I thought that I would share what I have learned about what works for me and what doesn't when it comes to precision rifle systems.
My first rifle was a snipers hide build by what was at the time Patriot Arms. I knew nothing about what I wanted, or how its features worked, and just asked for what I saw everyone recommend.
It featured:
McMillan A5 with a McMillan thumbscrew cheekpiece and a 'sniper' fill
22" Broughton .308 5c barrel with 1-10 twist in a #7 profile firing the 175 SMK at 2700 FPS
Surgeon 591
Seeking rings
USO SN-3 3-17 ergo with MOA reticle and adjustments and illumination
AAC 762-SD
Harris swivel bipod
Jewel trigger
It was exceptionally accurate (.25MOA) and a great learning tool. I took it out to South Dakota and ran 2,000 rounds through it in a week of prairie dog hunting.
In that week I learned that I did not care for the buttstock of the A5, as I had trouble getting it to ride bags the way that I wanted. I also disliked the cheekpiece adjustment as it was hard to put it back in the exact location every time and would work loose after a bit of shooting.
The scope worked fine, but I did not like having to break my cheek weld to adjust the objective parallax.
The silencer was the biggest frustration as it was an older (pre-circumference welded) 18 tooth design. It would loosen after each shot or two and the accuracy when loose was around 5moa with a 12moa shift.
After shooting the rifle for a total of 5,000 rounds, I decided to send it off to GAP to have it fitted with a Manners T2a, and to have the barrel retreaded to accept a Surefire 762k mount. I also got a Schmidt Bender USMC scope at the same time.
The stock was great, it rode the bags exactly as I wanted, the cheekpiece was a work of art, returned to zero every time and stayed there. It also was a little lighter.
The scope was also a welcomed improvement. It weighed substantially less, had better ergonomics, and I grew to like the Mil system better as it allowed me more features to use with a mildot master for tac competitions where we ranged with the reticle.
The silencer was a large disappointment. I fired less than 5 rounds through it and determined that the sound reduction was just not good enough as it rang my ears on a 22 inch barrel. I had my 762-SD refurbished to 2007 spec and ran it.
I used this setup for another 2-3,000 rounds before I felt the need to get a new barrel. With the hard firing schedules I put it through I felt like 8,000 rounds was a lot for the barrel to take.
During this time I also found that I wanted to have a bit more magnification and I did not care for the MTC knobs of the scope, so I went to a 4-16x42 Schmidt and Bender. I liked the single turn knob and the P4 reticle much better than the USMC scope, however the tunneling of the Schmidt line at low power had me wanting a better low end FOV.
I eventually ditched the Schmidt and went with the new F1. The new F1 MLR reticle had basically the same features as the P4, but also had no tunneling and was a bit lighter than the Schmidt as I had become more weight conscious with my rifle accessories.
Since I had been shooting more competitions and hunting with the rifle, I became acutely aware that I had set the rifle up to be the perfect prone static position rifle, but that was not how I was using it. It was a beast to shoot in other positions and offhand.
Most of the issues I had were with the weight of the barrel. I learned that while the weight itself when carrying the rifle was not all that bad, when deploying it in offhand or awkward positions it would be unbearable and a hindrance.
Also, the stock for-end, while great for riding bags, was just too big for sling shooting (I have smaller hands).
Since I knew that the stock and barrel would be replaced, I started to examine all of my accessories. The goal of the new rifle would be to do a little bit of everything well, but that meant compromise on some of the things that it did excellent.
Since the largest problem I had was the balance and weight of the system I first began to look at the barrel forward.
I determined that a much shorter barrel would be necessary and decided on 18" as the length. Since I still hunted with it I wanted to retain more energy at range, so I looked into other calibers. I decided that the 7-08 firing the 162 AMAX would be about perfect if I could get it above 2600fps. To further save weight I decided to go with a Remington Varmint contour barrel and to DEEPLY spiral flute the barrel to save even more weight.
I would have gone smaller in contour, but I also decided that I would move away from QD silencers and go with a thread on unit, so I needed the shoulder size to be large. One thing that most people don't consider when selecting silencers is the weight of the mount itself. I selected the Cyclone-k silencer due to it being steel and a simple and accurate thread on mount that would eliminate any issues with a mount. Since it only weighs 3oz. more than a typical titanium silencer, I went with it for durability on the short barrel.
For the stock I chose the A1-3 for the forend that would ride bags and sling shoot well and for the higher comb and more traditional grip. I went with standard fill as I wanted a little more weight in the rear to create better balance, an edge stock would save weight but make the balance worse.
I replaced to Badger DBM with a Surgeon unit because I liked he mag fence for leaning into a barricade instead of applying pressure to the magazine itself.
The biggest change for me was the move to a 2.5-10x32 mil/mil NXS. I made the move purely to save weight. The lack of a FFP reticle has not been much of an issue so far, but I have to constantly remember not to use the reticle for hold offs on low power, this almost resulted in a gutshot deer this season that was moving across a field at a trot. The lack of parallax adjustment had me concerned at first, but the eye box is so small that your head has to be exactly right to get a full FOV, so I have found that I stay pretty consistent at range despite to fixed parallax. I would say my biggest complaint with the scope is its light gathering ability, which is pretty poor compared to my previous scopes.
I decided to give the build to RW Snyder as he had a good reputation and was willing to do the work in a short time frame. He did not disappoint. I was able to get the AMAX to 2700fps which blew away my load for my .308 which pushed the 175SMK at the same speed. All in all I think that I am finally at the point with the system that I do not want to change anything about it. While it won't out group a full blown f-class rig, it will do everything that I need it to do exceptionally well, from target shooting in the prone, to hunting, to competitions, I finally have my one 'do-it-all' rifle. The only thing that has not changed is the trigger and action, LOL.
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Originally Posted by shark31
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