Building First Hunting Rifle

[Daerider]

I am in the process of building my first hunting rifle. What I have so far is a factory Remington 700 SA Standard bolt face, HS Precision stock with bottom metal and a Leupold VX-5HD 2-10x42 scope. I have reamers for 6mm Creedmoor, 6.5 Creedmoor and .308 Winchester. I am mostly going to use the rifle for Deer and Coyotes. Looking for suggestions on which caliber to chamber and what barrel profile to select.

Thanks in advance for any input that you can offer.

 

[ssssnake529]

6.5 Creedmoor has lots of factory ammunition choices, is plenty of gun for deer and coyotes, and has superior ballistics to a 308.

 

[lancetkenyon]

Carry rifle?
Heavy LR sit and glass rifle?
Budget?
Distance you think you will be shooting at deer?
Conditions/elevation/location?

 

[Mach 1]

6.5 Creedmoor has lots of factory ammunition choices, is plenty of gun for deer and coyotes, and has superior ballistics to a 308.

The 308 Winchester has a lot more factory ammunition choices than the 6.5 creedmore does. And if your staying within 700 yards the ballistic difference between the two don't add up to squat.

 

[Daerider]

I guess I should have qualified me first, sorry about that. I have been competition target shooting and building my own rifles for approx 10 years now. I do all my own load development, so factory ammo is not a consideration, but I would appreciate input on bullet selection. All of my reamers are zero freebore, so i can adjust throat length for any bullet. This is going to be a lightweight carry rifle to shoot mostly coyote and deer out to 300yds. I am a total novice with zero experience in the world of hunting.

 

[sourdough44]

For deer & coyotes the Creedmore would be fine, since you have the reamers already. The 7mm-08 is another favorite.
I move around a fair amount with most hunting, hence lighter & shorter barreled rifles are my favorites. My go-to rifle is usually my 20" compact in 284 Winchester. I use the 243 a fair amount also, then there'e The 308.

The style of hunting then personal preference factor in heavily.

 

[KyCarl]

I think my 25-06 is faster and flatter than a 6.5 CM out to 400 or 500 yards.
It is really underrated.. Deer and coyotes are no problem!
I know everyone has to latch onto the next big thing but...
Check this out..
https://ronspomeroutdoors.com/blog/25-06-remington-beats-6-5-creedmoor/

 

[Hand Skills]

Hard to do on a short action though..!

If it was my build, I'd probably go 6.5CM, 1:8 and look at 120-140gr bullets. 120gr monos, or 130-140gr lead based.

With a HS Stock (kinda heavy) I'd go with a 22-24" light varmint. Heavy enough to get the balance point forward of the mag well but not beyond the front action screw. Well balanced rifles carry better, and are easier to shoot from unsupported positions.

If you want to do a lightweight build, I'd suggest a different stock. Again, balance plays a big part in how lively a gun carries, but also in how it settles on a target.

If you follow my advice you'll end up with a rifle that doesn't really excell in any department, but would be functional for most types of hunting. Will you be hunting there or do you have plans to travel?

 

[WildRose]

The 308 Winchester has a lot more factory ammunition choices than the 6.5 creedmore does. And if your staying within 700 yards the ballistic difference between the two don't add up to squat.

The velocity difference alone makes the CM superior particularly for the new shooter.

There's a near unlimited selection of factory ammo and it's cheaper to reload for.

There's nothing wrong with the .308 but out to 600 yards it simply can't compete with the 6.5's.

Shoot the good factory ammo like Prime Ammunition, save your brass for a couple of hundred rounds while you're buying a beginning reloading kit and by the time you're done you're ready to rock for years.

 

[WildRose]

Hard to do on a short action though..!

If it was my build, I'd probably go 6.5CM, 1:8 and look at 120-140gr bullets. 120gr monos, or 130-140gr lead based.

With a HS Stock (kinda heavy) I'd go with a 22-24" light varmint. Heavy enough to get the balance point forward of the mag well but not beyond the front action screw. Well balanced rifles carry better, and are easier to shoot from unsupported positions.

If you want to do a lightweight build, I'd suggest a different stock. Again, balance plays a big part in how lively a gun carries, but also in how it settles on a target.

If you follow my advice you'll end up with a rifle that doesn't really excell in any department, but would be functional for most types of hunting. Will you be hunting there or do you have plans to travel?

With the higher BC longer projectiles coming out every year or so it wouldn't be at all foolish to go ahead and start with a 1:7.5 or even 1:7 twist.

Personally I'm getting more and more convinced the Mono's are the way to go and they are 10% longer than conventional bi metal bullets anyhow.

I'll take the VLR5 142 Peregrine all day long over any conventional BM in the same weight class or even slightly heavier all day long.

They never fail to mushroom, will never fragment or blow up at any velocity and will always give tremendous penetration with about a golfball sized exit.

There are other Mono's on the market that will give almost as consistent performance and I'm admittedly a real freak when it comes to terminal performance.

Just for fun I ran some older 150gr VRG3's at ridiculous speeds in my 300 Rum's to prove the theory on both big hogs and deer and it held true.

For a new shooter with the trend towards outlawing lead this should be a consideration because it's likely to be gone in less than a decade.

 

[WildRose]

Hard to do on a short action though..!

If it was my build, I'd probably go 6.5CM, 1:8 and look at 120-140gr bullets. 120gr monos, or 130-140gr lead based.

With a HS Stock (kinda heavy) I'd go with a 22-24" light varmint. Heavy enough to get the balance point forward of the mag well but not beyond the front action screw. Well balanced rifles carry better, and are easier to shoot from unsupported positions.

If you want to do a lightweight build, I'd suggest a different stock. Again, balance plays a big part in how lively a gun carries, but also in how it settles on a target.

If you follow my advice you'll end up with a rifle that doesn't really excell in any department, but would be functional for most types of hunting. Will you be hunting there or do you have plans to travel?

Good point. This early on it wouldn't be at all foolish to sell the short action, replace it with a long action giving unlimited options for the future as bullets just get longer and longer.

 

[KyCarl]

I don't know about mono bullets? The waiting list on the old bi-metal JLK 140 Gr. VLD's
hasn't gotten any shorter? And match results haven't really carried on about them.
I don't go to California let alone spend any money there. Wouldn't hunt there if they paid me!
I think until there is more information I'll stick with tried and true.

 

[WildRose]

I don't know about mono bullets? The waiting list on the old bi-metal JLK 140 Gr. VLD's
hasn't gotten any shorter? And match results haven't really carried on about them.
I don't go to California let alone spend any money there. Wouldn't hunt there if they paid me!
I think until there is more information I'll stick with tried and true.

Never been a fan of the JLK's myself.

We're not going to have much choice. In the next five years we'll probably see all federal lands go NT and the democratic controlled states will not be far behind. Even in republican controlled states the DNR"s and NRC's tend to be run by far lefties so NT is just what we're going to have to get used to.

I'd rather be on the front end connected with the top companies like Hammer and Peregrine than sucking wind when they give us the final gut kick.

Five years ago you couldn't have given me a box of solid brass or copper bullets to try for free even if you loaded them for me but since my experience in Africa five years ago I saw the light and since then have proven their worth both at the range and on hundreds of animals.

Barnes is probably a close third but I'm so far pretty unimpressed with their terminal performance, they tend to shed petals and punch through with little or no expansion.

We've been shooting the original Barnes X since about 72 in our 17 Rem's but their copper bullets just don't quite get it done for me.

Everyone I know shooting the Hammers far has been very pleased and whatever else you want to say about Steve he knows his business, does an immense amount of personal field testing and is as responsive to customer feedback as anyone in the business. Like the guys at Peregrine he doesn't sleep much because he's always out there developing the next better bullet.

We are truly blessed to have people like that in our industry.

 

[KyCarl]

I never said anything about anyone! I said I'm not one to jump on the "Next Big Thing"
bandwagon. Time will tell? There have been a slew of new ideas that never really worked out. Look back at the changes in shotgun shells (prices) since I was a kid and they are just now catching back up to plain old lead? All the hulls were paper back then!