I finally received my 27in, 1-10 twist, fluted #3 contour Brux barrel yesterday. I will be chambering it to 30-375 Ruger. The only thing left to do is buy a donor action and a McMillan stock. I just cant decide on what action. I dont want the wife finding out that I am putting together another rifle so I am on a bit of a budget (no more than 800.) I guess my question is, what action would you go with. I would like to have a CRF, but its not set in stone. I am open to suggestions.What action would you recommend?Ruger 77 HawkeyeWinchester M70 CRFRemington 700Other- Please Specify

Jim Kobe just put up a number of actions in the Classified-Fireams section.

Ruger-its a reliable workhorse.

Mauser . . . why? I dunno. Because I love them and my most accurate rifle is built on a Mod. 98.

My .375 Ruger is built on a JC Higgins M50 and functions beautifully.

Your .300-375 Ruger would as well.

You don't say if this is a long range rig, or a 500 yard max utility rifle?

For long range work, Remington, or a new Winchester CRF. The Remington and Winchester have the longest magazines of the action choices and can take the widest variety of bullets (long VLD's in particular).

I would add Howa to the list. Those are a great action and reasonably priced.

For a utility rifle, any action will work well from a Mauser to a Savage. Maybe just pick one that you are familiar with and go with that?

Jeremy

If I was doing what you are doing and putting a rifle together piece-meal on a "sneak-it-by-der-hausfrau" budget, I'd use just about anything I could get for a good price except a Savage or a Remington. If I'm going to take the time to craft something up instead of just buying off the shelf, I'd want to end up with something classier than either a Savage or a Remington.

That would almost leave out the Ruger as well, but any good M70 CRF action of any age, and most all 98 Mausers can be turned into something really nice without breaking the kid's piggy-bank if you take your own good time at it.

quote:

Originally posted by farbedo:
You don't say if this is a long range rig, or a 500 yard max utility rifle?
Jeremy

Really this is going to be a utility rifle, not necessarily a dedicated LR rig. I figure with a 210gr BT spitzer it will still be moving at about 2250ft/sec at 500yds, with 42in of drop. This should be plenty for any NA game out to the 500yd mark. I'm not looking to always take those long shots (the shorter the better) but it would be nice to know I have a rig that is capable of doing so.

Based on what you just said, you might want to take look at the Borden Timberline action. It is made to the Rem 700 contour so it can be dropped into any Rem 700 long action stock. It is manufactured to benchrest tolerances so you won't have to get it reworked or "blue-printed" like a Remington action. You can choose between stainless or CM. You won't have to deal with the Remington trigger but can install one of several better options. You won't have the Remington extractor problem because it already has a Sako type extractor. And you won't have to worry about the bolt handle pulling off, a not unheard of Remington 700 problem, because they weld it on properly in the first place. Several makers of semi-custom beanfield and mountain rifles are using this action, some with their own name on it.

http://www.bordenrifles.com

-Grenadier

The problem with a custom action is that it reminds me too much of the book "If You Give A Mouse a Cookie."

If you give a gun nut a custom action, He's going to want a Jewel trigger... and custom oberndorf bottom metal... and a bedded McMillan stock... and get it Cerekoted...and a set of Conetrol mounts...and a custom Leupold scope. and a matching hard case.

I would agree with shootaway and go with the Ruger M77 with a tang safety. I might also suggest a CZ 550 Mauser style. They are built like a tank as well.

I am partial to the Ruger M77 action. No real flies in the ointment, it's built like a tank.

hard to beat a good 98 Mauser, especially if you can find a clean FN Commercial one.

Rich

Can you buy a Ruger or Win action.

A Rem action or clone you could buy tomorrow.

A mauser action will be used, unless you buy a Yugo (Zastava)

quote:

Originally posted by Biggs300:
I would agree with shootaway and go with the Ruger M77 with a tang safety. I might also suggest a CZ 550 Mauser style. They are built like a tank as well.

You could easily take a Ruger apart-cant do that with a CZ-I mean completely apart.Someone once took it apart and posted a pic of all the fragile parts.

Since you're obviously building a long range hunting/target rifle where accuracy is everything and CRF doesn't matter I don't know why either the Ruger or M70 would be in the mix. Just sayin ...

I like to find old SAKO's and build guns with the SAKO action. You'll pay quite a bit for a used SAKO but well worth the money imho. Howa was suggested and I would agree, mainly because the new ones can be purchased as a barreled action and they have awesome triggers. I consider the howa a poor mans SAKO, the quality and finish is superb.

Shootaway, I'd love to know who that "Someone" was that once took a CZ 550 apart and posted pictures of the fragile parts. You got a link?

1885 high wall would be best, but any of the others would do. The 700 seems easiest to me.

Any of the actions mentioned will do the job. All will provide a base that is accurate enough for the purpose. The major difference is that the 700 will provide more options in the style of stock you choose.

If you go to one of your local benchrest matches you might possibly see a Remington 700 action along with all the specialized BR actions (Bat, etc.), but you will not find any of the others mentioned here.

It would not be my first choice for a DGR but if you want to build the most accurate hunting rifle from one of these actions, the 700 is clearly the best choice.