Winner of Manners contest looking for help on first build

[Hookturnr]

Just to throw one more wrench in the mix, you may want to look at 7mm08. There are some excellent 7mm bullets out there with sickeningly high BC to reach out there with and you can do it in a standard face short action case. I prefer the LA guns myself but would definitely be looking long and hard at the 7mm08 if i were in your shoes. Also advantagious with this will be lots of factory ammo availiable, easy load dev., lots of component choices, not a ton of recoil....just my .02

 

[calling4life]

I'd go with the 260, federal is coming out with a gold medal load using the 142smk, in fact, I'm hoping to have 10 cases of it come Friday. And I don't even own a 260, yet, but I'm planning a rebarrel as well.

I really would like a med. Palma contour barrel fluted, but may end up with a rem. varmint, which is very similar.

Anyways, 260 should get you what you want, you also have the option of factory ammo, the new gold medal, or SWammo, they make several loads as well, cost is decently cheap.

Also shouldn't bring you much trouble to reload for, I know the thought of wildcat, bumblebee, flying unicorn and all those other crazy calibers frighten me.

In the end, get what you want, be it the wsm or the 6.5x47 lapua, or something crazy, regret is a b!tch.

I'll also recommend a cut rifled barrel, obermeyer, rock, brux, Krieger, bartlein... I think I'm going brux

 

[phpd1295]

Thank you everyone for your input on this build. I have gone with "Grit" (Lorenzo) from Deadlyprecisiongunsmithing.com) who is a sponsor here on this site to do my build. The only other gunsmith I was seriously considering was Kevin from Monitor County rifles. Both gunsmiths have very good reputations and they are sponsors on this site. Since I won the stock on this site I wanted to go with a sponsor from this site. Both builds came in within $50.00 of each other. I went with Lorenzo because he was able to provide a quicker turn around time and he was able to contact me quicker with answers to questions and his customer service in my opinion was better. Both were pleasant to deal with and I will most likely have a rifle worked on by Kevin in the near future once I get the this rifle back. I will post pics as soon as I get the rifle back. I hope Grit can take some pics while he is doing the build or maybe some video and post it here or on youtube.

This is the rifle packed up ready to go

Here is the stock that I won from Manners

 

[Blades356mm]

Phpd,
What details did you decide to go with or are you waiting till gun is finished for the big reveal? Perhaps announce caliber with pics of your first groups shot? Good or bad.? Then after awhile post picks of your groups once the barell is broken in and you've worked up a good load.??

Whats the lead time on the gun?

Just been reading for awhile and I'm now curious..

 

[WildRose]

The rifle will mostly be for hunting deer and a little larger game and target shooting. Almost all of the hunting down here in south Texas is done in blinds so weight isn't much of a consideration. I live in south Texas but I can ship to where ever.

THe M40 taper by design is for short barrels, usually in the 20" Range.

You'd probably do much better with a Sendero Taper, or something similar as it will help you maximize your powder burn and velocity and help you with steadiness/accuracy.

I have a buddy who's a semi retired pilot and engineer in Winters that builds one hell of a nice custom rifle that I bet would take care of you very well.

His name is Dale price and his outfit is JandalPrecision inc.

Custom Rifles - JandalPrecision.Com

He only does a handful of rifles every year and he's an absolute perfectionist about everything he does.

If Dale can't help you, If he's still in Stephenville I'd say call Garland at Triple-G Gunsmithing. He does/did fantastic work.

Both have done work for me in the past and Dale is working on a couple of projects for me now so I have no problem at all recommending them.

 

[phpd1295]

Update on Build. Grit has been great about letting me know the status of the build. He sent me an email that the barrel has already arrived and he should be starting work on the build soon. In answer to some questions the rifle will be chambered in .308 and it will have a 20" barrel with an indexed muzzle brake. The lead time Grit gave was 6 weeks from receipt of deposit. The rifle should be done in late July early August. The barrel is a Bartlein 5R. As soon as I get info or updates from Grit I will post here on this page. Thanks for all the help and support.

 

[phpd1295]

Thanks again everyone who provided input on this build. I begged Grit to start a thread on my build and he was kind enough to do it! if you want to see the process of a semi-custom build from start to finish follow this link to Grits thread.
http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f17/build-thread-phpd1295-95326/
Some pics are already up and he is sharing some of his secrets. gun)

 

[phpd1295]

The rifle is finished and delivered this past week. I was able to get to the range yesterday to break in the barrel and shoot a group. Here is the finished product and my first group after barrel break in. The 3 shot group measured .23" at 100 yards