I have decided to take on the challenge of building my first rifle. I have lots of questions and hope to gather some information from people who have more experience than I.

Based on reading threads in this forum I have decided to use a Rem 700 action to save some weight. If I can find a short action I will go for 7mm-08 or maybe 7mm-08AI. Long action would be 280 Rem.. When looking for a donor rifle what should I look for?

I want to use a Pac Nor stainless barrel. If I cannot find a stainless action is their any problem mating a stainless barrel with a chrome molly action?

I would like to keep this rifle as light as possible while still being a shooter. I like the look of fluted barrels. Should I use a #2 or #3 contour and flute it to drop some weight or should I just use the Lightweight contour?

In looking at Pac Nor's web site they will fit and chamber the barrel and true the action. Would the quality of the job be better by having Pac Nor do this or should I have a gunsmith do this?

I have looked at stocks, and have decided to use either a Rimrock or McMillin stock. Rimrock seem to be a little lighter. Any opinions on this?

I am looking foward to starting this project and appreciate all input. Thanks

----Post Deleted----

Sorry guys I got carried away!

[ 10-03-2002, 06:46: Message edited by: John Ricks ]

FZY,
welcome to the forums.

You might do a search on "first custom gun" on the forums, as I and several others have posted, in great detail, exactly what you are after.

If you want a "nutshell" guidance
1: it's hard to go wrong with pacnor
2: dont flute your first one... or last one, unless it's an UNREAL conture
3: get a cheap stock.. and the play with it. then get "the stock"
4: stainless on blue looks just fine.. and hitemp epoxy will camo paint it
5: the 708 is GREAT (i've built a couple, too) and IMHO, the ackley just aint worth the hassle in it
6: as to contor, what weight are you trying to end up with? 3 is a good general purpose, but you might can get a 2 if you got 20" or less. BUT, again, IMHO, it will not be as shootable off hand as if your used a 4 or 5 and 24"

7: order it way too long... 24 or 26" if you want 22 or 20.. and then shoot the sucker over a chrono... it's alot harder to forgive it for being too long than for shooting too slow.

8: have fun..

9: just my suggestion... add up the entire cost, and then add 50%.. and thats what it's going to cost. then look at what a model 7 costs in 700, add a restock, and then 200 for tuning and accuraizing....

10: keep your powder dry
jeffe

As Jeff suggests, do a search here, it will give you a lot of information.

What are you planning to do with this rifle, anything particular? Unless you are planning on hunting bighorn sheep or something else halfway up the side of a mountain, IMHO a little heavier is better, a gun that weighs 12 oz more won't beat you up at the range as much, probably giving you a tiny bit higher scores. How much of this work do you want to do yourself, any at all? Anyway, not knowing your use for this here's my two pennies:

Action- take the action out of the stock when you inspect it. Look for cosmetic blemishes such as scratches and pitting below the stock line. If an aftermarket trigger is installed it could work both ways- either saving you a bit of money over getting one yourself or costing you some if it was carved on or installed improperly, check the sear surfaces carefully. Remove the bolt and look inside the action with a small flashlight, check for excessive abrasion caused by sand or grit getting into the action. Scratching doesn't disqualify an action but does help you get an overall feel for how the gun may have been treated. Check the lugs on the bolt.

Hopefully some of the real experts here will post some more suggestions, as I'm not as intimately familiar with rem actions as others.

Barrel- Pac Nor is as good as the other quality barrels, if you like the looks of fluted barrels hey, might as well get one rather than wonder later how cool it would have looked if you did. I've decided I don't like them because they let junk, and large quantities of junk, work their way in between the barrel and the stock, plus if you take them in the field it seems I would always get mud and bark shavings in the flutes. So I don't like them anymore but that is a personal preference. As for length I would go longer and shoot & handle it for a while before deciding on the final barrel length.

If you don't have a particular quality gunsmith in mind then having pac nor do the work would be the way I would go, that way if there turns out to be a problem anywhere along the line you are not stuck in the middle with the smith and the manufacturer pointing the finger at each other while the calendar keeps turning pages....

Stocks are pretty personal to me, I'd choose mcmillan but the thing I would suggest is you go to a couple of gunshows, check out the stocks on some guns there and find one you really like and buy one of those.

I'd just use a 7-08, and not fool around with an improved unless you want this to be a wildcat gun that only shoots custom ammo, there is a place for those types of guns too.

At any rate good luck and remember you are doing this to have fun!

Mark

It's quite possible that a new Remington 700 will do everything you need. Now this would be the practical thing to do and save a lot of money and time but it would not be exotic or personal.

If the new Remington just needed a trigger adjustment you can do that yourself or replace it with an aftermarket trigger.

Should the rifle not perform well enough for you then you can have it evaluated by a gunsmith.

Stay with a standard cartridge also. This would mean the .308 Winchester and not the 7mm-08. If you must have something different then get the 7mm-08.

Now I have been there. I have some wildcats and improved chamberings and some premium barrels. This advice is practical. Since rifles are cheap compared to say an addition on your house and you must see what will happen go ahead but with all the special stuff I have I shoot an old, original M-70 the most and it's as good as it gets.

Thanks for the info. Time to start looking for the donor action. Think that I will will call John Ricks since I live in Mount Vernon, WA. He should be able to help with info and assembly when the time comes.