Time to build a new rifle.

So I'm going to start a new rifle build and I would like some opinions from the crowd. This is going to be my Go To rifle for every thing from deer to moose and bear. This build will be a .30 cal. leaning toward the .300 weatherby as I really like the weatherby calibers and have plenty of brass and the dies already on hand. However, I would like to get away from the belted cartridge and the freebore that comes with any Weatherby caliber. As such I have been looking into the .300 Dakota, your getting the same ballistics as a weatherby while eliminating the cons that I previously mentioned. The .300 Win Mag is not an option, nothing against the caliber, I just don't wont a Win Mag.

the barrel will be built by Mark Channlynn and I'm leaning toward using a Bighorn action, but let's open that discussion as well. The stock is either going to be a McMillian or Manners, with BDL type hinged bottom metal. Let's hear your thoughts and opinions on this one and see what we can come up with. This is not going to be a bench gun so weight is a consideration.

I think I'd look at 300 Norma or 300 rum from what it sounds like you're looking for.

So you are going for a Remage type barrel nut on a 700 action?

.338 Lapua Mag in consideration?

The . 300 rum and the .338 lapua are out as I want to stick with a standard length action. And while the .338 Lapua is an excellent cartridge, it is the last thing that I would want to pack on my next sheep hunt in Alaska or take into the back country.

Have you looked into defiance actions?

7mm Short aAction Ultra Mag?

Either a 7 SAUM/WSM or 30 SAUM/WSM would be the way I would lean.

Good call on the Bighorn. I am very happy with mine.

Go with Manners. Tom Manners is a great person and he runs a great company.

Neither 300 Dakota or 300 Norma are going to work in a standard magnum action . The Dakota is based on the 404 Jefferies case and the Norma is a proprietary case with the same case head as a 338 Lapua . A 300 RUM will fit in a standard Rem magnum action .


The SAUM's shoot but brass availability is problematic .

The freebore with the Weatherby cartridges was done by them to get the velocity they wanted for advertising and is bad from an accuracy stand point , it doesn't have to be there . A custom reamer fixes that and all the issues typically associated with belted mag's .

Weatherby brass has issues because of the compound radius on the shoulder and being made by Norma it is soft .

No reason to reinvent the wheel , with bullet choice today there is no reason to choose a 30 over a 7 . If it was me I'd go 7 WSM or 7-300 WSM , brass availability which is crap for everything but oddballs and orphans now so it's only marginally better , and have the reamer cut to run the Berger 180's .

Bighorn / Channlyn is a great combo! Colorado made rifle :)
I think 7mm is a better caliber choice.

Thanks for the input guys. I decided to go ahead with the .300 Weatherby, I know it's not everyone's first choice but I have had great success with the caliber in the past, and well I just really like it so I'm building another one. I talked to Mark and got the order put in for a 26" #5 contour fluted barrel, and I bought a Bighorn action from 3rd Gen shooters supply today. I've decided to put it in a manners elite hunter stock using a Jewel trigger. All that is left is to decide on bottom metal and whether or not to put a break on it.

Muzzle brake yes , makes the rifle more shootable which means more practice with it and better performance when it counts .

The 300 WBY is not a bad caliber. For a few years it held the 1,000 yard benchrest record.

Hope to see you out there as soon as you get it done.

I ordered HS precision bottom metal today, and now just trying to narrow down the muzzle break. I've had good luck with the Vias break and Shrewd. I think this is my last decision to make, then it's time to start paying for all of this. My wife and credit card are already unhappy with me.

Nice! Mark builds great rifles.
I vote yes (hell yes) on the break. I also recommend Harrell's Brakes. Every bit as nice as the other at a much better price. The non-radial brakes are better when prone too.
http://harrellsprec.com/index.php/pr.../muzzle-brakes

I really enjoy my m11 brake , nobody around enjoys it but does a great job behind the gun. Only reason I'm taking mine off is to put the can on

There is a brake test over on the precision rifle blog . They tested a dozen or so brakes and the top performers in all the tests were from Alamo Four Star and the bastard brakes from APA . The test was interesting , brakes that have been thought as top end performers were middle of the pack . Best rule of thumb with a brake is the louder it is the better it works .

Build update. Action arrived today from 3rd Gen Shooters Supply.

It's a beauty, sorry if I missed it but what glass are you putting on it?

Learned a few new calibers today just reading this thread....

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Spdu4ia

It's a beauty, sorry if I missed it but what glass are you putting on it?

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I haven't decided on glass yet. The two leading options are the Leupold VX-6 3-18x44 or the Swarovski Z-3 4-12x50. This is going to be a hunting rifle, not a bench rifle so I don't need 20x, I've always had great success with Leupold and the Swarovski scopes. I've looked at the Nightforce SHV line but they are just way to heavy for a pack gun, however they did just release a smaller 3-10x40 version that is a little lighter.

The VX 6 is a nice piece of glass , Leupy got their shit together finally with the newer stuff in the line .

Quote:

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Originally Posted by C Ward

The VX 6 is a nice piece of glass , Leupy got their shit together finally with the newer stuff in the line .

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Yes they did. I have many VX-3's and a VX-7 that I really love, but they quit the VX-7, probably couldn't sell many being up in the Swarovski price range, but mine is awesome.

Update on the build. So I went with the Leupold VX-6 3-18x44, however we might have a problem. Since my rifle is still in the build phase I decided to mount the scope on a .270 weatherby that I had built a few years back and took it antelope hunting a few weeks ago. After dropping my buck at 451 yards I think that scope has found a new home on this rifle, so will probably be shopping for another scope for this current build. The current build rifle is all assembled and we are just waiting on the stock from manners. According to there emails I should see it around December but after reading a few posts about their timelines I think I'm looking closer to February.

Consider the Meoptas if you are looking for another scope. I have a couple R1s I picked up from another member that are great. The Meopros use the same glass, but aren't built as tough and have a 1" tube instead of 30mm. They easily keep up with my VX 7 for clarity and light transmission.

UPDATE
got an email from Manners and my stock is finished and in the mail to Mark Channlynn, should be delivered today. I talked to mark and he said that everything should be ready for pickup in a week or two. Manners says lead time for a stock is 16 to 20 weeks, it was 26 weeks and a day from order date to delivery.

If you like that scope that much just get another one