Started with a left handed wood stocked blind mag model 11GL in .243.
Tinkered with it and turned it into a "classic style hunting rig in .243. by enhancing the aesthetics of the factory birch stock, bedding it and installing a takeoff 3 screw trigger with a home made spring in place of the lawyer trigger that came in it and adjusting everything nice crisp and low and locked it down with nail polish. Then I scoped it up and kept it that way for a while.
After moving on to a couple of other projects I decided that most of my builds had been accuracy obsessed, heavy long monstrosity's that weren't really suitable for hunting, shooting freehand, carrying or anything that a working rifle needs to be. So I decided to build myself a lightweight compact bolt action carbine. A working rifle with plenty of power that would be useful around the farm, from a tractor or vehicle or other tight quarters, easy to carry and deploy for whatever I came across that needed shooting. Of course it needed to have the bolt on the correct side so I decided to give the 10GL another facelift.
I picked up a synthetic stock with a detachable box mag from the classifieds here and converted it to a lefty with some epoxy to fill in the bolt handle cutout and a dremel to cut a new one. I bedded the recoil lug and chopped several inches from the butt of the stock. Then I re profiled the recoil pad to fit the new stock contour and built new recepticals for the screws that hold the butt pad on by drilling small holes on the inside to create a mechanical lock and using epoxy and a little release agent on the screws and then I relocated the sling studs. I gave the stock a sponge camo job with OD and khaki and sprayed the whole thing with several coats of Testors Dull coat model paint.
I again went to the Savage Shooters classifieds and found a 22" sporter weight barrel chambered in .308. Then I cut it off at about 16 1/2" and used a lee case legnth gauge (as a pilot) and cutter chucked up in a drill to square the barrel up and crown it. I was talking to a friend at his gun shop and he happened to have a takeoff ASK Research muzzle brake laying around. I started thinking how light this rig was going to be so I got him to thread and recrown the muzzle to 11 degrees for me andI bought the brake. It is just the ticket for the recoil. Whacking 6" off of the skinny end of the barrel left me with a pretty nice profile as well.
I put a bolt lift kit in the rifle and installed the factory staggered feed detachable box magwell and parts. I added an EGW rail and used a 3-9x Vortex Diamondback I had sitting on the shelf.
I quickly realized due to the height of the EGW rail that I needed a cheek riser. After a little research and checking a couple of sources I bought some sheet kydex online and some knobs and bolts at the hardware store and built a Karsten style adjustable cheekrest to center my eye to the optic. I painted it to match the rest of the stock along with a nylon sling and wound up with my little " left handed carbine for what needs shootin."
I really like it a lot. It's light, very quick to point, powerful and plenty accurate. The overall length is 37" and it's about the same size and handles like a Ruger 10/22. It shoots like a dream and though not a 1/2" Rifle it will hold very close to MOA or better with factory 150gr power shock. Still need to find a load she likes before I'll know the full potential
I'll probably take the cheekrest off and fill the holes when I obtain a lightweight scope (lightweight Leupold or 2-7 Burris) and change out the rings and bases for a lightweight 2 piece setup. The 2 piece will also provide better access to the ejection port. Just couldnt wait to scope her and shoot her LOL
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