Building A Do All Factory Ammo Rifle

Jason Elmore

Member
Joined
Oct 16, 2019
Messages
10
Location
North Carolina
Hey guys, Ive got the itch to build a new rifle. I have plans to build a new 7saum ultralight mountain rifle, but recently had a thought, what about building an all around do all hunting rifle that I can shoot readily avalible factory hunting ammo from. (I know readily available is a stretch now). I was thinking something like 7mag or 300 win mag. Something that you could find ammo for locally from Africa to Canada. I travel and hunt quite a bit and plan on continuing to do so, and don't get me wrong I Love my 28 nosler, and I like to reload, but having something that I can just buy ammo and shoot would be nice too. Let me know if you guys have done something like this or have any suggestions.
 
Doesn't really have to be a custom, just use a tuner and consistent ammo. Weatherby makes some very good quality ammunition if you're just using it to hunt and not hard to squeeze .5 or better. Berger makes some good ammo as well for longer distance shooting. Definitely more expensive and less time consuming.
 
Doesn't really have to be a custom, just use a tuner and consistent ammo. Weatherby makes some very good quality ammunition if you're just using it to hunt and not hard to squeeze .5 or better. Berger makes some good ammo as well for longer distance shooting. Definitely more expensive and less time consuming.

Id prefer it to be custom just because I'm a rifle junkie. Ive been looking at the federal and HSM Berger offerings.
 
I've had an Alamo Precision 300 WM for about a year now, it shoots Nosler Trophy Grade 180 Accubonds as well as any handload I can come up with. pretty consistent 1/2 moa. I could sell all my reloading stuff and just hunt with the factory load for the rest of my days and never need anything else.
 
Hey guys, Ive got the itch to build a new rifle. I have plans to build a new 7saum ultralight mountain rifle, but recently had a thought, what about building an all around do all hunting rifle that I can shoot readily avalible factory hunting ammo from. (I know readily available is a stretch now). I was thinking something like 7mag or 300 win mag. Something that you could find ammo for locally from Africa to Canada. I travel and hunt quite a bit and plan on continuing to do so, and don't get me wrong I Love my 28 nosler, and I like to reload, but having something that I can just buy ammo and shoot would be nice too. Let me know if you guys have done something like this or have any suggestions.
Don't really know what you are requesting. If you pick a caliber and have it reamed to SAMI specks it should be able to shoot anything in that caliber. But just by a factory, custom are made for custom. Now granted you have barrel twist and a wide Varity of bullet weights to deal with and they all won't shoot the same-some better -some worse. Get yourself a a good factory rifle. Ammo is your main concern so find something in the 300 caliber range WSMs are good. You can get a 325 WSM, 300 WSM, 270WSM and harvest anything in North America, Europe and Africa Plains Game animals,
Your statement "Something that you could find ammo for locally from Africa to Canada." I think all of us could help you out with that one and help ourselves. AMMO is a hard to determine where and when it will be available. We have our shooting rifles and competition rifles that we shoot and reload for. Then we have HUNTING Rifles and Shotguns. Our Rifles that we use for hunting and the type of hunting uses a variety of ammo. We have several rifles that we have ammo for stored away to be able to shoot anything we want if the occasion arises. If we by chance get a slot to go to Africa - we have the rifles and enough ammo, if a Brown Bear hunt says "Hey Len & Jill" come to Alaska for a spot and stock on Browns-We have the rifles and ammo. If a friend calls and say lets do some prairie dog hunting in SD. We have several rifles and a few thousand rounds. We would just say what are the GPS locations.
This has taken years of experience and planning.
That was the long answer.
Short answer: If you don't have the rifle-get one-if you don't have ammo get some and store it. You are not going to be able to travel around the world to hunt and expect that other countries will have your ammo for you rifle. You need to take it with you where ever you go.
Good Luck!!!!
Len & Jill
 
300PRC or 300WIN , 1-9 or 1-10 twist cut rifle barrel from one of the top manufactures. 26 inch barrel in something lighter than a Sendero contour but heavier than a sportier contour, nice ridged stock, Remington stainless completely trued action and bolt face and lugs or some other Remington clone action that are generally better or butter smooth. Possible get a longer than than normal Mag length so when you do want to tinker and reload you have the option to, ( this generally requires some action work as well for the extra length ), and a good side ported muzzle brake 3 or 4 ports that also has smaller round ports on top to help keep the muzzle down or a tuner and brake, Have the barrel cut to a standard 300Win or PRC chamber and you have a custom rifle that should shoot some type of factory ammo pretty well. Do it all in stainless for a little more weather resistance, Probably the 300Win would be more available around the world I would think. If your capable of doing all the work your self then that would be great if not then get a good smith that is well known and stands by there work..
 
To me it comes down to a few things…

You can get buy with a 280AI on everything but the elk and maybe large plains game in Africa at 700 and in, pretty easily. There are some that will likely say that is fine for elk at 700. It is around 2000 fps and 1600 ft/lbs with a 168 Berger. So there are some that may say it is marginal….just personal opinion often based on anecdotal evidence.

To make it simple I'll assume you aren't shooting really big animals in Africa and the 280AI will cover you for Africa.

So the question in my mind is whether you think a 280AI is enough for elk at 700. If not, then I'd jump up to a 300WM or similar.

There are several other things that also come into play…recoil sensitivity, whether you think a 300WM is too much for an antelope at maybe 300 yds, what weight and type of bullet you want to use, whether you care about using 60ish grains of powder vs 80ish grains (using 25% less powder, which might be important for a while until the logjam breaks), and what powder or other components you have on hand.

But I'd figure out what your minimum elk cartridge would be by looking at maybe the '06 based cases, and see if those are enough, and keep going up until you find the right balance of the things I mentioned.

But to me, a 280AI, maybe 30-06 (could do AI if you want), or any '06 based case from the Sherman family will cover everything up to or including elk. You can make the determination of whether to use you 28N for elk or your new gun.
 
300 Winchester magnum is my choice. I've taken it to Africa and shot many animals including crocs. Accuracy is the the key and it's there even with borrowed ammo. I needed more and the Hornady ammo was there and didn't need to resite my rifle. Used it here for elk and audad.
 
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