A New Stick

[Canonshooter]

It's been way too long since I've been in the bolt-gun game and I've always wanted this rifle. After making some room in the safe I've got a Remington 700 in there once again, a SPS-Tac in .308.

Remington 700 SPS Tactical in .308, 1/12 twist
Bell & Carlson Medalist 2958 stock
Timney Trigger
SWFA 10X42 HD MRAD
Leupold Mk 4 15 MOA Base
Seekins Low Rings

Accuracy - running average of all 5-shot groups fired to date (inches at 100 yards), Federal 168 SMK Gold Medal Match; .462 best/.880 worst/.635 AVG

[mk262]

I just finished building an almost identical gun, but with the m40 stock. same optic, and it shoots great.

[Canonshooter]

Stock

I decided to go with the Bell & Carlson 2958 stock, which features the full aluminum block like the rest of the Medalist line. I wanted something that wasn’t quite as fat on the fore end as the M40, but still has a good beavertail cross section. I ruled out the A2 style as I did not care for large, squared-off fore end which looks like it's geared for shooting off the bench or off a bipod.

Test fitting the action in the stock revealed plenty of contact with between the bottom of the receiver and the aluminum block (the aluminum leaves marks where it comes in contact). For that reason, I decided to forego the skim bedding to see how it shot without it (I’m glad I did).

Knowing I was going to paint the stock, I ordered the black version which is the least expensive. After confirming a good fit with the receiver, I taped off the butt pad and the aluminum block and then lightly went over the stock with a Scotchbrite pad. I then wiped the stock down with a rag wetted with paint thinner and applied 5 light coats of Krylon Fusion. The paint appears to have bonded to the stock quite well.

Scope Base

I decided on the Leupold Mk 4 base for three reasons; (1) it’s made of steel, (2) does not have a rail extension in the front which looks like it could hit the scope objective bell and limit the distance the scope can be positioned rearward and (3) has a 15 MOA elevation.

The only feature this base does not have is a built-in recoil shoulder. Because of this, I decided I would bed the base to the receiver using the Murphy technique.

Upon trial fitting the base to the receiver, using the front two screws only I discovered that there was zero contact between the rear of the base and receiver. In fact, I could run a strip of paper through the entire gap. The Murphy technique calls for metal contact front and rear by using the two inner most screws to tighten the base to the receiver. This is where the built-in 15 MOA of base elevation would come in handy, knowing if the scope axis and bore were perfectly parallel, the SWFA SS 10X42 HD MRAD has just enough internal adjustment for the .308 out to 1,000 yards. Anything left of the 15 MOA after mounting the base this way would be gravy.

I used the Murphy technique as described with one exception – after the epoxy had set I fully removed all four screws, cleaned and degreased them and reinstalled with blue Loctite to 15 inch/pounds.

Seekins Rings

Let me start off by saying these rings are beautiful! I opted for the low (.82") 4 cap screw version in wanting to keep the scope as low as possible. I positioned the rings and scope for optimum placement on the rifle and then tested for eye relief from various positions. After confirming the scope position works well I leveled the scope reticle to tops of the lower ring halves and carefully tightened the cap screws down to 20 inch/pounds. The rings were then tightened to the base to 55 inch/pounds, as per Seekin’s spec.

Once the paint was dry on the stock, I installed the action making sure the recoil lug was fully seated against the aluminum bedding block. I did so by placing the butt on the floor and with the muzzle straight up, slowly and evenly tightened the action screws to the recommended 65 inch/pounds.

Once the rifle was fully assembled I ran a patch wetted with Kroil through the bore using a Dewey one piece rod and a Pro Shot bore guide. I then did a photo session for the photos in my original post.

Range Session

I had high hopes for the new stick and I was not disappointed. I only fired a total of 15 rounds of Federal Gold Medal Match 168 SMK during this first session but the smile came to my face on the very first shot.

Target 1 – 100 Yards



The first shot hit as shown above – just over 5 inches high and 1.5 inches to the left. This was out of a cold bore lightly coated with Kroil. It would appear that out of the 15 MOA that was built into the Leupold base, I still had over 1/3rd of it left by bedding to the receiver the way that I did. My strategy paid off and I ended up with that little extra elevation I was looking for without going overboard with a 20 or 30 MOA base.

I dialed in the elevation correction and fired the second shot.

I dialed in the windage correction and fired the third shot.

The rifle sighted-in with three shots - I could not ask for better than that!

To check the condition of the bore, I then ran a patch through it lightly wetted with Hoppe’s #9. All looked fine on the patch – no copper shavings, heavy fouling, lost dogs, etc. so I pressed on with my accuracy testing.

Shot number four was a fouling shot into the dirt.

I then set up for a 3-shot group (shots 5 through 7). These 3 shots went into .428” -





I then moved to the next target to print a 5-shot group (shots 8 through 12). These 5 shots went into .582” -





Needless to say, I was very pleased! I decided to fire a few more shots into a new target using a different hold on the rifle. The first shot flew before I wanted it to and strayed to the right (I knew it as soon as the rifle recoiled). I fired two more shots, with the last two .375” from each other and the 3-shot group measuring .862 inches.

Next up is getting out to longer distances and ringing some metal targets. Knowing I’ve got a good shooter, it’s time to start developing some hand loads too!

[Pappabear]

Nice rig. Looks like you did all the right stuff. Stock, Trigger and some decent glass. And She's a shooter, good work.

[The Surgeon]

Nice rifle!

[Canonshooter]

Nice rig. Looks like you did all the right stuff. Stock, Trigger and some decent glass. And She's a shooter, good work.

Thanks to all for taking a look and commenting!

I'm looking forward to developing some loads for this rifle. I've been reloading for nearly as long as I've been shooting, though some of my old reloading gear did not make it on the move from NY to NH four years ago. Once I get my equipment set up again, I will see how much improvement I can squeeze out of the rifle.

Looks like magazine length will limit how far out I can seat the bullet, so my best accuracy loads will need to be fed into the chamber by hand, one at a time. I'm not sure I will be able to improve on the Federal load limiting overall length to 2.80 inches.

[Canonshooter]

Update

Made it out today for my second range session.

Before I went, I had reduced the action screw torque from 65 inch/pounds to 45, due to concerns over the strength of the stock bottom metal.

My goal for this session was to (1) see if the change in the action screw torque setting had any impact on POI or accuracy; (2) to fine tune my 100 yard zero and (3) continue accuracy testing. It was also a good test to see if the scope returned to zero after I ran the up-elevation all the way out and then brought it back to zero.

First cold bore fouling shot confirmed that the scope had returned to zero after dialing in 22 mils of up-elevation and then bringing it back. This was no suprise as all reports have this scope dead-on for tracking.

I then fired three 5-shot groups, tweaking my 100 yard zero in the process. After the last group, the cluster was perfectly centered on the target.

Below is the best group of the three. I'm keeping a running average of all 5-shot groups shot to date and so far, this rifle is averaging .635 MOA with the Federal 168 SMK Gold Medal Match load. The worst group so far measures .880" wide by .362" high, the horizontal spread I'm pretty certain is my inconsistent grip. I think the groups will tighten up a bit as I get back in-tune with my benchrest technique.

[QuietShootr]

I would be thrilled as shit to get that kind of a group out of a factory rifle.

[Canonshooter]

I would be thrilled as shit to get that kind of a group out of a factory rifle.

Remember that I changed out the stock and installed a Timney before I ever fired the first shot out of it. I doubt it would do this well with the Hogue stock and heavy factory trigger. I'm leaving the Timney set at 3.5 pounds for now.

[QuietShootr]

Remember that I changed out the stock and installed a Timney before I ever fired the first shot out of it. I doubt it would do this well with the Hogue stock and heavy factory trigger. I'm leaving the Timney set at 3.5 pounds for now.

I did both of those with the last one I bought and it was still a shotgun.