I've seen a couple of our members that have received (or finished) their custom rifles over the past week.
I figured that I would add to the frenzy by posting the Black Canyon Customs built Tikka that I just picked up after waiting these past couple of months. I need to say up front, that while I was like an impatient kid counting the minutes until Christmas, Fritz at Black Canyon Customs actually knocked this out much faster than expected - or promised - so I was elated when I got the text earlier this week telling me that it was ready to be picked up.
Fritz is the phenomenal builder that was the lead "in-house" gunsmith for many years at Mile High Shooting before he struck out on his own to create Black Canyon Customs a couple of years back. He built a stellar reputation with the discerning Mile High Shooting clientele, and his work is masterful. (Ok, sorry for the fan-boying and advertising, but Fritz really is "The man" out here in the west).
A little backstory...
Oddly enough, I just happened to "fall into" this custom build through a particular set of circumstances. I have always been a Tikka fan for their out of the box accuracy and actions that feel like they are on ball-bearings. I personally think they build an exceptional rifle - especially in their price range. I own several different brands of rifles, Tikka being one of my favorites.
I happen to have multiple Tikkas in various calibers, one of which I simply bought because I was sitting on so much ammo - 7 Rem Mag - and I didn't have a gun in that caliber. Yep, I'm guilty of buying a gun just because I had ammo for it.
The long and short of it was that about 12 years ago I lucked into a large quantity of factory ammo because a local retailer (Gart Brothers) was going out of business and they were blowing out everything they had in stock. I bought all they had in a couple of different calibers, including their 7 Rem Mag even though I didn't have a rifle to shoot it in at the time. Some deals are just too good to pass up.
"Well (I tell my wife), now I just have to go buy a rifle to be able to take advantage of the great deal that I got on the ammo." With the outstanding experiences that I have had with Tikka, it made it an easy purchase to get a bone-stock Stainless T3 lite in 7RM.
Life found a way of keeping me exceptionally busy (3 young boys and a hectic career), so that new-in-the-box Tikka 7RM sat unused for the past decade. Additionally, like most of us here, I have plenty of other rifles to keep me occupied so I almost forgot that I had it.
Fast forward to a year ago and my middle kid (16 years old at the time) decided that he wanted to upgrade to a "real" caliber for hunting and long range shooting. I decided that it was time to dig out that brand new/old T3 7RM for my son and he began shooting it in preparation for the coming hunting seasons.
Low and behold (no real surprise to me) that thing shot lights-out with most anything we fed it. He quickly got so good with that rifle that we ended up spending the time to work up a fantastic load for it - Berger 180 Hybrids with Norma MRP. He shoots that load consistently under .75 MOA, and can get into the .4-ish MOA range when he is focused and trying to outshoot his dad. He spent this past year behind that rifle out to 550 yards.
With my son having such a wonderful year behind that rifle, he now has pretty much "staked claim" to it and I seem to have - once again - lost another gun to one of my rambunctious boys.
"See honey, I told you we needed to buy that rifle - it'll get used... someday!"
Through these past many months I also gained a good deal of respect and, frankly, a new fondness for the 7 Remington Magnum. I still love my 300 Mags, but I've taken a considerable detour this year to delve into the .284's. I guess that it was only natural that I build one for myself as I keep losing guns to my kids faster than I can fall down a hill.
I got ahold of Fritz from BCC and we started kicking this idea around, and the rest is history...
2022 Black Canyon Customs T3 7 Rem Mag
Components list:
| Action, T3 LA Magnum | Tikka SS, complete | LA Mag stainless complete |
| Stock, carbon fiber | Mesa Precision | Altitude, alpine camo |
| Barrel | Proof Research Carbon | 8.44 twist 26" CF |
| Bottom Metal | Mountain Tactical | Aluminum, AICS Long 3.715 |
| Scope, long range | Nightforce SHV | illuminated 4-14, 1st focal plane MOAR |
| Adjustable cheekpiece | Forcewerx razor | OD green adjustable |
| Comp, 3 port timed | Area 419 self timed | 3 port Hellfire, black |
| Base, pic rail | Mtn Tact 20 MOA | Magpul OD ceracoat |
| Rings | 30 mm | Vortex |
| Bipod | Harris swivel notch | swivel model |
| Trigger | Stock T3 + spring kit | Mountain Tactical spring kit |
| Bolt handle | Anarchy Outdoors | Bent/swept T3 stainless |
| Bolt knob | Anarchy Outdoors | Acorn w/scales, OD green |
| Bolt shroud | Anarchy Outdoors | Aluminum, OD green |
| Mags, AICS | Accurate Mag AICS 3.715 | LA magnum, 3 & 5 rounds |
| Gunsmithing | ||
| Barrel, custom cut & chambered for 180's | Shank cut & Ceracoat | OD green & customized, exposed CF |
| Pillars for cheekpiece | Custom fabricated pillars | Aluminum inset & epoxied in CF stock |
| Thread for comp | 5/8x24 muzzle thread | A419 Hellfire comp |
| Bedding job, barrel | full skim coat bedding | |
| Tune trigger | install & tune trig spring | Final tune to 2 lbs |
| Ceracoat - All | General all ceracoat | Magpul OD green |
| Laser engraving | Custom laser engraving on barrel | 31, caliber designation & BCC |
| Fit Bottom metal | General gunsmithing | Fit for reliable feed/function/fire |
| General assembly | General gunsmithing | Precision fit of all parts |
| Pillars for action | Fabricate & install pillars during action bedding |
I wanted to give a "shout-out" to @North Idaho Hunter for being a tremendous help with getting many of the required parts together. Great guy to deal with on a project like this.
I'll give an update when I can get it to the range for break-in and load work up.
It'll be sending the Berger 180 Hybrids out of Peterson brass with a variety of primers and powders that will be tested.
Additional photos of finished build:
Fritz (Black Canyon Customs), presenting me with the finished build
The rifle in its new home
My middle son with "his" Tikka 7RM - the one that started this whole fiasco!
badthirtyone
