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#4423117 09/17/10
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Ever find a particular bullet and then decide to build a rifle around it?

Well, that's just what I did.

I was looking for a dedicated "Long Range Hunting Rifle" that would shoot
Berger 180 VLD's at 3,000 mv.

I wanted a rifle that weighed 11 lbs or less as well.

Cartridge: 7mm Rem Magnum

Rifle: Rem 700 SS

Barrel: Brux SS 27" #6 Bull Sporter, 1/8.6 twist, interrupted flutted,

Rifle barrel and action was coated with Gun-Kote
after Salt Bath Nitride treatment.

Stock: Mcmillan A3 65% Red 35% Black

Rifle weighs 10 lbs 8 oz scoped up with Leupold QR low rings and mounts.
Scope is a Leupold 6.5-20x 40 LR.

Using lows and the x40 scope makes for an ideal cheek-weld for me.

I looked hard for the kind of Smith I want to build this for me and after judging the field I came up with Travis at R Bros.

First and formost, Travis is a shooter. He shoots competition in tactical matches and he wins those matches. Travis is also a long range hunter, he knows just what it takes to build the kind of accurate rifle that shooters like myself are looking for.
I found that Travis is also a perfectionist. The rifle won't leave the shop till it shoots, at very least, to his standard of .5 at 100 yds. I think most of his rifles shoot less than that.

Travis has built many 7mm Rem Mags and his chamber reamer is set up for the 180 Berger, it also works for other bullet brands quite well.
I plan on trying out 168 Bergers, 162 Amax's and 160 AB's

Travis used a load of Retumbo to get 3,050 mv and
an initial .3 for this rifle. That's a pretty good start.

I'm not normally given to naming my rifles but I could not resist with this one.

El Diablo grin

[Linked Image]

[Linked Image]

[Linked Image]

[Linked Image]


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+1 for Travis! He sure builds some nice rifles and is one hell of a standup guy. Very nice, loooking forward to seeing some pictures in the field.


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nice stick!


30-06 till i die, the greatest round ever!

I carry a gun because a cop is too heavy!

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SU35,

Do we know each other? I think I need to shoot that rifle.


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The "interrupted flutes" look sweet


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Are ya runnin Wincester primers with the Retumbo vs 215 M? Great looking rig.

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That's nice!

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Very nice. I love red and black mcSwirleys.

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Had my first "accuracy" range session today with El Diablo, this was after a sight in yesterday.
I used 8 shots to get on target burning 68.0 grains of Retumbo sending a 180 Berger. (MV of 2,850)

All loads were win brass and win mag primers.

Today's results shooting 3 shot groups.

Group on the far right was my first "official" group.
Load was Ramshot Magnum 71.5 grains for an average of 3,000 mv. It's right on the red line and I may back off .5 grain.

2nd group in the middle were 168 Bergers and 70 grains of Retumbo. I pulled the 2nd shot for the top hole.

3rd group far left were 180 Bergers and 69.5 grains of Retumbo. ES was less than 15 fps at a bit over 3,000 mv.

Had a 10 to 15 mph crosswind I was shooting into.


[Linked Image]



Promising start and I'm glad I found another powder, RS Magnum, to complement Retumbo for both accuracy and speed.

Next up for tomorrow will be RL 25.

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Get it wound up... then come to TX and whack an El Diablo with it at long range... blue bull/nilgai are fairly tough critters.


We can keep Larry Root and all his idiotic blabber and user names on here, but we can't get Ralph back..... Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, over....
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Get it wound up... then come to TX and whack an El Diablo with it at long range... blue bull/nilgai are fairly tough critters.


LOL...I would love that!

I've had plenty of Texans tell me that those Nilgai are tough critters. I believe them.

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They made me cuss and drop the use of partitions....

Of course the right shot is dead...but we were asked to take some angular shots... at least it proved that what I thought was my elk load was NOT...

Look up Yturria Ranch.... I think they are a bit cheaper than the King... May be many other options too.. I"m looking hard into using the airboat on the flats... as they wander out onto public land at times... but you have to make sure you are not on King ranch land FOR sure...


We can keep Larry Root and all his idiotic blabber and user names on here, but we can't get Ralph back..... Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, over....
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They made me cuss and drop the use of partitions....


I don't doubt it. I know guys from Dallas that blast them with 338's and still cuss after they've filled them full of lead.
(which btw, I miss my twice a year business visits to Texas)

If I remember correctly, Nosler tested their then new Accubonds on them.

Indigenous or not, my guess is they are the toughest beast on 4 hooves in NA.

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Funny part is I killed one with a 30-30 contender... 170 core lokts on a bet... a running cull bull.... first shot was ok... and then it took either 7 or 9 total shots till he fell over... my worst hit was far enough back to nip the liver... Many bullets made only one lung...

Dunno that I'd trust an accubond on these things...

the other laugh... a buddy lucked off and spined one with his 7 mag... and was out of shells... I killed it with a heart shot from my 357 python....

But yep, I'd think 338 would be an ideal round and I know of folks that bought big stuff for them... up to a 460....and that bunch takes along an old German hunter.... with a 308 and 180 corelokts... but he shoots them all in the head...


We can keep Larry Root and all his idiotic blabber and user names on here, but we can't get Ralph back..... Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, over....
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Sweet stick.

Now pound the piss outta it and see how the melanite holds up. grin

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Now pound the piss outta it and see how the melanite holds up. grin


And that's just what I'm going to do. grin

This rifle is really fun to shoot!

Interesting in talking to Travis, he hardly if ever cleans his rifles.
I think he said he has gone over 900 rounds and still going on one particular rifle. I'm going to try to see how far I can get before it falls off.

So far the melanite treatment has caused no accuracy concerns.
Maybe it'll give me another 1000 or 2000 down the tube. We shall see.


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Originally Posted by SU35
Ever find a particular bullet and then decide to build a rifle around it?

Travis has built many 7mm Rem Mags and his chamber reamer is set up for the 180 Berger, it also works for other bullet brands quite well.
I plan on trying out 168 Bergers, 162 Amax's and 160 AB's

Travis used a load of Retumbo to get 3,050 mv and
an initial .3 for this rifle. That's a pretty good start.



I have gone this route and a couple observations, First if the reamer is set-up for the 180gr Berger it is way less than ideal for the 168gr Berger (huge difference in bearing surface length) works great with the 160gr AB though.

Second, after trying several powder's Retumbo was one of the first OUT....good short range accuracy but H1000 and RL25 were superior for long range work.
RC828

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I have gone this route and a couple observations, First if the reamer is set-up for the 180gr Berger it is way less than ideal for the 168gr Berger (huge difference in bearing surface length) works great with the 160gr AB though.


Excellent input, thanks.

Travis did mention that the reamer was good for the 160 AB's.

I've shot the 168's again tonight. Sub moa but just under at .8.

I established my 100 yard zero tonight and all loads and 3 different bullets hit pretty much poi.

RL25 does look good but so far RS Magnum has everything beat.

Also, the 162 Amax's did very well at 3,100 with Retumbo.

I'll be going to 300 yards tomorrow. We'll see what that tells.

Thanks again!

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Nice

Hard to beat Retumbo for speed and temp stability.



John Burns

I have all the sources.
They can't stop the signal.

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Hard to beat Retumbo for speed and temp stability.


I've heard a lot of people say that. smile

Seeing you tip that griz with a 7mm 180 helped push me over the edge on this project. smile



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