One of the best bench rest calibers over the years has been the 6PPC. The case is somewhat similar to the 7.62x39 case.
I was looking at a sack of 1000 pieces of nice virgin brass, several thousand match 308 bullets, a shelf of used 308 match barrels and got to thinking I could make a pretty good 7.62x39 rifle. I had quite a few different flavours of milsup ammo and was curious how they compared. I thought an accurate rifle would be a good idea.
I have used old match barrels before in projects. The 308 target barrel suffers throat erosion after about 5,000 rounds. If 2 inches is cut off, the barrel can be re-threaded for any action and rechambered for any caliber.
In one project the barrel was rechambered in 303 British. The result is a 308 British... I really like it because I have so many 308 bullets on hand.
In another project I took a 22" sporter barrel off a Savage hunting rifle and installed a target barrel cut back to 20". the result was a very handy hunting rifle with exceptional accuracy from a stiff high quality barrel. I actually took it hunting and found it to be very good.
The last project was to use one of the used target barrels to make a 7.62x39. Yes, I know the barrel is a bit tight, but that is ok. the chamber is cut with a longer, tapered throat to accommodate 155 gr match bullets. The .310 SKS rounds go though just fine, as they did in my Ruger Mini-30, which also had a 308 barrel.
Any bolt action would work. I elected to use a Remington 788 I had. By changing the magazine to a 22-250 mag, I was able to have a working magazine with no fiddling around with lips, box lengths, etc.
It looks like this:
I have not done any load development with it, but I did load some match bullets that got shot one day along with a number of different milsurp flavours. The match bullets were around an inch. A promising start.
Now I am thinking that maybe a 30-30 on a bolt action made with a short match grade barrel would be interesting.
Do you have a project in mind? I have lots of barrels that are only worn in the first 2"...
I was looking at a sack of 1000 pieces of nice virgin brass, several thousand match 308 bullets, a shelf of used 308 match barrels and got to thinking I could make a pretty good 7.62x39 rifle. I had quite a few different flavours of milsup ammo and was curious how they compared. I thought an accurate rifle would be a good idea.
I have used old match barrels before in projects. The 308 target barrel suffers throat erosion after about 5,000 rounds. If 2 inches is cut off, the barrel can be re-threaded for any action and rechambered for any caliber.
In one project the barrel was rechambered in 303 British. The result is a 308 British... I really like it because I have so many 308 bullets on hand.
In another project I took a 22" sporter barrel off a Savage hunting rifle and installed a target barrel cut back to 20". the result was a very handy hunting rifle with exceptional accuracy from a stiff high quality barrel. I actually took it hunting and found it to be very good.
The last project was to use one of the used target barrels to make a 7.62x39. Yes, I know the barrel is a bit tight, but that is ok. the chamber is cut with a longer, tapered throat to accommodate 155 gr match bullets. The .310 SKS rounds go though just fine, as they did in my Ruger Mini-30, which also had a 308 barrel.
Any bolt action would work. I elected to use a Remington 788 I had. By changing the magazine to a 22-250 mag, I was able to have a working magazine with no fiddling around with lips, box lengths, etc.
It looks like this:
I have not done any load development with it, but I did load some match bullets that got shot one day along with a number of different milsurp flavours. The match bullets were around an inch. A promising start.
Now I am thinking that maybe a 30-30 on a bolt action made with a short match grade barrel would be interesting.
Do you have a project in mind? I have lots of barrels that are only worn in the first 2"...
) to .32/20 & made up an endcap(breech) out of the threaded rod joiner pieces. Iirc the thread was the common nc X3/4" thread. He rigged up a crude side lock for it, and claimed it worked okay for occasional small game hunting that obviously would not require a quick follow up shot.
