Progress of my custom 6.5 Swede

straitshooter

straitshooter

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Hi all,

I think I've mentioned before that I'm having a precision rifle made in 6.5x55 Swedish.

It's based on a Remington 700 BDL Long action, with a Rob MacLennan barrel (1 in 8 twist, 30") and a stock from Robertson Composites (http://www.robertsoncomposites.com).

It's getting closer to completion, and I figured I'd post a few pics of the parts and progress.

Here's the new Robertson Composites stock, not even unwrapped yet. The small bottles contain some resins and colour for finishing around the inletting.
PR-Stock-in-bag.jpg


This is the Robertson "H&H" stock. Their blurb on it goes like this, "Designed by Tony Halberg and John Hastie of New Zealand. Similar to the Original design but with a parallel forend and slightly smaller grip. Used by the NZ Palma team with the Millennium action. Designed to fit the wide body actions. Butt profiled to accept Anschutz accessories. Separate cheek piece. By far our most popular prone stock, also used by the USAMU."

I got it in dark Olive. 8)

Ian Robertson has been wonderful to deal with during the whole process from the initial consultation to help me decide on which model, to the final delivery.


Here's the left and right sides of the stock. It has an adjustable butt plate and cheek piece, sling swivels, and a 10" forend rail.

PR-Stock-leftside.jpg


PR-Stock-rightside.jpg



And a view rom the top to see the inletting.

PR-Stock-inletting.jpg



Here's a shot of the Remington action and the MacLennan barrel mated together.

PR-action-with-barrel.jpg



A closer shot of the breech end of the barrel, resting in the stock:

PR-MacLennan-6.5-Swedish.jpg


And a shot showing the taper of the barrel. It starts of at 1.25" :shock: for the first 3.5", tapers quickly to 1.1", and then gradually tapers over the rest of the length to 1" diameter at the muzzle. As you can imagine, it's a pretty hefty barrel. It sure is a beautiful piece of work.

PR-barrel-taper.jpg



Here's a shot of the action in the stock. The cheek piece will need to be inletted to allow for the long bolt on the Remington action. :)

PR-long-action-cheek-piece.jpg



I'm pretty excited about this new shooter, and I can't wait to try it out, (Ya think...?) :lol:

More bits, and more pictures, yet to come. :)
 
I'm pretty excited about this new shooter, and I can't wait to try it out, (Ya think...?)
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straitshooter,
Nice rifle. Does this mean it will be ready to shoot at the Cedar Springs Fall Match Labour Day weekend?
 
I got a barrel from Rob MacLennan on my Rem700 SA in 260 Rem with the same twist, but 2" shorter to fit in my rifle bag. I am still working on loads; I have about 250 rounds through it, but I have it shooting .368" @ 100 yards with 5 shots. Rob did all the work on the action, including cleaning up the lugs so it mated properly; you can sure tell the difference between a std Rem 700 and one that has been mated up properly.

I also got a stock from Ian, I got the Ranger, with almost every option available. The nice thing for me is that his shop is between my office and my home so I stopped by a couple of times and we talked about what I wanted and what he thought I should have. My stock is almost identical, except for the colors, as his 6.5x55 target rifle. Since he was so close, he both inletted and bedded it for me so all the coloring in the inletting was done when I got it. You could not ask for a better guy to deal with, I am actually thinking of replacing the stock on my hunting rifle with one of his now.

If you like the final product as much as I do you will be smiling from ear to ear the first time you shoot it.

Cheers,

Corey
 
Does Rob MacLennan have a web site or email address? Maybe I'll try one of these centralian barrel makers next time around.
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You will be lucky if you can get Rob to return a phone call. Best damned barrel I have ever had though. It out-shoots any Obermeyer or Kreiger I have ever had.
 
My gunsmith ordered the barrel from Rob MacLennan for me, and it didn't take long at all -- a few weeks. I think he may have had a couple appropriate blanks on hand, but I'm not sure. My smith deals with him regularly, so may have a better line of communication.

I haven't shot the barrel, of course, so I can't say yet from personal experience how good it is, but they certainly come highly recommended. That's why I ordered one. It looks really good, though, and the workmanship appears to be superb.
 
maynard said:
I'm pretty excited about this new shooter, and I can't wait to try it out, (Ya think...?)
Click to expand...

straitshooter,
Nice rifle. Does this mean it will be ready to shoot at the Cedar Springs Fall Match Labour Day weekend?
Click to expand...
Don't think I'm going to make that one, my friend. I fly out for Europe on the 31st of Aug, and am returning Sep 18th.

The police pipe band I play in is going to Switzerland for 11 days, and then I'm taking a few more days to see friends in England and visit the auld family homestead up in Scotland.

I sure do intend to be at other shoots, though... 8)
 
My gunsmith ordered the barrel from Rob MacLennan for me, and it didn't take long at all -- a few weeks. I think he may have had a couple appropriate blanks on hand, but I'm not sure. My smith deals with him regularly, so may have a better line of communication.
Click to expand...
That's how I got mine, through the gunsmith. They shoot together so.... :)
Well with the wait if you ask me.
 
My smith sent me an email yesterday saying the rifle is done. We spoke today, and I'm going with him to the range tomorrow evening for the first test firing.

I'm taking along a cheapie scope which we'll be slapping on for the time being. It's not a *bad* scope -- a Tasco 6-24x50 MilDot -- but it's not the Leupold Mk.4 that's destined for the rifle either. :)

Can't wait to fire it! :D

I'll post some pics tomorrow night.
 
Let us know how it shoots, I am quite interested.

As for Rob, I mailed him my action and he installed the barrel and trued up the lugs within 6-7 weeks of the time I mailed it. I would not hesitate to buy from him again; I may soon if my "hunting rifle" prjoect gets underway.
 
Went and shot the rifle on Wednesday night. Casey (the gunsmith) took the first shot, while I stood back out of possible harms way to be ready to dail 911 if necessary. :D

Fortunately, no medical intervention was required, and the rifle did what it was supposed to -- it chambered a round, it went 'bang,' and a bullet departed quickly for points downrange.

I took the second shot and, oh man, does it ever feel good. Beautiful light trigger (Casey did an awesome job on the trigger) and a heavy gun makes for a rock solid platform and almost no recoil with the 6.5x55 round.

Sorry, didn't get any pics.

We're putting a scope on this afternoon and doing an initial sight-in at Sharon. Whoo Hoo. :)

More later...
 
todbartell said:
what bullet are ya using?
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I haven't loaded any ammo yet for it. Right now -- like today and tomorrow -- I'm using factory Sellier and Bellot 140gr.

I've got some Hornady 140gr SoftPoints I'm going to try, and I'm picking up some of the Hornady Moly-coated ones as well.
 
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