It's Not a Re-stocked 700 SPS Tac Anymore

[Canonshooter]

That's what it started as and after a few years of dinking around with different stocks, I took a dive into the deep end of the pool. With the GAP Crusader serving as inspiration, here is what it is now;

Trued 700 action with Holland bolt handle (TIG welded)
Bartlein 5R 1-10 twist SS barrel, M24 contour, 23"
Barreled action in Sig Dark Grey Cerakote
McMillan A5, pillars and bedded
Timney 510
Badger Ordnance M5 Enhanced bottom metal
Badger Ordnance 20 MOA steel scope rail with recoil lug
SWFA 10X42 HD scope
Seekins low rings
Holland 30mm level

My goal is consistent .5 MOA or better precision with quality factory match ammo, first firing of the newly reassembled rifle happens next weekend. A few photos of the finished project;

[masan]

Looks good! I hope she hammers for you.

[Canonshooter]

Looks good! I hope she hammers for you.

Thanks!

Beyond the parts and pieces, there was a lot of attention paid to the details.

When Mike Bryant received my SPS Tac barreled action, he contacted me about weak primary extraction which is due to Remington's poor quality control on attaching the bolt handle correctly. He recommended the Holland bolt handle to address that issue, which was TIG welded to the bolt - this is how I ended up with a new bolt handle, which was not in my original plan. Mike trued the action, installed the Bartlein barrel and coated the barreled action.

The A5 was purchased from McMillan's inlet-ready inventory, which they inletted for the M24 barrel contour. The finished barreled action fit nearly perfectly, but there was a tiny bit of stress revealed by movement when the front action screw was loosened and tightened. It was extremely small but I decided to bed the action with Marine Tex for a 100% stress-free union between stock and action, which was successfully achieved.

I changed out the scope rail to a lugged version (Badger Ordnance) and like the first rail I installed, the Badger had to be bedded too. Like the first rail, with the front two rail screws tightened, I could slide a piece of paper straight through between the bottom-rear of the rail and the receiver. Bedding with some JB Weld fixed that issue.

When mounting the scope, along with using a torque wrench on the rail screws, ring clamps and ring caps, I purchased a nifty tool for getting the vertical stadia of the reticle perfectly aligned with the centerline of the bore. With the centerline of the scope and bore perfectly level using the tool, the scope is turned in the rings to align the reticle with a plumb line. Once that was achieved, the Holland bubble level was set to match.

I'm hopeful that the use of good parts in combination with the attention to detail will yield the results I'm looking for.

[Canonshooter]

Took the new rig for its first test drive today. Set up on front and rear bags on a reasonably steady bench, I fired a total of 17 rounds.

Since I had installed a new scope rail and bedded it for the full 20 MOA, my first two shots weren't on paper at 100 yards. I then fired three more into the berm as sighters to get me on paper.

With five rounds down the new barrel, I ran a few patches of Hoppe's #9, a few dry patches and then a patch of Hoppe's Copper Terminator to see if any copper fouling was evident. After letting it soak for ten minutes the next patch revealed little or no copper fouling at all. Based on Bartlein's written recommendations, I considered the barrel "broken in" at that point.

I used the next four shots to walk it in and establish a decent 100 yard zero. With a total of nine shots down the new barrel, it was time to see what this rig can do.

New target, shots 10, 11 and 12 looked liked this;




I then went for a group of five;



Shots 13, 14, 15 and 16 produced a bug hole measuring .327". The last shot of the day (#17) was out of the group at the top, opening the 5-shot group up to .552". Can't say for sure but based on the previous seven shots, it was probably operator error.

I have to say that I'm very pleased with this performance. I have no doubt this rifle is fully capable of my "consistent .5 MOA or better" goal. With that established, my next outing will be at 200 and 300 yards prone with a bipod and rear bag.

[Vegasshooter]

Excellent results. Good for you. That's a very, very nice rig. Keep us posted on your results as you "air her out".

[Pappabear]

Nice job. I just put a McMillian stock on my 300WM, same color. I dig it. Looks like a shooter. Good luck sending them long range.

PB