First Build Advice

[romad97]

I recently aquired my first action, through some wheeling a dealing on here. Its a savage SA 4.4 centerfeed with a 473 bolt face. I am not 100% sure yet which caliber I want but I have narrowed it down to either 243, 6.5, ot a 260. This will be my first build and I want to make sure i take my time, order the right stuff, and put it together properly. My question is where can I go cheap and where do I need to not go cheap in order to acheive superb accuracy? I am looking for a coyote/deer/long range paper rifle. I know that the optics is the most important part but, besides that what are the little things you would suggest for a first time builder? Do I need to true the action? Is it really worth the money? do the aftermarket recoil lugs and barrel nuts really add any amount of accuracy? Any tips, suggestions, or advice is greatly appreciated. Like I said, I am in no real hurry and I am just trying to put together a decent game plan. I am on a semi budget as well. I would like to try and keep the build to less than $1000 minus the scope of coarse.

[Westcliffe01]

For about $50 the high quality recoil lug and nut is worth it in my opinion. What is a skew barrel worth to you if the stamped recoil lug is tapered ? Or the nut is not faced square to the threads ?

The optics question is going to depend on your eyesight. Chuck Yeager had incredible eyesight and he could probably outshoot me with iron sights if I had the choice of any scope on the market. But I really do not have great eyesight, never have. Some people will never understand that. If you can't see the target and see your aiming point clearly, you are probably not going to hit it no matter how good the rifle. "real" targets tend to be well camouflaged, with poor contrast and no well defined aiming point and usually appear in poor light too.

So for ME, the sighting system is very important indeed. A good trigger is critical, because you are usually not shooting from a bench rest. The quality of the barrel is very important, because your rifle needs to be consistent. You will need to reload, else the high quality ammo you will need will be so prohibitively expensive you will not shoot enough to stay "in tune". Besides you can never exploit the full accuracy of the weapon unless you have control of the reloading parameters. Whatever stock you get, it should be free floated and properly bedded to the action.

[bootsmcguire]

Barrel is obviously important. For the best dollar vs accuracy for a barrel that should shoot better than you can I would order a CBI from NSS. They are very accurate, well made, and clean up real easy.

Aftermarket Lug and Nut? Well I used to think it couldn't make that much difference, but after using a couple on my latest builds I really like 'em and think that they are worth the money if extreme accuracy is what you are going for, I would just bite the bullet and get both.

For a stock? I would look at a decent laminate, or if you want to go more tactical/prone style then I would look at a choate or something similar. I have a couple of the B&C Duramaxx's and I love 'em, but those have been discontinued now for maybe not quite a year. Pillar and glass bedding the stock and making sure the barrel free floats will do wonders to any stock.

For your 1st build I don't know that I would invest in the T&T just yet. Long wait times to get it done, and while it makes the action much smoother you may not see any majorly noticable benifit to your accuracy. I could be wrong, but thats JMHO.

Reloading (if you don't already) will get you one of the biggest advantages since you can tune the load to the gun.

And my personal preference is go with the longest and heaviest barrel you can for the task you want the gun to do. Most of my barrels are 26" and up and mostly Varmint Contour or Bull Contour.

For you caliber, I am a big fan of the 6mm/.243 bore. If you reload I would look very strongly at a 243 Ackley Improved. For a do it all its a dang good choice for coyote, deer, and paper punching. Good bullet selection from 55's for dogs to 100's for deer to 105's and 115's for long distance paper.

These are all JMHO's and that and a buck will get you a Coke at McDonalds.

[romad97]

This is all good advice. Thanks.

[mattri]

You're right, lots of good advice so far. Take this for what its worth.

True and time the action- You mentioned that you aren't in a hurry. That's important because "gunsmith time" and real world time are not always the same. That being said I talked with Kevin Rayhill at Stockade guns (308) 432-5114 the other day about having a time and true done on an action and his time line was very, very reasonable. I've dealt with Stockade in the past and they are very good about getting work out when they say they will. Better than any other smith I've dealt with. Will it make a huge difference? No way to know until its done. For a relatively small investment you have the insurance of knowing that everything is straight and true from the start. The timing may not have a huge affect on your accuracy but tit may make everything smoother, and easier to catch inconsistencies, which can really help in the long term.

For the barrel, talk to Jim at Northland Shooters Supply (763) 682-4296. He is very knowledgeable and carries barrels from the best manufacturers out here. I have a number of CBI barrels from him as well as Shilens and they are shooters. He will answer your questions, point you in the right direction and get you what you need. His recoil lug is worth the money.

As far as caliber- go with the 243. It is accurate, deadly and easy to load for. You can find ammo or components anywhere, lots of load data, no recoil to speak of and it is very versatile. When we lived in WY we had a 243 with one of Jim's barrels that we loaded with58/65gr bullets for pds and coyotes and 100gr bullets for mule deer. It was awesome for both and I wish we still had it.

Best of luck whatever you decide.

[rattfink]

I would take 6.4 over .243 for sheer versatility. If it were my money doing a build today it would be 6.5x55, 6.5 creedmoor or .260.

[thomae]

6.4, 6.5, whatever it takes.

[yobuck]

ask 10 people and your apt to get 10 opinions. sooner or later (YOU) will be the one deciding.
you really cant go very far wrong whatever you do so dont lose much sleep over it.
i personaly think for what your describing the 264 bullets would be better. both the 260 and the creedmore
would be excellant choices. a couple years back i found a lefty model 11 243 sitting on a used gun rack.
a few days later i went back and bought it. i wanted a plain jane walking around type gun i could just throw
into my jeep. it has a 26" brux 1 in 8 twist barrel that is about .850 at the muzzel. i added a ss trigger which i think is awsome.
i chambered it in 6.5 short mag which was a mistake due to all the magazine/feed issues i had. other than that i left it as issued.
i piller bedded and refinished the factory wood stock. it will shoot anything i feed it better than i can shoot it. no doubt a 260 would have also.

[mattri]

6.4, 6.5, whatever it takes.

I LOLed!

[rattfink]

6.4, 6.5, whatever it takes.

Exactly right. People think that extra 1/10 of a millimeter doesn't make a difference but I'm here to tell ya it has a huge impact on the drag coefficient and harmonic isolations.