My son's first rifle build thread!

Hey, hey,…coming along
Heck ya. When I bought this from you quite a while back this was kinda what I had planned for it, he is super excited. When we put the barrel on yesterday we went through the whole process together, I had him watch a couple good youtube videos on replacing savage prefits and tell me what to do next, he was pretty into it!
 
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All good points! And, ones that should be addressed. I forgot to mention that swapping the bolt face is another thing that is going to happen.

I was very heavily thinking of going with a .260 ai, as I have all the dies and such, and it's a great round. I have even killed elk with my 29" barreled .260ai, at over 900 yards, 156 eol @2940. It's doable, but also on the borderline at further ranges, on elk. There are a couple reason why I decided against it. I want to have a shorter barrel on it, so it is easier to handle for him. He got the short genes from his mother, and is probably only going to be around 5'5" as an adult ha ha. And also, it may eventually be ran supressed. Another reason is, as stated, elk. I usually get two elk tags every year, a general as well as a late season cow/calf, and while I know I have killed elk at range before with a .260ai, I would have to take off 200-250 fps from what I have used, putting performance at or likely below that of a standard 6.5 creed. I can always just make sure we get close, but I'm sure you know, hunting elk in open country doesn't always allow you to do that. I just don't want the limiting factor to be the rifle, but instead, his ability.

As far as his ability, I have watched him consistently hit prairie dogs at over 400 yards with my .260 ai, which has a MBM Lil Beast brake on it.....since he was 6 ha ha! He has been at it for a bit. Also, he has done the same, with his mother's 20" 7 sherman max, which also wears a MBM lil beast 3 port brake. Which comes to the next part, I would definitely put a solid brake on it, at least at first. Once he got comfortable with his rifle, I would probably swap out to a supressor, as long as he was still able to shoot it well.

The other aspect to that, is I want to try to get a load with the 140 Badlands bullet, we have seen great terminal performance from it, and with the speeds attainable from it, as well as the .333 G7, it outruns the 170 Berger, with significantly less recoil. I would expect to run that 140 around 3100 fps or so, from an 18-20" .270 ss, putting it actually very similar to my .260ai. I know there would be more recoil, as it burns a lot more powder, but it will certainly be nicer than a 170 @ 2850 or so.

That is how I came to this cartridge choice, I think a short mag 30 cal would be a little too much, even with a brake, but I feel confident that he can handle a lighter bullet in a .270 cal, even a magnum, as he has shown with his mother's 7 Sherman Max. My first rifle was a sporter weight 30-06, shooting hand loaded 190 Hornady spire points at 2800, and no muzzle device ha ha. It wacked me pretty good, but I still loved that rifle and shot it as much as dad would load me rounds for ha ha. I think he will feel the same.....probably gonna wear my press out!

Congratulations on passing on your values and hunting traditions!! I believe that our kids need to learn work ethics and how life works, " without" free handouts!! My thoughts on designer cartridges are (1) they're expensive to feed (2) components are or become scarce (3) after a few years they become extinct. I like the .277 caliber, however the 6.8 Western would not be my first choice due to what I've mentioned. My thoughts are a .270 WSM, only with a 1:8 twist barrel. WInchester already has a winner in the accuracy department with this cartridge, but came up with a different case design to come up with something new to sell their rifles. You will get more powder capacity, this round has been around and proven to be a winner and from what I've seen isn't going to be phased out or become extinct; it's past the test of time!! Good luck with your build and enjoy this journey with your son. Time is a commodity that cannot be bought and life is not a dress rehearsal!!
 
Hey now, we didn't get to choose! 🤣

@codyadams Good looking setup. I'm sure your boy is chomping at the bit to get out and shoot. IIRC, you got a crazy good deal on the 145's. Have you ever shot any critters with them? I have with the 6mm 112's but not the 6.5mm 145's. Just curious.




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Haha all in good fun amigo
 
Cody, glad to see shooting and hunting passed to the next generation. My kids are grown and moved away, but two still talk guns and hunting with me. One moved to Missouri and hunts deer there with good success. Good pastimes can be instilled.
 
Great story! I'm doing a similar thing with my grandson: .223 Rem at 12, .243 Win at 13, .270 Win at 14, and next a 300 PRC when he turns 16. After that it's up to him. He's learning a lot, pleasing his grandpa, and is a very good God-fearing kid! Now, my grandaughter is next!
 
Well.....XLR came through! Talk about one happy boy!!!

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Now....time for him to learn about load developement!!
 
Nice, I'm about to have to do something similar with my youngest son. Now that he's accepted being a lefty!! He's started really getting into the shooting so gotta do something different than his sister. He's super in to the chassis look as well!
 
Nice, I'm about to have to do something similar with my youngest son. Now that he's accepted being a lefty!! He's started really getting into the shooting so gotta do something different than his sister. He's super in to the chassis look as well!
I just set this up today, but I can already tell it's gonna be perfect for him. Got his LOP dialed in, and got the cheek riser up high for his smaller framed face, as kids have, and it aligns well for him and isn't hard for him to get behind the scope.

On a different note, he had the chance at the western hunt expo in SLC to talk to an XLR rep at their booth, guy was super friendly, and Wyatt was way excited to talk to him about this build and get to meet some of the people making his chassis. He has been asking me almost daily it seems if I got an email from XLR, and when I finally did he was ecstatic. He loves his rifle, and now is trying to decide what duracoat color he wants to paint it! I don't have any ammo loaded up yet, but I may surprise him today and snag a box of factory .260 ammo just so he can shoot it. If not he might wear the action out before we even get any rounds down range ha ha
 
We did the same chassis and stock for my boys on a savage in 6.5 Grendel cut to 16" with a can. That's been quite a few yrs and it's still in use.
 
That's one happy young hunter! Great to see kids into shooting and hunting. I'm looking forward to see how he does. I'm sure he won't have any problems. Helps to have a good dad/teacher.
 
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