Rifle is done - Scope is here! Pt.3

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Glock4ever

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Well after returning back from the sandbox - I decided to treat myself and build a semi custom gun... The concept was started back two years ago when I purchased an Remington 700 LTR. I really liked the concept of a Light Tactical rifle that I could carry around, hunt with and also shoot at the range regularly. But I kept finding that there were things on every factory produced rifle I purchased that I didn't like. So I came up with a set of parameters that I wanted to have and laid it out. Here is what I wanted:

- The rifle must not weigh more than 8lbs (w/o scope) but including rings and bases
- The rifle must have a Detachable Box Magazine but with magazines that weren't going to break the bank in cost
- The barrel must be at least 22" and of some sort of heavier contour
- The rifle needed to be accurate of .5 MOA or better

Sounded like a tall order but I thought on it for a while and here is what I decided on:

- Remington 700 SPS DM action
- TPS 30mm Aluminum Rings
- Farrell 10 MOA Aluminum Base
- GreTan Aluminum Shroud and Titanium Firing Pin
- Rifle Basix LV-1 Aluminum Trigger
- Hart .30 1-10" Varmint Contour Bbl
- HS Precision LTR DM stock

So I contacted good ol' Joe ##### and ordered the rings, bases, barrel, stock, Firing Pin/Shroud, and Trigger. Purchased a Remington 700 SPS DM from Wholesale Sports (Had to wait about a month for one but it was well worth it). Well sitting on all the parts I contacted Lyle Linkaitis, a great smith, and hashed out a price with him. What a great guy - after hearing that I had gotten back from Afghanistan he gave a considerable discount, in fact he told me that he is offering all the returning CF members a discount on Smithing work (guys like Lyle really remind me why Canadians are great). So now the rifle and parts are heading to him tomorrow and he is going to:

- True the action
- Skim bed the action to the stock
- Thread, chamber, and crown the barrel at 24"
- Bush the firing pin hole
- Refinish the rifle in Matte black to match everything up

Basically the full meal deal. I will have pictures of the rifle when he sends it back to me. I will hopefull be able to get a range report on the rifle soonest but it will depend on whether or not my special order scope arrives in time. I have ordered a Leupold Mark IV Front Focal Plane TMR 3.5-10X40mm scope. It is in the process of having M2 knobs put on the elevation and it should be coming with a BDC for 168 gn SMKs. Hopefully by end month everything should be coming together...

The main thing out of this long winded post is a plug for Lyle Linkaitis - for all the CF guys who need some work done this guy is great - this is my second rifle done by him and the last one was a great shooter. If you need his contact information pm me and I will forward it on.

Since posts are no good without pics here is what the rifle looks like now:
smsil_700spsdm.jpg

Note:This is just a representation of my rifle and all copyrights to this picture belong to Remington Inc :runaway:

Here is my .221 Remington Fireball that Lyle did for me last year:
DSC00895.jpg


This really is my rifle and any pictures of it used w/o my permission will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law :dancingbanana:
 
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Way to go.........

;) I take it will be chambered in .308?

Can't wait to see it at the range. I especially am curious of how the Hart barrel will turn out. It looks like they are turning out some great barrels lately.


Calvin
 
Sounds like what i want for my next rifle, except i want a broughton barrel, a Robertson GPH stock and want the barrel heavily fluted.I want mine in 6.5swede
 
Yeah Calvin, it should be in .308 Win Match. I have 200 fresh Lapua Brass and about 300 SMK 168 grainers. That and Varget powder produced some very nice results at the range with my old LTR.

I didn't go with a fluted barrel because the cost of flutes and what it brought to the rifle really didn't make it worthwhile in my opinion (.5 lb weight savings). I figured a slightly shorter barrel (24" vs 26") would make the rifle more easily handled and lighter...
 
Well after getting back home from CTC Gagetown, I had a little treat in the mail. My rifle came back from Lyle and it is one sweet looking rifle! He did everything I asked for and even included a few extras at no extra charge! So here it is in all it's glory!

Here is the complete rifle:

Rifle1.jpg


Sorry about the pics I am not the best at taking photos! Anyway, it is still without scope but the fellow I ordered my custom Mark IV from told me that he now has it and is shipping it toute suite! (Apparently there is a long wait for anything coming out of the custom shop from Leupold) So when it arrives a new 3.5-10X40mm TMR Mark IV Front Focal Plane w/M2 knobs will be soon up top.

Here is a close up of the bolt; Lyle installed a tactical bolt knob in lieu of the original Remington - at no charge! (He is a great guy!)

Bolt2-1.jpg


As well, you can see how he trued up the lugs and boltface:

Bolt-1.jpg


The crown is a nice recessed step cut crown as ordered:

Crown.jpg


As well, he chambered the barrel in a match 308 tight neck!

Barrel1-1.jpg


I don't know if you can see it or not but he also bedded the action with Marine Tex and bedded the scope base! It is also not apparent in the pics but he also bushed the firing pin hole and refinished the whole rifle in Matte black (the original parts were a mish mash of different colors - i.e. the firing pin shroud was gloss black, the barrel was stainless steel, etc) I can't wait to work up a load for this rifle! The thing that also impressed me with Lyle's work was the attention to details! He also included a gauge and a tube of grease for the bolt!

I highly recommend that anyone who is interested in getting some work done on their rifle, take a hard look at Lyle. His work is top notch and he doesn't #### you around with long wait turnaround times!
 
I gotta say that yer tac bolt knob is truly the shape that I'm looking for. Got a contact number or web page for Lyle L ?? I'm gonna have my M700 bolt done just like that... hey even my wife's M70 Stealth should look like that too....

Great project build...
 
Lyle's number is:

(204) 785-2609

He doesn't have a webpage that I am aware of. The knob is a Badger Ordinance style knob and he provided the part and installation! He did it for no charge for my build - so I really have no idea how much he charges for it! I have his mailing addy but I prefer not to post it. Just drop him a call and talk to him! He is a real gentleman and will take good care of you. I really can't say enough about him. BTW this is my second and probably not my last rifle that I am going to get him to do for me.

Glock
 
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I started working up some initial loads for the rifle and I must say that I am very impressed. I initially resized all my Lapua .308 Win brass, trimmed it and uniformed the primer pockets. I was looking at possibly neck turning the brass as well but I decided to measure the neck thickness first. I found that the brass was a very consistent .016" so quickly doing my math I found that with the bullet seated should be .340" (.016+.016+.308) the same diameter as the throat of my chamber! So I opted not to neck turn and see what the actual neck diameter would be with bullet seated. I then measured the OAL of the cartridge by using the gauge that Lyle sent me (a piece of my barrel with the chamber cut into it with the same reamer) and found that my OAL with 168 grain SMK would put it at 2.825" (0.015" longer then SAAMI specs) and 0.010" off the lands. This was fantastic! I was able to seat the bullet close to the lands and not have to worry about being unable to use my mags! After using my Lyman 1500 electronic trickler to dump 44.5 grains of Varget and seating the 168 grain SMK, I measured the necks and found them to be .038" giving about .002" play in the neck - pretty darn good I think. I can't wait to go out and chrony my loads. I presently have 4 charges I am going to try (44.5, 45.0, 45.5, and 46.0 grains of Varget). This being my first custom rifle, I have to say that I am very impressed with chamber differences I have found between my new .308 Win chamber and my old LTR .308 Win chamber. I found that the 5 Remingtons that I had all had extremely long throats forcing me to seat my bullets further out of the case (i.e. on my LTR the OAL was 2.885" to reach the lands with 168 gn SMK) I think that this caused the neck tension to be inconsistent from load to load as less of the bullet was actually in the neck of the case. As well it was a pain in the butt because my loads almost never fit into the magazines. I will post a range report when I am able to get out and actually fire my rifle!
 
That is how

Glock4ever said:
This being my first custom rifle, I have to say that I am very impressed with chamber differences I have found between my new .308 Win chamber and my old LTR .308 Win chamber. I found that the 5 Remingtons that I had all had extremely long throats forcing me to seat my bullets further out of the case (i.e. on my LTR the OAL was 2.885" to reach the lands with 168 gn SMK) I think that this caused the neck tension to be inconsistent from load to load as less of the bullet was actually in the neck of the case.
Click to expand...
the addiction starts for a match grade barrel and chamber.:D Once you have one it is hard going back to off the shelf.:dancingbanana:


Calvin
 
After 4 months of waiting, the scope arrived today! I was pretty excited as I wanted to see how everything was going to turn out. So here it is:

Leupold Mark 4 Tactical Milling Reticle Front Focal Plane. M2 knobs (.5 Min adjustment) It came with a 168gn 7.62mm BDC and I am looking forward to working up a load to match the cam. So here it is:

Here is the Mark 4 in comparison to the Tasco SS side focus: (It is a bit smaller and the knobs are lower profile)

DSC01974.jpg


Here is a closeup of the knobs:
DSC01975.jpg


Yep 1/2 Min adjustment on both Elevation and Windage!

Here is a really crappy pic of the reticle, I am going to try to take another picture of it so it is clearer. But the reticle adjusts size for magnifications. No need to worry about correct Mag for holdovers on the reticle!

DSC01977.jpg


I just need to lap the rings and mount the scope. I will post pics of the finished rifle. I also picked up a case when I was in Edmonton on vacation.
 
Bring that puppy with you if they send you back to Gagetown. There are a lot of good matches over the summer on the Batouche range. I've eager to hear how the M2 knobs work out for you- seems like a fantastic option for that package. I am curious about why you've started w/ 168 boolits though. I'd look really hard at 175 Sieras, and 154 Lapuas. Sweet stick. Now go shoot the snot out of it!
 
I went with 168 Grain Bullets because they will fit well into the det mag and because I am not realistically going to shoot over 600m with the rifle most times. 175 grains are still an option (the reason for the 1-10 Twist) but right now I am interested in just shooting the 168 SMKs - have to improve the skills first before moving up to the longer ranges...
 
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