some of the best people to be associated with. Onto my comment to your questions.
As far as building a rifle that will put your bullet on the mark at 1000 yards and beyond is really not as difficult as many would have you believe. You need a basic understanding on what makes an accurate rifle and why those things result in such accuracy levels.
There is no reason to reinvent the wheel here. Most everything has been done and redone several times in this day and age and the proper way to build a super accurate rifle has pretty much stabilized into the same basic ideas.
The process may be slightly different from one smith to another but in most cases the outcome is the same.
These steps are not difficult. What they do require is good equipment from start to finish. This means a quality lathe, top quality accurizing tooling, top quality reamers and cutters, top end measuring instruments and just as important as all this, the desire to make the rifle as perfect as you possibly can.
I am not talking cosmetically, looks are important to sell a rifle, not so for a rifle to shoot very well. Now we do not want to build ugly rifles but learning the basics to what is needed to build an accurate rifle is far more important then knowing how to make a rifle look pretty, that will come after the fact and that involves a certain level of personal pride in your work as well but that has very little to do with making an accurate rifle.
Its mainly the tooling that holds back most smiths from building truely accurate rifles. Those rifles that will consistantly place bullets in 7-8" or better groups at 1000 yards in good conditions.
This tooling is expensive but required to get the most out of your time and labor. I always feel its better to save up for awhile and get the proper tools then be in a hurry and sacrifice quality tooling.
Finally its the desire to make the rifle as perfect as you can. Its when you accurize a receiver and find out there is a variation of 0.0004" across the bolt face when there should only be 0.0002" or less and then chucking everything back up for another 2 hours of dialing in and remachining just to get those extra 0.0002" evened up in the receiver.
Its the desire to find and use that specific reamer pilot bushing on your chambering reamer that is the perfect match to the bore you are using, even if that perfect bushing is not in the set you have and you have to invest another $15 per bushing to get just the one you need instead of saying "Close enough".
Again, these things are not hard, more mental then anything and more finacial investment as well. Learn from the best and do what they do. If someone has a great reputation building accurate rifles, they have it for a reason. IF you want to be self taught in a way, there are several videos you can order in and learn alot about building accuarate rifles.
I would highly recommend you get the video set from Greg Tannel as I personally believe his system for accurizing and building rifles is the best system out there today.
You already have the basic machining skills, now you just need to focus that knowledge to a finer level. Your limits of tolerances you probably have set in your mind now are more then likely in the 0.001" range. That will need to be adjusted to think in terms of 0.0001" levels.
In rank of most important to build accurate rifles I would list the following componants:
1. Equipment and tooling quality
2. Very close second place at that, desire for perfection
3. Willingness to invest in top end componants
If you have these three things and learn the proper way to build an accurate rifle from start to finish, you will find it is not hard at all to build extreme accuracy rifles. Time consuming maybe but not hard. Just a large investment in time and money.
IF you can find someone that already has the quality equipment your more then half way there. It seems you already have the desire to do this which is very good to see!!
ALways try to learn more and always remember there is more to learn form alot of people out there. I have built ALOT of rifles that will easily take deer at 1000 yards, still I learn something new nearly every time I read through the posts on LRH. If nothing else if gives you many different perspectives and that often helps in your all around knowledge base.
Again, stick around, ask questions, read alot and you will learn very quickly from the fine people on this chat room.
Kirby Allen(50)
