# A gun build for my daughter



## sylvan (Dec 26, 2007)

It's been almost 50 years I have been working on guns. It doesn't seem that long. My first job was working in a gunshop in Texas City for Ron Freshour. I was 14 and fascinated that a regular guy could "build" a gun. Well, at least do some metal and wood work and put the pieces together for a real hunting rifle. 
He was a shop teacher with TCISD and the students there actually built rifles for projects. It's laughable that it could happen now.... but back then, it was ok. One class actually built one for the Principle (Mr Jerry Smith)

Ron was my VERY patient mentor. I broke a lot of things on his lathe and milling machine but eventually got to the point that I could do an acceptable barrel job. and went to work at night and weekends in his shop doing just that. Before he died a couple of years ago, he told me that it never was about the money, it was the fun of teaching interested people how to do it..... and I have been doing it now for a long time- for fun- never money.

My methods are old school manual lathe. I have not built a receiver in 20 years and no plans to do so. I buy old Remingtons, Mausers, Rugers, etc ... take them apart. Clean up the action/bolt and straighten them up (sorta blueprint). I buy the barrels already contoured. The quality of barrel is determined by what I'm building but for the most part, I use Shilen select/match grade barrels. I have others but I don't chase around the flavor of the month barrel maker because all manufacturers are so far ahead of what used to be produced, I can't shoot the difference anymore. 

This build is for my daughter. She is in college and has discovered shooting...... never showed any interest before .... but here we are. I wanted range out to about 300 yds (although it will certainly go farther).
I chose 6mm (243) because I already had a 1-13 twist bbl. I wanted low recoil for her.
I found a used BR kevlar stock that I can modify. It will have a Jewel 1-3 lb trigger and it will be single shot. No magazine.
Basically this will be what I think of as a starter benchrest rifle.

I am actually about half way through this so I will try to catch up with pics. 
If there is any interest I will post others


6mm Br build
I am starting with a Rem 700 ss in 243. I have removed the stock, trigger and factory barrel. 
The first pic is the receiver
Second pic is the contoured barrel - it has to be threaded and chambered etc
First, I will clean up the receiver and bolt on the lathe. Pics tomorrow


----------



## Rmm (Jun 7, 2013)

Do you have a set of 6br gages and reamer? I don't have a reamer,but I do have a set of gages if you need some.


----------



## pg542 (Oct 9, 2006)

This will be interesting. What do you mean by "clean up" the bolt and recvr? Keep us posted with progress. Very cool.


----------



## sylvan (Dec 26, 2007)

I appreciate the offer. I have already borrowed PTG (Pacific tool and die) gauges and reamer. Thanks anyway.

I forgot, this will NOT be a tight neck chamber. Brass is Lapua- got 200 rounds yesterday. Holy $%^& When did the price of brass go up that much? I will probably use a Wilson seater die. I have not chosen a sizer yet. Thinking of a RCBS bushing sizer set only because I normally don't use RCBS and would like to see how well they work


----------



## Rmm (Jun 7, 2013)

That lapua brass is pricey, but it will last a long time. Interested to see how it turns out, are you going to use a single shot follower in the magazine or block off the bottom of the action? I was going to build one, but pt&g messed up my reamer order and after several months I came across a 6-47 lapua reamer and went that route.


----------



## sylvan (Dec 26, 2007)

pg542 said:


> This will be interesting. What do you mean by "clean up" the bolt and recvr? Keep us posted with progress. Very cool.


I know some will not agree with this but here is my opinion.
All receivers begin life as a bar of steel. The manufacturer drills a big hole down the center of it (a dozen at a time) and threads are then cut into one end to "receive" the barrel. It's supposed to be straight but........
Here is a very simplified answer
What many don't realize is that regularly, the hole is NOT perfectly centered. That makes the bolt NOT in the center and maybe the bolt face is not perpendicular to the bored hole in the receiver thus the barrel. The bore in the rifle barrel may not be exactly in the center of the steel bar, etc, etc, etc. It doesn't take very much.
My point is that all a good gunsmith really does is line up everything absolutely straight and centered so when the rifle is fired the bullet goes down the barrel with no variation.

All mass production manufacturers build within their "specifications" which actually means they take care but tools dull or break, the technician goes to lunch or whatever and the process gets off just a little bit. Most modern centerfire rifles are designed to shoot 2.5 moa out of the box with factory ammo when "in specs" I need better than that.

Therefore, I start the process of checking the specs and "cleaning them up"
*Rarely, some are too far out for me to mess with... it happens. That doesn't mean the receiver is bad. It will still make a fine hunting rifle but sometimes 2 moa is not good enough. Actually, it's rare to get a perfectly centered one requiring NO cleanup from a production manufacturer. You can, of course, buy a CNC cut custom receiver that is already straight but it's a lot more money. That's what most real serious shooters actually do.

I will be working on this tomorrow and will post pics of the process I use. (and there are many different ones)
You can buy custom guns with guaranteed .5 moa but that usually means reloaded ammo as well as a one off rifle. If you are a pretty good reloader, virtually all common factory rifles can me made to shoot < 1 moa some of the time.
The truth is that all this trouble is just fun to me. I want to shoot many rounds in the same hole so I try to get it as good as I can. 
Sometimes a hobby goes bad!


----------



## Wado (May 15, 2011)

sylvan said:


> I appreciate the offer. I have already borrowed PTG (Pacific tool and die) gauges and reamer. Thanks anyway.
> 
> I forgot, this will NOT be a tight neck chamber. Brass is Lapua- got 200 rounds yesterday. Holy $%^& When did the price of brass go up that much? I will probably use a Wilson seater die. I have not chosen a sizer yet. Thinking of a RCBS bushing sizer set only because I normally don't use RCBS and would like to see how well they work


I use Wilson seater dies for a couple of calibers I load. They are about as good as they get for concentricity, of course your brass needs to be straight also. The micrometer head is nice but I have the setscrew type that work just as good. I have never used the micrometer one I bought as a matter of fact. They have neck sizers with bushings also but I use a Lee collet die for most of my neck sizing. Downfall is you need an arbor press for Wilson's stuff but I just use the quill on my drill press. One question, why the 13 twist? I don't know anything about a 6mmBR but I have a 10 twist .243 that has heck with anything over 95 grains. Enlighten me on the 6BR, I've been eying a 6x47 for some reason. Wado


----------



## mrsh978 (Apr 24, 2006)

sylvan said:


> I know some will not agree with this but here is my opinion.
> All receivers begin life as a bar of steel. The manufacturer drills a big hole down the center of it (a dozen at a time) and threads are then cut into one end to "receive" the barrel. It's supposed to be straight but........
> Here is a very simplified answer
> What many don't realize is that regularly, the hole is NOT perfectly centered. That makes the bolt NOT in the center and maybe the bolt face is not perpendicular to the bored hole in the receiver thus the barrel. The bore in the rifle barrel may not be exactly in the center of the steel bar, etc, etc, etc. It doesn't take very much.
> ...


Truing the action/ blueprinting it - the only way to correctly build a rifle -as your are doing


----------



## Rmm (Jun 7, 2013)

Benchrest shooters typically use slower twist barrels and lighter bullets for shorter range benchrest. Usually flat base. The 6-47 has a little more horsepower than the br, it's pretty effective at 609-100 yards.


----------



## Rmm (Jun 7, 2013)

sylvan said:


> I appreciate the offer. I have already borrowed PTG (Pacific tool and die) gauges and reamer. Thanks anyway.
> 
> I forgot, this will NOT be a tight neck chamber. Brass is Lapua- got 200 rounds yesterday. Holy $%^& When did the price of brass go up that much? I will probably use a Wilson seater die. I have not chosen a sizer yet. Thinking of a RCBS bushing sizer set only because I normally don't use RCBS and would like to see how well they work


Are you going to skim turn the br necks? The lapua 6.5-47 brass needed skim turning to clean up the necks, the wall thickness was not very even. I have not measured any br necks.


----------



## sylvan (Dec 26, 2007)

Rmm said:


> Are you going to skim turn the br necks? ...


This will not be a tight necked chamber so I don't have to do it. 
Unfortunately, I am genetically predisposed to sorting cases, cleaning up the flash holes and turning the necks on new brass.... Lapua or not.
I purposely have not touched the new cases yet and hopefully can overcome my anal-retentive need to do it. That's one of the reasons I bought (paid more) Laupa as opposed to other manufacturers. Long habits die hard.

My last rifle was a 300 RUM. 30" barrel and all the bells and whistles. Since the brass was so hard to get - and expensive- I prepared 175 cases and kept 25 un-prepared to see if I could tell any difference. Ultimately, I couldn't.
It took me a week and was a PITA!
I want to avoid that trouble if I can. I will measure and sort at least some of the brass to see though. 
My theory is that small capacity cases are more "sensitive" than large capacity ones. It probably would mean more to do it but I don't want to


----------



## Rmm (Jun 7, 2013)

Lapua brass is definitely good quality. I think the flash holes are drilled instead of punched and are very uniform. Weights are usually very close. I was surprised that the 6.5-47 brass had a variance of up to 2 thousands thickness from side to side. I believe you are right that smaller cases are more sensitive. I ended up skim turning them just to give them an even grip on the bullet all the way around. Have you started truing your action yet? Curios to see how far out it is. Is it an older or new action?


----------



## texastkikker (Dec 24, 2008)

sylvan said:


> I know some will not agree with this but here is my opinion.
> All receivers begin life as a bar of steel. The manufacturer drills a big hole down the center of it (a dozen at a time) and threads are then cut into one end to "receive" the barrel. It's supposed to be straight but........
> Here is a very simplified answer
> What many don't realize is that regularly, the hole is NOT perfectly centered. That makes the bolt NOT in the center and maybe the bolt face is not perpendicular to the bored hole in the receiver thus the barrel. The bore in the rifle barrel may not be exactly in the center of the steel bar, etc, etc, etc. It doesn't take very much.
> ...


completely agree.....you are absolutely correct......I only like accurate rifles......1/2 MOA or better.


----------



## sea sick (Feb 9, 2006)

Ron Freshour was my Metal trades teacher in school. He was a good man,very smart and smooth with the ladies lol
You were lucky to have him as a teacher. We also did some work for him at his shop.


----------



## sylvan (Dec 26, 2007)

Murphy's Law rules my life.

My plan today was to measure the receiver and setup it up for truing. As I said earlier when I started this thread "... some are too far out to mess with" 
Well, this is one. It's a Rem 700 ss 243 about 5 years old.
The strange part is that I have shot it and it shoots a lot better than it should so I will put it back together and use it as a loaner. I will find another receiver for my daughter. I am not confident that cleaning up this one will allow it to shoot as well as I want and I'm not willing to take the chance.

The pic below shows the receiver in a truing jig on the lathe. It took almost 2 hours to set it up. I kept measuring because I didn't believe it was out that much.
Oh well..... I'll keep looking


----------



## Rmm (Jun 7, 2013)

What is out of spec on it? On my truing jig I can't really measure anything until I go to make a square facing cut on the front of my action after I indicate it in on the centerline. It really takes me a while to get one indicated in. I wish I knew a simpler way. Usually it's 2 hours of setting up for a 5 minute cut.


----------



## sylvan (Dec 26, 2007)

Obviously, this has been an indoor weekend so most of the metal work is completed. I still have quite a bit of barrel polishing to do because I want this purdy for my youngest )

I decided to not build up the Remington( put it back together) and chose a very old Shilen DGA action that I was saving for another reason. It was made in the mid-70â€™s and has had several barrels on it since I have had it. Itâ€™s a single shot flat based action and PITA to find a stock since it hasn't been made for 25 years. In it's time though, it was a *D*arned *G*ood *A*ction according to Ed Shilen. I am â€œmodifyingâ€ a fiberglass stock that fits Remington short actions. I plan to enlarge the beaver tail forend to about 3â€ so it will ride the bags easier and fill in the mag box to accommodate the flat based receiver. The barrel channel will probably fit without much work. I expect it to take at lease 3 fiberglass sessions for the forearm.
I wonder how she will take a rifle action twice as old as she is? Like most women in my life, she likes new things???? 
I forgot to take pics of the barreled action â€" I didn't bring it home from my shop, so I will post that tomorrow.
Here are some pics of the stock


----------



## sylvan (Dec 26, 2007)

I took off from work the last couple of days to get this finished for my daughter's spring break this weekend. 
The stock was glassed, sanded and primed and sent to a local guy doing Hydrographics. I had her send me paint cards of her favorite colors and I picked the pattern.
This is the first stock I have done with this process and I really like it but I don't know how durable it will be.
As for the whole package- I like it very much .... it's different. 

I have loaded up 50 rounds and plan to visit the range tomorrow to season the barrel and hopefully find a load that will work. Generally, 6mmBr is easy to tune - I hope! 
This one, mechanically, is as good as I can do it. The colors and pattern ... well... I hope she likes it.
I will post targets tomorrow.... maybe

Shilen DGA action (1975)
New Shilen select match 6mm 1/13 twist- med/heavy straight contour
Jewel trigger


----------



## Cynoscion (Jun 4, 2009)

Very nice build! I'm sure she will love it.


----------



## RB II (Feb 26, 2009)

That is an awesome set up. Can I be adopted? I need a 6.5 CM. Lol. I am sure she will love it and it will shoot lights out.


----------



## Profish00 (May 21, 2004)

Thats cool, don't point it west.


----------



## sylvan (Dec 26, 2007)

Went to the range today. Iâ€™m sure everyone there could hear my giggling â€¦ I canâ€™t be happier with this rifle.

There are many different components used for light bullets in a 6Br but I researched loads at 6Br, Accurateshooter and Benchrest.com for the most popular ones. I settled on Vihtavuori 135 and Varget for my initial powder testing with 70 gr Noslers.

I use my own simple ladder test for load development. I load same bullet and seating depth (-.010) but ladder test the powder in .5gr increments to see what the rifle likes initially. In this case, I used the Varget for breaking in the barrel and the VihtaVuori 135 for actual 3 shot groups. 

The first pic is the first test target with the Vihta powder. There are 7 aiming points beginning with the upper left 3 shot group followed by upper center, upper right, left center, center, right center, etc.

The powder was 29 gr, 29.5, 30, 30.5 and so forth.
Notice these groups were very easy to see where the nodes are and what this gun likes although these are only 3 shot groups â€“ they are good starting points. Better than I expected !

The second and third pics show how lucky I am. Groups 5 & 6 are center to center are under .2 moa. Thatâ€™s bragginâ€™ rights for me. I didnâ€™t expect it.

Now I will load these loads in 6 shot groups and go again loading in .2 gr increments with real BR targets. If the groups hold, I will play with seating depth. The truth is that I canâ€™t expect better groups than this, just consistency.

All in all, this is very lucky for me. Normally, Iâ€™m pulling my hair out to get to this point.
This gun shoots a lot better than I thought it would. BTW - those are dimes not nickles :smile:


----------



## Captn C (May 21, 2004)

Pretty obvious you know what your doing, but for some of those on here reading your thread:

http://optimalchargeweight.embarqspace.com/#

Super interesting stuff to be read on this site about load development!

I have always wondered why "Match Grade Ammo" shot great in nearly all guns...but everyone says all guns are different...he explains that pretty well.

Your target is pretty much text book on what he talks about! Loads 30.5 and 40.0 are getting into the node he speaks of....even though 29.0 is a tight group you are on the low side of your scatter node....great shooting! Great photo for us to lean from!


----------



## sylvan (Dec 26, 2007)

Captn C
thanks for the article. I just read it twice ... a good one for experienced shooters or not.

I use this method for short range BR (100-300 yds) For my long range rifles, I lean more to a true ladder test simply because of velocity differences. 25 fps velocity changes equates to 2" at 1000yds without even considering wind - but that's another story


----------



## CHARLIE (Jun 2, 2004)

Well Brian its gonna rain this weekend. What you gonna build next ?? Good job buddy.


----------



## bubbas kenner (Sep 4, 2010)

Awesome thread great job on good looking rifle for daughter.


----------



## Bird (May 10, 2005)

She already shoots better than her BF. He'll be shamed at the ranch for sure now. My guess is a lot of the big boys will be humbled too...


----------



## Captn C (May 21, 2004)

Oh...forgot to ask...you shooting off bags or a sled?

I've been using bi-pod in front and bag for rear, but not getting the results I thought I would...


----------



## texastkikker (Dec 24, 2008)

AWESOME!!!!!! that's a tack driver there!


----------



## sylvan (Dec 26, 2007)

Captn C said:


> Oh...forgot to ask...you shooting off bags or a sled?
> 
> I've been using bi-pod in front and bag for rear, but not getting the results I thought I would...


These groups were shot on an inexpensive Caldwell tripod front rest with leather bag - not a sled.
I shoot for fun with Harris Bipods but this gun was built for BR style shooting and has no stud or rail for mounting bipods.

Shooting over bipods with some rifles requires "front loading" In other words, a little (or lot) of forward pressure. Let someone video you shooting and carefully watch the recoil around the bipods...... do they bounce? Does it recoil the same way each time? Consistent recoiling makes a difference in your groups.

Bird- come by and check out the kids new toy


----------



## Captn C (May 21, 2004)

Hotwell Shooting Center has their target on top of each other...roughly 4' or 5' apart. I've had neighbors shoot my target by accident several times.

The gun I'm working on now is a Colombian Mauser Action 6.5-06...I have a Hawk Hill brake on it and it hops one target left pretty much every time. BUT! I've had a couple groups that look more like two groups...4 shots-two touching with the other two touching but one inch higher...most likely one bug hole if I'd done my job the same all 4 shots.


----------



## leadweight (Mar 4, 2006)

Brian, the gun build is awesome. How did you treat the stock to get that pattern?
Glad to see another build from you, least this one was not as long as the boat. We had a great time meeting you and fishing your boat last year.
Always cool to see your projects
David


----------



## sylvan (Dec 26, 2007)

leadweight said:


> Brian, the gun build is awesome. How did you treat the stock to get that pattern? David


The stock finish is a procedure called "hydrographics" There are many patterns available on Google and "how to" videos on Youtube. I fiberglassed and prepared the stock. I did not do the hydrographics - I hired a guy to do it. I have xtra material and I'm going to try it myself with the leftover material when I get time.
I like the way it looks.

We will go fishing again this year if the weather ever gets right......


----------



## sylvan (Dec 26, 2007)

Took a friend with me to the TC range yesterday and shot between showers.

It looks like I have one load down fairly well and found another potential one that I have no choice but to investigate. I NEVER should have taken anything different to the range unprepared ..... it just confuses and frustrates me.

The first pic is of the daughter's new toy she will get next thursday 

Second pic: the upper left group is 6 shots. Upper right is 4 shots.

Third pic: Here is my dilemma (that I created for myself). The center group is a complete separate 3 shot load that I was using for clearing shots. It's scary good to me and it was done by accident. Now I am home loading more (hopefully) like it.
-will I ever be that lucky again- I have to try


----------



## Bocephus (May 30, 2008)

Wow !!!!!!

:cheers:


----------



## Bird (May 10, 2005)

I take it you didn't have anymore primer problems? Those are stunning groups...


----------



## Trouthunter (Dec 18, 1998)

Thanks for sharing this with us, you sure do have skills way beyond what I'm capable of doing and the accuracy of that rifle is exceptional.

Great work! I know that your daughter will be very proud of the beautiful rifle you built for her.

TH


----------



## sylvan (Dec 26, 2007)

Bird you had the target in your hands yesterday.
You know what worries me is that all these groups were shot with the CCI Br4 primers I have been having all the trouble with. So far, I have about 20 duds from 2 boxes of 100. I must assume the rest of the carton has all the same issues (duds). This carton has given me more misfires in 2 boxes than I have had total in the last 20 years of anyone's primers.

The question is: What if I can't replicate the groups using other primers?

I will not return them or complain until I verify I can reproduce these groups.
They are far better than I expected. That last group is good enough to get in the Big Boy game if I was still competing. 
One other anomaly, after 20+ rounds down the tube, it took less than 5 minutes to clean. Ain't that a hoot? HeII, I'm gonna buy a lotto ticket.

My daughter will have her rifle on Thursday but I might just borrow it occasionally


----------



## DCAVA (Aug 5, 2013)

Awesome build and a splendid gift for her indeed!

Good luck with matching those groups. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Bird (May 10, 2005)

sylvan said:


> Bird you had the target in your hands yesterday.
> You know what worries me is that all these groups were shot with the CCI Br4 primers I have been having all the trouble with. So far, I have about 20 duds from 2 boxes of 100. I must assume the rest of the carton has all the same issues (duds). This carton has given me more misfires in 2 boxes than I have had total in the last 20 years of anyone's primers.
> 
> The question is: What if I can't replicate the groups using other primers?
> ...


I'll come by and pick up 10 random primers from the brick and load them into some 308 Lapua brass I have. I'll load up some match stuff and see if I can duplicate the misfires. Even if they all fire, I certainly won't get close to those groups though!


----------



## sylvan (Dec 26, 2007)

Mi primers es su primers......... or so I'm told


----------



## CHARLIE (Jun 2, 2004)

What you doing up so late Brian ? Old folks go to bed early.


----------



## texastkikker (Dec 24, 2008)

dang fine shooting there.......I'd say she is a one-holer!


----------



## sylvan (Dec 26, 2007)

Good and bad news.
Good news is that my daughter got her new toy.
Bad news is she didn't have the time to shoot it. She had to get back to college. I'm not all that disappointed about it because we are going to see her in a couple of weeks and we will shoot at Red's Shooting Range in Oak Hill (south of Austin) It's an INDOOR 100 yd range. You can really find out how well a rifle shoots with no wind to deal with.

I loaded up some rounds with new primers. Unfortunately, I didn't get the groups as good as last week. It may have been just a fluke so I will keep working on it.


----------



## CHARLIE (Jun 2, 2004)

Very nice Brian. That girl is beautiful. Must have got all her looks from you since you dont have any left LOL. Congratulations.


----------



## ROBOWADER (May 22, 2004)

You should try out the new indoor gun range in South Austin on 35. Reds has turned into a dump and the workers there are *********.

https://www.therangeaustin.com/

I think it is 30$ per hour to shoot which is kinda high but it looks like a nice place. I have not been yet.


----------



## sylvan (Dec 26, 2007)

Robowader
I looked at their website and can't find any info on the length of the range but it sure looks nice. Where does it say 100 yds?

Charlie - you are not very nice!


----------



## mrsh978 (Apr 24, 2006)

Unless they shortened it. It's a 100. Shot there we they first opened up ... gettin old ....


----------



## ROBOWADER (May 22, 2004)

It is 100 yrd or so they advertise on the radio as having one. I have not been there yet, but anything is better than Reds.



sylvan said:


> Robowader
> I looked at their website and can't find any info on the length of the range but it sure looks nice. Where does it say 100 yds?
> 
> Charlie - you are not very nice!


----------



## CHARLIE (Jun 2, 2004)

Jus kiddin Brian. Congratulations on a beautiful daughter and nice gun.


----------



## mavrik (Mar 10, 2010)

Nice build and brings back a lot of old memories. Rom did a lot of work on my Rem XP100 7-08. He build a custom IMSHA 14" barreled 7-08 for a friend of mine. Maybe you worked on some of our stuff.


----------



## sylvan (Dec 26, 2007)

mavrik said:


> Nice build and brings back a lot of old memories. Rom did a lot of work on my Rem XP100 7-08. He build a custom IMSHA 14" barreled 7-08 for a friend of mine. Maybe you worked on some of our stuff.


Ron had a lot of XP-100's go through the shop. Most of them were for guys silhouette shooting with 7-08's, 7mmBr, etc. and were very custom.
I worked on a lot of them but never got the knack of laying on my back, facing the wrong way with a semi- pistol hanging on my leg. 
With that said ..... some of those guys were real shooters!!! Ram silhouettes at 500 yds with a pistol! I haven't seen anyone do that in years. Thanks for the memories

I almost bought a factory xp100 in 221 fireball at the last High Caliber show. but I chickened out taking it home. My wife has learned what gun is what in the safe......... shoes are OK though


----------



## sylvan (Dec 26, 2007)

Went to the range today. Too much wind but the gun shot very well anyway.
Eight different loads got me 2 - 6 shot bug holes. These loads are actually better than I can consistently shoot. My final plan is to shoot these loads at 300 yds to see how they deal with a little more distance. If they work ... I'm done with the daughter's toy. I almost feel sorry for her boyfriend who is shooting a factory gun and ammo ..... sneaky huh? 

69gr Berger FBHP, 32 gr. Vihti Vuori 135, 3340 fps, .005 off the lands 

75gr Hornady V-Max BT, 32gr. Varget, 3280 fps, +.015 jammed into the lands

No excessive pressure on either load.

Soon back to the 338 Laupa Mod 12 Savage single shot. It's the only full factory rifle I own and I have had little luck in making it shoot as well as I think it should.
If anyone out there has one of these and loads for it, I would appreciate a few recipes or hints. I have no experience with Savage factory rifles.

Thanks for following this thread. I hope you have enjoyed it.


----------



## CHARLIE (Jun 2, 2004)

Brian

It didnt happen without pictures !


----------



## sylvan (Dec 26, 2007)

Charlie
You are a PAIN, my friend! OK here are the pics. The first target is only 69gr. Berger FB bullets. The second is only 75gr. Hornady V-max BT and last one is my notebook I keep on each gun. Load recipes, number of times the brass was reloaded, ballistic tables for the load, seating depth, ogive measurements, OAL, etc.
I even keep some targets so I can reproduce the loads ...... if I am lucky. 

I am truly amazed that this gun is producing these groups with a really inexpensive Simmons 6x20 variable scope I bought on special at Midway for $115. The only problem with it is that it is a .25 moa adjustment and I need 1/8 min clicks to actually move the POI to a point. What will it do with a high quality fineplex 36 fixed power BR scope? Charlie, you gonna loan me yours?

Why don't you quit sleeping all day and come out to the range with me. I might even let you shoot this thing. At your age, understand that many improvements have been made since black powder was invented.


----------



## CHARLIE (Jun 2, 2004)

Scope, what's that Brian ?? Would love to make a trip to the range with you. Let you give me some lessons.


----------



## sylvan (Dec 26, 2007)

... went "turkey" hunting this past weekend with a friend. I haven't done it in many years and thought it would be a fun trip testing the daughter's new toy. Unfortunately, the guys on the lease informed me you can't hunt turkeys with a rifle in the spring season. I didn't know that!

Oh well, there were other things to do with the daughter's new toy. 75 gr. V-max Hornadys do a fine job when placed in the ear properly. 
6 for 6 from 175-300 yds bagged up over the truck hood. Several other guys were there as witnesses. Funny thing, the teasing about the fancy colored girlie gun stopped.

I really like the wide beaver-tail forearm on this rifle.... makes it very stable over bags.

The smoker will be very busy this week.


----------



## Bird (May 10, 2005)

For a gun that can shoot .5moa and better, I thought you'd shoot them in the tear duct? Comparatively, the ear is a pretty big target...:biggrin:


----------



## SpecTakleLure (Jul 8, 2011)

Great read my friend... I just hope the daughters bf don't fall in love for all the wrong reasons, lol. I have not met you but I'm in love, with your work.


----------

