DIY Bolt Action Rifle Opinions

[ndczerwinski]

Let me start my saying I am not trying to take on these projects as a means of saving money but as a point of pride and personal interest in building my own rifle. I have plenty of custom rifles and I have done a good amount of upgrading factory rifles on my own very sucessfully.

I am planning on building 2 identical rifles in two different calibers for target shooting and long range prairie dog hunting, one will be in 223 rem and one will be in 6mm CM. These are rifles and are going to be dusty, dirty, beat on, and tossed in and out of vehicles a lot, so I am trying to keep performance and durability at a high level.

I am not going to be hiking up mountains or anything but I am going to be lugging these rifles in and out of the field a lot so I don't want 20 lb rifles. But I am going with steel barrels because they are going to get a lot of rounds fired through them and they are going to be run relatively hot.

I am looking for input and suggestions on my parts list below as well as experience with a shouldered prefit barrel versus a barrel nut setup. I prefer the looks of the shouldered barrel, but the barrel nut option seems to be make sense for this type of setup to me.

Below is my parts list:
-Bighorn TL3 Action
-KRG Bravo Chassis
-TriggerTech Special Trigger
-Zermatt Invisi-nut
-Criterion 20" MTU Contour Barrel

Thank you for your input.

 

[huntsman22]

I done the same thing, but went with a TL3 and a SR3 in manners EH6A's. TT Diamonds and Proof sendero light shouldered prefits. I did buy the Bighorn action wrench.....

in PRC...

in creed...

 

[ndczerwinski]

I done the same thing, but went with a TL3 and a SR3 in manners EH6A's. TT Diamonds and Proof sendero light shouldered prefits. I did buy the Bighorn action wrench.....

in PRC...

in creed...

Nice looking rifles. Everything head spaced correctly and went together well I take it? Any regrets on the TL3 or SR3? I do not have any experience with the big horn actions but I like the idea of the CRF and mechanical ejector.

 

[huntsman22]

Absolutely NO regrets. In fact, I think so highly of them that I done one in their RimX in 22 LR and have another coming in 17 WSM. If you are going detach magfed, do the TL3.....

 

[ndczerwinski]

Absolutely NO regrets. In fact, I think so highly of them that I done one in their RimX in 22 LR and have another coming in 17 WSM. If you are going detach magfed, do the TL3.....

Nice to know. I was thinking of doing a 17HMR if all goes well.

 

[matt_3479]

Parts list looks good. I prefer shouldered prefits as well. Spun up a shouldered prefit on my tl3, Zeus, ks, impact and never had a problem with any of the

 

[ndczerwinski]

Parts list looks good. I prefer shouldered prefits as well. Spun up a shouldered prefit on my tl3, Zeus, ks, impact and never had a problem with any of the

Any particular brand barrel or profit maker you would recommend? I was thinking of Criterion because I know a handful of guys that have had good luck with them on there prairie dog guns, and seeing how abused the barrels get on these guns I wasn't opposed to trying one because they are going to be on the rifle for too terribly long.

All of my custom rifles have carbon fiber barrels but I think a heavy steel barrel will be better in this application.

 

[zr600]

Criterion barrel are good and very affordable. You would be able to get your whole build from James at Northland Shooters supply. He carries the barrels, nuts, action wrench, nut wrench, trigger tech triggers, head space gauges, and the KRG Bravo too. I think this would be a good shooting build for you. I have bought parts from him on few different occasions both times have been very good dealings.

 

[matt_3479]

Any particular brand barrel or profit maker you would recommend? I was thinking of Criterion because I know a handful of guys that have had good luck with them on there prairie dog guns, and seeing how abused the barrels get on these guns I wasn't opposed to trying one because they are going to be on the rifle for too terribly long.

All of my custom rifles have carbon fiber barrels but I think a heavy steel barrel will be better in this application.

im in Canada so I can't purchase from near the people you do but as far as brands go I've had great luck with KS arms and is my go to now, but benchmark and bartlein have always been excellent with me as well

 

[West Calamus]

I done the same thing, but went with a TL3 and a SR3 in manners EH6A's. TT Diamonds and Proof sendero light shouldered prefits. I did buy the Bighorn action wrench.....

in PRC...

in creed...

Nice White tail

 

[Jeffrey Van Zandt]

Let me start my saying I am not trying to take on these projects as a means of saving money but as a point of pride and personal interest in building my own rifle. I have plenty of custom rifles and I have done a good amount of upgrading factory rifles on my own very sucessfully.

I am planning on building 2 identical rifles in two different calibers for target shooting and long range prairie dog hunting, one will be in 223 rem and one will be in 6mm CM. These are rifles and are going to be dusty, dirty, beat on, and tossed in and out of vehicles a lot, so I am trying to keep performance and durability at a high level.

I am not going to be hiking up mountains or anything but I am going to be lugging these rifles in and out of the field a lot so I don't want 20 lb rifles. But I am going with steel barrels because they are going to get a lot of rounds fired through them and they are going to be run relatively hot.

I am looking for input and suggestions on my parts list below as well as experience with a shouldered prefit barrel versus a barrel nut setup. I prefer the looks of the shouldered barrel, but the barrel nut option seems to be make sense for this type of setup to me.

Below is my parts list:
-Bighorn TL3 Action
-KRG Bravo Chassis
-TriggerTech Special Trigger
-Zermatt Invisi-nut
-Criterion 20" MTU Contour Barrel

Thank you for your input.

well good parts list but steel over carbonfiber will give you nothing as far a heating a barrel and wee weight gos the KGR will add a lot so will the MTU steel barrel action is one of the best I do savage nut system over shoulder fits just do to easy switch barrel set ups never have had any one that got one from me say anything bad about them but I use bighorns net on all rifles I like the KGRs one 4 builds for hunter and they love them but total weight on the 300 wins are all over or right at 14lbs with scope and mag full of ammo there are a few chassis that are 22oz -28 oz out there now XLR and

 

[JAYgs8163]

I'm building a similar type setup now using a Kelbly Atlas Tactical and a Bix N Andy TacPro trigger. Waiting for my Grayboe stock to come in as well as my barrels. Tolerances in these actions are so good now many barrel makers are now making "shouldered prefits" requiring no final fitting by a gunsmith. I've done a few of these with a friend with shouldered prefits and all headspace was spot on. All three he's done we'd screw the barrel in and torque to spec and head space was perfect, no barrel nut required. I invested in a Viper Barrel vise and PMA action wrench for $120. I have very limited work space so I'm building a universal mount plate for the barrel vise that will work with my inline fabrication bench mount.

 

[nksmfamjp]

I do savage nut system over shoulder fits just do to easy switch barrel set ups

I have a Savage nut barrel and a shouldered barrel. If torqued to the same 40 ftlbs, why is the nut system easier? I find it more difficult than a good vise and action wrench, especially if I need the exact same headspace each time like to use already loaded ammo.

 

[JAYgs8163]

Let me start my saying I am not trying to take on these projects as a means of saving money but as a point of pride and personal interest in building my own rifle. I have plenty of custom rifles and I have done a good amount of upgrading factory rifles on my own very sucessfully.

I am planning on building 2 identical rifles in two different calibers for target shooting and long range prairie dog hunting, one will be in 223 rem and one will be in 6mm CM. These are rifles and are going to be dusty, dirty, beat on, and tossed in and out of vehicles a lot, so I am trying to keep performance and durability at a high level.

I am not going to be hiking up mountains or anything but I am going to be lugging these rifles in and out of the field a lot so I don't want 20 lb rifles. But I am going with steel barrels because they are going to get a lot of rounds fired through them and they are going to be run relatively hot.

I am looking for input and suggestions on my parts list below as well as experience with a shouldered prefit barrel versus a barrel nut setup. I prefer the looks of the shouldered barrel, but the barrel nut option seems to be make sense for this type of setup to me.

Below is my parts list:
-Bighorn TL3 Action
-KRG Bravo Chassis
-TriggerTech Special Trigger
-Zermatt Invisi-nut
-Criterion 20" MTU Contour Barrel

Thank you for your input.

If that's the action your going with check these guys out. I've had great luck with them. Call and ask for Bryce, super good guy and he will talk to you about their processes. Great customer service.

Bighorn/Zermatt Arms - Fixed Shoulder - Prefit Barrel

The Origin, TL3/SR3 and RimX actions from Bighorn Arms are extremely repeatable, so nice in fact, we are able to offer prefit barrels for their actions configured in a shouldered barrel. This means there is no barrel nut to worry about, with the use of a barrel vise you can spin off an old...

preferredbarrelblanks.com