Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats She's done!

Due to a couple of bad influences...cough dave7mm cough aalf...I wanted to build my first long(er) range rig. Mostly banging steel out to 1k...some paper...maybe try PRS at some point.


I still have to bed it and get glass on her...but finally got my barreled action back today.














-Kelbly Atlas Tactical action
-Bix n' Andy Dakota trigger (likely to be a tacsport later if I wanna go lighter)
-6.5mm 8twist Bartlein 5r #13 Sendero/rem varmint profile
-Manners PRS-2 in midnight camo
-Seekins precision DBM M5 bottom metal
-Kelblys new self timing muzzle brake "The Claw"


Chambered by Kelblys in 6.5x47 Lapua

Weighs in just shy of 10lbs as she sits.


My first custom rifle....and I'm smiling ear to ear like a kid on Christmas.


Hopefully get her bedded tomorrow and start breaking her in next week.

Between flathead fishing, hunting season, and life...I won't get to get real serious till about February unless I kill a buck early. Too many hobbies...not enough time. I have a few couple periods where there's nothing to hunt or catch...which is when I will shoot heavy.



Thought I'd share since I posted a teaser a while ago.

Sweet rig! Kudos to you!

Glad to be of help.
Now get that puppy bedded and broke in so you can play with the armymen.
We can start planning your next project.
This winter.
You can't stop at just one you know
Dave

Nice.

Thanx all! I'm anxious to see how she shoots!


Just got done bedding. I feel like all went well. My....3rd bedding job.


Loaded some dummy rounds prior to bedding to run a function test. Ran through a 5rd mag a few times without a hiccup. The ejector in this action is no joke. If you run it hard, you'll be flinging brass! Lol. I sent a dummy round across the basement.


Chamber job seems spot on. Just kissing the lands with 140s at max mag length. So I should have plenty of options and not having to worry about mag length limitations.

Hoping to run 130gr Berger Hybrids. But I have a variety to test.




Stay tuned. Lol

Very nice.

Looks sweet

About ten minutes from Kelblys here. Will have to go inside next time I am there shooting and check out the gunsmithing going on. I might get to see some 24hr rifles before the owners do

Nice rifle. Hope it shoots great for ya

I can't say enough about Kelbly's. There's something to be said about a family business that has lasted a few generations. Their customer service is just awesome. They definitely want their customers to be happy.




One thing I wanted to note....as far as Manner's Stocks go. I've read a LOT of horrible inletting stories. Of course it was after I decided that was the stock I wanted. The Kelbly Atlas Tactical is a 700 footprint...but has a trigger hanger that almost always gets in the way. My Seekins bottom metal is also not super common...m5 bottom metal is NOT all the same...there's no specific dimensions...so, my order wasn't exactly common.

One of 3 things either happened.

#1 Manners inletting has gotten world's better real fast
#2 I got lucky
#3 there's a bunch of guys typing bad press that's not warranted.


I'm not sure what the case is. My stock was a completed flat top on Manners website. I ordered it and specified my barrel, action, and bottom metal. The barrel is perfectly centered (drives me NUTS when the barrel channel is jacked up). Everything else dropped in. Everything functioned perfectly.


I'm very happy with how this has all come together.

Congrats! I like the cartridge choice. Have fun with her.

Nice looking rig, I like the stock color for sure

Top shelf stuff right there......turned out mighty fine.

Bet you're cooking up the next one already.......a disease w/o a cure......embrace it......

I have a few friends and we have started the "gun whore's anonymous" group, we have our sponsor's on speed dial (like that really helps..lol) I am one of the founding members.....
Trying to figure my next build out now.....

Very nice

Nice, sure is a lot of barrel there, should get top speeds.......and bughole being a 47 and quality rig.

What length tube are you running? Should recoil like a 22.....LR.

Enjoy

Thanx all!


Not planning a next one....yet. Lol.


Upgrading some reloading stuff....I need a quality scale and a chronograph.

Then going to put a good piece of glass on top. I tore my shop apart. I couldn't find one of them NightForce scopes sitting around like Aalf seems to always find....hahaha.


The barrel looks long in the one pic because I was actually at a frontal angle to get it all in a picture....it's 26"...the brake is another 2".


I mounted a Vortex HST 6-24 ontop for now. Tips the fish scale at about 12.25 pounds. That scope is probably a smidge lighter than whatever will end up on there. Figure it'll be 13-14 pounds all up with an upgraded scope and bipod.


The Viper will get me shooting atleast. Will be a bit before I'm ready to get serious.



Finished the bedding cleanup tonight. Then mounted the scope. Should be at the range Sunday or Monday when I'm off. Might even start sneaking a couple rounds in before work. I'm anxious. Lol.

Yes I was thinking 26 plus, that puts that brake further out so that will help you ears as well. I'm sure it will bughole. Enjoy!

Really happy with the overall look and feel of the rifle. That's just the HST on too for the time being. Will definitely be enough to get me shooting.

I really like the stock and the paint scheme.

I do too...I didn't wanna wait nearly a year for a custom order. Some of the Manners patterns aren't my thing. The Midnight molded camo was one of my top picks. Now, I'd say it is probably my top pic. Real happy with the overall look. When you chunk out that kinda change on a rifle, it should perform...but should look good doing it IMO.

The stock was a tough choice. I wanted something that'll kinda do it all and do it all fairly well. That's a tough bill to fill for a rifle stock. A lot of my shooting will be prone off a bipod and bag. Some off a bench. Some off a benchrest. Some practical situational shooting...is it perfect for any of that?? No. Will it do well? I think so. The forearm is 2" and dead flat. The toe is flat. The adjustable cheekpiece is nice and functional. The grip works well for me. It actually balances great with that barrel and everything. You can see by that pic...she sits dead flat by herself.

I put a lot of thought into the build and tried to check a lot of boxes. If I decide I wanna shoot PRS I can add rails or whatever I wanna do. I will probably mount my bipod to a pic rail that'll mount in place of the 2 front studs.


Really comfortable rifle stock.


Besides shooting for my own enjoyment, My local club does weekly steel shoots out to 1K I plan to start shooting after I get a load tuned.


It'll be a while before I get serious. Too many hobbies this time of year.

Loaded up 20 rounds last night. Random low-mid range load with 140gr Nosler RDFs that i bought cheap just to settle the bore and brass.


Did some shooting and cleaning.


I was shooting off a bench from a bipod and a rear bag.


Recoil was about none. A little bit of a push straight back. I doubt it would be enough to crack an egg.



Shot a 5 shot group to see what it was doing.






Pretty dang happy.

got to love that

Well you’re almost there I’m sure just one more build and you’ll have achieved rifleman’s nirvana...

Seriously cool rifle I’m looking forward to hearing more range reports!

I loaded up the next batch of ammo last night.


Not looking for anything serious till my scale comes and I have 100rds or so through the barrel and brass has a firing on it. But keeping track of what I shoot and how it shoots so I have some good leads to start with.


Need to get a chronograph too. If it keeps hammering like that, chrono data will help narrow down a load.


First time shooting a custom barrel....I don't have a bore scope yet either....but I got 0 indication of copper. And it actually cleans up. Not like a brand new factory barrel that you can clean for days and mine copper and carbon.

Btw, IIRC, Bob Swagger who posted often on another site, but had also been on 24hr built a few 47s, he dropped a nice buck over 500 yds with a shorty, about a 17" or so bbl, with a 136 it seems, I think a Scenar? Anyways, many options but the 47 is very capable, even GSSP dumped an elk with his over 900 yds, IIRC he used a 127 LRX.

Enjoy, fill up the freezer as well as having fun at the range! Looks nice.

Nice rifle and shooting brother!

Fired 27 rounds this evening bringing the barrel total upto 47.


Still nothing serious. Letting the barrel settle in but I am trying some different bullets and powder charges now to get an idea of what it is liking.



I fired the best 2 groups of my life. Both 5 shot 100yd groups off a bipod and rear bag.












(I know groups are measured center to center not edge to edge...)

I can honestly say the other groups were mostly me. First group is what it is. The first group and knocking the dust off lol.

3rd/4th I was honestly rattled after seeing that 2nd group I printed. Like I just shot a big ole buck. And my scope took half a dump. It was like it lost parallax.

5th I calmed down and the scope came back to life ..



I'm thrilled. I am no marksman...the bulk of my handloading and shooting has been Remington pump guns. Lol. I'm learning as I go as a loader and a shooter.



Looking forward to seeing what else were capable of.



The rifle is a joy to shoot.

Very nice build and some great shooting!

That will do.