stock 110 30-06 to a 1000 yard rifle

[joshw]

I have a 10 year old 110 in 30-06. I bought it new 10 years ago. It probably has 80 rounds through. I am interested in building a solid 1000 yard shooter for local competition shooting and was considering starting with this rifle. I have a few questions:

Is it worth it?
Should I re-chamber to 308, 300wsm, or just leave it in 30-06?
Which stock?
Which barrel?

I am looking to spend less than $1000 bucks if possible and I am not a gunsmith but I am very mechanically inclined.

Thanks in advance.

[ellobo]

In my humble opinion, the .30-06 is as capable as the .308 and maybe more so for 1000 yard shoting. With the proper loads and long range bullets that are available it should do the job. There are better cartridges for 1000 yd shooting of course but as a platform your rifle should work OK if you want to change calibers. Any of the better barrel makes like Shilen, Pac-Nor, Krieger, Lothar Walther, McGowen, and some others can supply a match grade barrel for under $400. A time and True job by SharpShooterSupply, a decent stock and bedding job would be my choice and would be around $1000.
El Lobo

[Uncle Jack]

Anything you can do with a .308 Winchester you can do with a 30-06 and about 200 fps faster.

What do you think they were shooting a Wimbledon before the .308 was adapted?

uj

[shooter98]

Don't let the age of the 30-06 fool you. With Berger 168 vld's or even Sierra 168's the 06' will out shoot the 308 at any distance past 700 yards. The 06' is still an amazingly accurate round.
I converted an old 110 06' hunter to a 14 pound 26" barreled 1400 yard tack driver. It still is my favorite gun to shoot longrange mainly because I can shoot it all day and still be able to use my shoulder the next day. Overall cost is significantly low as well.
Good luck on your decision.


quote author=joshw link=topic=41395.msg286410#msg286410 date=1302452580]
I have a 10 year old 110 in 30-06. I bought it new 10 years ago. It probably has 80 rounds through. I am interested in building a solid 1000 yard shooter for local competition shooting and was considering starting with this rifle. I have a few questions:

Is it worth it?
Should I re-chamber to 308, 300wsm, or just leave it in 30-06?
Which stock?
Which barrel?

I am looking to spend less than $1000 bucks if possible and I am not a gunsmith but I am very mechanically inclined.

Thanks in advance.
[/quote]

[joshw]

I have been inclined to leave it as a 30-06 as well.

I have had a hard time locating a good match grade barrel in 30-06 where as there are plenty in 308. Does anyone have some specific info on where to find a good quality barrel? Also, should I just get a Choate Tactical stock? I hear they require little to no bedding. How do I go about having the action trued?

Sorry for the novice questions. I have been shooting for a long time but never got into the technical side. I have found myself in a position where I am now outshooting all of my guns so it is time to build a better rifle and learn reloading I guess.

Thanks again
-Josh

[BoilerUP]

I have had a hard time locating a good match grade barrel in 30-06 where as there are plenty in 308. Does anyone have some specific info on where to find a good quality barrel?

Jim Briggs @ Northland Shooters Supply, or Sinman...both right here on this website.

Northland shows Shilen Stainless Match & Stainless Select Match 30-06 barrels in stock ($289 and $339/respectively) and Jim can order you a McGowan or CBI.

[Axtell3]

+1 on Northland and the shilen. Give him a call, he can pour the answers to you, and answer questions you didn't thik of yet. I put a select match barrel on mine last year, and a boyds classic stock. tweaked the trigger, bedded it. all easy jobs, lots of fun. and satisfiying. While I'm not shooting 1000, at 400 its 2 inches when I'm lucky. :)

[82boy]

Welcome to the site.

I did what you are considering a few years ago. I have 1k invested in my long range gun (Including scope.) and I think it is worth it. My gun started life as a pawn store junk truck gun. It was a badly rusted 30-06 110 built in 1988. It had a broken sear, and other bad parts. I sanded the rust off the action had it coated by CCR, and fixed the parts.

The gun has been transformed since I have owned it, at first I had a factory Savage 243 win Barrel off of a model 12BVSS, the gun was in an old factory Savage BT stock, the three screw trigger was tuned, and I placed in the first two IBS 600 Yard matches I shot in, beating out competitor's with much higher priced rigs. I then changed out the stock to a Sharp shooter Supply stock, got a SSS competition trigger, and then shot another 2 IBS 600 yard matches. Funny story is at this match I again placed and beat out a competitors with much higher priced rigs, In fact one guy came over grab a shell out of my box looked at the back saw 243 win, he then yelled "You got to be F^%king kidding me!" He threw the shell back in my box and walked off. The gun preformed well out to 1000 yards as well. Here is a picture of a group I shot at 1000 yards on a hot Indiana day. Notice three of the shots are close to touching.
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d145/82boy/1000yardgong.jpg

After that I changed out the barrel to a Shilen ratchet rifled barrel chambered in 6x47 lapua. The gun still shot amazingly well out to 1000 yards. I changed scopes out from a weaver t36 to a Vortex crossfire 8-32, and then shot in the IBS 600 yard nationals. There was many top shooters at this event, and most every one had high dollar equipment. With that same gun coming in at under 1k I secured a single match win, betting out the second place shooter by .016 of an inch in group size.
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d145/82boy/IMG_0455.jpg

Now that I have told the story of my little pawn store junk gun, I would say "Yes, what you looking to do is feasible, and worth it."

I would say forget the big 30's all they do is just make a bunch of recoil. I would re-chamber it in one of the following; 6x47 lapua, 6mmBR, 6 Dahser, 6.5x47 lapua, 260, 6x284, 6.5x284, or 243 win. The 6 and 6.5 mm have a better bullet selection, better BC, and less recoil.

You ask what stock, It would have to be hands down a SSS dog tracker. I am envious of anyone that has one.

You ask what barrel, heck just about all of them are good. I would highly recamend a Brux, or kreiger. If you want to keep cost down, a Shilen is a good choice.
I hope this inspires you, and you do well. Good luck.

Here is a couple of pictures of what the gun has evolved to.
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d145/82boy/6x47L.jpg
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d145/82boy/6x47L2.jpg
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d145/82boy/scopecompairision-1.jpg

[joshw]

Thanks for all of the encouragement, advise and information. The 6.5x47 lapua looks promising. Is that simply a barrel swap or do I need to change the bolt face or anything else as well?

I totally love the Dog Tracker. I ordered it today. I am also going to have SSS time and true the action. Is there standard trigger good enough or is it really worth the $$ for the high dollar trigger?

Barrel length seems to be a popular debate. The guys at GPS Sniper claim that accuracy is not affected down to 16" barrel length but most of these replacements come in at 26". 20" seems like a good option to me. Any opinions?

Thanks again. This is a great resource with some dedicated guys.

[82boy]

Thanks for all of the encouragement, advise and information. The 6.5x47 lapua looks promising. Is that simply a barrel swap or do I need to change the bolt face or anything else as well?


Yup it will use the same bolt head, a barrel swap is all that is needed. In a long action I fond that the bolt throw is a bit long for the short action cartridges such as 243, and 6.5x47 lapau. You can use a front baffle off of a 223/204 and shorten up the bolt throw a bit. The shorter cartridges also need a bit of help ejecting. All you need to do is lengthen the ejector. (See this in the FAQs section.)
http://savageshooters.com/SavageForum/index.php/topic,15070.0.html

You may want to ask SSS about a big ball bearing to replace the extractor as well. ( Just added insurance.)



I totally love the Dog Tracker. I ordered it today. I am also going to have SSS time and true the action. Is there standard trigger good enough or is it really worth the $$ for the high dollar trigger?

Excellent choice!
Be patient it will take some time to get to you but it will be worth all the wait. SSS T&T job is an great addition. Again be patient, good things come to thous that wait. There "standard" competition trigger is great, it is what I have in my gun. it gets the job done. Their Evolution trigger is the cats meow, It is a trigger for a serious benchrest gun, it is well worth the money. (I have one in my other gun.) What ever trigger you pick you need to have it picked by the time you send the action off for a T&T job, because the action is timed to the trigger.



Barrel length seems to be a popular debate. The guys at GPS Sniper claim that accuracy is not affected down to 16" barrel length but most of these replacements come in at 26". 20" seems like a good option to me. Any opinions?


Yes this is a whole can of worms and opinions very. I would have to agree with the fellows GPS sniper to a point. In most cases a shorter barrel is easier to tune. Point blank benchrest guns usually have 21 inch barrels because this is an optimum length for the 6PPC, and they are restricted by weight. (10.5 lbs in a light gun.) (IMO 24 is about as short as I would go on cartridges the same size and bigger than the 6BR.) I would say more importantly find the barrel length that match what is optimam for the cartridge you are looking at. I would say for a 6.5x47L with an 8 twist barrel 26 would be optimal. My 6x47L has a 28 inch barrel and I would love to cut it down, but when something works just right it is hard to change it. I would keep the barrel on the long side of thing for weight purpose. Weight is a good thing. with your stock ask SSS if they could drill out weight tubes in the back of the stock, that way you can add weight to the stock. A light gun in IBS/NBRSA 600-1000 yards is under 17 LBS. Sounds like you have a plan.

[joshw]

I am thinking the competition trigger will be good enough for now. This new set up will probably out shoot me for a while yet. I can grow into the evolution.

I am definitely leaning towards 6.5mm but would like to hear the pros and cons on the 260 vs the 6.5 lapua. It seems like the ballistics are better on the 260. Is the recoil nasty? How does it compare to the 7mm mag? I would leave it at 30-06 save for the recoil. Launching 25+ rounds of 30-06 in a day is punishment right now. I have a custom Christiansen Arms in 300wsm that hurts in spite of the muzzle brake also, so the idea of shooting something that feels like a 243 is pretty tempting.

[BoilerUP]

I can shoot my 260 (26" varmint barrel, BVSS stock) damn near all day long, while I don't like much more than 20 rounds out of my 270 or 30-06.

[82boy]

Pros and cons of the 260 Vs the 6.5x47, well up to this year Lapua did not make 260 brass so the 6.5x47 had better brass. Last time I checked the 260 lapua brass was cheaper than the 6.5x47L brass. Graff and son has the 260 brass priced at $96.99 a hundred, and 6.5x47 lapau at $99.99, they both have them out of stock. It would be easier to find the 6.5x47L brass, midway and other places don't even list it yet.



It seems like the ballistics are better on the 260. Is the recoil nasty? How does it compare to the 7mm mag? I would leave it at 30-06 save for the recoil.

recoil is tame much lighter than a 308 or 30/06, I would say it is close to a 243. No ware remotely close to a 7mm mag. In a 17 lbs gun it has very little recoil, I would compair it to a factory gun weighing in at 12 lbs shooting 223 rem. (May be a bit of exaggeration, but I think a young kid could comfortable shoot it all day long.) I have shot hundreds of rounds in one setting and have a great time, I could hurt myself more just walking. Infact when I shoot competition's, the top of my shoulder hurts more do to carring the gun, than from recoil.