You said Build. Not Buy off the shelf! Correct? I have recommended to others (one just a couple days ago) buying a nice Remington VS (varmint synthetic) in 7mm-08. For $700 you might get a gun that shoots aces right out of the box. If you want to, for another $1,000 to $1200 for action truing, barrel, custom chambering, trigger job, and bedding, you can have a rifle every bit as accurate and pleasant to shoot as a full blown custom off the shelf rifle. Pick a stock you like and work in increments. Every bit of a Remington rifle is workable.
Compare this to buying a base rifle from GA Precision. They have a stellar reputation. You're going to pay $2600 for a rifle built on a Remington 700 action. I think it's a good value compared to what's out there and how much you can spend.
With the Rem, you're going to get a robust rifle with a heavy barrel. I know you said light, and you can get your barrel cut to 20" if you really want to and save some, but I like the guns just as they are. Kenny Jarrett's favorite rifle is his 7mm-08 Ackley Improved in a 20" bbl ranch rifle. If you're not going to handload, the std chambering would be fine.
I like heavy rifles. I practice with a Rem 40X Rangemaster .22 that probably weighs 13 or 14 pounds. My custom .30-.338 I hunted with for 20+ years probably weighs 15 pounds. I bought a Remington titanium mountain rifle in .270 once but couldn't hold it still. I sold it. The last rifle I had built, the Nesika weighs 8 1/2 pounds without a scope and I'm just as comfortable as can be with it. It's a .300 WSM and I put a brake on it a week after I got it. The .30-.338 didn't need one. At 15 pounds, all you get is a shove. I like weight for stability and to soak up recoil because I do a lot of shooting. I don't mind carrying a heavy gun I know is going to make me a better shot.
Remington's have round receivers and any gunsmith can work one. There are myriad of aftermarket stocks, bottom metal, triggers... for Remingtons and as I said, most gunsmiths probably learned on Remington actions. They are the standard. I paid $3500 for a custom Nesika Bay rifle and $3600 for my benchrest gun. I have guns put together on Winchester and Remington actions that shoot every bit as good. No snob factor. Satisfying.
Not too many years ago, my buddy the cop spent $1700 going this route and has a very nice .300 Winchester he put together on a Remington action. The rifle shot sweet. He had the trigger done, the action cleaned up, and dropped it in a Sako style stock he'd wanted a long time and he loves it. Aside from an Armalite for range destruction, it's the only other rifle he owns.
This is off Jarrett's website. It's in his section of pet calibers. I talked to him about the 20" barrel part years ago, and he said it's really all you need. He would know.
"The 7mm-08 Ackley Improved has been very popular with us for many years. Most importantly, it provides high end .280 Remington performance in a short action receiver. Most of our 7mm-08 Imp. rifles have a fairly short barrel, usually no longer than 20�, yet we get an honest 3050 f.p.s. with a 140 gr. bullet, and 3150 feet per second with a 120 gr. The original .308 case has been transformed into many kinds of nice cartridges. I believe that the 7mm-08 Ackley Improved is at the top of the heap. We have tuned several for 160 gr. Nosler Partitions for African hunts and hear nothing but praise for their performance. Bullets striking animals at 100 to 200 yards at 7mm-08 velocities will show perfect performance every time. Perfect for whitetail, it is one wildcat that deserved to be."
