Snake 2- 338 Lapua Ack Imp

BountyHunter

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Here is Snake 2, which is a 338 Lapua Ack Improved. MV should be easy 2900-2950 with no pressure when finally finished.

Action is a chrom moly Phoenix Machine action with Kiff fluted bolt, Kiff firing pin and spring, M16 extractor and tactical knob. Action is still in the white, only bead blasted awaiting the melanite finish.
Lilja 30" barrel in 1-10 twist that is 1.350 for 4 inches radical taper to .850 with the new Holland Radial Brake. Both bead blasted with crossweave finish.
.300 Recoil Lug integrated into a 40 MOA Picatanny base.
HS Bottom metal with detach mag system COAL of 3.655
Basix trigger with safety at 1.5 lbs
Leupold 8-25x LR with the Varmint reticle. Looking at converting it to the Holland ART
Stock is McM A5 with one swivel stud and two side flush cups all stress free pillar bedded. (sorry Joel, stock came with the package deal and too good to pass up)
NF ultralight rings, with ACI.

Total weight of the rifle and scope, loaded with 4 rds is only 13 lbs 10 ozs. This weight makes it a nice carry rig with LR accuracy in hard hitting cartridge.

Waiting on Neil Jones custom dies. I will fire form the brass, break in the barrel and then the gun is disassembled for phase 2.

Barrel, action and bolt will be sent off to be melanite coated, which is an industrial coating that super hardens the metal and is supposed to really lessen throat erosion. Some FClass/600 yd BR guys have over 5k of hot rds in barrels with almost no erosion and they have been using it for 5 yrs. Stock will be dipped with another finish. Might keep the stock like it is though.

Gunsmith was John Myer, Custom Gunsmithing in Boyce VA. LR and 1k BR builder for many years and has built many winning guns and top LR rifles.

Delivery time was about 40 days as I took him all the parts except the flush cups. Plus I actually had another gun (1k BR HG) in front of that for barrel setback and rechamber and crown.

Now here is the really good part. Total cost of the complete rig in the pics was right at $3700. However, that includes the my reamer, go/ no-go gauges, scope, rings, ACI etc . I am a Hunter Ed instructor, so the leupold was well under distributor pricing, same for trigger, got a super deal on the ACI, rings, stock, action, and barrel here and another site. Complete gunsmithing was under $1000, for chambering, crowning, muzzlebrake installation, inlett and pillar bedding, sandblasting etc.

Neil Jones dies will be under $300 for custom FL size with shoulder bump bushings and micro seater. Neil Jones does custom dies (FL with shoulder bump bushing and micro seater) for wildcats for around $300 and 30-45 days max. He needs the reamer print or/and 5 cases fired 3x. He normally gives you a NS only die first, lets you fire the cases 3x, and then you return the die to him with the fired cases and he converts it to a custom honed FL shoulder bump bushing die that no on else makes. He is the only mftr of that type die. With normal bushing dies there is a gap between the end of the bushing and the shoulder, with the bump bushing, they are one bushing and no gap. Dies took 46 days, cost $366 with 3 shoulder bushings, built on 1" die blank with threaded insert to fit my press.

Melanite for the action, bolt body and barrel will be about $160 and stock dipping $100

I highly recommend getting your own parts and taking them to your smith. Your delivery time should be shortened dramatically.

BH

click on pics to enlarge




 
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(sorry Joel said:
BH,

Very nice rifle none the less.:)

Neil's dies are about the best you can get. I have several of his complete sets for a bunch of my rifles.
100% satisfied with the quality and turn around time for Neil's stuff.
Keep us posted on how it shoots.
 
Bounty, could you either create a topic or PM me on how the meloniting goes? This has been suggested to me for some hot cartridges I would like to have barrels made in, but I'm kind of clueless on it.
 
Tyler

The link to them is off 6mmbr.com. Do a search under articles for information.

Couple Flcass/600 yd guys have been working with them for several years. Right now, all they can do is the bolt and barrel. They are in the process of getting their FFL to do the actions.

Barrel Surface Treatments
HEF USA offers the patented Melonite process for barrels and bolts bodies. This provides a thin (10-20 micron) layer of surface hardening. This produces a very slick, very hard surface that provides reduced friction in the bore. Early tests show Melonite barrel treatment can reduce throat wear and increase useful barrel life.

Right now min order is $200 but after they get going, will be individual barrel pricing.

BH
 
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Here is Snake 2, which is a 338 Lapua Ack Improved. MV should be easy 2900-2950 with no pressure when finally finished.

Are you plan on shooting 250's or 300's. When you get your load and perfect it...please post results as to velocity and load data...I'd be very interested if you can get that much speed. Nice rifle..good luck! 30-338
 
Did you ever complete the Melonite process, and is that bore treatment process still thought of favorably by the benchrest community?
 
Not yet, just got back from a MO hunting trip and shooting it some. Coyote at 916 yards too.

Going to be an after the new year project.

Accuracy Int is working with the meloniting process now for their 338 Lapua. I was kind of waiting to see what their results showed too

Seveal BR shooters are using it as well.

So far absolutely nothing negative. Joel Kendrick would have the latest info and just have not talked to him in 3-4 months.

BH
 
took two LR newbies out this last week and popping steel at 750.. They were amazed how easy it was to just keep them in the middle and watching the steel flop on the chains.

Load is H1000 and at 2960 fps. Could go higher but really is tight here.

BH
 
Great looking rig, nice pics and thorough write up. Thanks for sharing.
 
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With most AIs, depending on exact dimensions, you will find somewhere in between 90-97 or more of gr H1000 with the 300 gr SMK. Mine ended in the middle and at 2960 with one hole. What more can you ask for?:D Just a lot of different reamers, shoulder angles and dimensions out there.

That is the drawback of wildcats and why most will normally need custom dies.

I went the same (maybe a little more) on US869 also but did not go high enough to really make it work I think. Or the gun just did not like it.

Anyway, due to the reamer variances you really need to start low and work up.

My gun has the HS mag, which are shorter than some, so I started just under max COAL for the mag and it stayed there.

BH
 
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Great writeup, and awesome LR rifle.

Thanks for sharing, and I look forward to hearing future results of the Melonite.
 
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