pacowboy
Well-Known Member
Is there such a thing as a budget (cheap) build?
I had acquired a set of .17 Remington dies quite a few years ago but never had a gun in that caliber. Since then I have gotten involved in predator hunting and have only had a single shot .17 HMR. I was out hunting with a buddy and a, rare for my area, coyote came in to about 60 yards or so and I just didn't feel comfortable taking the shot with an HMR. He ended up getting a shot on it with his .17 Mach IV at about 120 yards and coyote down. I'm not in an area where we get a lot of coyotes yet so I am not as familiar with shooting them. YET!! My buddy that comes in to hunt reds with me a few times a year is VERY familiar with them and kills dozens a year with his .17 Mach IV.
So it was then I decided I needed to put those .17 Remington dies to work and buy or build a new gun. After a lot of searching online I decided I couldn't afford the $900-$1200 it took to buy one so I had to build one. Most auctions online start out low enough but usually end up in the $100.00 price range. So I tried to figure out what to use to make this as cheap as possible on a limited income?
I had in my gun collection a Savage Axis .223 that I had purchased a few years ago, yes from Walmart. Other than putting an unbeded Boyd's thumbhole stock on it, it was a stock gun that I can shoot less than MOA groups all day with. Very accurate gun right out of the box. So with that I purchased another .223 Savage Axis. I wanted a 24" chrome moly Douglas barrel but with some misunderstanding my first gunsmith ordered a stainless barrel which cost me and extra $70.00 plus tax and shipping when I got mad and told him just to send it to me. I wasn't happy, I was even told he could get it a little cheaper for me. So with that said, order your barrel yourself and save some headaches and money.
I finally got the barrel and the action together. At this point the gun should have only cost me $690.00. Good deal I saved at least $300-500+ from purchasing a used rifle. Wrong barrel purchased through a gunsmith cost me a bit more though.
I added a Boyd's Prairie Hunter stock at a cost of $155.51 with shipping and a Vortex Diamondback 3-9x40 for $157.90 with shipping. I used a good set of rings that I had laying around so that didn't cost me anything. This was $313.41 I really didn't have to spend but wanted to. I do have a few other scopes laying at the house I could have used and I didn't have to change the stock.
So with everything said and done I ended up putting a little more into a brand new gun than I wanted but I didn't have to drop a close to, if not, a grand or more on a used rifle that could be a dud.
Total Price:
Gun - 295.14 (with background check)
Barrel - $493.34 (should have been $345 plus shipping, this sucked)
Gunsmithing - $50 (change barrels)
So I should have had it done for $705 give or take a little.
With the error of the barrel, gun stock, and scope it went way over budget. (Don't tell my wife.;-))
Oh, you want to know how it shoots I guess. Better than I can that's for sure, I always seem to have one flyer. I threw together some test loads and went to the range. I had 2 five shot loads with 20gr bullets and 8 with 25gr bullets. I used one of the 20's just to get the scope dialed in. That was easy. You can see from the following pictures how the gun did with a few of the test loads. Winds got really bad so I didn't shoot all of them. I was very happy to say the least. With some more fine tuning and a new trigger I am sure I will be shooting ½" or less groups or less in no time. Maybe in the future I might have some action work done to it to make it a little smoother, but for right now its good enough.
Don't bash the choices I made. I know I could have used 3,456,298 other options. These were what "I" chose. Build your gun how you want.
I had acquired a set of .17 Remington dies quite a few years ago but never had a gun in that caliber. Since then I have gotten involved in predator hunting and have only had a single shot .17 HMR. I was out hunting with a buddy and a, rare for my area, coyote came in to about 60 yards or so and I just didn't feel comfortable taking the shot with an HMR. He ended up getting a shot on it with his .17 Mach IV at about 120 yards and coyote down. I'm not in an area where we get a lot of coyotes yet so I am not as familiar with shooting them. YET!! My buddy that comes in to hunt reds with me a few times a year is VERY familiar with them and kills dozens a year with his .17 Mach IV.
So it was then I decided I needed to put those .17 Remington dies to work and buy or build a new gun. After a lot of searching online I decided I couldn't afford the $900-$1200 it took to buy one so I had to build one. Most auctions online start out low enough but usually end up in the $100.00 price range. So I tried to figure out what to use to make this as cheap as possible on a limited income?
I had in my gun collection a Savage Axis .223 that I had purchased a few years ago, yes from Walmart. Other than putting an unbeded Boyd's thumbhole stock on it, it was a stock gun that I can shoot less than MOA groups all day with. Very accurate gun right out of the box. So with that I purchased another .223 Savage Axis. I wanted a 24" chrome moly Douglas barrel but with some misunderstanding my first gunsmith ordered a stainless barrel which cost me and extra $70.00 plus tax and shipping when I got mad and told him just to send it to me. I wasn't happy, I was even told he could get it a little cheaper for me. So with that said, order your barrel yourself and save some headaches and money.
I finally got the barrel and the action together. At this point the gun should have only cost me $690.00. Good deal I saved at least $300-500+ from purchasing a used rifle. Wrong barrel purchased through a gunsmith cost me a bit more though.
I added a Boyd's Prairie Hunter stock at a cost of $155.51 with shipping and a Vortex Diamondback 3-9x40 for $157.90 with shipping. I used a good set of rings that I had laying around so that didn't cost me anything. This was $313.41 I really didn't have to spend but wanted to. I do have a few other scopes laying at the house I could have used and I didn't have to change the stock.
So with everything said and done I ended up putting a little more into a brand new gun than I wanted but I didn't have to drop a close to, if not, a grand or more on a used rifle that could be a dud.
Total Price:
Gun - 295.14 (with background check)
Barrel - $493.34 (should have been $345 plus shipping, this sucked)
Gunsmithing - $50 (change barrels)
So I should have had it done for $705 give or take a little.
With the error of the barrel, gun stock, and scope it went way over budget. (Don't tell my wife.;-))
Oh, you want to know how it shoots I guess. Better than I can that's for sure, I always seem to have one flyer. I threw together some test loads and went to the range. I had 2 five shot loads with 20gr bullets and 8 with 25gr bullets. I used one of the 20's just to get the scope dialed in. That was easy. You can see from the following pictures how the gun did with a few of the test loads. Winds got really bad so I didn't shoot all of them. I was very happy to say the least. With some more fine tuning and a new trigger I am sure I will be shooting ½" or less groups or less in no time. Maybe in the future I might have some action work done to it to make it a little smoother, but for right now its good enough.
Don't bash the choices I made. I know I could have used 3,456,298 other options. These were what "I" chose. Build your gun how you want.
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