Building a Rifle

[sight]

Hello Guys,

Since I was a kid I have always wanted to build my own rifle. Now that I have a good job and some actual $$ to speak of I thought now would be a great time to start.

I have a good friend who is a gun smith and I am sure will help me through the whole process but I wanted to get some knowledge before I 20 questioned him. I was wondering if there were any books out there that walk through the process of constructing a rifle.

Realistically I just want a starting point, a reference, to understand what all I will need and the cost / process of installing everything. I have no intention of turning my own parts or my own stock, but more along of buying all the parts needed and putting them together.

Sorry if this is vauge, I really am just starting my research before i commit to anything.

I think I am commited on a 7mm-08 and the gun would be a left handed bolt action.

Thanks for any imput you guys can give me.

(forgive me if this is in the wrong thread)

 

[MtnCreek]

A lot of people do home builds on Savage rifles. The method Savage uses to set the barrel / headspace makes it 'home build' friendly. Check out savageshooters.com (I think that's right). You'll need an action to start with; you can purchase new or buy a cheap, complete rifle and go from there.

Make sure the action (receiver) is common with standard bolt spacing! My recent 'home build' went from a budget build to a very costly smith build with custom machined parts due to an uncommon receiver.

Good Luck!

 

[rcmodel]

I agree starting with a Savage action would be the best plan.

The days of building cheap custom rifles on old military actions are long gone, unless you have a fully equipped shop and the skills to do all the work yourself.

But even then, a commercial action will save you a bunch of time & money in the long run.
And you will probably end up with a more satisfying custom rifle.

rc

 

[Gunnerboy]

Being a lefty you cant use the old military conversions, but i just finished building a 6.5x55 on a vz-24 action. Im good friends with the smith so i payed him basically nothing, but total cost your probably looking at if you start with a savage $600 as a low price for barrel, action, stock,trigger,etc.

 

[sight]

is it better to by a cheap savage and replace out the parts piece by piece, or would it be more economical to just by what parts i want and put them all together?

 

[rcmodel]

I think you could find a good used Savage 110 rifle cheaper then a new 110 action.

I'm not even real sure where you can buy just a Savage action, other then the $500+ single-shot precesion target action.
http://www.google.com/products/cata...O86ATrX-E4-3tgeOtcXPCQ&sqi=2&ved=0CCEQ8wIwAQ#

Starting with a used gun is just as well anyway for your project.
A rusty barrel and a beater stock isn't a deal breaker on a custom build.
But it will sure bring the price down in a hurry!

PS: I keep forgetting you need a left-hand action, and that might take more looking to find a used beater for cheap.

rc

 

[MtnCreek]

Barrel and stock will need to be swaped together. If your smith friend has the knowledge / capability, I would have him check the receiver/barrel to insure no run out. Other parts like trigger, bottom metal, ... can be swaped out later, but IMHO, you don't want to be taking the rifle apart a bunch of times after it's bedded.

 

[sight]

soooo....

seems like the general conseceous is:

1)find used savage 110LH

2)replace stock and barrel

3)use and replace other parts as desired

4)have fun


What sort of complications could i run into removing the action/barrel from the stock repeatedly?

 

[rcmodel]

Like MtnCreek said in the above post.

Once the barreled action is glass bedded to the stock, the fewer times you take it in & out, the better.

Military National Match M14's for instance, were never removed from the stock once they were glassed.
In our AMU unit, if they had to come out for some repair reason, they got glass bedded anew, all over again.

rc

 

[texas chase]

+1 on the savage build. Have fun and post pic's