Fiftydriver
Official LRH Sponsor
To all,
about finished with the rifle I will be using on an early season elk hunt the end of this month. The rifle I wanted to use on this hunt was supposed to be based on my new APS Raptor receiver but there have been some issues come up that will pospone the receiver until after this hunt so that will not be possible.
Richard Graves and I want to test his new 265 gr AL RBBT on heavy game and as such obviously I would need a 338 cal rifle to use on the hunt. I have my lighterweight 338 AM but I do not think the shooting on this hunt will be over 1000 yards and that big aluminum tip ripping out with a muzzle velocity of 3500 fps may be asking for problems!!!
At least until we learn how the 265 will behave on game I wanted to use a bit tamer round. As such I decided to rebarrel one of my existing rifles with a #4 Lilja 1-10, 27" barrel.
The receiver is one of my trued Rem 700 chrome moly long actions that has had more test barrels on it then I care to admit!!! Since it is already set up for the Lapua bolt face, this was the easiest platform to start from and would not take much time away from customer work which all smiths are up to their ears in this time of year!!!
Anyway, I got the barreled receiver done this evening after regular working hours. I designed the reamer with no real throat, just a 1.5 degree leade angle coming right off the chamber. The reason is because I have the throating reamer to custom cut the throats to any length the customer wants.
It turned out good however because with the chamber cut and left as is. the 265 gr AL RBBT seated 10 thou off the lands has an overall length of 3.850". The extended Wyatts box is not long enough by their center feed box will as it accepts a length of 3.910".
The stock for the rifle is one of Tom Manners Carbon fiber sporters that I pillar bedded to the receiver. This is a very nice stock. Not one of his ultralights but still a very light weight for a full dimension sporter stock.
To help cut recoil to a managable level in this rifle which should finish out at around 7 1/4 lbs rifle weight before scope, I will use one of Shawn Carlocks small diameter 3 port brakes. Recoil will still be brisk, I am expecting recoil to be in the class of a heavy loaded 300 Win Mag in a sporter rifle but without the brake in this rifle I think recoil could be discribed as exciting!!!
Performance wise, I am hoping to break 3000 fps in the 26 to 27" barrel length. I have not decided on the finish length yet. 26 would probably be better for a dedicated elk rifle that may be used in the timber if needed but an inch really does not make that much difference. In all honest, I feel 3000 fps will be pretty comfortable as far as what the round can do. We will see what the recoil level feels like.
In testing this bullet in my 338 Allen Magnum, the BC is far and away higher then the 300 gr SMK. I will not post the numbers I have used to get my ballistic drop chart to match actual bullet flight simply because it will just start a ****ing match but I will say it is far higher then what the 300 gr SMK offers.
I hope to get the rifle finished up by this weekend and then I will post some pics of the finished product. The stearing controls will be handled by a Weaver Tactical that has been with me on many a hunt and will be idea for anything from in your face to 1000 yards if the chance arrises.
More to come soon. Got to get her ready, the hunt is starting on the 27th of this month!!!
Stay tuned. For those not familiar with the 338 Allen Xpress, its basially a 7mm Allen Magnum necked up to 338. Or another version of a 338 Lapua Improved.
Kirby Allen(50)
about finished with the rifle I will be using on an early season elk hunt the end of this month. The rifle I wanted to use on this hunt was supposed to be based on my new APS Raptor receiver but there have been some issues come up that will pospone the receiver until after this hunt so that will not be possible.
Richard Graves and I want to test his new 265 gr AL RBBT on heavy game and as such obviously I would need a 338 cal rifle to use on the hunt. I have my lighterweight 338 AM but I do not think the shooting on this hunt will be over 1000 yards and that big aluminum tip ripping out with a muzzle velocity of 3500 fps may be asking for problems!!!
At least until we learn how the 265 will behave on game I wanted to use a bit tamer round. As such I decided to rebarrel one of my existing rifles with a #4 Lilja 1-10, 27" barrel.
The receiver is one of my trued Rem 700 chrome moly long actions that has had more test barrels on it then I care to admit!!! Since it is already set up for the Lapua bolt face, this was the easiest platform to start from and would not take much time away from customer work which all smiths are up to their ears in this time of year!!!
Anyway, I got the barreled receiver done this evening after regular working hours. I designed the reamer with no real throat, just a 1.5 degree leade angle coming right off the chamber. The reason is because I have the throating reamer to custom cut the throats to any length the customer wants.
It turned out good however because with the chamber cut and left as is. the 265 gr AL RBBT seated 10 thou off the lands has an overall length of 3.850". The extended Wyatts box is not long enough by their center feed box will as it accepts a length of 3.910".
The stock for the rifle is one of Tom Manners Carbon fiber sporters that I pillar bedded to the receiver. This is a very nice stock. Not one of his ultralights but still a very light weight for a full dimension sporter stock.
To help cut recoil to a managable level in this rifle which should finish out at around 7 1/4 lbs rifle weight before scope, I will use one of Shawn Carlocks small diameter 3 port brakes. Recoil will still be brisk, I am expecting recoil to be in the class of a heavy loaded 300 Win Mag in a sporter rifle but without the brake in this rifle I think recoil could be discribed as exciting!!!
Performance wise, I am hoping to break 3000 fps in the 26 to 27" barrel length. I have not decided on the finish length yet. 26 would probably be better for a dedicated elk rifle that may be used in the timber if needed but an inch really does not make that much difference. In all honest, I feel 3000 fps will be pretty comfortable as far as what the round can do. We will see what the recoil level feels like.
In testing this bullet in my 338 Allen Magnum, the BC is far and away higher then the 300 gr SMK. I will not post the numbers I have used to get my ballistic drop chart to match actual bullet flight simply because it will just start a ****ing match but I will say it is far higher then what the 300 gr SMK offers.
I hope to get the rifle finished up by this weekend and then I will post some pics of the finished product. The stearing controls will be handled by a Weaver Tactical that has been with me on many a hunt and will be idea for anything from in your face to 1000 yards if the chance arrises.
More to come soon. Got to get her ready, the hunt is starting on the 27th of this month!!!
Stay tuned. For those not familiar with the 338 Allen Xpress, its basially a 7mm Allen Magnum necked up to 338. Or another version of a 338 Lapua Improved.
Kirby Allen(50)
