Where to start with building a 338?

[pwrdbycotn]

I just keyed in Stiller rifle actions, and it went right to their home page. The Lapua is an excellent choice...a little less powerful than the Remington RUM, but not enough to make any difference. I have both, and I like them equally well. My 338 Rum is, as I posted before, just a Sendero that has been rebarreled because they do not make the Sendero in .338, just the .300. I enjoy high end rifles as much as the next guy, or I would not have spent $9000 on my Lazzeroni, which is what it cost by the time I paid shipping, tax, and put a decent scope on it. But if you can get what you want for a lot less money, sometimes you have to admit that your ego is driving your wallet. (I did not mean to call you egotistical, but I see that happening all the time at the range.) I have a Sendero that my wife bought me for my 50th birthday 16 years ago, and it will still put three bullets in the same hole at 200 yards, and I have the targets and witnesses to prove it. This is an over-the-counter gun that has never had any work done to it. My .338 RUM puts three in the same hole at a 100 yards, but I have not shot it past that, so I cannot make any judgements on its long range capabilities. My Lapua is a CZ 550, but I have not shot it much yet, so I can't say much about it except that it is not a hunting gun unless you are a serious masochist who likes to crawl the last mile back to camp. It weighs over 16 pounds without the scope or sling. Savage and Remington both make excellent rifles. I do not own a Savage, but John Lazzeroni would not have agreed to license them to produce at least one of his calibers if they were not high end rifles. The problem with building guns by buying one part here, another part there, a third part somewhere else, etc., etc., is that sometimes you get a pile of excellent parts that don't add up to a good gun. A good smith can always make it all work, but the question is, is it the best you can get for the money. That is why I bought the Lazz. Let him do all the experimentation and then sell the best rifle on the planet. I would give my left leg to have one of his tactical .338's, but I already gave my right leg to get the Warbird. All I can say is that you need to do a tremendous amount of homework before you start buying parts. Are Stiller good actions...of course. Do they work well in Macmillan stocks...who knows? Those are all the little details you have to work out before you even start buying parts. All you need to ruin the whole project is to have part F not work well with parts ABCD and E. But, on the other end of that spectrum is the fact that you can go to the range knowing that you have a really special rifle that NO ONE else has, and that feels pretty neat. If you plan to AI this rifle, take that into account when you order your barrel. You need to keep your bullet rpm's under 295,000. Also, when we are talking about high performance rifles, you need to keep the barrel squeaky clean, and while shooting, do not let your barrel get above 165 degrees. Do those three things religiously, and your barrel will last forever. Since you are on a budget that will pretty much get eaten up on the rifle, you will have do something about a scope. There are lots of expensive optics, but you can get a good variable scope for under a $1000. I have a bunch of Leupolds, and I don't really like any of them. Zeiss makes a nice scope, but I have had trouble getting warranty work done. Whatever the problem is, the warranty never seems to cover it. Plus, I sent one in for some work, and it had mil dots when it left, and they were gone when it returned. They would not admit that they took the mil dots out, so I was screwed on that one. My latest scope purchase is a Vortex Viper PST, 6-24, 50 mm objective, 30mm tube, and it is a great scope. Warranty wise, I have read (maybe on this site) posts from two guys who sent in their scopes for work, and the Vortex people just sent them a new scope, no charge. Hard to beat that. And, the warranty is lifetime and transfers with the gun. Cabelas sells them for $900. That is probably way more advice than you wanted, but good luck on your project. Be sure to post the outcome.

On the part about the RUM beating the lapua Long Time Long Ranger has stated that the Lapua will slightly beat the the RUM due to the higher quality Lapua brass being able to withstand higher pressure. http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f17/338-lapua-mag-338-rum-63472/
As to who knows about Stiller actions working well with McMillan stocks.....there are lots of Stillers sitting in McMillans that work very well. Len even sells McMillans inletted for Stiller actions right here in the LongRangeHunting store!
Keeping the bullet rpm below 295,000 will be easy to accomplish as long as my math is correct. A 300gr Berger shot at 3000fps in a 10 twist barrel will only be spinning 216,000 rpm. MVx720/10

 

[Old teacher]

Snowpro440' advice is good, and just a couple high end extras above what I suggested with the Sendero. You will get a good rifle to begin with, add a few high end extras, and end up with a custom rifle that you know will shoot and all the pieces will operate properly together. All I would add is a Jewel trigger. And, in the future, if you really enjoy shooting the rifle and shoot the barrel out of it (which is highly unlikely considering the quality of barrels nowdays, and if you follow the three steps I suggested in my earlier post) , all you have to do is rebarrel it and you have a new gun to start over with.

I posted John Lazzeroni's method of cleaning barrels a few months ago, and using that, I have resurrected several rifles which I thought were history. Just looking down a barrel and seeing nothing but shiny steel does not mean the barrel is clean by any means. Although a barrel light is expensive, it is a good investment. You would be amazed at how much black gunk lies right along the sides of the lands and is not visible just looking down the barrel. Run your brass brush down your barrel, dipping it in Hoppes #10 now and then, about 50 times and you will begin to see what John was talking about. BY the 120th stroke, which is what he recommends, nearly all of that black stuff is gone and you can start using patches. By about the fifth patch, they will come out as white as they go in. If they do not, go back to the brass brush. Small bores are notoriously difficult to get clean. I worked on my 22-243 Middlestead for an hour and a half yesterday, and still could not get the patches to come out white. Even though I "cleaned" the gun every time I used it, it was never getting really clean, or even close. The first twenty (roughly) strokes of the brush would barely go up and down the barrel. As the black gunk began to show up, the brush slid more and more easily. By the 120th stroke, it was as slick as glass, but still pulling out the black stuff. I was appalled when John told me about his cleaning method. I could not imagine running a brush down the barrel of the rifle he had just sent me that many times without doing some damage. But he assured me that the barrel was much to hard for a metal as soft as brass to affect it. But he was dead on. I am slowly going through all of my rifles with this process and getting the same result from all of them. And. the proof is at the range, and it is dramatic.

 

[sp6x6]

I have shot with a guy at the range,that shoots in 1000 bench.He tested the 250 berger. He had the lapua scenar shooting one hole at 200.I have seen this factory rifle shoot amazing groups and crack rocks on the mountain out to 1400.338 Lapua Sako TRG.Adjustable Stock,Says he likes the trigger better than his jewel,and new they where $2800.10 3/4 #'S BARE

 

[Old teacher]

Good to know. Thanks for the info.

 

[Old teacher]

pwrdbycotn: I did not mean to imply that Stiller actions would not work with Macmillan stocks, I was just tossing out names to make the point that you never know what parts may or may not work the best together. Macmillan was just the first name that popped into my head. Macmillans are obviously great stocks and is what I have on my Lazzeroni.

 

[Old teacher]

sp6x6: If I read your post correctly, it was the Sako trigger you were especially high on? I have one Sako and two Tikkas, and the triggers on all three are terrific, and certainly comparable to the Jewels I have, plus they are easily adjusted with just the one screw.

 

[sp6x6]

sp6x6: If I read your post correctly, it was the Sako trigger you were especially high on? I have one Sako and two Tikkas, and the triggers on all three are terrific, and certainly comparable to the Jewels I have, plus they are easily adjusted with just the one screw.

The Sako TRG is a tactical military sniper rifle, adopted in something like 10-20 countries.The stock is fully adjustable for pull and adj.check piece.Bolt is short 30 degree throw,has brakes and bipods designed specific for rifle.The trigger that is adjustable is also adjustable up and down for liking.They are well known for great accuracy.A brand new one bare bones was going for $2800 at end of the year.They are comfortable to shoot by there design

 

[Old teacher]

I am familiar with the rifle, I was just curious about the trigger, which you addressed. Many thanks for the info. I am not that up on Sakos, I just have the model 550 in .338 Lapua and the 995 in the Lazzeroni Warbird. I see a lot of the TRG's for sale, and considering their reputation, I don't know what that is all about. Guys that just need the money, I guess. The TRG's definitely look cool and obviously shoot.

 

[Old teacher]

OOPS! That's embarrassing. I have way too many guns and am getting way to old. My .338 Lapua is not a Sako, it is a CZ 550. Sorry about that. I just had Sako on my mind, I guess. The 995 is definitely a Sako. It says so, right there on it!

 

[67chevl]

What reputation does the TRG have?

 

[sp6x6]

What reputation does the TRG have?

It has been around since 1989,purpose built sniper rifle,adopted in service in over 20 countries,know for accuracy and longevity specificly w/388LA

 

[Old teacher]

I do not presently own a TRG, but I am sure that if I live long enough I will, along with John Lazzeroni's tactical. I am acquainted with several serious long range shooters, and they are very knowledgeable and regard the TRG as the gold standard of long range rifles. Their only weakness, if it even could be called one, is that their weight pretty much eliminates them as a hunting rifle unless you are fortunate to hunt somewhere where you do not have to travel very high or very far. But they were not really designed for that purpose anyway, so the point is pretty moot. And, for the quality of the rifle, the price is really pretty reasonable.