Custom bolt gun

[willidru]

I've had fun putting together a couple AR lowers, obviously not rocket science. I love to hunt a wanted to see what the level of difficulty would be to build a bolt action hunting rifle.

Maybe certain portions need to be bought complete. Your thoughts would be appreciated on the extent of this potential DIY adventure.

[kcstott]

Not hard at all for a hunting grade weapon.
But a receiver, barrel, stock, scope base, rings, and scope, bolt it all together. with all parts in hand you could be at the range in about two hours.

now anything refined, match grade, precision, Blueprinted, any of those wizz bang words,,,, well then the skill and tools required goes up quick.

I did a mock up on a rifle i'm building, put everything together to see how everything fits. Took about an hour... If I had ammo I could have packed it up and went to the range. so assembly is easy...for a hunting grade weapon... It took five months to get the barrel, four to get the chassis. two weeks to get the action, chamber reamer, and head space gauges. Scope, rings, 60MOA base, timney trigger were a click away. Had to make an action wrench and barrel vise bushing (I didn't have a 1.450" bushing laying around) and I've got a 15lb block of steel to make a muzzle brake out of.

It all comes down to how much you want to throw at it and what you want out of it.
This also leaves all wood work out of it as well. You could tie up a good amount of time and money selecting a good piece of wood and filing, sanding, shaping, even a semi finished stock to perfection then spend the next three months putting a high grade fully filled wet sanded oil finish on it.
then the metal work if it's anything but a brand spanking new action. and finish?? Blued, Slow rust browned or blued, Parkerised, Blasted stainless, Cerakote, Duracoat, Guncoat?? take your pick..

you could order everything and wait tendays and one hour and have a decent self built hunting weapon. Or you could plan and piece together a work of art. and it has nothing to do with how deep your pockets are. just the length of your arms

[willidru]

With buying off the self parts and pieces could I build a hunting rifle with better parts and more cost effective than buying off the shelf. I want light and accurate

[ar15barrels]

With buying off the self parts and pieces could I build a hunting rifle with better parts and more cost effective than buying off the shelf.

No.

The reason to build yourself is to get something different than a factory gun.
Building from parts will be more expensive.

I want light and accurate

If you want something more accurate than a factory rifle, you are looking for a higher quality custom fitted barrel.

[kcstott]

No.

The reason to build yourself is to get something different than a factory gun.
Building from parts will be more expensive.



If you want something more accurate than a factory rifle, you are looking for a higher quality custom fitted barrel.

Every damn time too.

you can go get a a ADL for $500 and slap a tupperware stock on it if not already equipped. about 6.5 to 7 lbs

Never understood why people want a "light weight gun" Only my AR's and AK's weigh less then 9 lbs

[ar15barrels]

Never understood why people want a "light weight gun"

Light weight guns are better for carrying all day and firing 1-2 shots at game animals.
This is typical usage of a hunting rifle.
Light weight guns are NO GOOD for shooting groups.

[willidru]

Light weight guns are better for carrying all day and firing 1-2 shots at game animals.
This is typical usage of a hunting rifle.
Light weight guns are NO GOOD for shooting groups.

This is exactly how I use my rifle. Carry all day, hiking miles. Shooting my Tikka T3 300 Win Mag is not a ton of fun at the range. My limbsaver helps but still I limit my rounds.

Don't get me wrong my factory stock Tikka will out perform me, but something about putting it together seems like I would enjoy shooting it more. Also while the tikka is great it has a lot of plastic on it (bolt shroud, metal plate) and a stock fit custom for my long arms would be nice.

[willidru]

[QUOTE=ar15barrels;18624942]No.

The reason to build yourself is to get something different than a factory gun.
Building from parts will be more expensive.

when I said more cost effective than something of the shelf I should have clarified. I didn't mean a pre built Rem 700 or Tikka. More like a pre built custom Christiansen arms.

What would you build in the $2-3k range? Not including optics.

[ar15barrels]

when I said more cost effective than something of the shelf I should have clarified. I didn't mean a pre built Rem 700 or Tikka. More like a pre built custom Christiansen arms.

What would you build in the $2-3k range? Not including optics.

About 1/3 to 1/2 of the cost of a Christensen is the brand name you are paying for.

For $3k, you can start with a new custom action and put a premium quality barrel and a nice carbon fiber stock made to your specs.
Unless you are a machinist, you are not going to do the work yourself, but you can certainly specify what you want and a good custom rifle builder can put it together for you.

I do this kind of work in southern california.

[liber]

You won't save money, and it will cost you a LOT more to do the build correctly, IMO.

I'm in the process of doing a bolt action, but I have it on hold while I get a few project out of the way before making some chips fly.

There's a fair amount of tooling needed for a bolt action, to do it right. You need a reamer for the chamber, A lathe is probably one of the more expensive pieces of machinery needed. You could have some of the work done by a gunsmith.

My build is really heavy, you wouldn't want to trek though the hills with it on your shoulder. The barrel weighs about 9 lbs. alone, it's a 31" 1.250" straight blank. I'll most likely end up adding some weight to the stock to balance it out. But there is no reason you couldn't build a light bolt action.

Compared to building an AR, the bolt action is way more difficult and costly. I think more satisfying, but we all have our own opinion...the AR is milling the FCG and drilling a few holes. BFD, that's not really gunsmithing, it's more like building with Legos...

[liber]

What would you build in the $2-3k range? Not including optics.

Mine will cost right around $3k.

I have a 31" Kreiger 6.5 Creedmoor barrel, AICS stock. Stainless Rem 700 blank. I'll put a Jewel trigger on it, but don't have it yet. I got the bolt from PTG, along with the firing pin assembly.

FWIW, about half of the $3k is for tooling.

[willidru]

Thanks for all of the great info. One more question about the stock fitting. Would it have the same dimensions as when I had my shotgun fit?

[kcstott]

Thanks for all of the great info. One more question about the stock fitting. Would it have the same dimensions as when I had my shotgun fit?

No.

Your body dimensions can be used to build a rifle stock off of but shotguns stock are damn near night and day difference with stock dimensions even for the same person.

For a shotgun stock theres more drop in the stock over all and slightly longer length of pull, and usually a more pitch and cast.

average rifle stock depending on if set up for iron sights or optics will have less drop on the stock slightly shorter length of pull, little less cast and pitch. that said it all changes when you step up to magnums,

then there is the rifle or shotguns balance point, this is what make the weapon swing and point well. proper fit and balance make a weapon feel like a extension. weight forward weight backward all play a roll in how the gun mounts and points.

Light weight guns are better for carrying all day and firing 1-2 shots at game animals.
This is typical usage of a hunting rifle.
Light weight guns are NO GOOD for shooting groups.

guess I'm just hard headed, I never payed attention to the weight of the weapon over all, I couldn't care less about a nine pound gun (guess) when i have a fifty pound ruck where I hunt.

Places I use to hunt was National forest land and you could drive in on main roads but to get anywhere away from the yokels you had to hump your butt six miles in to the back woods.

I take that back maybe I do care as all I do now is bird hunt, Walk around some alfalfa fields carrying a 20 gauge SXS. Deer down this way are scrawny dogs, not worth trying to field dress a 160 pound animal to get maybe 80 pounds of sage nastiness meat. One day when I get back into this get an archery tag and head up north if i'm lucky enough to draw a tag. that or just say screw it and head to Wyoming or Montana pay the out of state fee and deal with it.

[willidru]

I do this kind of work in southern california.

Good to know for when I start to get into the project. I'm in Northern California.

[God Bless America]

Every damn time too.

you can go get a a ADL for $500 and slap a tupperware stock on it if not already equipped. about 6.5 to 7 lbs

Never understood why people want a "light weight gun" Only my AR's and AK's weigh less then 9 lbs

For hunting Dall sheep and the like. Otherwise, hard for me to justify too.