Poor mans custom rifle
- trevort
- Spud Gun
- Posts: 12710
- Joined: Thu Sep 14, 2006 9:21 pm
- Favourite Cartridge: Tater
- Location: Melbourne
You have selected an extra nice piece of wood, as I have. But looking at your rifle has cost me more money. Seeing the way it came out has my decision made not to try it myself. A clutz like me could stuff it up. I will have to pay him for a finishing and checkering job to ensure the right result on something that can look so good.
Great looking rifle you have! I can add something about feeding though. I built one on a Savage, and it wouldn't feed for shit, ended up using a single shot follower in it. That worked out fine. We used an old Hart BR barrel that didn't shoot "quite good enough" for BR, so we got it cheap enough. I had the action sitting there, and we used a stock that would accept the BIG Hart tube (1.25" diameter) that was surplus to our needs. It worked well, and shot even better, but it was too heavy for everyday usage, so I sold it. It was a prairie dog killing machine, but too much for lugging around. It had the typical 1-14" twist barrel that BR shooters like so much, so I stuck with 70 grain bullets and under, which worked exceptionally well. I used Hodgdon's H-322 mostly.
"Poor mans custom rifle" - Ha!
With some thinking you have put together a fine rifle . My first thought after seeing the photos was " How does it shoot ? " A beautiful rifle now -I really like that stock design and wood. I would leave it like this for a while - everthing just goes well together now . I'm not sure that checkering that stock now would be an improvement unless done with more thought and extremely well. I would only change that recoil pad to one with no vents if possible-a very minor detail. A detachable flat bottomed 2'-3" block of wood would make this rifle better to shoot off bags. A aluminium plate would also work with much less effort. Lubricate your bolt lugs with a good grease !
Glenn
With some thinking you have put together a fine rifle . My first thought after seeing the photos was " How does it shoot ? " A beautiful rifle now -I really like that stock design and wood. I would leave it like this for a while - everthing just goes well together now . I'm not sure that checkering that stock now would be an improvement unless done with more thought and extremely well. I would only change that recoil pad to one with no vents if possible-a very minor detail. A detachable flat bottomed 2'-3" block of wood would make this rifle better to shoot off bags. A aluminium plate would also work with much less effort. Lubricate your bolt lugs with a good grease !
Glenn