breckhawk
PMA Member
Thought it would be fun to share the progress of my smokeless build. Been talking to Luke at ASG and finally decided to bite the bullet. I opted for the rem 700 centerfire re-barrel option. I have built a few AR's and bedded a boyds stock on a rem 700 so i'm not a complete novice...but everything I have learned has been from youtube videos...and by no means am I a gunsmith. Hopefully in the end this will show how easy the process is and maybe someone else will decide to take the plunge after checking this out.
First step was to find a donor rifle. I went back and forth on a Remington UML for awhile. Spent a few trips going to pawn shops looking for something. Never quite could find one I liked. I wanted to find a donor that had a nice stock already to save a little money. A trip to Scheels in Omaha finally produced what I was looking for. They had put 2 Remington 700 Stainless 308 5R's on sale from $1100 down to $799. Score. The lowest I saw them online was for $850. Here I didn't have to worry about the transfer fees.
The nice thing about the 5R is that the barrel is pretty sought after. I shouldnt have a problem selling it on eBay after Luke removes it ($25 dollar charge). I have seen them go for $200-300 on there so that should drive the price of the donor gun/action down to about $550-600 net. You could do much cheaper...but with a brand new beautiful stainless action/jeweled bolt ($400) plus a nice HS Precision Stock ($350) it was pretty tough to pass up. Here is a link to the exact rifle:
https://www.remington.com/rifles/bolt-action/model-700/model-700-stainless-5-r
After a bit of back and forth I decided I really liked the jeweled bolt...but I liked the look of a fluted bolt better. I decided to go with Kampfeld Customs as I have never heard a bad thing about them. I also added
a bolt knob for looks. It was $175 for all the work...and he had it turned around in less than a week. Here is the bolt before and after:
It is his Remington TI fluting. The same fluting that Remington used on their titanium rifles...hence the name.
Now it is time to send it to Luke. I remove the action screws to send him just the barreled action. It will be going out later today.
Once I get it back it should be a matter of removing a bit of the barrel channel on the stock and shaping to get it to fit. I liked this donor build as the barrel is extra heavy...so most of the work should already be done. The barrel I went with is a 26" Brux modified sendero contour. It will have the LRMP 2 plug system. If all goes well I should be around $1900 into my dream gun...before the scope.
I will update after I get it back from ASG. Still haven't settled on a scope. I really like the Leupold firedot reticle. I'm leaning towards a VX-R CDS 4-12x40. Maybe I can work up a load and get a custom dial for it.
If you guys have any completed smokeless setups lets see them! What power scopes do you have? Any other gotcha's on a build like this?
First step was to find a donor rifle. I went back and forth on a Remington UML for awhile. Spent a few trips going to pawn shops looking for something. Never quite could find one I liked. I wanted to find a donor that had a nice stock already to save a little money. A trip to Scheels in Omaha finally produced what I was looking for. They had put 2 Remington 700 Stainless 308 5R's on sale from $1100 down to $799. Score. The lowest I saw them online was for $850. Here I didn't have to worry about the transfer fees.
The nice thing about the 5R is that the barrel is pretty sought after. I shouldnt have a problem selling it on eBay after Luke removes it ($25 dollar charge). I have seen them go for $200-300 on there so that should drive the price of the donor gun/action down to about $550-600 net. You could do much cheaper...but with a brand new beautiful stainless action/jeweled bolt ($400) plus a nice HS Precision Stock ($350) it was pretty tough to pass up. Here is a link to the exact rifle:
https://www.remington.com/rifles/bolt-action/model-700/model-700-stainless-5-r
After a bit of back and forth I decided I really liked the jeweled bolt...but I liked the look of a fluted bolt better. I decided to go with Kampfeld Customs as I have never heard a bad thing about them. I also added
a bolt knob for looks. It was $175 for all the work...and he had it turned around in less than a week. Here is the bolt before and after:
It is his Remington TI fluting. The same fluting that Remington used on their titanium rifles...hence the name.
Now it is time to send it to Luke. I remove the action screws to send him just the barreled action. It will be going out later today.
Once I get it back it should be a matter of removing a bit of the barrel channel on the stock and shaping to get it to fit. I liked this donor build as the barrel is extra heavy...so most of the work should already be done. The barrel I went with is a 26" Brux modified sendero contour. It will have the LRMP 2 plug system. If all goes well I should be around $1900 into my dream gun...before the scope.
I will update after I get it back from ASG. Still haven't settled on a scope. I really like the Leupold firedot reticle. I'm leaning towards a VX-R CDS 4-12x40. Maybe I can work up a load and get a custom dial for it.
If you guys have any completed smokeless setups lets see them! What power scopes do you have? Any other gotcha's on a build like this?
