So you start with one of these, a 27" 6mm Bartlein 2b at 3 pounds, 11 ounces:

(I can't confirm the accuracy of this weight)




Then have it spiral fluted, which trims it back to 3 pounds, 8.6 ounces:




Send it off for chambering, threading, & crowning, and it comes backing looking somewhat like this:




Trimming 3/4" off the shank, cut & crown at a finish length of 22", and chambered in 6x47 Lapua.

Brings it in at a fighting weight of 2 pounds, 13.4 ounces.

Looks great aalf, will be another really nice rifle. Trimming the shank on a barrel is a great way to shave off some weight, and if not a big magnum have never understood the need for a uber long shank in a rifle??

Very nice aalf! Who fluted it?

Thanks.....

I most always take at least 3/4" off the shanks, some for weight savings, always for looks.

I bought a used McM one time that was inletted for a long shank, so had it chambered to best fit the inlet. I hated it so bad, I sold the stock, and had the barrel cut & rechambered "properly", and bolted in a new stock.....mo better.

I also despise the hard line at the shank to the start of the taper. I have the smith blend it to make it disappear.

Bugholes had the blank in stock, and with shipping times, costs, and issues out there now days, it made more sense to buy it and have them flute it too.

I ordered on a Tuesday, and it was fluted and shipped on Thursday, in my hands on Tuesday.

That's why I said I couldn't confirm the original weight. I asked them to weight it before fluting, as I was curious about the weight loss, so not sure of the accuracy of their scale. I thought 3-11 was kinda porky for the blank, but it ended up finished under 3 pounds, which was my goal.

Makes sense. I figured that fluting might have taken a little more weight than that but it’s also just a 2b and those flutes don’t look to big. Under 3lbs is a nice weight.

What stock for this build?

Aalf, the question, then, is:

Does it Wanna Rock?!?

I specified start and stop points, they went as deep as they could.

A little over 50 bucks an ounce doesn't seem to be very cost effective.......

It rocks quite well, thank you......

Stock is a new Manners I picked up off a member here, an EH2 in scorched earth.

Weighs in at 28.8 ounces with pillars installed, no bedding.

Pile-O-Parts.....

Things sure seem to work out well when you start from the start. What are the specs on the reamer the smith used?

Really cool barrel. I personally am over fluting anymore barrels, but I still appreciate the way they look.

Agreed.......

I own the reamer, it's a .272" neck, .100" freebore.

At one point, I never cared for the spiral fluted barrels. Got a deal on one last year, and they've grown on me since.

Doubt I'll do another though......

Dang you sure know how to piece one together.
I like it

Giddy...I love this part.


😎

Love that stock!

Thanks John, I get a kick out of the scheming & dreaming part.

#Metoo.......

A while back I went to a buddy's place to compare stocks, one being a Manners T. We both agreed it was our favorite, as it just seemed to point naturally, except I wasn't interested in the wider forend for a calling gun. I came home and studied the spec sheet, and it looked like the EH2 was a clone to the T, but with a narrower forend. So I ordered one, loved the stock, but the damn thing came with a 12 1/2" LOP.

So I sold it, and bought an EH3, thinking it was the same as a 2, but with a slightly lower comb. It was, but the 3 has a thinner grip, and I preferred the thicker grip of the T and 2, so I peddled that one.

I was enamored with the scorched earth camo, so when this stock popped up for sale, it clicked all the boxes, including flush cups. It doesn't have sling studs, but I typically don't use them. I may put a front stud on the front in case I want to run a bipod.

Looking forward to seeing the completed build!

For load work, I stole a NXS 5.5-22 off one of my other guns, and away we go:

Damn it, I need to quit looking at your posts ! I've been wanting to build one more rifle the last year. I keep holding off ,but I'm not sure I can much longer.

Help !

Looks good, BTW !

I hope I can inspire others that you can't take it with you.......ha ha.....

Of course, any of mine can be for sale too......

Looks great aalf - its pretty amazing how fast a pile of gun parts turns into a really nice rifle when you are involved. This one I like a lot - looking forward to your next project

Somebody messed up and put the rifling on the outside!

What scope are you going to use on this one now that the load work is done?

That's the last piece of the puzzle I'm struggling with.

The contenders are a Leupold 2-7x33 w/ Firedot Duplex off my AR, that I'm contemplating getting a Sightmark Wraith for, or maybe a Leupold VX5HD 2-10x42 with or without the Firedot, not sure yet. Won't be a super chicken of any flavor........

For now, I'm stealing a NXS 2.5-10x32 IHR off one of the others.

You should paint/cerakote the flutes alternating purple and chartreuse.

I have since painted the barrel a medium gray to cut back on the shine.

I contemplated coloring in the flutes with a sharpie, but chickened out.....

Al's been saying that for years and 25 rifles later, here we are.

Another good one, Al!

Not quite 25, but point noted......again......

First day of testing, all at 200 yards, H-4350, Remington 7 1/2 primers, and 105 Berger VLD's and Hybrids.

Nice night to shoot:

What did it weigh before the scope Al, Nice looking rig for sure shows promise on that target too.

Very nice. Next barrel I order I will specify a radius in front of the shank. Just has a more classic look to me and reduces weight some.

Mike, bare gun comes in at 6 pounds, 12 ounces.

After 3-4 shots to zero the scope, the first two shots at 39 grains went into the same hole.

Gave me some hope right outta the gate.

Agreed, I've had Bartlein do one, the rest were done by the smith.

40 grains with the VLD's looked to be the winner, having the smallest group with the lowest ES, at 9 FPS.

So I loaded the remainder of the 100 rounds with that combo, and proceeded to do a seating test.

Picture tells the tale:

Next, checking zeros & farting around. Shot targets at 1,2,3,4,& 600 yards.

300 & 400:





Wind and mirage kicked in and made things interesting at 600. The spotting scope was worthless for any feedback.

The top target I hit the frame on the right, bottom printed all three:

Play time.......from 500 to a grand or so




Dead soldiers......





A good time was had by all.......except the jugs.

looks like everything is ready for a to be sold now that everything has been figured out.....lol
that is a sweet looking rig

Thanks, it came together quite well, & performance makes it sweeter.

Nothing's forever, and everything's for sale.....

I painted the barrel a medium gray to cut down the shine, and will do something later on the action.

I have the 2.5-10x32 NXS mounted up, and ready to rock.

I got the Nightforce all sighted in, and realized the mag box was tweaked on the front, and wouldn't hold rounds down on the left side, grrrrr. Never had that happen before, so I had to take it out of the stock to straighten it up.

Whilst it was out, I drilled the outside of the forend for a sling stud, and drilled the inside for a t-nut, and glued it in, then bolted it all back together.

Back to the quarry to check zero:



Clean/cold went into a .425" at 100. I shanked the 1st shot at 200, but still went into an 1.450"

At 300, I tried holding my head way back on the stock, seeing only half the field of view in the scope, to try to eliminate the parallax. Didn't work for shlt, and the group went into a 2.830". So I shot another group holding normal, and was rewarded with a 1.725".

I brought the scope down one click, and set the zero stop, again.

Next morning, I drove out to my other spot, dropped the target at 600, came back and got set up.




Tough to find the center with the bright sun on the target, and mirage cancelled out the black ring around the white target. Fired off 5 rounds at about one minute intervals. I could barely make out 2-3 of the shots through the spotter, and could tell I had elevation pretty good.

I cooled the barrel back down, and then adjusted the eyepiece to bring the target more into focus, at the expense of reticle sharpness. I shot 5 more on the lower target, taking almost ten minutes for the group. One had leaked right, but I was happy overall.

Nice, I have two twist em up rifles, like em very much.

Thanks Gunner, they've grown on me, but unlikely I'll do anymore.

These were supposed end 3 1/2" from the lug, but came back at 4 1/2" instead. Not sure if they weren't comfortable going to 3 1/2" or if they used a rubber ruler. Wouldn't have made any weight difference regardless, but aesthetically I would prefer them closer to the action.

Looks like it is shooting great. Nice rig.

Thanks.....it is.

Going long and confirming drops with the 2.5-10.......

The last time out on jugs, I was a little off on the velocities, so after running 17 rounds over the Oehler, the average was 3006. Interestingly, when new with only 10 rounds down the bore, the average was 3008. Most times I don't see any velocity increases as others do, and this time was no exception.

I set out some targets, ranging from 260 to 965 and got setup:



As I stretched it out, my 1st shots would go just over, and by the time I got to 965, I was 3 clicks strong. So I made notes as I went, to change the drop chart to suit when I got home.

Nobody got out alive:



Pretty well centered up across the board, with the low shot the closest jug at 530:




Once I got home, I changed the temp on JBM from the default standard of 59* to 80*, and my drops corresponded perfectly.

Good stuff nonetheless aalf, saw your reply, went and measured my 'swede, went with one inch of shank, flutes stop 4 inches ahead of the action, knew I'd need barrel length to help run the little 'swede hard to pester my buds with six five creedmoors and PRC's, got that part handled, went shorter shank and flutes in case I ever want to take it for a walk, it weighs 9lb 4oz with 5 in the belly, no bipod.

Good shooting as alway, and you almost had me, but everybody knows you have to have at 40 power to shoot past 400 yards (10 power per 100 yard rule....).......lol

Per usual, the only constant is change......

I decided I wanted to drop the weight on this one, and after a bunch of research, I settled on wanting to find a discontinued Leupold VX-R 2-7x33 with the Multi-Firedot LRV Duplex, with an advertised weight of 12.7 ounces.

[img]https://cdnp.leupold.com/reticleImage/FireDot_LRV_Duplex_3dots_Ret_380px.png?mtime=20180118092008[/img]

Low and behold, the morning I was going to place a WTB ad for that scope, a 3-9x40 version popped up for sale here on the fire. After a quick search to see how much more that scope weighed over the 2-7, I figured a bird in the hand was worth the 2.6 oz weigh penalty, so I snagged it up. Once in hand, actual weight was 14.2 ozs...yea.

So, once I removed the NF and bolted it back on my 6x47 Batgun, I decided to re-paint barrel from the too shiny gray, to a flat black, then slid the Beatooth stock guard shell holder on the butt, and gave it a mile of black tape to hold it in place. Then I mounted the new to me Leupold up in a set of Talley 30mm mediums I luckily happened to have laying around, and scrounged up a set of Butler Creeks out of the BC bucket. Once in place, I got it bore sighted and ready to rock.

When the smoked cleared, I had dropped a half pound off the gun, with a fighting weigh now of 7 lbs, 12 ozs empty.

That night, I took it out to the quarry and got a good 200 zero.



Next stop, testing drops at distance.....

Though you guy's were talking about my dog, Twisted Sister. :-)

Running the drop chart on JBM, with a 200 yard zero, the first tic down is 310 yards, the second tic is 420 yards, and the top of the picket is 530 yards. Easy peasy to remember, now to confirm......

Setup at 310:



Three shot group:



Setup at 420:



Three shot group on the left steel, then moved to the 530 mark & shot one on the right steel. I'm blaming my hold on the post for landing low, and not the ballistics. I didn't want to shoot another shot, as I was shooting the carbon gun the same day, and it's too big of a hassle to drive around the creek to re-paint targets.




Next shot hopefully on fur......it's certainly ready......

sweet