Custom actions, are they worth it?

[Mike Matteson]

Mike, we took one of these "portable" buildings, made reloading benches on each side, then put windows in the front to shoot out of with 1.5" plywood tops, 1.5" floor, added incredible insulation, heat, and AC. We shoot in all kinds of weather.

My non-trued 700s are in good stocks, and good glass shoots are incredible. When groups get 1/2", I am looking for the load to have lost its tune, throat wear, etc. I do have customs in 6 PPC, 6 BR, and a flock of BR variants with multiple barrels per action to compare. Replacement of the firing pin/spring and custom recoil lug is as far as I will go.

Alignment with the bore Axis/throat is where much of the accuracy starts and ends, and we proved this on a variety of different kinds of actions that were never trued.

If you have disposable income, buy a custom action for the joy and pride of ownership. I like the custom actions that have proven to be tried and true and whose owners have a well-known reputation for honesty and integrity, Borden, Stolle, and Bat are my personal favorites.

Guys that can reload at the rifle range, out of the camper shell on their truck, pull behind trailer, separate table etc, tune their barrels' accuracy to an incredible level....I cannot stress this enough. Many men never think of reloading at the rifle range, it is a very different mindset, and those who think outside the box on this issue, see HUGE dividends on the first trip to the range!

I have read about reloading at the range, and that Match shooter adjust their loads or bullet to lands during the match shoots. I haven't ever tried it. I would have to do some thinking about that. Some of the things I don't do is just use a powder dump as the only way of determining powder loads. I scale every rifle load after the powder dump.
A friend of mind has given me a small enclosed trailer a while back. It needs some work, which I can do after getting back to Mexico North.
Well you got me to thinking. That may not get me to far! Thanks!

 

[VinceMule]

Send me a PM with any questions! Many others have been down this same route, mostly out of the camper shell on their pickup truck, RCBS rock chucker mounted on the bumper, or trailer hitch, but a simple RCBS partner will easily get the job done for seating bullets and neck sizing. You can also mount your press on a 2x6 that is long and with a Large C clamp, clamp it to the bench top.

Mike, reloading at the range becomes simple once you prep all brass at home, it is a no-brainer with a tremendous payoff.

 

[Tex_Hunter]

Once I shoot the barrel out then what?
I'm gonna have to have him or another smith rebarrel it and that will cost more of course as I cannot throw on just any R700 barrel.

This thread has already turned into a complete s*** show... so at the risk of throwing more fuel on the fire I will add, a good smith will usually (or at least should) save the tenon and headspace dimensions of your rifle and can chamber any barrel you would like (probably with the same reamer they cut your original one with) and send it to you to install the same way you would an off the shelf pre-fit for a custom action.

I own a mix of rifles built on custom actions (Impact 737R and 787R and a Stiller Tac 30) as well as 2 rifles where the smith just trued the front receiver ring and lapped the lugs. All are what I would call sub .5 MOA rifles (to meet that threshold, for me at least, I mean capable of repeatedly shooting consistent 3 to 5 shot groups at or below .5 MOA with quality factory ammo or handloads)

As others have noted, for a hunting rifle what I need it to be capable of is sending a cold bore shot to point of aim with 1 to 2 follow ups within the same group as the first shot at any distance I plan to use that particular rifle/cartridge combo at. Anything beyond that (unless you shoot benchrest competitively) is purely for bragging rights on the internet.

Gotta say though, it sure has been fun reading some of the comments in here.

 

[Mike Matteson]

This thread has already turned into a complete s*** show... so at the risk of throwing more fuel on the fire I will add, a good smith will usually (or at least should) save the tenon and headspace dimensions of your rifle and can chamber any barrel you would like (probably with the same reamer they cut your original one with) and send it to you to install the same way you would an off the shelf pre-fit for a custom action.

I own a mix of rifles built on custom actions (Impact 737R and 787R and a Stiller Tac 30) as well as 2 rifles where the smith just trued the front receiver ring and lapped the lugs. All are what I would call sub .5 MOA rifles (to meet that threshold, for me at least, I mean capable of repeatedly shooting consistent 3 to 5 shot groups at or below .5 MOA with quality factory ammo or handloads)

As others have noted, for a hunting rifle what I need it to be capable of is sending a cold bore shot to point of aim with 1 to 2 follow ups within the same group as the first shot at any distance I plan to use that particular rifle/cartridge combo at. Anything beyond that (unless you shoot benchrest competitively) is purely for bragging rights on the internet.

Gotta say though, it sure has been fun reading some of the comments in here.

I'll go along with what has been said. The one thing I do now is I buy the reamers for the cartridge I am going to use. That way I don't have to go to somebody else to have a barrel re-chambered with their reamer. So I have ended that problem. I have gone as far to have another action and stock set up with old barrels to fire form my cases using my reamer for the chambering. Being a 700 Rem Action and the barrels being set up to thread into the action. I have gotten old barrels from where. All I need was the same caliber barrel, so I can rechamber to my cartridge for fireforming my cases.
From what I read it takes as much as 3 firing to fireform the case. I never had track the amount for firing needed to acheive that. Take 100 cases that turns into as much as 300 firing just fireform the case. I believe that the chambers that I have had built are barrel burners. I figured that from the start. So I am prepared to fireform my cases and extend the life of the rifle barrel that I am using to hunt with or shoot. I am not a match shooter either, so I feel I don't need a custom action for what I am doing.
I might try a custom action along the way. I have to look into it more. Set up of stock or stocks, and threading the barrel and changing out the barrels. So I think I have said my peice for now.

 

[VinceMule]

I had a case head separation on a cone bolt custom action. There were no exhaust ports on the sides of the action nor in the bolt body. Since the breach face was cone-shaped, this sent the entire force of the gases back into my face and the bolt body. Gases going through the firing pinhole, broke the third lever in my 2 oz trigger, which is not uncommon with pierced primers, also.

One second I was looking through the scope, the next second, I was sitting on my butt on the floor. My body involuntarily reacted to the massive gases coming back in my face, and recoiled so fast, that I did not even realize the action was going on. I was lucky that I was wearing safety glasses at the time, or I would have lost an eye.

This freaked my neighbor out who was shooting beside me.

Ever since this instance, I have had exhaust vents put in my customs that do not have them, especially if they are cone bolt actions.

Some Custom action makers have sidestepped a major safety issue in favor of marketing the clean lines of the action and bolt.

 

[Tex_Hunter]

I had a case head separation on a cone bolt custom action. There were no exhaust ports on the sides of the action nor in the bolt body. Since the breach face was cone-shaped, this sent the entire force of the gases back into my face and the bolt body. Gases going through the firing pinhole, broke the third lever in my 2 oz trigger, which is not uncommon with pierced primers, also.

One second I was looking through the scope, the next second, I was sitting on my butt on the floor. My body involuntarily reacted to the massive gases coming back in my face, and recoiled so fast, that I did not even realize the action was going on. I was lucky that I was wearing safety glasses at the time, or I would have lost an eye.

This freaked my neighbor out who was shooting beside me.

Ever since this instance, I have had exhaust vents put in my customs that do not have them, especially if they are cone bolt actions.

Some Custom action makers have sidestepped a major safety issue in favor of marketing the clean lines of the action and bolt.

Very curious what "custom" action this was? Primarily to avoid ever using one, but also because I am curious as I'm not aware of anything from a common manufacturer (Defiance, Impact, Lone Wolf, Stiller, Surgeon, Big Horn/Zermat etc) that has defeated this sort of safety features on their actions.

 

[VinceMule]

Stolle Panda, and many others!

Check your custom action to see if there are vent holes in the where the end of the barrel tenon would be.

 

[QuietTexan]

Pretty sure Howa and Browning don't have them on factory rifles, so it's not limited to customs. Maybe they have another method though, TBH I've never worried about it.

 

[Beluebow]

Stolle Panda, and many others!

Check your custom action to see if there are vent holes in the where the end of the barrel tenon would be.

Any chance you posted about this on Accurate Shooter?

 

[VinceMule]

A couple of years ago, when it happened.

 

[Mike Matteson]

I had a case head separation on a cone bolt custom action. There were no exhaust ports on the sides of the action nor in the bolt body. Since the breach face was cone-shaped, this sent the entire force of the gases back into my face and the bolt body. Gases going through the firing pinhole, broke the third lever in my 2 oz trigger, which is not uncommon with pierced primers, also.

One second I was looking through the scope, the next second, I was sitting on my butt on the floor. My body involuntarily reacted to the massive gases coming back in my face, and recoiled so fast, that I did not even realize the action was going on. I was lucky that I was wearing safety glasses at the time, or I would have lost an eye.

This freaked my neighbor out who was shooting beside me.

Ever since this instance, I have had exhaust vents put in my customs that do not have them, especially if they are cone bolt actions.

Some Custom action makers have sidestepped a major safety issue in favor of marketing the clean lines of the action and bolt.

VinceMule:
What was the cause of the case separation? Used to many times or to much powder. I have blown out 2 primers in my life time. One was bad information on amount of powder, and the other from temp change and in about 60 degree change.
I do load or work up my loads above the manual high load. learn a hard lesson in double based powders. I only use a couple double base powder now, and tested in hot weather to start with. In cold weather they are slower velocity, but not going to over pressure. Now I did get better velocity out of the double based powders, but temp changes stop me in my track with the use of double base powders.
P.S. I will looking to a secondary reloading set up for the range.
I see that people are complaining of getting off the track. I have alway found it interesting where these thread leed to.
I will take a look at a custom action, but I build to what I want, and not what others want. No look at me person. I am say the Long Range Hunt people don't have pride in what they have built, and I see lots of very good looking firearms being shown off here. Lot of innovation and thinking in putting a firearm together.
It falls back to each their own, and it's in the eyes of the beholder.

 

[VinceMule]

Mike, it was a 6PPC. Sako Balloon head case. These cases were known to have high capacity, but weak in the web as the internal capacity surrounded the primer pocket inside the case.

I drilled holes in my Panda where gases could escape in case of a rupture, based on a print of the action. Shocking how the trend took hold of no vent holes just to the rear of the tenon, looks over safety.

We often push the heck out of pressure if the stable accuracy node is there.

We have our private range where we can shoot at 500-600, you do not need a real fancy rig to shoot small groups at that distance, you just have to bed the rifle and tune the load with good scope and bench techniques. Reloading on the spot takes the accuracy game to another level as you develop a "feel" as to what works and which way you need to go on seating depth, powder charge, and a change of primer.

 

[Mike Matteson]

Mike, it was a 6PPC. Sako Balloon head case. These cases were known to have high capacity, but weak in the web as the internal capacity surrounded the primer pocket inside the case.

I drilled holes in my Panda where gases could escape in case of a rupture, based on a print of the action. Shocking how the trend took hold of no vent holes just to the rear of the tenon, looks over safety.

We often push the heck out of pressure if the stable accuracy node is there.

We have our private range where we can shoot at 500-600, you do not need a real fancy rig to shoot small groups at that distance, you just have to bed the rifle and tune the load with good scope and bench techniques. Reloading on the spot takes the accuracy game to another level as you develop a "feel" as to what works and which way you need to go on seating depth, powder charge, and a change of primer.

I'll give it a shot.