Mr. Peters suggested we gin up a build thread here. For those who aren't familiar with our way of doing stuff, its a bit different from most other shops.

Our stock work begins with a computer model of the footprint that the barreled action is going to occupy in the stock. We adjust it (enlarge) by a controlled amount to allow for floating the barrel and clearance for the bedding compound. Doing it this way allows me to know exactly how thick the bedding is going to be at every contact point. I like this as it delivers a clean presentation once the inletting work starts.

So it begins!


CAD model specific to his barreled action:


Program:



Setup:










Running:

Barreled action fitted to the stock:




Bedded. Just a waitin game now:

Looks good Chad, I will give it a test drive when I get home.

Looks like 'nother nice'n Pappy. Lookin' forward to the test drive report.

Chad, nice bathroom.... *grin*

This one is for a client so as soon as I get home I will mount it up and get it going for him.

Chad, sounds like the 50 BMG reamer shipped friday so when your ready do your thing. 458 LOTT reamer is on order.

Shawn,

Great! Just got into the shop. We'll be popping her out this am and werkin the stock over.

I'll be calling sometime today so keep the phone handy.

C.

Stock is bedded and the top side machine work is all done. Picked up the Dakota Arms bar stock machined floor metal this morning. Were gonna flip her over and commence on the bottom side soon as I finish the primary inlet on another stock.

Here's the pics!

I know that thing is done Chad, no sense in letting it sit in the corner, lets see how she shoots.

Chad,
The 280AI you did for me is a wicked sob. So much so I put another in the mail for you to work over. When it shows just throw it in the corner with rest of Pappy's shit.

Thanks Ben

Here she is bitches!

We wrapped her up today. So far only one proof load down the tube. I've got a few more that were super close to finishing so we'll save the chootin to when we can batch them all together in a day. This piece went together pretty nice. The stock was a bit of work on the tang area. McMillan sets them up so that you just blast out the tang with a big cutter. As a result it requires quite a bit of body work to get everything blended together nice and perty. Someday (soon I hope) I'll be looking into building stocks in house out of composite, then we won't have to deal with this kind of crap anymore.



Enjoy,

C.









I burnt the chit out of my digits putting the "supah bling" on the follower. Glassy smooth now. Notice the ejection port inletting on the stock. It matches the receiver contour at each corner and on the floor. This too is all surface machined using a 3/16" OD ball endmill with a .005" stepover. Just buzzes back and forth at 75IPM and 10Krpm as it whittles away on the stock. Ready to run right out of the machine this way. No file work other than running a needle file over the edges to keep from cutting myself. Carbon fiber doesn't mess around. It loves to eat people!



Seamless transition from tang to stock. Clean inletting on the bolt handle too. Notice the little gap at the back of the tang were it transitions to the stock grip? This is by design. A 7lb 7mm Rem Mag has a little snort to it. The stock is going to flex under recoil. Blending a stock like this on the tang is nice but one has to go into it knowing that the ass of the receiver will act like a chisel. It'll try like hell to chip/blast a nice chunk out the back. The .01" clearance allows for some room so that when its rockin n rollin in the stock all the pieces stay put.

Last but not least, a few pics "under the hood".

Here's the finished bedding and floor metal fitting work:

Glad its a chooter! Now we just need to do a full build for you.
. .

Very Nice!!

Just as I expected! Thanks Chad.

If I didnt have a hardon for a Mcswirly you could have your way with her.

'Nother work of art, Chad....

Lookin' forward to the test drive, Pappy. *hint*

Wow talk about changing your perspecive on things that is unreal work. Very nice job.

Goddamn...

That art work kind of eliminates any excuses...........

Yep, I have pretty much peddled most all of my home grown shit and after having Chad build a few more for me I will be pretty well set. Chad eliminates any question of mechanical integrity one might have. Nothing wrong with having it look allright as well.

Getting low on your Lilja tube inventory yet? *grin*

Lookin' forward to your collaborative creations....

Lilja, yes. Brux, that pile is deep. Sounds like the 50 BMG reamer showed up today and he has already done his thing with it, that should be a fun one.

At what COAL do it kiss a 162A-Max?.................

Will find out when I get home, that is right after I mount up the finest scope ever built which would of course be a NF but you already new that. I forgot to ask when I saw you, is Leupold still in business?

Only a NightFarce guy couldn't know where the fuck his throat was at.

Will try to catch a break tonight,buy you a cup of coffee and get your mind right.

Though I can only getcha' to water................(grin)

A kiss is not everything, sometimes you can have a good fuck without a kiss and sometimes a kiss leads to a good fuck! In either case the end result is pleasing.

I can still run down the hill and fuck them all...plus I want to have my cake and eat it too.

Too easy to arrange all of it,to not to................

Was able to get this into the tunnel yesterday.

Put 12 rounds down range. Was all over the place till the 7th round, then she started just getting tighter and tighter on the paper. Pretty neat to watch. Ended up around 1/3-1/2 minute with a load I just jinned up from thin air. (60 grains of 4831SC, 215 primer, used brass, and a 162grain Hornady seated on a "guess" COAL.

It was blowing 40+mph winds and sleet yesterday. I was not in the mood to walk back upstairs, a hundred yards, and down the ladder to retrieve the targets, so we just left them.

I think we have a chooter. Kicks a bit more than I like (pussy here) but it'll stomp the chit out of anything in N. America for sure.

She's going out next week Shawn!

C.

The only time I can begin to like a pristine bore,is conditioning something to pour the moly to. On a new spout,I don't even shoot paper for at least a dozen pokes,as all I'm looking for is pressure and seasoniong the bore with moly.

Kiss,find pressure and rock on...is THE recipe for happiness.Why an arbitrary COAL,with rifle in hand?

I hear good things about .284's..................

"COAL" and "KISS"....seems to be a novelty around here, some of us have been doing it for 35 years, never thinking it was anything special, other then just 101 reloading and shooting!

My 257 roy has 2" of free bore, and shoots 1/4 MOA on a bad day with a shitty rest!.....grin

Never seen a KISS make or break me, simply a place to start and is by no means the FUCKING end all. You will have to blow that smoke up someone elses ass...........I dont drink the water someone leads me to, I bring my own........hehe

LMAO....I see Chad isn't falling for someone's bait!....

Mommy boxed up and sent my 50 action to Chad on Friday!...he should have the Brux barrel and the action this week!.....

Perfect, one should always be on watch for trolls.

Go guage should be there by now and I know Chad is chomping at the bit to roll a couple 50's out the door. Is the LC 50 brass worth a shit?

Oh I think there's been folks paying attention for a very long while and I still find it curious,that so many Manufacturers/Smiths can reliably fuck up so much shit,in particular regards to throating,twist rates and COAL latitude(harmony). 'Course Joe Average is well beyond fucking clueless and I reckon this ain't my first Rodeo.

Never heard of a 257Wby,tell me more.................(grin)

Once you start shooting a little,you'll learn lotsa shit.

Yet another Toldjaso...well in advance................

Understand this:

Were a gun shop. Not an ammunition manufacturer. Over the course of time I've figured out that if a rifle is well built, typically it will be fairly benign (within reason) to loads. Is there room for improvement on this gun in terms of load development? Absolutely. The catch becomes what a guy pays for vs the time allowed for the task at hand.

Its romantic to suggest/think about a builder laboring for hours on end at the reloading bench to tweak and massage a load to the point of making the rifle emulate a bench rest gun. Anyone here really want to spend upwards of a thousand bucks for load development? If so, call me! Most will not. Therefore I have to do the best I can within the time allocated for the job. Considering we do test each gun (full builds) where's many do not suggests were already exceeding the standard.

For me to devote the time you folks can would mean one of two things: A $1000 dollar increase on the sticker price or closing the doors because I'll go broke.

My "pet load" for most guns runs something like this:

1. I pick the powder that will give the most load density. I firmly believe that a full case makes for a happy gun. This is based on years of doing this through a chronograph. The STD deviation tends to run quite low using this trick.

2. I put the bullet behind the lands. I don't want it in it, I don't want it touching. I want some jump. Watching a test barrel at CORBON years ago (strain gauged) showed me why. When you have heavy bullets in a given caliber they like to be "coughed" down the barrel. Slamming them into the lands acts more like a "sneeze". It's more violent and you see it in pressure curves and the increased variation in STD deviation. Neck tension can also emulate this. The case needs to be able to let go of the bullet.

With a repeater I try to run enough neck tension to ensure the last bullet in the magazine isn't sitting -.01" from the rest due to recoil. I've never used a cannalure groove or crimped a case.

Why I think this is:

The pressure has to do a number of things simultaneously. It must accelerate the bullet from a dead stop, it must overcome the friction created when it engages the lands, and it has to accelerate the bullet in rotation. Keep in mind that an 8 twist barrel with a muzzle velocity of 3000fps means that bullet goes from zero to 270,000rpm in the length of the barrel.

Just take a moment and try to imagine the forces at play during that event. Let alone the linear acceleration.

Breaking up the chaos into individual components seems to help with accuracy is all I'm trying to say.

By no means is this a cardinal rule, but it's served me well for the most part and it serves as a starting point. I try to load bullets to a depth where the boat tail/bearing surface intersection sits just a pinch above the neck/shoulder junction of the case.

This gives me powder volume and keeps the bullet out of any choke ring in the brass. I can't always do this due to magazine length limits, but when I can, I use it. I have my chambering tools ground this way whenever possible.

C.

A shame to feed a great rifle,anything less than great fodder,especially as a critique of it's inherent abilities. It isn't like running a seating stem adds an inordinate amount of time or dexterity to any equation,especially for the gent with reamer and rifle in hand...such things should go without saying. No way it should add to any extra cost either,unless counterclockwise costs more than clockwise?!? Why spec a reamer,just to feed it contrary to it's inherent aptitude?

1) Propellant compression is a good thing,in regards to ES and SD. 4831(in any of it's flavors),is hardly the highest density powder for said chambering/bullet,let alone 60grs.

2) There's zero correlation to bullet weight and a leap of faith to the lands,that is folly. There is however correlation to some bullet profiles being more forgiving than others,in regards to a leap...none of which is factored by weight. I'd be curious to hear the CORBON load particulars(chambering,bullet style,bullet weight and components),though a lot of their shit is notoriously hot and will hiccup a snug bore/chamber,if only for starters. Would also be curious to hear the rifle particulars in extrapolation.

Impossible to be surprised,under the assumption of a lick of common sense,in regards to pressure curves or spikes. More folly to presume a given load at a given COAL,will make equal pressure in a myriad of bores/chambers,which is of course the antithesis of handloading to start with and again of zero bearing to a given bullet weight or profile.

I shoot .003" constriction in most everything,but that is moot,in regards to COAL and it's relationship to a given throat.

More folly to hint that ES/SD is increased with land engagement. I happily launch bullets via multiple 1-7",1-7.7" and 1-8" twists at 4000fps+ and ES/SD is minimal(low teens easily arranged,with a .003" constricted kiss).

Still a rather odd approach to grind tools specifically to an exceedingly low tolerance set of dimensions and crash that party with Helter Skelter fodder of arbitrary COAL gunned from the literal hip.

Donuts don't concern me and I fret the bullet's heel location far less than it's ogive location,if only because the heel bears no fruit in and of itself.

At what COAL does this reamer kiss a 162A-Max?

Good discussion,despite Humper and Pappy both being Red-assed,that I swiped rifles from them that "didn't shoot" and had 'em doing wonders the next day.............

The only one that's red-assed is you, cause we both "swiped" rifles from you that "didn't hunt" and we killed big shit with them the next day!.....grin

Ok now we can hear all about that big shit you'll killed in the last 20 years never further than 30 miles from your house, cause I live in the greatest best place in the world, with the "life to remember" and if there was a better place I'd live there!....save it, we'll heard it a 1000 times and noone gives a phuck!....grin

Better adjust your drag, with that much chum in the pond you are liable to get a bite.

LAMO.....fish on!

I'll get reminded, "I'm just mad cause I'm a cityslicker".....grin

Agreed! From the two lengthy posts above, one cannot readily argue the fact that there are many variables of melding a rifle to what it is ultimately fed.

For many, a rifle is purchased/built, and then fed various fodder in due course. This being somewhat akin to using nothin' but a 9 iron to play 18 holes of golf. Alternatively, should one desire to meld a specific rifle to a specific bullet for a specific purpose, the putter for putting so to speak, doesn't the focus narrow to COAL mag constraints for a repeater and throat of same for the desired kiss/leap? To avoid vagueness in the finished product, isn't it also the client's responsibility to specify same to the builder?

I savvy what both Chad and Stick are saying relative to their individual perspectives. I also believe that there is common ground that could bear much good fruit....

More then a few well known Benchrest shooters use their rifles action as a seating die.KISS is a fairly well established routine even outside the net..

I've long had the knack for coaxing the most out of a rifle and never was any good at being greedy,so routinely passed goods of repute onto pards less batting an eye. If I say something is good,it's a whole fucking lot better than that,as a minimum.

Enjoying that reamers,twist,COAL and mag constraints gotcha flustered...I guess I ain't suplized that Winter is setting in and you are getting tired of riding the couch and going to the Mall. To cheer you up,I'll go extry easy on things this R&R and will try to keep the round count under a thousand.

Laffin'!.......................

Wanna make a rifle shoot Factory Fodder better? Simply increase COAL via kinetic love tap,reseat a batch to the same seater seating and enjoy. You break the godawful Factory constriction and nestle the throat both,the conjunction reliably yielding smaller Agg's and reduced ES/SD. Very inexpensive test,that'll work wonders and separate alotta chaff. Steals thunder and fucks with heads to boot,none of which is to be slighted.(grin)

Now for some reason folks often think you gotta throat shit Linda Lovelace style,to squirt the good shit,but in actuality it's typically the other way around. While boolits become longer,bearing surface often becomes scant in comparison and to do the most favors a shorter throat rings the bell,in order to get the goody out of existing mag constraints and yield a COAL condusive to same. The 7mm Remmy is a great way to fly in a 700,due to generous inherent COAL latitude,which is something that say a Ruger is devoid. Ask Humper how good his 243AI Ruger he got from me shoots,it'll get him squealin' all over again.(grin) Though in fairness,Ruger s/a confines are more generous than a 700's.

So the more a guy savvies the big picture,the better he can set himself up to do it all. What do you give up in exchange for throating to mag constraints and loading to same? Not a fucking thing and them "odds" are tough to trump. It's long been common practice to enclose a dummy round with a prospective build and say simply "please throat to kiss .015" in" or whatever horns a guy up. Losing that control or failing to understand that control,ain't gonna sweeten any pot and when overviewed in that retrospect,it really ain't the best move a guy can make...to let them chips fall haphazardly. Same goes the ammo fed to a rifle. Thus the common theme amongst gents slated to fly Factory Fodder in say 308Win,to set barrels back to reduce throat length,to squeeze the most out of the only move they've got. You'll also note the plethora of reamers slated to High Zoot 22LR's for the exact same reasons.

Is it easy to yield a 1/2" Factory Rifle with handloads? Bet your ass. Is it easy to do same while suffering Factory Fodder and it's ubiquitous leap of faith to the lands? No fucking way. Is it easy to have your cake and eat it too,when citing build particulars? You goddamned right it is.

Some like to try and make this shit hard,but it sure as fuck ain't.....................

"Kissing" scares folks for some fucking reason and all sorts of pressure delusions seem to surface,if only for starters. It is simply a means of establishing a known relationship,of a given projectile to a given throat. Far from scary,even if someone mutters it with the lights turned off.(grin)

Was always curious to me,that the masses think you give some form of control away with a smooch,when in actuality control is what you are in fact GAINING. Also curious to me,that they associate same with 100,000K PSI pressure,which is yet another grandiose folly. If a guy wishes,he can reliably pop primers at any COAL dimension,just as easily as he can refrain same across the spectrum.

Why in the fuck would a guy choose and load to a COAL for any rifle,less knowing where he was at in relationship to the lands and the mag constraints both,with the projectile slated?

Very curious stuff to me,to roll in such a fashion.....................

KISS scares the fuck out of the masses,because they've long been taught in manuals that by getting up close pressure will go out the roof and wearing a bolt in your forehead is a sure result.

I really think C. Dixon provides an incredible product and craftsmanship,he has a shop that is really unheard of for the mountain state area.It's a lot of over head to have to pay for and scares off most. I don't think running a wood match or sharpie over a case/bullet to search for an optimal seating depth is a $1000 endeavor though.

Chad's work is beautiful as a minimum and I've yet to gather even a wisp of anything disparaging in it's regard. That(quality of worksmanship) wasn't ever questioned by me.

I just find it an interesting dichotomy to be so engrossed with all facets and to allow ammo particulars to be benign in comparison. If only because I've seen attention to ammo work wonders upon wares that were prolly well shy of being beautiful.

I'm more of a Meat And Taters Guy,so I fret internals far more than externals...because externals are going to be beat to fuck on Day One,but throats/twists is forever.

Controlling seating depth is the greatest favor you can toss any rifle.............

We'll see, he has my .50 action as of today and my Brux barrel will be there any day!....if it shoots like a think it should, he will get my 40x action to do the 338 edge, if it don't shoot, he will never hear from me again!.....thinking he going to get my 40x/338 edge work tho!....grin

I know Pappy was thinking he was gonna roll Hornie Factory 750A-Max fodder in his 50 and you were gonna load for your's,so I'm curious what you boys cyphered for a reamer so that everyone was happy? Tried to talk him into sending Kiff or JGS a dummy round and going from there,but you can't tell him nothin'.(grin) If I remember correctly,you both went singleshot,which do make it tougher to be painted into a corner.

We're all waiting on a .338" A-Max,but the 285BTHP Hornie do sound promising. Could see it stealing some Scenar thunder and getting twice as many pokes for less loot,wouldn't be too hard to take. Me,Pappy and Bennysahn were talking about them the other night over coffee.

Keep thinking I'm largely out of my Boomer Phase and a 6-284 throated to kiss a 105 from a DBM is sorta horning me up. Need to call Dick Davis and feel him out on if the boys are hip on inletting a Sako Hunter for a DBM and am thinking a #3 at 23.5" would do nice things,for pasting shit from the hindlegs and working movers over. Alpha 2 mags to extend COAL latitude and leaving some room to chase lands to boot,as shit wears away.

If it cooks as well as I think it will,I'd do a Chub next...if only to help see trace/impact and fuck with shit in the wind. A guy could argue a Pig and go 40X solid bottom receiver,fill the fuck out of things and rule the Pet Shop.

Still waiting on my MTU contoured Boots' barreled s/a 7WSM................

The single shot part, bothers other folks way no than I, it will have zero effect on what I plan on doing with that rifle, .....we’re far from a painted in corner, but you already know that!. Just an easy place for you to get in a “toldja”…....grin

I have the 5000, 750gr A-max’s on order, along with 2500 of the new .338 285gr A-max’s, according to my man, hornie is tooled up and making the .50 and .338 bullets as we speak, and my bullets should be my way soon, not holding my breath tho, then I see them I’ll believe it!

Prolly going with a Boot’s barrel too on the .338

We've hashed this a bunch and you know that I'm not gonna motherfuck a singleshot Chub for a Giggles Rifle. Point is/was,that mag confines will hang a guy long before a solid bottom receiver will,in regards to eeking the most out of a throat,with a wide variety of boolits. Tough to Toldjaso on a singleshot build,unless you shortened the throat enough to bury case capacity with boolit shank and then I'd scratch my head for ya'.

You at work or play? We spin out in the morning and it's looking like they are going to keep us in the house again tonight,due to temps.

Tough way to make a buck,watching Clint Eastwood movies and trying to get Pappy to drink water.............(grin)

You can keep your shit water, and I think the OAL of my boot is just long enough to reach your gizard, which is well within your mag box constraints, but you allready knew that.............don't be a hater because I kill big shit, it is not my fualt it just comes easy...............

You fellers need a group hug!
Grin.

R.

Oh I no where that no jobber is hiding out, probably watching movies on the clock. To an outsider one might think we actually did not like each other but now you know how we talk to each other everyday in person. Everyone know Big Dick is an ass hole.

"and I think the COAL of my boot is just long enough to reach your gizard"......I'm f'n crying over here!

No shit!

R.

Every ass likes to hear himself bray!......grin

You know all of us up here have let him BS you guys about being the big oilfeild "When it is too tough for you it is just right for me" guy. I just never wanted to say anything about him actually being the coffee bitch or as we call him up here Doughnut Boy, he has a little short bus he drives around and delivers doughnuts and coffee to those of us that are actually productive. At home he followed Huymper and the Old Man around enough to get the jargon down and a few videos and know he is the self proclaimed "COAL, OAL, KISS, MAG BOX CONSTAINT, NOV. DEC. every month of the year to remember king of the internet, your gig is up. You are nothing but a shrivled up bald past midle age midgit, with a third grade understanding of the English language and a book of the rifleman that some old crosseyed savage shooter wrote for you that you think is a Bible. That is as nicely as I can put it and not hurt you feelings.

Let's hope you are better at spec'ing out pointy boots,than you are reamers. You know how much I enjoy it when you don't listen,then act surprised that shit went the way I told you it was going to.

Don't trip over the barbed wire or twist your ankle on a haybale................

You know I don't go anywhere without my fencing pliers, Velcro gloves and my buck in a bucket feed.

Just don't ever forget them itty-bitty boots and the big old hat.

I'll work on some reamers for you,so as to put you to the good.

Keep your powder dry and safe travels home...............

Roger that and I will call you in a couple of days and make sure you are still couchbound. Have a good trip home

Funny that most of my hunting rifles are kissing the lands, or even in a touch, and I have yet to have a powder dump in the action.

Got lotsa shit coming in the Mail,so I can wipe your fucking ass for you. Will spec a 6-284Win reamer to a dummy in W/W brass and a 105 'Max kiss for DBM's.

Ain't gonna snug too much shit up,other than finite throating control...though a guy sure as shit could throat separately,but dat's another discussion. Will go piloted HSS with a goodly set of bushings,to remove all fucking doubt.

Film at 11:00................

Common sense is plum handy for lotsa shit.....................(grin)