So, I had plans to replace the barrel in my R700 Police this fall. The round count is getting up there and I decided, with some prodding to re-do the rifle. Little did I know, I would be doing a whole new custom build. It started off with the venerable Remington 700 short action. I decided on a completely new action, which I picked up right here on the EE. The barrel was to be a Jury Custom in a Krieger style 17 heavy contour. Then came the decision...should I stick with the original oem stock from the 700 police. Well.....no. I decided on a Dolphin chassis. But problems ensued and I won't get into them here. Let's just say that the Dolphin was now out of the question. A recommendation from a friend (Shane with EMP Rifles) who just happens to be an MDT dealer, pointed me towards the HS3. Having just gotten a PGW Coyote, I dove right in thinking that they were pretty similar. (Let's not go there with the real world differences and just say that they are "similar".) I already had the glass. A brand new Nightforce nxs 5.5-22x56. The mount was to be by Richard Near with NEAR Manufacturing. The barrel was finished at 28 inches.
After assembling all of the parts, it was now up to Steve from EMP Rifles to work his magic. BTW, the rifle is chambered in .308. What you see below is the finished product which I got to try out today.
The last picture is a zero degree gill brake from Jason Anderson. Steve did a fantastic job with the install.
So, now to the range. I began with the tedious barrel break-in. Ten cycles of one shot, clean and then one shot clean. I was also trying to zero the scope at 100 yards. Very frustrating for an hour or so considering, I never hit any paper during the break-in. So, I tried the gong. Three shots later I was on paper. Three shots after that, I was zeroed.
Everything worked flawlessly. The bolt had been "accurized" (the face was machined and the lugs were lapped) as well as the action. But the bolt seemed sticky when it was cycled. I'm sure that it will loosen up as it begins wear. Both the 5 round and 10 round magazines delivered rounds with no issues.
I decided to try and shoot some groups even though the barrel was not fouled yet. It performed pretty well. I shot 4 five shot groups and then ended with 2 ten shot groups. This was all at 100 yards. Here's the results of my efforts.
In the first picture, the order of fire was top left, clockwise around the outside with 5 shot groups. The best one was .569". Then, I shot 2 ten round groups with the center of the green target being first.
Then, I ended with a ten round group on a different target. The group was .738". This set-up shows really good promise!
The weather today was 25 degrees with minimal winds. The ammo was 168gr Hornady A-Max match factory loads.
Big thanks go out to Steve with EMP Rifles. Also Bob Jury, Jason Anderson, and Richard Near.
After assembling all of the parts, it was now up to Steve from EMP Rifles to work his magic. BTW, the rifle is chambered in .308. What you see below is the finished product which I got to try out today.
The last picture is a zero degree gill brake from Jason Anderson. Steve did a fantastic job with the install.
So, now to the range. I began with the tedious barrel break-in. Ten cycles of one shot, clean and then one shot clean. I was also trying to zero the scope at 100 yards. Very frustrating for an hour or so considering, I never hit any paper during the break-in. So, I tried the gong. Three shots later I was on paper. Three shots after that, I was zeroed.
Everything worked flawlessly. The bolt had been "accurized" (the face was machined and the lugs were lapped) as well as the action. But the bolt seemed sticky when it was cycled. I'm sure that it will loosen up as it begins wear. Both the 5 round and 10 round magazines delivered rounds with no issues.
I decided to try and shoot some groups even though the barrel was not fouled yet. It performed pretty well. I shot 4 five shot groups and then ended with 2 ten shot groups. This was all at 100 yards. Here's the results of my efforts.
In the first picture, the order of fire was top left, clockwise around the outside with 5 shot groups. The best one was .569". Then, I shot 2 ten round groups with the center of the green target being first.
Then, I ended with a ten round group on a different target. The group was .738". This set-up shows really good promise!
The weather today was 25 degrees with minimal winds. The ammo was 168gr Hornady A-Max match factory loads.
Big thanks go out to Steve with EMP Rifles. Also Bob Jury, Jason Anderson, and Richard Near.
Last edited:
Thanks for the write up!!
