pinchegil
Active Member
I have just finished my first build and have decided to explain the process of building a gun from a newbies prospective. I have posted a bit about this gun under the gun photos forum http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f53/my-first-build-338-budget-right-78607/
but decided to continue the thread here.
Step 1: This is a drawn out process so decide what you really want first. Reading this forum is a must for this step, however also read other forums. If all you really want is a 100 to 200 yard gun to shoot once or twice a year, look at factory guns, in most states you can buy one and be shooting it the same day. if you are new to the sport, and have never reloaded, you might go this route and with the money you save you can buy reloading equipment and learn to reload. Get a (rem700,Savage,or Win 70) so that f you like the sport you can use this gun as a basis for a build in the future. On the other hand, if you have been shooting for a while, and know how to reload (this was me), a custom rifle is probably the ticket.
Step 2: What is your budget?? If money is not that tight, there are lots of fantastic builders on this site that have excellent products for a fair price. Once again, you can be driving ragged holes, in very little time
. If you are like me who had a fairly tight budget, and had to limit, and defray the costs over a few months you could go the route I did. This is what this article is about.
Step 3: Find you a good smith, once again, word of mouth and this site are your friends. I chose a local smith. Discuss your build with your smith (note: do your homework before you do this, remember while a smith has good advice, every minute you talk to him, is a minute his lathe isn't turning). Ask your smith his wait time, if it is a couple of months, ask if he will allow you to get on the wait list upon delivery of the first component. This is a good thing, my barrel took 10 weeks to show up after my action was in the shop so I was able to save 10 weeks.
Step 4: get your parts. If you smith starts the clock on arrival of the first part, usually the action is the quickest to procure. I chose to go remington due to the fact I could get a brand new donor gun with the correct bolt face for under $500 bucks, this gave me an action, xmark trigger, and bottom metal. Then comes the barrel, your smith will tell you the correct length and twist for the caliber you have chosen. Don't skimp on the barrel also unless you are using a custom action or one that has already been trued, make sure the smith trues the action. If you are buying your parts over the internet you can have all but you action dropped shipped to your smith. Just remember a quality gunsmith will have a backlog(they run on geologic time, just kidding). Be patient, good shooting guns come to those who wait. My build start to finish took 28 weeks.
Step 5: While your barrel and action are waiting at the smiths, scour the internet for deals on stocks, optics, etc they are out there, I purchased an HS sendero takeoff for 1/3 the price of a new one from a fellow LRH member. Optics can cost as much as your gun if not more, however, there are lots of good deals on slightly used scopes, scour this forum to find determine what you want and possibly snag a good deal on a used one from a fellow LRH member.
Step 6: While you wait, research load data, grab the required reloading components and load a round or two take to your smith.
Step 7: Once the smith has trued the action, fitted, and chambered the barrel now it is time to build the rifle. If you are on a budget, bed the stock yourself, there are lots video's out there including some from sponsors of this site.
Step 8: Mount the optics
Step 9: gun)gun)gun)gun)gun)
Hope this helps anyone looking to do this for the first time
Here is my 338 Edge
but decided to continue the thread here.
Step 1: This is a drawn out process so decide what you really want first. Reading this forum is a must for this step, however also read other forums. If all you really want is a 100 to 200 yard gun to shoot once or twice a year, look at factory guns, in most states you can buy one and be shooting it the same day. if you are new to the sport, and have never reloaded, you might go this route and with the money you save you can buy reloading equipment and learn to reload. Get a (rem700,Savage,or Win 70) so that f you like the sport you can use this gun as a basis for a build in the future. On the other hand, if you have been shooting for a while, and know how to reload (this was me), a custom rifle is probably the ticket.
Step 2: What is your budget?? If money is not that tight, there are lots of fantastic builders on this site that have excellent products for a fair price. Once again, you can be driving ragged holes, in very little time
. If you are like me who had a fairly tight budget, and had to limit, and defray the costs over a few months you could go the route I did. This is what this article is about.Step 3: Find you a good smith, once again, word of mouth and this site are your friends. I chose a local smith. Discuss your build with your smith (note: do your homework before you do this, remember while a smith has good advice, every minute you talk to him, is a minute his lathe isn't turning). Ask your smith his wait time, if it is a couple of months, ask if he will allow you to get on the wait list upon delivery of the first component. This is a good thing, my barrel took 10 weeks to show up after my action was in the shop so I was able to save 10 weeks.
Step 4: get your parts. If you smith starts the clock on arrival of the first part, usually the action is the quickest to procure. I chose to go remington due to the fact I could get a brand new donor gun with the correct bolt face for under $500 bucks, this gave me an action, xmark trigger, and bottom metal. Then comes the barrel, your smith will tell you the correct length and twist for the caliber you have chosen. Don't skimp on the barrel also unless you are using a custom action or one that has already been trued, make sure the smith trues the action. If you are buying your parts over the internet you can have all but you action dropped shipped to your smith. Just remember a quality gunsmith will have a backlog(they run on geologic time, just kidding). Be patient, good shooting guns come to those who wait. My build start to finish took 28 weeks.
Step 5: While your barrel and action are waiting at the smiths, scour the internet for deals on stocks, optics, etc they are out there, I purchased an HS sendero takeoff for 1/3 the price of a new one from a fellow LRH member. Optics can cost as much as your gun if not more, however, there are lots of good deals on slightly used scopes, scour this forum to find determine what you want and possibly snag a good deal on a used one from a fellow LRH member.
Step 6: While you wait, research load data, grab the required reloading components and load a round or two take to your smith.
Step 7: Once the smith has trued the action, fitted, and chambered the barrel now it is time to build the rifle. If you are on a budget, bed the stock yourself, there are lots video's out there including some from sponsors of this site.
Step 8: Mount the optics
Step 9: gun)gun)gun)gun)gun)
Hope this helps anyone looking to do this for the first time
Here is my 338 Edge
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