Building my first LR Hunting Rifle

[jluyt]

Hi all,

I am new to this forum and am looking at building my first LR hunting rifle. I read the article on this site about building a LR hunting rifle for under $1000 and was quite taken by it.

Since I am in the early stages of planning my rifle, I have some questions:

Firstly, what caliber are most suited for LR hunting: I was thinking .270, but want more input on it.

Sincerely,
Justin

 

[britz]

well Jluyt, your going to have to give some more information. What game are you going after, are you going to shoot lots of paper with it? Do you reload? Are you going to put a muzzle brake on it? What is your recoil tolerance? Do you want to be able to purchase shells almost anywhere or are you willing to order/make them in advance? Is it going to be a carry rifle, or a true long range rig?

The 270 is a great cartidge, one of the best to come off of the 06. One of it's downfalls is simply that the caliber (.277) is a little more limited than others in bullet selection for real good long range BC. There are some very good bullets out there, but other calibers like 6.5, 7mm, 308, 338 simply offer more selection in the bullet choice.

 

[ol mike]

Britz is right ..

Welcome Justin !

Do you own a centerfire rifle now?
Many people think -'well all i have is this old 30-06/243 ' -can't do much with an old outdated rifle like this.
When in reality they have a longrange rifle sitting there and don't realize it.
If you have a rifle -look into the seemingly never ending amount of equipment [rangefinder ,reliable tracking scope ,longrange rings and bases ,precision reloading equipment and numerous powder and bullet types quality brass ,bipod/rear bag etc.] it takes to get going with longrange hunting.

I have a friend who decided he wanted to get into longrange hunting -he had a 270win that he 'thought' didn't shoot good enough.
After giving it -its first real barrel cleaning and explaining why you need to clean the barrel correctly -he seemed overwhelmed by all the little do-dads it took to clean his barrel.
Anyway after floating the barrel -adjusting his trigger -doing a little load developement w/him he could hit a 10" steel plate at 500yds and was happy as a lark.
Good luck -Mike

 

[jluyt]

Britz, Ol Mike -

Thanks for your replies, they made me think even more. But let me first start by answering all your questions:

What game are you going after, are you going to shoot lots of paper with it?
I want a rifle that will serve well for mid-size game, but also long range "target" shooting. Since I live in the city, I will shoot target/paper frequently and occasionally game.

Do you reload?
Not right now. Before I immigrated to the US, I loved in South Africa and I reloaded when I loved there. But I left behind all by reloading gear and firearms. Thus, I might reload in the future, but not right off the bat.

Are you going to put a muzzle brake on it?
Not sure, help me decide.

What is your recoil tolerance?
I use to have a 30-06 when in lived in South Africa and loved it. Recoil was moderate and a good all-over hunting rifle. so that recoil was fine for me.

Do you want to be able to purchase shells almost anywhere or are you willing to order/make them in advance?
Mostly buy anywhere.

Is it going to be a carry rifle, or a true long range rig?
A true long range "rig" sounds tempting, but I do want something that will not limit me to carry it for the occasional hunt also. A true LR rig could work if light in weight.

Do you own a centerfire rifle now?
As I mentioned above, no, not now. In the past I owned several arms and loved the sport. Now, I am ready to start again.


Thank you for your help. I slowly would like to get this thing build, but appreciate your help.

Any suggestions where to go for the components?

 

[britz]

Well, I'll give you my opinion.

Since you would like to purchase ammo you need to stick to factory ammo and because you would like to be able to purchase it anyware I'd stick to the more popular rounds like 300 win mag 7mm rem mag, 30-06 280 308 270... you get the point. I'd reccomend anything bigger than 243 and smaller than the 338 mag. If you want to do some long range target shooting the 308 win is probably your best choice because of the match grade ammo available for it from factory but it just depends on what grade ammo you are going to look for. All popular rounds have premium ammo, but only a few have match grade.

If you are going to handload, then your doors are very wide. It is all going to be personal choice from here.

A cheap easy way to get into a custom is to purcase a savage action or even a stevens 200 rifle for about 350 and have a shillan or krieger put on it in the caliber of choice for about 300. A good stock could run around 300 or you can get into a Choat for about 200. A smith would likely charge about 150 or so to put the gun together, and if you need to have him chamber it, it will cost a little more. Of course all these numbers are just estimates and I'm no smith. Others on the site are going to be able to give you more accurate prices.

A cary rifle will have a sporter weight barrel. I shoot a tikka lite and I am comfortable with it shooting at big game out past 600. I would want a heavier rifle to really reach out just for a more stable platform. On the other hand I also have a savage varmint rifle and I wouldn't want to lug that thing around a woods much!

A rifle that is going to puch paper primarily is probably best served with light varmint contur IMHO.

If you want to shoot compatition, don't get a muzzle brake. If your comfortable with the recoil of a 3006 sporter, you won't need a brake with any of the cartidges I suggested - especially if you get a slightly heavier rifle built. A good recoil pad will do wonders for you. A muzzle brake will reduce the recoil significantly, but it adds length and is much louder.
good luck, Mark.

 

[jluyt]

Thanks so much for your input, it really got me thinking. After reading your post I went ahear and did more research. I figured the following would be close to what I would like:

308 Win. Savage 110/111
Krieger barrel
Knoxx Axiom UltraLight Stock


Now, I was also looking at the AccuTrigger from Savage, but at $500 it is a little steep. Any sugestions on a shart shootr trigger for the savage that will not break the bank?

Another question I have is weather or not the savage will fir in the Knoxx Axiom stock. I look at their site and it looks like they mostly supply this stock for Remington and Howa. Is that right?

I have not looked at opticals yet, but still trying to iron out the action/barrel/stock.

 

[britz]

now you are getting out of my league lol. You might want to post a question in the gunsmithing section. Good luck.

As far as optics goes, spend as much as you can afford. For a long range rig, I feel I have about the cheapest stuff that could be acceptable - Nikon Buckmaster, and the bushnell 3200 is comparable. I also have a Nikon Monarch and it is an improvement over the Buckmaster, but I'd preferr a VX III or a Nightforce obviously!

 

[nathank]

the knoxx axiom stock only works in remington model 700, weatherby vanguard, and howa 1500 actions. i would suggest getting a remington model 700 sps varmint in 308. they are less than 600 dollars have a heavy barrel and you could put it into the knoxx axiom stock. it also has the x-mark pro trigger wich is not as good as a custom trigger but is alright. have a smith bed it and do a trigger job and i think you would have a pretty nice LR riffle gun)

 

[ICANHITHIMMAN]

Get a Remingtion 700 SPS in 300 win mag. 450-550$

Replace the stock with a used HS precsion there are allot of them for sale just ask the members what thay have to sell you. I got one for my build from a member for 200$ never even used.

Bed the stock and have the trigger tuned down.

Spend the rest on the scope, rings and bases. Check out www.thesamplelist.com it the the dealer samples from riflescopes.com

Get a harris bipod.

There you go for targets and everything else you can think of

 

[jluyt]

Funny, I just came back from Cabalas and was looking at the Buckmaster - about $300. Still some work to do on my site...

 

[ICANHITHIMMAN]

I only said the 300 win cause I love it and the SPS in 300 win comes with a 26" barrel.