stansman
Member
I've been lurking around this site for awhile but yet to post anything. I'm getting close to completing my first custom bolt action build, so I figured this would be a good time to jump in. I've built some custom AR platform rifles, and "customized" some bolt actions, but never done a bolt action from the ground up.
It took me quite awhile to decide what I wanted out of this rifle. I finally decided I wanted as close to a true all purpose long range hunting rifle as I felt could be built. And ideally something that would be relatively enjoyable to do a bit of target shooting with as well. Now to me hunting means hiking. I'm seeing a lot of rifles marketed for long range "hunting" that claim to be light weight at nearly 8lbs naked. I have a Remington 5r in 300 win mag that's about 8lb. With a mid weight optic, base, rings, bipod, sling and stock pack it comes in just over 12lb, and all of those components were selected with weight in mind. If you're sitting in the parking lot glassing with a beer in hand that's all well and good, but I've hiked over mountains with that rifle at over 8000 ft. I'm fit and it's not fun. Even strapped to a pack a rifle is dead weight and it carries heavy.
I wanted a rifle that is light enough to hike over mountains with, but has proper ergonomics for long range shooting. I've read many comments about how light rifles aren't suited to long range shooting. I tend to disagree with that as a general statement. My feeling is most light rifles are hard to shoot long range because they lack proper ergonomics. Most hunting stocks allow for some kind of a "chin weld" at best. This makes it difficult to get a good steady setup, especially in improvised positions. I got set up on a bedded deer last year with my Tikka at 430 yards on a crappy side slope resting on a rock at an equally crappy angle. Now luckily he was bedded and in no hurry to go anywhere because it took probably 10 minutes to where I felt comfortable squeezing the trigger. I did smoke him but staying steady and maintaining a good sight picture with that setup and crummy hunting rifle ergos was a real chore. I've since added a stock pack to that rifle to get a proper cheek weld and it's much better. But I still don't love the traditional hunting grip angle.
Now back to the rifle I'm building. Light weight and good ergos naturally got me looking at some pretty high end components. Titanium actions and carbon fiber barrels and stocks all started to get bookmarked. I also browsed through a lot of custom builder's websites trying to get inspired. I started to zero in on the configuration I wanted, but I was pretty astounded at the prices most builders were listing. Prices "starting" in the $6k range seemed pretty typical, or more than double the MSRP of all the components that go into the build. Now I'm certainly not trying to say any of these builders are ripping people off. In my line of work the cost of a final product is typically about 50/50 material vs labor. Aside from labor, stocking components and things like this cost money. But it's my money and I didn't want to pay that much.
So what I decided to do was purchase all the components myself, have a gunsmith chamber the rifle, then do the stock fitting and bedding work myself. Going this route I figured I could pay for the highest accuracy part of the job and minimize the labor cost for everything else.
Here are the build specs and prices for everything that went into this build. I could have actually saved quite a bit more by using some more cost effective components or accepting a few extra ounces in one or two places.
Cartridge: 6.5 Creedmoor - This should be plenty of cartridge for anything smaller than elk. I'm sure it'll take an elk with good shot placement but I'll stick with my 300 win mag for that. I seriously considered 6.5 SAUM or 6.5-284 for the extra speed, but the availability of 6.5 creedmoor factory ammo was too hard to pass up. I do reload but liked the option of using factory ammo if I want to. I'll be starting out with the precision hunter 143 ELD-X ammo and going from there.
Action: Lone Peak Arms titanium short action - $1250 - Could have saved a bit here by going with a non Ti action. But assuming the rifle shoots well this action was a steal. I expect their prices will increase as they become more well known. Their newest action with integrated lug now retails for $1450. Mine has the separate Ti lug.
Barrel: Proof Research 6.5mm, Sendero Lite contour, 24" - $800 - This is the biggest cost saving opportunity. A #3 contour with fluting would probably be similar weight and about half the cost. But fluting would cost a little. But the CF was too cool to pass up and my hope is it will maintain accuracy better as it heats up if I want to use the rifle for some target shooting. I'll say with full honesty that I really just wanted the CF sexy factor.
Stock: Manners EH-1 - Stiller predator inlet, elite tactical, GAP camo, with pillars, 3 QD sling points, Atlas rail - $700 - This stock is sweet. As I have it configured it weighs 30 oz. Eliminating some of the qd points and rail would probably save a couple oz and about $100. I considered having it dipped in a kuiu pattern, but decided to save the money and get the GAP camo, which i think looks sweet.
Bottom metal: Stocky's hinged Al bottom metal, with internal magazine, spring, follower, screws - $205 - I think an ADL setup would be lighter. I really wanted to find an aluminum mag box and follower as these are both steel and not light. All my searching yielded nothing but if anyone knows where these can be found let me know.
Trigger: Huber concepts 2 stage, 2.5lb - $400 - Could save over $200 with a Timney. I really like 2 stage and wanted to try a huber.
Gunsmithing: Long Rifles Inc - Chambering & fitting barrel, thread muzzle, custom fitted thread protector, cerakote action & bottom metal - $800 - Could have saved a lot skipping the muzzle thread, thread protector and cerakote. But I want the option to run a brake or suppressor. The thread protector is really sweet if i decide to use neither.
Total cost of the naked rifle - $4155. This could be done for about $3500 by swapping a Timney for the Huber and skipping some of the extra gunsmithing work and stock upgrades. Obviously a normal barrel would take off even more.
The pictures below are as the build sits today. Currently naked it's right at 6.5 lb. I'd love to shave an oz or two if aluminum magazine components were available.
Still to do:
Fitting stock and bedding: The stock needs a little sanding in the barrel channel as it's touching the barrel in one spot. The bolt handle also touches on full close since the inlet is for a Stiller. Then I'll bed and probably clean up on a mill.
Muzzle brake: My current intention is to machine my own muzzle brake out of 7075 aluminum. All of the good side port designs seem to be steel, and I want lighter. I think there's a radial port available in titanium, but I don't want radial. We'll see if I actually go through with machining one or just leave it as is or run the silencerco brake that my suppressor attaches to.
Scope: I think I've settled on a Vortex Viper PST 2.5-10x32 FFP. My criteria for a scope are such that I really only have a couple options. Must be FFP, Mil/Mil, and lightweight. I already have that same Viper on an AR and it's a sweet scope for the money. Ideally I'd like a little more than 10x but I've shot past 1000 just fine on 10x. Shot the bedded deer at 430 on 6x so 10 should do just fine. Nightforce seem to be popular all of a sudden and I'd love one, but I really can't justify putting such a brick on top of my rifle. Until they get a FFP scope under 25 oz I can't see using one on a hunting rig. I know they're bombproof but deer don't shoot back so I don't see myself pretending to be Marcus Luttrell and rolling down a mountain while on a hunt. Ok Nightforce rant over.
Rings: I bought a set of Talley ex-low lightweight rings for Savage/predator actions. Assuming I stick with the Vortex scope, I'll open up the counterbores on these rings to fit #8 screws and add pin holes to accommodate the recoil pins that the action comes with. This would make them equivalent to a Tac-30/300 ring. Unfortunately Talley doesn't offer that configuration in the ex-low height.
So really long post. I'm hoping to have the rifle bedded and ready to shoot within the next couple weeks. I'll report back on that and first range report. Would love to hear comments or feedback on what I've done so far. If you want to tell me why my choices were stupid then I'll be happy to tell you where to shove it. The real bummer is I'm unlikely to kill anything with this gun until next year. I've got a 3 month old son so I don't think my wife will let me out of the state for a little while. I've already got a WA bow deer tag so late season bow is probably my best chance of a kill this year. But I do hope to get this rifle out to 1000+ yards within the next couple months.
It took me quite awhile to decide what I wanted out of this rifle. I finally decided I wanted as close to a true all purpose long range hunting rifle as I felt could be built. And ideally something that would be relatively enjoyable to do a bit of target shooting with as well. Now to me hunting means hiking. I'm seeing a lot of rifles marketed for long range "hunting" that claim to be light weight at nearly 8lbs naked. I have a Remington 5r in 300 win mag that's about 8lb. With a mid weight optic, base, rings, bipod, sling and stock pack it comes in just over 12lb, and all of those components were selected with weight in mind. If you're sitting in the parking lot glassing with a beer in hand that's all well and good, but I've hiked over mountains with that rifle at over 8000 ft. I'm fit and it's not fun. Even strapped to a pack a rifle is dead weight and it carries heavy.
I wanted a rifle that is light enough to hike over mountains with, but has proper ergonomics for long range shooting. I've read many comments about how light rifles aren't suited to long range shooting. I tend to disagree with that as a general statement. My feeling is most light rifles are hard to shoot long range because they lack proper ergonomics. Most hunting stocks allow for some kind of a "chin weld" at best. This makes it difficult to get a good steady setup, especially in improvised positions. I got set up on a bedded deer last year with my Tikka at 430 yards on a crappy side slope resting on a rock at an equally crappy angle. Now luckily he was bedded and in no hurry to go anywhere because it took probably 10 minutes to where I felt comfortable squeezing the trigger. I did smoke him but staying steady and maintaining a good sight picture with that setup and crummy hunting rifle ergos was a real chore. I've since added a stock pack to that rifle to get a proper cheek weld and it's much better. But I still don't love the traditional hunting grip angle.
Now back to the rifle I'm building. Light weight and good ergos naturally got me looking at some pretty high end components. Titanium actions and carbon fiber barrels and stocks all started to get bookmarked. I also browsed through a lot of custom builder's websites trying to get inspired. I started to zero in on the configuration I wanted, but I was pretty astounded at the prices most builders were listing. Prices "starting" in the $6k range seemed pretty typical, or more than double the MSRP of all the components that go into the build. Now I'm certainly not trying to say any of these builders are ripping people off. In my line of work the cost of a final product is typically about 50/50 material vs labor. Aside from labor, stocking components and things like this cost money. But it's my money and I didn't want to pay that much.
So what I decided to do was purchase all the components myself, have a gunsmith chamber the rifle, then do the stock fitting and bedding work myself. Going this route I figured I could pay for the highest accuracy part of the job and minimize the labor cost for everything else.
Here are the build specs and prices for everything that went into this build. I could have actually saved quite a bit more by using some more cost effective components or accepting a few extra ounces in one or two places.
Cartridge: 6.5 Creedmoor - This should be plenty of cartridge for anything smaller than elk. I'm sure it'll take an elk with good shot placement but I'll stick with my 300 win mag for that. I seriously considered 6.5 SAUM or 6.5-284 for the extra speed, but the availability of 6.5 creedmoor factory ammo was too hard to pass up. I do reload but liked the option of using factory ammo if I want to. I'll be starting out with the precision hunter 143 ELD-X ammo and going from there.
Action: Lone Peak Arms titanium short action - $1250 - Could have saved a bit here by going with a non Ti action. But assuming the rifle shoots well this action was a steal. I expect their prices will increase as they become more well known. Their newest action with integrated lug now retails for $1450. Mine has the separate Ti lug.
Barrel: Proof Research 6.5mm, Sendero Lite contour, 24" - $800 - This is the biggest cost saving opportunity. A #3 contour with fluting would probably be similar weight and about half the cost. But fluting would cost a little. But the CF was too cool to pass up and my hope is it will maintain accuracy better as it heats up if I want to use the rifle for some target shooting. I'll say with full honesty that I really just wanted the CF sexy factor.
Stock: Manners EH-1 - Stiller predator inlet, elite tactical, GAP camo, with pillars, 3 QD sling points, Atlas rail - $700 - This stock is sweet. As I have it configured it weighs 30 oz. Eliminating some of the qd points and rail would probably save a couple oz and about $100. I considered having it dipped in a kuiu pattern, but decided to save the money and get the GAP camo, which i think looks sweet.
Bottom metal: Stocky's hinged Al bottom metal, with internal magazine, spring, follower, screws - $205 - I think an ADL setup would be lighter. I really wanted to find an aluminum mag box and follower as these are both steel and not light. All my searching yielded nothing but if anyone knows where these can be found let me know.
Trigger: Huber concepts 2 stage, 2.5lb - $400 - Could save over $200 with a Timney. I really like 2 stage and wanted to try a huber.
Gunsmithing: Long Rifles Inc - Chambering & fitting barrel, thread muzzle, custom fitted thread protector, cerakote action & bottom metal - $800 - Could have saved a lot skipping the muzzle thread, thread protector and cerakote. But I want the option to run a brake or suppressor. The thread protector is really sweet if i decide to use neither.
Total cost of the naked rifle - $4155. This could be done for about $3500 by swapping a Timney for the Huber and skipping some of the extra gunsmithing work and stock upgrades. Obviously a normal barrel would take off even more.
The pictures below are as the build sits today. Currently naked it's right at 6.5 lb. I'd love to shave an oz or two if aluminum magazine components were available.
Still to do:
Fitting stock and bedding: The stock needs a little sanding in the barrel channel as it's touching the barrel in one spot. The bolt handle also touches on full close since the inlet is for a Stiller. Then I'll bed and probably clean up on a mill.
Muzzle brake: My current intention is to machine my own muzzle brake out of 7075 aluminum. All of the good side port designs seem to be steel, and I want lighter. I think there's a radial port available in titanium, but I don't want radial. We'll see if I actually go through with machining one or just leave it as is or run the silencerco brake that my suppressor attaches to.
Scope: I think I've settled on a Vortex Viper PST 2.5-10x32 FFP. My criteria for a scope are such that I really only have a couple options. Must be FFP, Mil/Mil, and lightweight. I already have that same Viper on an AR and it's a sweet scope for the money. Ideally I'd like a little more than 10x but I've shot past 1000 just fine on 10x. Shot the bedded deer at 430 on 6x so 10 should do just fine. Nightforce seem to be popular all of a sudden and I'd love one, but I really can't justify putting such a brick on top of my rifle. Until they get a FFP scope under 25 oz I can't see using one on a hunting rig. I know they're bombproof but deer don't shoot back so I don't see myself pretending to be Marcus Luttrell and rolling down a mountain while on a hunt. Ok Nightforce rant over.
Rings: I bought a set of Talley ex-low lightweight rings for Savage/predator actions. Assuming I stick with the Vortex scope, I'll open up the counterbores on these rings to fit #8 screws and add pin holes to accommodate the recoil pins that the action comes with. This would make them equivalent to a Tac-30/300 ring. Unfortunately Talley doesn't offer that configuration in the ex-low height.
So really long post. I'm hoping to have the rifle bedded and ready to shoot within the next couple weeks. I'll report back on that and first range report. Would love to hear comments or feedback on what I've done so far. If you want to tell me why my choices were stupid then I'll be happy to tell you where to shove it. The real bummer is I'm unlikely to kill anything with this gun until next year. I've got a 3 month old son so I don't think my wife will let me out of the state for a little while. I've already got a WA bow deer tag so late season bow is probably my best chance of a kill this year. But I do hope to get this rifle out to 1000+ yards within the next couple months.
