Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats How easy is it to build a 6 to 6.5 lb custom tack driver?

Details?

Very doable....

I have 2 of them, (customs), one on an M70 Winchester and another built on a Rem 700 short. Both weigh less than 6.5 lbs each without optics and mcmillan edge stocks. Standard stuff done to them both, trued actions, custom barrels and sights. Both guns shoot 1/2 MOA or less with match and one shoots Federal fusion into bugholes for 5 rounds. The weight really starts to show when you add optics to the equation. I put a nightforce SHV 2-10 on the Rem. 700 308- Weight is now around 8lbs all up.

Very very nice. Knowing very little about customs,I'm afraid I don't recognize all the parts. Can you give some specs please. Could you give a ball park cost? PM if you like.

Clark, Jon Beanland built 6.5 Saum, Defiance Rebel XM action, Defiance SS XM BM, Jewell trigger, Bartlien 2b barrel crowned @24" bedded in a MCM Classic edge, the weight is 8# 9 oz's which I know is heavier than your looking for but with a lighter contour or fluting and aluminum bottom metal 8# should be pretty easy!
Parts today would be around $2750.00
You could save a good amount going with a 700 action and BM and a cheaper trigger and still have an accurate 8# rifle that will be more consistent than most factory offerings, just don't cut corners on your builder!

Thank you sir.

Congrats on a beautiful rifle, Jon does fantastic work! 8.5 lbs with scope is the kind of weight I like personally.

Does that Defiance XM bottom metal use a 3” mag box?

Thanks, and Jon does very nice work, technically 3.2 but your correct it is only made to fit the XM actions!

Yet many people fuss over their barrel channel gap ,exact barrel length/contour, paint color of stock,
insist on cut-rifling barrels , strive to squeeze that last 50 or 100 fps from the muzzle, ....etc, etc,

none of which give or take a bit here and there, really makes a better practical purpose hunting rifle.

Since striving for accuracy and all those other things aint really worth it in a practical sense,
then maybe they should get another hobby to invest their time and money in.., maybe a telescope to gaze the stars
..or good whisky...or both,

I'm not throwing away precision arbitrarily, but I'm just being realistic about what I can make use of in a given situation.

I do think that it is easier to make a 6# rifle that will shoot .5 MOA than to ensure that your light rifle shooting technique does not add .25 MOA to your results. The former only requires the application of money; the latter demands time, attentiveness, and diligent effort. As an illustration, I have a 40X-based bench gun in .22lr that is truly a one hole gun. I also have a NULA .22lr that weighs about half as much, and I really think that its inherent accuracy is virtually as good. But it only takes the slightest slip up in my attention to technique to start to throw shots out with the NULA.

Against all odds, my lightest build to date has inexplicitly ended up being my most accurate lightweight hunting rifle. It is a 30-284 on a Pierce titanium action with a fluted #2 Mullerworks 5R barrel in a 17oz MPI stock. The rifle weights 4lb 10oz bare and 5lbs 8.4oz with a 2.5-8 Leupold in talley ultralights. With 150gr Cutting Edge Raptors over Reloader 17, it has shot three shots into one ragged hole at 100m on the last 4 trips to the range.

Agree with the previous sentiments that this level of accuracy from the bench does not automatically translate into accuracy in the field but a #2 barrel on a TI action is far easier to shoot offhand than a Featherweight contour barrel on a steel action due to the weight being further forward.

The gunsmith who built it read me the riot act on needing a #4 or #5 to get top accuracy but after shooting it himself, he is making himself a 280AI on a Pierce TI and a #2 Mullerworks barrel.

i am curious how the ejection angle will change with other actions and if the original problem the op listed in his opening statement will still be there ?

i do know Borden rifles has a new hook extractor that will allow for a lower ejection angle but arent melvins rifles set up with the same ejector in the same location as other actions

There is pretty much only one place on a 700 type bolt to install a sako extractor but the ejector can be placed so it helps produce a lower ejection angle!
Pretty sure Bordens new "hook" extractor is similar to what HS precision uses on the actions!

It is easy to stay at or a little under 7lbs scoped with a model 7 or shortaction700. 20” number 2 barrel and a McMillan edge or a bansner/ high tech specialties stock get you there. I don’t spend on getting flutes or skeltonizing- I do add a mini m4 style extractor, and a larger bolt knob. Basically you can get to under 7lbs scoped in those platforms without having to nitpick about using the lightest components, and instead focus on practicality, function, and (within reason for a light / mountain rifle) ergonomics. The 20” number 2 feels good with an ultralight stock nice bit of weight out front. - Feels all screwed up in a heavy laminate stock though like you’re trigger hand is doing the heavy liftin and squeezing the trigger and your other hand is trying to keep the barrel from floating away. Anyway it’s easy to build an easy to shoot Ergonomically effective sub 7lb scoped rifle that will hold .5moa. All my light rifles have tubbs speedlock or gretan fireingpin/spring assemblies for faster locktime. Some guys say it only shows up at the bench. In my experience with proper discipline and form- it only shows up in the field. I can shoot tiny groups off a rest with slow freaking rifle- but with my heart and lungs going hard adrenaline flooding my veins and hands shaking- when my pulse is pounding in my temples and fingertip is when the locktime really makes a difference.

You can absolutely save money on a tikka or whatever if you like, but if you want a rifle that is a purpose driven build utilizing components and a decision making process that is based on performance rather than cost effectiveness, and is tailored to your body, and what your experience has dictated is important- then maybe don’t go for the tikka. I don’t know


Reread your original post- and your goal of 7.5lbs with a robust scope is reasonable in a long action. And even at that- just because a cartridge OAL length might call for a Long action it’s powder column might not need a long tube for efficient/consistent burn. I don’t know if the range at which you hit 1350fps with an individual rifle would be very dramatically effected by going from 24” to 20”. Your dope would change plenty but your max effective range as defined by supersonic velocity with a High BC bullet you might lose what 10 yards?

Thank you for that well thought response. You have given me much food for thought.

Let me offer another direction to go. I built 2 customs on Kimber actions. The first one was to be a lightweight rifle to carry up and down the mountains where I live in pursuit of Coyotes. The very cheapest way for me to go was to buy a new Kimber Montana utilizing the action, trigger, and stock. Then I had the action squared, lugs lapped, a new Lilja barrel installed matching Kimbers contour and I rebedded it. 6lbs. 4oz. ready to hunt. Brand new rifle $1000, barrel plus machining and installing $750.
A couple of years ago I decided I wanted a custom Deer rifle. Located a used 2 position safety Kimber Classic. Had all the same machine work and installation of barrel done. And again, a Lilja in a Kimber contour. This time I built the walnut stock for it from a blank of English Walnut. This one was a bit more because of the stock. 6lbs. 13oz. ready to hunt. As for accuracy at 100yds with these 2 light weights.....................

The first build was a 17 Rem.





The second build was a 243




I find these to be easy to shoot from a bench and more accurate than I can shoot nowdays.

Save the money and buy a Tikka T3 ultralight or youth model and put a light Mcmillan or Manners on it. My tikka shoots any bullet I load for it under half moa and doesn't matter if it's jumping .170 with 125gr bullets or .010 jump with 168 grainers. For a hunting gun I'm impressed.

Lots of truth in this!

2 things

1 Must be getting really screwed by my gunsmith***
2 I bought a fieldcraft in 6.5 creed with 22" barrel. It shoots INCREDIBLY well if I do my part!