Best starting point for an accurate rifle.

Cmiller82

Cmiller82

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I want an old bolt action rifle I can shoot mid-range competitions with. (100-300m)

I'd like it to be accurate to 1/4 or 1/3 MOA.

What is the best rifle to start with?

I have average gunsmithing skills and above average reloading skills.

I don't care if it's possible, I'll have fun trying. :)

Thanks.
 
MID-range? That's 300 to 800, isn't it? You're talking about SHORT range, friend.

If your handloading skills are what you say, then just about anything should do. CONSISTENCY in your loads is paramount, far more important than any "pet load".

At the ranges you describe, I have seen Rosses and Mausers perform that well. Let it go to a 1/2-MOA and you can toss in Lee-Enfields and Moisin-Nagants and Arisakas and likely there are Mannlichers which can do it as well.

And they were all as issued, except for scopes on a couple.
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Swedish mauser 96. Great for the range you described and should be able to achieve the precision you described as well. Great price too, 6.5x55mm round.
 
Assuming that the barrel, especially the crown, is in good shape, and the stock bedding and trigger pull are properly set up, there are a number of MILSURP bolt guns which are mechanically capable of producing MOA accuracy with good quality handloads.

Setting aside personal shooting skills (aren't we all "deadeye dicks" on the internet);), the biggest limitation after this is the issue sights. Aperture sights offer the best precision. Even with these it is tough to resolve the sight picture to get a consistent hold on target so that the full accuracy potential of the rifle can be realized. This challenge is amplified incrementally as ranges increase and wind and variable light conditions become more of an issue.

I expect repeatable MOA accuracy with handloads in a good sporter with a 4-6x scope. If you want to get down to consistent .4/.5 MOA shooting you will need to shift up to a heavy barrel bolt gun with a quality high power scope. This is achievable with something like a M700 Rem heavy barrel in .308 Win with a some trigger and bedding tweaks. If you want to go much beyond this you are entering the realm of the benchrest shooter.
 
To notsorichguy and Cdn303: Both of your answers don't help. This is the right forum for what I want. A Savage bolt is too easy.

To smellie: Sorry to F-Class shooters... I consider my SKS (<100) short range.

To dannyd123: This is actually on the top of my list... I just wanted to hear it from someone else! :)

To purple: Not to brag, but I'm not worried about my shooting skills. ;)

I'm looking for a Milsurp rifle that I can buy for $250-$600 and turn into something special.

For most competitions I use a PGW 6mm br capable of sub .200 groups at 100yrds. I want something "cool" to shoot that will put up similar groups at 10% of the cost.

Thanks.

Glossary:
"cool" = something made before 1950.
 
what I would recommend for you are: Swiss K31(7.5x55) , Swedish Mauser M96(6.5x55), SMLE or LE No4 (.303 Brit) and possibly a Ross(.303 Brit). anyone of them would fit your needs
 
Old bolt action conjures up a vision of a military type action like a Mauser 98 or one of the many clones. If I were to go all out for accuracy my primary push would be for the best barrel my money could buy. Then get the rest of the parts & pieces, action, stock, scope. mts, trigger etc. again looking at the best I could afford. Then a competent smithy to put it all together, been there and done that and it can become very pricey. / shop around and find a unit & company that guarantees the MOA accuracy - again can be costly. FWIW --- John303.
 
Without changing to bull barrels and re-chambering to a more efficient caliber, that is more like the unobtainium milsurp rifle. If you lower the specs to .5 MOA" to 1MOA for 5 shot groups there might be a couple of choices.
 
@OP: I do hope you realise that, so far, you have managed to snot a couple of the top guys in the field. If you are asking for free help, that's really not the best policy.

A lot of us in this forum are concerned when somebody decides that they want to make something "special" out of an old military rifle. To most of us, it conjures up images of a collectable rifle in wonderful internal condition which has been destroyed by some utter CLOWN who thinks that he knows better than the people who designed and built the thing. We see rifles like that all the time. To most of us, they are a source of spare parts and nothing else. Any of the HERITAGE, the HISTORY of these fine instruments has been lost.... or just thrown away.... because some IDIOT thought he knew more about Lee-Enfields than James Paris Lee and RSAF Enfield put together, some JERK figured that Peter Paul Mauser didn't know very much about Mausers. The poor things get covered in plastic and genuine Chinese knock-offs of the wonderful M1913 Picatinny rail, mounted with lasers and rangefinders and huge telescopes which are not appropriate to the rifles..... and then scrapped because they won't keep up with a super-spiffy modern Match rifle.

They were BATTLE rifles, COMBAT rifles that MADE history.

They were designed and built to strike man-sized targets at combat ranges out past 1000 yards..... and many of them were built nearly a century ago.

They were never designed for impressing the heavy dudes with the $16,000 shooters, although a few of them can.... and do..... manage it.

If you really MUST do this, get yourself a CG-63. They are Swedish military Mausers in 6.5x55 which already have been converted into Match rifles by some of the best gunsmiths in Europe.

Just don't start in wrecking yet another original.

THAT would make us all cry.
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I do not wish to offend anyone. I don't want to bastardize a antique. I only hope to discover a rifle 3 times my age that I can have fun competing with.

When it comes right down to it, I'd rather have fun shooting an inaccurate rifle than win using a rifle that costs more than my car.

My "kicks" come from placing third or forth with a rifle that has no place being there.
 
CG-63 will fill your bill with a bit of room to spare.

The actions are originals and still marked. I have seen them with dates as far back as 1912. None are later than about 1945.

They have heavy barrels and custom stocks already.

6.5x55

And they can SHOOT, believe me.

Trade-Ex generally has a few. Link at 10 o'clock from the World-famous Awe-inspiring CGN Beaver at the top of this page. Don't let the descriptions put you off; Anthony under-rates everything. What you GET is usually much better than what you ASK for. I just checked the site and he has a couple made in EIGHTEEN NINETY-NINE at the original Mauser plant. It just don't COME no better than that!

To BUILD one of these would cost about 3 times the price.

Serious.
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Smellie, as usual, has it. However, I would like to suggest a humble Mosin Nagant. I used to have one that COULD shoot 1 inch groups 100 yards. It was an ex-sniper from P&S. Regrettably, I sold it, but I wonder how it would have done with a new trigger, some stock bedding, and handloads, particularly if I had re-mounted a scope. You might have to go through a few, but once you found the right one and got 'er tuned up, you would sure shame the benchresters with your ww2 soviet iron. The price is certainly right, and they do have the capability as shown by the Finns with some of their reworked masterpieces.
 
rebarrel a mosin nagant, blueprint it and get a rocksolid industries mount. maybe go .260rem. glass bed it into a boyds stock. this is a project idea that has been rattling around in my head for a while.
 
Willing to Drill and tap a CG?
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I assume you'll want to use a scope to get those unotainium 1/4 MOA groups?

This may be be a simpler solution and no drilling and tapping for any of these options.

P1010347.jpg
 
Cmiller82 said:
To notsorichguy and Cdn303: Both of your answers don't help. This is the right forum for what I want. A Savage bolt is too easy.

Snip*
Click to expand...

My bad, that's the problem with using an iPhone app instead of the computer. When you click on latest threads you can easily wind up in the wrong forums..... I thought this was precision rifles!

Good luck with your build, sounds like it could be a lot of fun!
Cheers!
 
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