Custom Rifle Blueprints

OldTurtle

OldTurtle

Moderator - Deceased
Staff member
I recently received a proposal about having a pinned topic for "Custom Rifle Blueprints" from one of our members and after some thought, decided to offer up the topic to see potential interest and if there is indeed a following...

To be quite honest, if I were to embark on such a project, I would be at somewhat of a loss as to where to start myself, without spending an unnecessary amount of money and research when there is a world of information in the hands of those that have already been the route...

No promises, but I am willing to monitor such a thread and see if it has 'Legs' enough to warrant it being a pinned subject at a later time...That will be a decision for the Administrative Board.

I would like the following guidelines to be observed:

1) Posting in the thread is restricted to those that have real custom builds, as opposed to factory stock rifles that have been minor or cosmetically modified..(No ARs)
2) Posts are detailed as to actions, barrels, triggers, stocks
with specifications on each...
3) Posts are restricted to verifiable positive/negative results observed from builds, rather than personal opinions of those not having personal experience on the subject with details listed in item 2...(such posts will be deleted from the thread)
4) While naming gun smiths that may have done some, or all, of the work may happen, links to their services will not be permitted unless they are Banner Sponsors on this forum...
 
OT,
Would a factory action that's been trued/squared, lugs lapped, ect., with an aftermarket barrel installed and say a different or tuned trigger be considered a custom?
 
K22, I would think that what you describe would be considered a custom, as opposed to just changing out the trigger and stock, like many do...

The whole idea is to have some specific information, and results, for those wanting to undertake such a project without reinventing the wheel, so to speak...

It's hard to evaluate where the best place to put your money and feel pretty sure of getting the results you desire without solid input from others...
 
Asking questions is one of the main purposes of the whole forum...Just expect to get a variety of opinions and that is one reason this thread is pretty well restricted to answers from those that have first hand experience with custom builds...

There are combinations that sound good on paper, but fail to meet expectations and it's that knowledge that is the most helpful to those jumping into the process...

I talked to a local gun smith about the value of blue printing a factory barreled action and he advised that unless I was willing to go 'whole hog' with a new barrel, and other upgrades, I probably wouldn't see that much improvement in accuracy...At that point, I had little idea of where to go without risking a lot of money on an 'iffy' project...So I think a thread like this can be of great benefit to quite a few members...
 
Quote:I talked to a local gun smith about the value of blue printing a factory barreled action and he advised that unless I was willing to go 'whole hog' with a new barrel, and other upgrades, I probably wouldn't see that much improvement in accuracy...At that point, I had little idea of where to go without risking a lot of money on an 'iffy' project...So I think a thread like this can be of great benefit to quite a few members...

Now that is some very sound advice. I've had 2 customs done,(which I'll post about later), both had the actions trued up (blue printed), both shoot very very good, but not much better than a factory rifle I own.
If I was wanting to shoot tiny groups at 400 plus yards, (like that smartaleck Tim was showing
cursing.gif
.......
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), then yes, you would see the advantage. Oh, and super nice rifles and shooting Tim, I'm duly impressed.
As for wood stocks, I've always been of the impression that unless it was inletted (opened up) with a lot of clearance, it would be affected a lot by the different weather/humidity patterns even if pillarbedded. I still believe that to a point, until I started working parttime for a company that makes wood stocks with a very interesting aluminum chassis installed. I do the inletting and we keep the clearances to 5 thousandth at the action and about 15 thousandth barrel clearance.
So there you are, wood, which really is prettier in my opinion (RePete will have a heart attack if he reads this
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) , can be made used to custom build for any type of weather conditions.
 
65DECAL003_zpsbaaf2bfe.jpg

Remington 700 short action - started as a 1992 built rem 700PSS in 308.
Action fully blue printed - lugs squared, bolt face squared, action threads recut, action face squared, bolt nose squared, EXT.
PTG .250" surface ground recoil lug.
Rock creek rem varmint conture barrel - 8 twist 16.5" from breech to crown.
Chambered 6.5x47mm Lapua with custom reamer for 123gr. sierra matchking's.
Badger thruster muzzle brake installed with muzzle threaded 5/8x24.
factory rem 40x trigger tuned to 2.5lbs.
Badger bolt knob installed.
Scope base screws opened to 8/40.
seekins precision 20MOA base and 30MM medium rings.
Nightforce NXS 3.5-15x50 NP-R1 HS.
Manners MCS-T4A DBM Badger mini chassis, 2 front and one rear sling stud, coyote tan, standard shell.
Harris S-BRM 6"-9" notch leg swivel bipod, alpha bravo pod lock.
Accurate Mag 5rnd AICS compatable 308 magazine.

65PSSSSC1-29-2013006.jpg

100 Yards 5 shots, 123gr. Hornady A-MAX, New Sized Lapua brass, 41gr. H4350, CCI 450 primer.
Im now running 123gr. Sierra MatchKing's (finaly found some) with same accuracy and powder charge.
No pics but holds 1/2MOA at 400yrds (farthest ive had it so far).
Muzzle velocity is running 2650fps at 60* and 800' elevation.
 
22/250AI
Stiller Pred
Pacnor 26" 8 twist SSM
Mcmillan Rem Hunter
Jewell trigger
HS DBM - 22/250AI feeds flawlessly
Leupold VX3 8.5-25 LRT mounted in Burris Sig Zee rings Stiller 20moa base
Smithed by Bob Green

22-250AI015.jpg


22-250AI018.jpg


200 yrds 75gr Amax still needs some load work
rangetest018.jpg
 
20/250
Stiller Pred action
Pacnor 26" 9 twist SSM #5 contour
Mcmillan Rem Hunter
Jewell trigger
Leupold VX3 4.5-14x50 CDS

20-250010.jpg


20-250008.jpg


100 yrds center group is 5 shots 55gr Berger
rangetest017.jpg
 
17 Fireball
Trued Rem Mod 7
Pacnor 24" 9 twist SSM #5 contour
HS Pro 2000 stock
Jewell trigger
Leupold VXIII 6.5-20x40 (Nikon in pic)

17fb002-2.jpg
 
20 VarTarg
Trued Rem Mod 7
Rock Creek 24" 11 twist #3 contour SSM
Jewell trigger
Mcmillan Hunter stock
Leupold VX3 4.5-14x40 with VHR

20VarTarg010_zps81b5c9e4.jpg


20VarTarg008_zps6cc5af16.jpg
 



This is a .45 cal. muzzleloading rifle..
Remington short action completely trued, bolt as well.
Krieger .458 1-20 Twist bbl heavy varmint countour, finished @ 28". It has interrupted flutes that are .25"x .125" deep.
It has the factory Remington trigger adjusted to 2.5 lbs.
The target is 5 shot group at 100 yrds.
The pros on this build.....it will shoot a Parker Ballistic Extreme 275gr. bullet @ 3000 fps. It will take down anything in North America and Africa as well. Accuracy is amazing. Its great if you havent shot your buck yet and have to hunt cut corn or bean fields and need to take a 300 yrd shot or longer.
Cons..... With this bbl, its HEAVY. It kicks pretty good so I also added a brake last yr and tamed it down.
 
Originally Posted By: OldTurtle

I talked to a local gun smith about the value of blue printing a factory barreled action and he advised that unless I was willing to go 'whole hog' with a new barrel, and other upgrades, I probably wouldn't see that much improvement in accuracy...At that point, I had little idea of where to go without risking a lot of money on an 'iffy' project...So I think a thread like this can be of great benefit to quite a few members...

That's probably true most of the time, but not always. Course it depends on several things like what your expectations for the particular rifle are, how much your smith charges for various work, and most important, is the barrel fairly accurate to start with.

I posted about this one last year but for those that haven't seen it before it's a cheap SPS that started life as a 223.
004nzc.jpg


I had my smith remove the barrel, true the action (single point threads, square receiver and bolt face, lap lugs and raceways, surface grind recoil lug, etc).
He also set the barrel back, recrowned, and rechambered it to 222 before reinstalling.
plumbaxe002.jpg


I pillar bedded it a Boyds ADL Classic stock myself and installed an old school remmy trigger I had on hand, so after selling all the SPS parts I ended up with a nice little sporter that's the way "I" want it and different from the crowd for about the same money you'd pay for todays Remchester, and shoots right with my custom barreled jobs.
"Shoots in the 1's". LOL
001qii.jpg


Oh yea,,, the scope's a 4.5-15 VXIII (that just got a new CDS turret last week) mounted on med Warn's.
 
My Gofer Gun

026iqz.jpg


Trued 700
Pac-Nor #5 3grove 9twist SM in 17Rem finished at 24".
Pillar bedded in a Holland ADL stock (his pillar system is brilliant).
Gre-Tan FP assembly.
Old school 700 trigger tuned by your truly.
Weaver V24 in Luppy rings.

Don't have any target pix to brag on but 1/4" groups are pretty common for this rifle.
"Shoots in the 2's";)
 
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