hi all i am after ur opinions on my custom rifle i am going to have built.
action:stolle or Macmillan
stock:macmillan hunter benchrest
barrel:hart/kriger or shillen
trigger:jewell
im going to have two rifles built one in 6ppc and one in either 243AI or 22 cheetah mk1
please give ur opinions and pros and cons on all of these please,also will the 6ppc really go 500yds as i like the idea of one and ''6ppc varminter'' said his was great.

Bunnybasher: I like all your ideas except the calibers. You are posting on the Varminting board so I assume you will be Varminting with these Rifles. For efficiency, accuracy, brass life, Varminting distances and barrel life I would seriously consider these calibers instead: 6mm Remington Bench Rest and 22 Remington BR. I have two Varminters in 22 BR and one in 6mm BR as well as one in 6mm PPC. I would definitely go with the BR's for all around performance and the other previously mentioned attributes. If you think the BR family of cartridges are not accurate or doubt their ability to achieve sensational accuracy I invite you to read the following article that I will attempt to link to.
"Secrets Of The Houston Warehouse" at http://www.angelfire.com/ma3/max357/houston.html

Remember the 243 AI and the 22 Cheetah are great cartridges but for all around use (out to 500 yards) the 22 BR and the 6mm BR work very well (and with less recoil - spot your own hits much more often)! And those expensive trips to the barrel maker and the Riflesmith for chambering will not be anywhere near so frequent!
Good luck with whichever you choose!
One of my BR calibered Rifles has the McMillan Winchester Marksman style stock and I find it excellent for all around Varminting. I have several of these stocks in other calibers also and find them perfect for everything I do Varmint and range wise.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

thanks varmintguy i just think i am about ready to place that order when someone convinces me of another calibre to look at i wish there was just one perfect calibre for 500 yd varmint shooting, life would be so much easier!

Bash:

I can't see where the 6PPC and the 243 AI would not really be overlap.

While a 6PPC is accurate, and the 243 AI might give you a hair more velocity, I think a plain old 243 or better a 6mm Remington would do the same thing in a good barrel. If you really want to add some distance, I would do a barrel with a 1 in 8 twist, to be able to shoot 107 gr Sierras, 105 grain A Max Hornadys, and the 105 and 115 Grain Bergers. 500 yds is a piece of cake then. I shoot them at 600 yds all the time.
Started playing with the 115 grain Berger, and it is definitely a 1000 yd bullet in my opinion.

An email conversation with Walt Berger, stated that he designed it for 1,000 yds.

While I don't go crazy over the MacMillan stocks or Jewel triggers, as I think they are basically " Jewelry" for a rifle in my book. A good trigger doesn't have to say Jewel or have its price tag. A good stock does not have to say MacMillan on it either, or have its price tag. I have shot rifles with both and was not impressed, especially considering what the cost was to the owner of the rifle.

I want a rifle to look good but also to perform, and the amount of money spent on it, is just something Yuppies do in my opinion.

Not knocking your choices mind you, just trying to reflect another prospective as food for thought. When I went that route, I rebarreled a Remington 700, put on a PacNor 24 in heavy sporter barrel in stainless steel with a one in 8 twist. Did a home adjusted trigger job, and put on a Boyd's Laminated Stock ( www.boydboys.com) which I finished ( took a couple of hours is all, price was $65.00 US and shipping.)

All the money you save, you can get a real good scope instead to watch yourself hit that target at 600, 700, 800 yds. I range shoot mine to 750 and it is fun to watch the dust fly when I hit the target.

Good luck either route you go!! Hope it is a winner.

[ 08-11-2003, 21:04: Message edited by: seafire ]

hi seafire thanks for that, the choices i made were through sheer availability over here more than anything else,as we are way behind you in the fireams department especially varmint and custom rifle and accessories.these things are the most used and most readilly available over here.but now i think i might just have a trail through the net and see what is available(the world is now a smaller place i suppose).thanks again.
bunnybasher

FWIW,
I for one would like to thank VarmintGuy for the link to the "Houston Warehouse". I've heard a snippet here and there about that, however, that is the first time I've read about it in any detail. A very good read. Thank you VarmintGuy!

Regards, Matt.

How about a second for that kudo for VarmintGuy's link to the Houston Warehouse. Good stuff. Thanks.
Ron
In West "By God" Virginia

Bunny,

I have the 243AI and a 6mm AI.. for longer range varminting.. the 6mm AI gives me 3150 fps from a 107 Sierra Match King and holds 1/4 moa to 1200 yards.. the only advantage the 243 AI has is lapua brass....

The 6mm AI can do just about anything the 6/284 can do but a little longer barrel life....

just a thought you might want to consider...

the nesika J type action has been reccomended to me it looks to be a very good action has anyone got any experience of it?

One other note for consideration. A Douglas Air Guage Select Match barrel over the others mentioned! Pay Mr. Douglas $27.00 extra and it will be guaranteed "straight" and will shoot with the best of whatever the others send you at less overall cost!!! GHD

Here's a few general thoughts.

You can't go wrong with a custom action. You can't go wrong with a Rem 700 action if it's been trued up/printed, etc. BAT is yet another good action along with the Hall and also the Viper line.

The barrel is a crap shoot. I know guys that are fans of every single type/maker and every single maker has also made a lemon. I won't name names but some makers have better reputations than other regarding how they deal with their lemons.

Stock: If you will never carry this rifle, in other words, always shoot off the bench, STRONGLY consider a metal stock for the added weight. It makes a pussycat out of all but the absolute biggest. I've yet to go this route but I have a couple of rifles where I regret I wasn't aware of this: http://www.benchrest.com/cgi-bin/classifieds/classifieds.cgi?db=cccstocks&website=&language=&session_key=&search_and_display_db_button=on&results_format=long&db_id=140&query=retrie val

Given what I surmise to be your goals I would concur that you should back off on some things in the interest of getting a good scope, preferably something with a ranging reticle. I can be more specific if you like but would appreciate your price range before doing so.

Lastly, I would recommend that you consider a caliber where you can shoot Lapua brass. It's simply the best thing going right now. For example, I really prefer the 6mm Rem to the 243 Win but in Lapua's somewhat limited wisdom they make only 243 Win. They make a variety but certainly don't make it all.

Let me know if you have any other questions and I wish you luck.

Reed

hi thanks everyone for replying. i already have a good scope a lepould 6.5-20x50 long range target but i am thinking of splashing out for a nightforce one 8-32x56 but that has nothing to do with the rifle budget. i am going to pay upto around the �4000 pound mark as that is about what they cost over here! as for the metal stock idea it probably will not work as most of my shooting will be off a bipod, but thanks for the suggestion anyway.

BunnyBash:

4,000 pounds is ridiculous, for a scope.!

If you can have one shipped to you from the States and not have to pay any duties or fees, I will be more than happy to work with you on securing one for you on this side of the pond.
And mailing it over to you.

I was a guest of your country for 3 yrs in my youth in Huntingdonshire.

It would be a pleasure to help out a fellow shooter. If I can be of assistance ol chap, send me an email.

God save the Queen, but also God Bless the USA!

Just looked at a site giving international exchange rates. If I am correct, a Pound is $1.59 USD, which would make a Nightforce scope $2515 (4000/1.59)? Or would it be $6360 (4000x1.59)? Either way, that's outrageous!! You can buy the big 12-42x56BR for about $1100; rings and base from NF add another $400 or so. Something has to be done about this.

sorry i didnt explaun correctly i am willing to pay upto �4000 for the rifle, the scope is a seperate budget and the nightforce only costs �1100 so thaere is no need to panic!

thanks for the offer to help with the scope anyway, good to know we shooters are a decent bunch.