Stock action vs blueprinted vs custom ?

[blackdog]

In terms of real world accuracy, and mostly hunting concerned, what is the average difference going to be between adding a high quality aftermarket barrel like a Bartlein to either a factory Rem 700 action, a blueprinted 700 action, or a custom action like a Defiance or maybe a Stiller?

I understand fit and finish and tolerances will likely be better with options two and three, but if all the rest of the components (quality Manners stock, Jewel trigger, NF scope, etc) are all the same, will the accuracy of those options on average be considerably better, slightly better, or perhaps a crapshoot?

I've got my eyes on a new .300 win mag build and trying to decide on my direction. I've got a 20+ year old Win M70 in 300wm in the safe that I could use as a donor action or do I sell to help pay for a custom action or to help pay for a Rem action simply for ease of finding compatible components?

My hunting seasons haven't even started yet and I'm already thinking about new rifles for the 2017 season! It's a sickness!!

 

[N2TRKYS]

Honestly, I'm getting great accuracy out of my factory hunting rifles. I doubt I ever do another custom again.

 

[MudRunner2005]

If you're replacing the barrel, why not go ahead and have it single-point blueprinted? It just makes sense... I mean, you're putting a precision high-quality barrel on that rifle, why wouldn't you want the lug and action face and bolt face to be completely squared up with the chamber?

 

[MudRunner2005]

Honestly, I'm getting great accuracy out of my factory hunting rifles. I doubt I ever do another custom again.

I'm the opposite, every action I have bought since 2013 has been blueprinted. I've had customs since I was 16, but I started building again in 2013 after a long hiatus, and after finding a new (closer) gunsmith with a 2-week turn-around time that does exceptional work, I won't ever build another rifle without blueprinting.

 

[blackdog]

If you're replacing the barrel, why not go ahead and have it single-point blueprinted? It just makes sense... I mean, you're putting a precision high-quality barrel on that rifle, why wouldn't you want the lug and action face and bolt face to be completely squared up with the chamber?

Well, what I'm asking is if going through that effort and expense makes any real world difference? Is there enough evidence, anecdotal or not, to prove the worth in blueprinting? I have a .280ai built off a old 721 with a Brux barrel on it. Shoots great. Did I get lucky or is that pretty common?

 

[MudRunner2005]

Well, what I'm asking is if going through that effort and expense makes any real world difference? Is there enough evidence, anecdotal or not, to prove the worth in blueprinting? I have a .280ai built off a old 721 with a Brux barrel on it. Shoots great. Did I get lucky or is that pretty common?

Well, with all the smart professional gunsmiths and mathematicians and machinists as we've had the last few centuries, I'm sure that if they found having perfectly flat mating-surfaces was unnecessary, that by now we would have stopped the unnecessary process... But we still blueprint, so obviously there is some validity to it.

Just my thoughts...

 

[brentc]

Just to put some numbers to this discussion, and of course, there are exceptions. If you can live a rifle that shoots in the .4 -.5 MOA area with occasional .2-.3 MOA groups, barrel up a factory action. If you want to get into a consistent .2-.3 MOA rifle with occasional .1 MOA groups, blueprint a factory action. If you're capable of shooting better groups than .2 MOA consistently go with a full custom for full potential.

There are a lot of guys that have had extreme success building from blueprinted actions.

 

[N2TRKYS]

How much accuracy difference are y'all getting from squaring the action and putting the same factory barrel back on?

 

[Mikecr]

Actions do not make guns shoot better.
But action problems make guns shoot worse.
If you have a stock factory action that you've seen to be free of issues, and this includes squareness of everything and bolt timing and trigger, then you should be good to build on it.

There are relatively few actions that are actually 'custom'.
Most should be referred to as 'aftermarket'.
I hold a couple BAT actions that are true one-off customs. But neither would out shoot a factory Savage with a better barrel. And neither would shoot so well without my load developed ammo.

There is a significant gain in use of an aftermarket action though: value,, resale value.
When I see a Rem700 based 'custom gun' for sale, I assign no more than donor action to the gun's value.
The barrel is shot, the bases, rings, and scope likely suck,, the stock is useful only to another remington,,, and it's most likely whomever built it knows nothing of quality gun design. They really did no more than screw it together.
But when they built it on a nice action, they also put work into the stock for it. They more likely put time, thought, and money into every aspect of it. Less probability of problems. This holds value.

 

[MudRunner2005]

How much accuracy difference are y'all getting from squaring the action and putting the same factory barrel back on?

Most of mine shoot between .25 to .5" with handloads. Most have worked-over factory Sendero barrels, that have had the chambers cleaned up (Ackley Improved), headspace reset, the bores hand-lapped, and re-crowned, but other than that, stock barrels.

 

[FEENIX]

In terms of real world accuracy, and mostly hunting concerned, what is the average difference going to be between adding a high quality aftermarket barrel like a Bartlein to either a factory Rem 700 action, a blueprinted 700 action, or a custom action like a Defiance or maybe a Stiller?

I understand fit and finish and tolerances will likely be better with options two and three, but if all the rest of the components (quality Manners stock, Jewel trigger, NF scope, etc) are all the same, will the accuracy of those options on average be considerably better, slightly better, or perhaps a crapshoot?

I've got my eyes on a new .300 win mag build and trying to decide on my direction. I've got a 20+ year old Win M70 in 300wm in the safe that I could use as a donor action or do I sell to help pay for a custom action or to help pay for a Rem action simply for ease of finding compatible components?

My hunting seasons haven't even started yet and I'm already thinking about new rifles for the 2017 season! It's a sickness!!

To answer your question per subject title, it's ...

1. custom action
2. blueprinted action
3. stock action

 

[engineer40]

Well, what I'm asking is if going through that effort and expense makes any real world difference? Is there enough evidence, anecdotal or not, to prove the worth in blueprinting? I have a .280ai built off a old 721 with a Brux barrel on it. Shoots great. Did I get lucky or is that pretty common?

I've seen a couple 721's shoot exceptionally well myself. I always keep my eye out for a good deal on them. I have no science or math or proof. Only an opinion.

The 20% that gets 80% of the accuracy results:
1 - Reloading
2 - Bedding stock
3 - Free floating barrels.

After that, things get expensive quick.

Once again, just my opinion, I doubt that a blueprinted action is going to gain you much more than 0.10 of an inch better groups at 100 yards. That's actually a lot to expect from blueprinting and truing. If you've already done the big 3 (listed above) that everybody does, chances are good that you are shooting close to a half inch group at 100 yards. So to pick up another 0.10 of an inch is a 20% gain in accuracy. I just don't see that happening very often unless something is seriously out of square with the action. Obviously there are always exceptions.

 

[Browning300]

I've seen a couple 721's shoot exceptionally well myself. I always keep my eye out for a good deal on them. I have no science or math or proof. Only an opinion.

The 20% that gets 80% of the accuracy results:
1 - Reloading
2 - Bedding stock
3 - Free floating barrels.

After that, things get expensive quick.

Once again, just my opinion, I doubt that a blueprinted action is going to gain you much more than 0.10 of an inch better groups at 100 yards. That's actually a lot to expect from blueprinting and truing. If you've already done the big 3 (listed above) that everybody does, chances are good that you are shooting close to a half inch group at 100 yards. So to pick up another 0.10 of an inch is a 20% gain in accuracy. I just don't see that happening very often unless something is seriously out of square with the action. Obviously there are always exceptions.

Well said couldn't agree more!!

 

[rcoody]

For me if you have an old 700 action laying around unused I might have it blueprinted while rebarreled.

But I would never buy a 700 action and have it blueprinted. Cost wise you could have a custom action.

Will bluprinted or custom or stock shoot better? I can't answer that.

Which one will make you feel better. I know we all have plenty of guns that can do the job.