Fiftydriver
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This one was a bit of a unique project. Had a customer from the great country of Australia contact me wanting one of my Carbon Stalkers build. Have built dozens of these rifles with great results but this request was a bit different, he wanted it chambered in my 375 Allen Xpress which i had never built one of my carbon Stalkers in this chambering to date.
my Carbon Stalkers use my new Stalker UL receiver, carbon wrapped barrel (generally a #4 bartlein carbon wrapped contour), mcmillan full carbon game hunter stock.
with the 375 AX is a rather serious chambering which will produce 6200-6500 ft/lbs of energy. As such, we needed to out a bit of special attention to the parts. Still used my Stalker UL receiver, no issues there with the 375 AX. We also went with the very high quality Sunny Hill Rigby/lapua internal magazine with hinged floorplate which allows 3.850" max overall length ammo with a true 3 round capacity and flush fit to stock.
this was important because the customer wanted to use the big aluminum tipped Rocky Mountain Bullets 350 gr RBBT bullets seated to fit in the mag box.
we needed to use a larger contour barrel because of the .375" bore. finished at 26". We needed to go with one of my medium Painkiller muzzle brakes because of the size of the muzzle on the barrel. The medium PK is a rather heavy brake so i turned the OD down from 1.450" width to 1.050" to cut weight down as much as possible.
Contacted McMillan on the barrel order and gave them the specs wanted on the carbon stock and they laughed a bit when i told them the chambering and then said we would need to go with the ENHANCED carbon fiber shell technology with this one.
this is basically the full edge carbon technology but using ultra strong fiber glass fill in the high stress inletting area of the stock. Proud to say my wildcats were partially responsible for this option from McMillan!!
we would finish the rifle in a flat black cerakote finish for great looks and ultimate protection.
finished product turned out great.
Started load development with the 350 gr RMB as requested. Seated to 3.820" oal to fit in the mag requires some special consideration in powders as well. In the past i have had great results with Magpro powder and the 350 gr SMK in this class barrel length pushing 2900 fps. Started with Magpro testing this rifle but ran up to 100% load density and only 2700 fps……. Felt there was more speed to be had.
switched to Ramshot Hunter powder and was happy to hit top working pressures at 100% load density and 2820 fps. Was hoping for a bit more bit the load was very consistent so decided to go with this load for testing. Have to remember this is still a 6200 ft/lb energy load out of a relatively lightweight rifle at comfy pressures. Not only that, throughout the entire load development process, not a single thought of recoil…..
two 375 Allen Xpress with 350 gr RMB on left, two 338 lapua mag on right for comparison
its amazing to sit on a bench with a 6200 ft/lb class energy level and not need to ever worry about recoil at all. I would estimate similar to that of a 270 sporter rifle.
because of some fire concerns i could not test at my normal location which is at 880 yard distance for my Stalker rifles but this time was 785 yards, still plenty for a good test.
simply put, after a few dial in shots, the rifle shot extremely well. Easily meeting my 1/2 moa accuracy potential requirements, comfortable to shoot, no shoulder fatigue at all. The RMB shot very well. In past tests they have always shot well for me. Their advertised BC seems to be a bit optimistic and i have found they can over expand a bit in my wildcats but this was the first time i tested the 375 cal version. Very good shooting and consistent. Will be curious to see how they perform terminally down under!!
if your interested in a Carbon BEAST of a packing rifle get ahold of me. Can make them much lighter then this but the power level required a bit of additional weight to be safe on this one!!
my Carbon Stalkers use my new Stalker UL receiver, carbon wrapped barrel (generally a #4 bartlein carbon wrapped contour), mcmillan full carbon game hunter stock.
with the 375 AX is a rather serious chambering which will produce 6200-6500 ft/lbs of energy. As such, we needed to out a bit of special attention to the parts. Still used my Stalker UL receiver, no issues there with the 375 AX. We also went with the very high quality Sunny Hill Rigby/lapua internal magazine with hinged floorplate which allows 3.850" max overall length ammo with a true 3 round capacity and flush fit to stock.
this was important because the customer wanted to use the big aluminum tipped Rocky Mountain Bullets 350 gr RBBT bullets seated to fit in the mag box.
we needed to use a larger contour barrel because of the .375" bore. finished at 26". We needed to go with one of my medium Painkiller muzzle brakes because of the size of the muzzle on the barrel. The medium PK is a rather heavy brake so i turned the OD down from 1.450" width to 1.050" to cut weight down as much as possible.
Contacted McMillan on the barrel order and gave them the specs wanted on the carbon stock and they laughed a bit when i told them the chambering and then said we would need to go with the ENHANCED carbon fiber shell technology with this one.
this is basically the full edge carbon technology but using ultra strong fiber glass fill in the high stress inletting area of the stock. Proud to say my wildcats were partially responsible for this option from McMillan!!
we would finish the rifle in a flat black cerakote finish for great looks and ultimate protection.
finished product turned out great.
Started load development with the 350 gr RMB as requested. Seated to 3.820" oal to fit in the mag requires some special consideration in powders as well. In the past i have had great results with Magpro powder and the 350 gr SMK in this class barrel length pushing 2900 fps. Started with Magpro testing this rifle but ran up to 100% load density and only 2700 fps……. Felt there was more speed to be had.
switched to Ramshot Hunter powder and was happy to hit top working pressures at 100% load density and 2820 fps. Was hoping for a bit more bit the load was very consistent so decided to go with this load for testing. Have to remember this is still a 6200 ft/lb energy load out of a relatively lightweight rifle at comfy pressures. Not only that, throughout the entire load development process, not a single thought of recoil…..
its amazing to sit on a bench with a 6200 ft/lb class energy level and not need to ever worry about recoil at all. I would estimate similar to that of a 270 sporter rifle.
because of some fire concerns i could not test at my normal location which is at 880 yard distance for my Stalker rifles but this time was 785 yards, still plenty for a good test.
simply put, after a few dial in shots, the rifle shot extremely well. Easily meeting my 1/2 moa accuracy potential requirements, comfortable to shoot, no shoulder fatigue at all. The RMB shot very well. In past tests they have always shot well for me. Their advertised BC seems to be a bit optimistic and i have found they can over expand a bit in my wildcats but this was the first time i tested the 375 cal version. Very good shooting and consistent. Will be curious to see how they perform terminally down under!!
if your interested in a Carbon BEAST of a packing rifle get ahold of me. Can make them much lighter then this but the power level required a bit of additional weight to be safe on this one!!
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