First Build

[406pat]

This is the first long range hunter I've built. Started life as a Stevens 200 in .270

I changed out the bolt face and turned it into a .300 Ultra. Hoping to drive 210 VLDS as soon as I can find some darn primers in this town!

Barrel is a Shilen 30" with a 1 in 10"

Scope is a Nikon Buckmaster with Mil - Dot 6-18

Stock is a take off from some Savage that I got off e-bay for $10 because it had a wide barrel channel. I sprayed some truck bed liner on it and stiffened it up and I think it'll work well.

Cheek piece I made myself out of a sheet of Kydex

Still need to get
-Bipod
-Better Scope rings
-Better recoil pad

And I still need to bed it in the stock. I just had to bolt it all up and see what it would look like because it felt like I was getting nowhere. Had to see how close I was to give myself a kick in the ***!

 

[jmason]

Lookin' good!!

 

[tjonh2001]

gotta love the ultra. looks good. i just posted mine never been happier with a gun.

if you make it over my way i have a few thousand primers i could help you out.

 

[406pat]

Thanks for the complements guys!

Tjohn-
Thanks for the offer. It's a sad condition when I'm considering making the trip just for that! I'm thinking I should be able to scrounge some up around here. Been pretty socked at work and haven't put in a great effort in the search yet. Should be able to turn something up.

Anybody know of any sort of spacer system for a bolt on recoil pad? I'm in the process of making my own but was just curious if there was one already out there.

 

[silvertip-co]

it's cool how subtle mods work into a great looking rifle. congrats on a nice looking Savage rig.

 

[denver67]

Me too... Sometimes, I think I should be able to scrounge some up around here.

 

[406pat]

Finally got my hands on some primers! Hoping to finish bedding and get some loads put together to test this week and try it out next weekend!

 

[406pat]

Got some loads put together and hit the range yesterday. I started out with 85 grains of reloader 25, Remington Brass, CCI magnum large rifle primers and the 210 berger VLD. I loaded groups of 5 rounds at different jumps to lands. First 5 were on the lands, second 5 were .01" off, third were .05" off, fourth were .09" off and the final 5 were .15" off.

I had the best groups with .01" and .05" off the lands. I shot two foulers at the start of each group then shot 3 for score. At .01" off the lands the group was at .9" OC and at .05" off the group was .45"

Felt great to put the first 25 rounds down range with something I built. Felt even better to shoot under MOA . Still need a few more sessions of load development before I get out and drive this stick at long range but this was a very promising sign!

 

[novaman64]

Nice lookin riffle! Whats caps are those on your scope? I have the same scope in 4.5-14 and want to get a set of caps like that....

 

[JPRITT]

sent you a PM

 

[406pat]

Nova,

The caps came with it. Not sure if you can order them from Nikon or not but I'd give them a call and I imagine they'll work with you on it.

 

[captacademy]

Nice work, it should be a shooter!

 

[406pat]

Hey all. I realized that I've been doing all this shooting with the .300 and haven't been sharing it!

This was the first group I shot at 300yds last night. Just trying to get a drop chart worked up (300 is the longest my range has and it's bow season here so I don't want to be blasting out in my other spots and spooking animals). The vertical line is about 4" long for a sense of scale.

Kind of crappy photo but this is the 4" gong at 300. I had two rounds left after I got her dialed in where I wanted so I decided to go for it. The shiny spot to the bottom right is where the two 210g berger slugs hit within .5" of each other.

It appears I've built a shooter. Might have to keep this rifle building going.

Thanks for lookin!

-PJS