Building First custom rifle..Suggestions/Reccomendations

.300 Ackley

Locotrician,
The .300 Ackley Improved would be my suggestion. It is also an Improved .300 WBY like the .30 Hart. The .300 Ackley is blown out w/ a 40° shoulder made off of the .300 WBY, .340 WBY or the .300 H&H case. There are a bunch of different variation of the Ackley. The Ackley I shoot was designed by Alvin Johnson. It is a Tight Neck minimum turn chamber using Norma .300 WBY cases. The neck is .334" w/ a loaded round measuring .332". I have a Broughton Williamsport Taper (1.25 for 6" - .950" @ 30") finished at 31" plus a L. Baity muzzle brake. It shoots a 210 gr. Berger VLD w/ 79.5 gr. RL25 at an average mv. of 3050 fps. The come-ups from the 100 yard zero to 1000 yard zero is approx. 22 – 24 MOA. This gun will consistently shoot 5 shots under 7.5" at 1000 yards. The best it has shot so far is 3.875" with 3 of the 5 measuring 1.111" The H2O capacity of the .300 WBY is approx. 97 gr.. My Ackley is 103 gr. IF your going to pick a cartridge for a custom it might as well be a winner. Check out the 1000 yard BR match reports on the International Benchrest Shooters Assn. web page or nc1000yrdshooters.com or you can go to Benchrest.com and do a search for the Ackley. My Smith is Leonard Baity of North Wilkesboro, NC, you can find his phone number on 6mmbr.com under Top Gunsmiths.

You can follow the links below to watch two short video clip of the target being hit by the 210 VLDs from 1K. Oh yeah turn your volume up and you'll here the Rifle report approx. 1.4 seconds after you here the bullet come by the target (breaking the sound barrier).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDQW9BYowmg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGzt07hX1_0
Here is a clip of my 3 year old son forming the cases with 14 gr. Of unique and Cream of Wheat. Very easy to make the case. My son thinks its fun.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2V2JOLIKFR8

Baron
 
My first custom is almost complete its a 270AM, I choose the Manners MCS-GAT Ill tell you how I like it in a few weeks.
 
Locotrician
Iam in the same process if you are looking into a wildcat go check out superior ballistics .comtalk to Mic MicPherson and By Smally this is there company you might be suprised with some of there rounds !!!! I was , I am goning to use there 25x60 SMc round in my build !!! just to show how well they work the savage custom shop builds one with there 5x35 SMc one of the fastest 20's out there and every accurate
Well good with the build and have fun after words
 
From the imformation you have given so far, it seems you want a big caliber . Instead of the Dakota, I would go with the following:
300 RUM: 210gr Berger @ 3100+ (28" barrel)

300 JAZZ: 210gr Berger @ 3100+( 28" barrel)
240gr SMK @ 2900+(28" barrel)

338 EDGE: 300 SMK @ 2800+(30" barrel)

338 Norma Mag 300gr SMK @2750 (26" barrel)
@2800+(30" barrel)

The 300 JAZZ and 338 Norma Mag don't require an extended magbox to load the 210 Berger or 300gr SMK at the proper neck / shoulder junction.
The 300 RUM and 338 EDGE would.
All of these are great calibers and would make great longrange rifles, if you need the foot pounds of energy at distance to take big game.

If you don't need the foot pounds of energy at distance, and just want to shoot longrange, there are better calibers to learn on and enjoy.
I would recommend the 260 Rem or 6.5x47 Lapua. Both more than capable of 1000yd shooting.
As far as stocks go, I only own Manners and HS Precision.
Soon to have a show stopper from Joel Russo thou.
For your first custom build I would not go beyond these calibers to a 338 AM or Snipe-Tac. That is alot of gun, and something to be eased into.
 
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