Its finally complete...my ultimate 30 Cal. Hunting Rifle

[M1A1ABRAMS]

Thanks fellas I appreciate all the kind words. Im really happy with this thing.

And that is all that matters.

 

[M1A1ABRAMS]

That's awesome. Looks thoroughly well thought out and high quality.

Looks like you have some nice homemade benches and shelves? What is the top/work surface on those?

Pressed plywood. I would guess possibly with a polyurethane over it.

 

[ObiWanKannoli]

I really appreciate all the kind words everyone!

That's awesome. Looks thoroughly well thought out and high quality.

Looks like you have some nice homemade benches and shelves? What is the top/work surface on those?

Pressed plywood. I would guess possibly with a polyurethane over it.

M1 is correct! Great for beating them up, easily refinished or replaced too.

Very cool. I also had a desire for an accurate rig for hunting that would fill all the same criteria. I went with a 21" barrel, 5" suppressor, .300 Win. Almost every component we chose is different, but the result roughly similar. The only complaint I have is that's it's so fun to shoot that the barrel won't last forever.

That's awesome! Same exact type of setup and I am glad to hear you are enjoying it. How's the 5 inch can with the 300 win at that barrel length? I do wonder at times if I could have gotten away with a K can. Not that I'd replace it at this point, but it was something I had considered.

 

[HRM Johnny]

Congratulations on a great build. Thanks for posting this. Thanks for the excellent pictures.

 

[ObiWanKannoli]

Congratulations on a great build. Thanks for posting this. Thanks for the excellent pictures.

Thank you sir, looking forward to many great years of hunting with it. I appreciate the compliment!

 

[JTH]

Very cool. I also had a desire for an accurate rig for hunting that would fill all the same criteria. I went with a 21" barrel, 5" suppressor, .300 Win. Almost every component we chose is different, but the result roughly similar. The only complaint I have is that's it's so fun to shoot that the barrel won't last forever.

Shooting enough to wear out the barrel is what makes that Terminus Zeus an excellent choice. Keep an extra barrel on hand and when the current one is worn out, changing barrels takes 5 minutes. I've got one in 300 PRC, it's a great action.

 

[dogz]

Looking good, when where and what do you have on the calendar for the falls hunts?

 

[ObiWanKannoli]

Shooting enough to wear out the barrel is what makes that Terminus Zeus an excellent choice. Keep an extra barrel on hand and when the current one is worn out, changing barrels takes 5 minutes. I've got one in 300 PRC, it's a great action.

This. I can change barrels quicker than my wife can get ready to go out.

Looking good, when where and what do you have on the calendar for the falls hunts?

So the big trip this year will be Elk in Idaho in October, and past that just white tail in our soon to be new home state of North Carolina.

With a one year old running around, a pregnant wife who's graduating law school on May 12th and giving birth to our second son on May 24th, and moving 10 hours away it's miracle I am even doing that!

 

[dogz]

Yeah you've a busy year for sure, isn't amazing how quickly time gets ate up!

A one year old and a new born will keep ya hopping

 

[Allen Kitts]

Looks awesome and appears to be a real shooter. Congrats!

 

[ObiWanKannoli]

Yeah you've a busy year for sure, isn't amazing how quickly time gets ate up!

A one year old and a new born will keep ya hopping

That is for sure!!

Looks awesome and appears to be a real shooter. Congrats!

Thank you sir, so far so good with this thing.

 

[kelly1]

This will be wordy, scroll down if you just want to see pictures and groups.

This concept of mine has been in progress and in different iterations over the past 3 years or so between different actions, barrels, optics etc., and I am excited to say it's finally 100%. I think a lot of people aim to achieve something similar and thought I'd share what has worked for me.

The goal was to build a short, handy, suppressed rifle of a reasonable weight that could have me covered from antelope to moose and would feel just at home in the white tail tree stand as it would on my pack in the rocky mountains. Easy, right? No. Not easy...and tragically expensive.

Caliber choice has been 300 PRC. I was an early adopter and love the cartridge for hunting big game. To me, it makes a lot of sense in a short barrel, suppressed hunting rifle like mine at 20 inches. Why? Larger bore for decent powder burn and larger frontal area on projectiles, not horrifically over bore and wasteful of powder, and able to shoot everything from 180-250 grain pills provided you have the twist. I've tested on game and been happy with 212 ELDX, 225 ELDM, 180 TTSX, 190 LRX, 208 LRX, 205 SBD2, and 190 CX bullets. For me and what I like to see, the 208 Barnes LRX is my top pick in ADG brass. Powder is to be determined, but I'm liking the unicorn dust that is RL26.

For rifle weight, I've done the feather weight builds and it's not for me. I tried a 7 lbs all in 300 PRC for one of my iterations and it was not enjoyable. I went the other way to a rifle that was about 13.5 lbs and that was far to heavy to lug around. Ultimately I settled for what I feel is a Goldie Locks 10lbs even with optics. Light enough to carry, and super shootable. Suppressor being titanium adds only 9 oz in weight to the end of the barrel.

Speaking of the suppressor, I ended up choosing the Liberty Precision Machine Mach S. This thing is Hollywood quiet and just about every time I go to the range my shooting neighbors stop to listen and ask me about it. Just an incredible can. What's even better is no barrel length restrictions for any 30 Cal Magnum or smaller and it is full auto rated....all while being a 9oz titanium can. I originally had the LPM Anthem S (gen 1) on this rifle, but jumped on the new Mach S as soon as I saw they released a titanium version and lucked out with a 15 day Form4. The gen 1 Anthem S is also extremely quiet, and the gen 2 improves further. Very happy with this choice.

Another area I wanted to tackle was corrosion resistance. Steel hardware rusting from living out in the rain, snow, humidity, and mud drives me up the wall. So, my logical solution was to replace every piece of hardware on the setup with titanium. Having a lathe makes this pretty simple in terms of turning down head diameters and cutting things to length. So, the screws and cross bolts on the Spuhr rings, the action screws, the Manners mini chassis screws, arca rail bolts, and picatinny bolts all got swapped out. Nice, no more rust. For the neurotic man, a few hundred dollars in screws is a sound investment!

The specs of the rifle I ended up with are:

- Terminus Zeus Long Action
- Proof Sendero 20", 1:8t, AW2 Chamber 300 PRC by Short Action Customs
- Manners PH with Mini Chassis
- Triggertech Special, Flat, Single Stage
- MDT Hunter DBM w/ MDT 300 PRC Magazines
- Schmidt & Bender PMII US 3-20x50 with DT2+ MTC LT / ST2 ZC turrets
- Spuhr Rings
- Rugged Ridge Outdoor Bipod
- Liberty Precision Machine Anthem Mach S (titanium) with a titanium EA CB mount on a TBAC 2 port brake

View attachment 565613
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Titanium hardware:

View attachment 565809
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Groups, all suppressed with the LPM Mach S:

First shots out of the SAC Chambered Proof 20", 225 ELDM Factory Hornady:
View attachment 565625

Second group out of the gun, 225 ELDM Factory Hornady:
View attachment 565622

3rd group, Copper Creek 180ttsx in Lapua Brass:
View attachment 565624

Powder Test, 190LRX over RL26 in ADG Brass. 8 rounds, 6 holes:
View attachment 565623

Very nice,for how it is built 10 lbs make sense and if you ever neededyou could drop into low 9's with optics alone,Kelly

 

[Barrelnut]

The perfect do it all build and looks good too. Congratulations!

 

[homerthebeeman]

Nice Build. And it shoots too