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First dedicated long range rifle build

MarineRabbit

MarineRabbit

QMED
Minuteman
Jun 13, 2010
61
87
Pennsylvaina
After piles of research and going over what my real world expectations/usage are for my first long range rifle. This is what I finally pieced together. No pictures as of yet because I'm at work on a ship but hopefully as soon as I get home all the pieces will be waiting for me to assemble.

Altus (formerly CORE) defiance deviant tactical barreled action 24" bartlein 1:7 twist in 6BRA m40 contour
APA LB gen 2 brake
McMillan usmc spec A4
McMillan 4" pic rail section
Badger m5 bottom metal
Jewell HVR trigger
Badger usmc spec steel 34mm rings
Warne Skyline bipod
3" leg extensions
Cleat feet
USO B-17 3.2-17 scope with MGR reticle
USO rail mount fixed bubble level

Currently the only parts I'm waiting on is the barreled action should be another 3-4 weeks until it gets delivered, the pic rail with hardware for the A4 fore end to mount the bipod and the USO bubble level.

I couldn't find very much on the altus/core barreled actions the 1 review I did find the customer was extremely happy with the work and their customer service.

Planning on running the 5rd aics pmags, from reading on here and other forums it seems shooters are having good luck with them feeding the 6br case family of wildcats without needing the spacer/follower gut kits.

Can't wait to get home within the next few weeks and get this thing put together once the action and barrel show up, start working up loads for it.
 
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Well after being stuck at work for 4 months finally got to come home let the fun begin
IMG_20191004_175101_798.jpg
 
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The barreled action finaly came in from altus this afternoon. Extremely pleased with the feel of the action being my first custom ever. and altus machining job looks to be top notch finish wise.

I had to relieve the stock a little bit for the bolt release, only took a few minutes with a set of jewelers files. The steel usmc badger rings seem to be built heavier than my 2nd gen dodge diesel. Tried the plumb bob trick to level the scope it seems to have worked pretty good the range results will tell.

Finishing up the 300 fire form loads tonight, hopefully I can hit the range tomorrow to get the barrel broke in and brass made for load development. I don't think I've ever been more stoked to shoot a rifle in my life
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So far so good I think I need to up the charge a bit to sharpen the shoulder up.

28gr h4895, cci 450, 60gr sierra varminter. Got a good deal on them so that's what I was using for barrel break in and forming.
20191011_095939.jpg
 
3 shots at 100 using the above load shooting off a log and no rear bag. I wasn't really shooting for groups just trying to get brass formed but its showing good potential so far.
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wait, so you are telling me.... you've never owned a "precision rifle"...

that you've been on this forum for 9 years...

never posted a single dumb question. actually did research - and were able build a bad ass custom rifle with quality components, that needed fireforming, and load development, and had great success?

who would have thunk?


Props to you my man. You are a rare kind! good looking rifle and she shoots!
 
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hookedonbrass said:
wait, so you are telling me.... you've never owned a "precision rifle"...

that you've been on this forum for 9 years...

never posted a single dumb question. actually did research - and were able build a bad ass custom rifle with quality components, that needed fireforming, and load development, and had great success?

who would have thunk?


Props to you my man. You are a rare kind! good looking rifle and she shoots!
Click to expand...

Thank you haha.

I've had an account for 9 years I made it when I was like 14 lmao. Being stuck on a boat for months at a time gives me lots of time for reading and studying various things. Shooting happens to be my favorite hobby I basically spent 9 years creeping and reading on here.
 
Getting the rest of the FF loads done right now. I only did 50 to start to make sure they were going to work okay. Upping the charge to 29.5 hopefully it will sharpen the shoulders up
20191011_120403.jpg
 
MarineRabbit said:
Thank you haha.

I've had an account for 9 years I made it when I was like 14 lmao. Being stuck on a boat for months at a time gives me lots of time for reading and studying various things. Shooting happens to be my favorite hobby I basically spent 9 years creeping and reading on here.
Click to expand...


that's awesome.

a normal person on here would have asked about 1,000 different questions - some good, some bad - to end up where you ended up.

"which caliber?"

then "br vs bra vs brx vs dasher?"

then "how do i fireform?"

then "how do i do load development"

then "which scope is best?"

then "mil vs moa"

then "FFP/SFP?"

then "where can i get a barrel for this action?"

etc

etc.

hahaahaha
 
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hookedonbrass said:
that's awesome.

a normal person on here would have asked about 1,000 different questions - some good, some bad - to end up where you ended up.

"which caliber?"

then "br vs bra vs brx vs dasher?"

then "how do i fireform?"

then "how do i do load development"

then "which scope is best?"

then "mil vs moa"

then "FFP/SFP?"

then "where can i get a barrel for this action?"

etc

etc.

hahaahaha
Click to expand...
Thanks man I appreciate it. I'm really hopeful that its going to be a laser beam at 1000. So far absolutely loving the 6bra and its 0 recoil
 
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I got all 300 rounds fired this afternoon, the extra grain and a half definitely helped sharpen the shoulder. They might need fired one more time to fully blow it to the 40* but there close enough to start load development.
 
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I’m just here to say that’s a clean and simple build. And I like clean and simple builds.

Also I’ve never seen Ponce be that happy on this forum.?
 
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Tossed the stock in the drill press the other day and got the 2" pic rail section installed so I could mount the warne skyline bipod. Turned out pretty good. I orginally was going to use a 4" piece of rail but it was going to interfere with the flush cups that McMillan puts in the usmc contract stocks.

So far loving the warne bipod. It's a bit heavier than an atlas 19-20oz I believe, but I like the way the legs extend/collapse much better.

20191016_124144.jpg
 
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Getting some loads done up for testing tomorrow. using cci450 primers, 107smk pills. Making 5 rounds of each charge to shoot groups. Starting with 29.5gr of 8208xbr going up .3gr at a time to 31.6. Rinse and repeat with h4895.

Note to anyone using Wilson inline seaters buy the arbor press, it gets old quick seating a few hundred bullets by hand.
20191016_164639.jpg
 
MarineRabbit said:
Tossed the stock in the drill press the other day and got the 2" pic rail section installed so I could mount the warne skyline bipod. Turned out pretty good. I orginally was going to use a 4" piece of rail but it was going to interfere with the flush cups that McMillan puts in the usmc contract stocks.

So far loving the warne bipod. It's a bit heavier than an atlas 19-20oz I believe, but I like the way the legs extend/collapse much better.

View attachment 7165090
Click to expand...
Nice kitty!
 
Macman25 said:
Nice setup. I also love that table.
Click to expand...
Thanks it looks nice but it sucks to move around it's every bit of 400lbs. I got the slab of wood from the amish saw mill down the road from my house used the pour on epoxy bar top finish on it, the wood is catalpa about 6" thick 5ish ft long. legs are pistons I got from the boat I work on after we repower packed one of the main engines with all new cylinders pistons and con rods. There about the size of a 5 gallon bucket 130lbs each.
 
MarineRabbit said:
Tossed the stock in the drill press the other day and got the 2" pic rail section installed so I could mount the warne skyline bipod. Turned out pretty good. I orginally was going to use a 4" piece of rail but it was going to interfere with the flush cups that McMillan puts in the usmc contract stocks.

So far loving the warne bipod. It's a bit heavier than an atlas 19-20oz I believe, but I like the way the legs extend/collapse much better.

View attachment 7165090
Click to expand...

Nice rifle. Now tell me about that awesome chunk of wood it's sitting on!

Edit: Just read the above post.
 
Last edited:
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It was a slab of live edge catalpa wood I got from the amish fellow down the road from my house. About 6" thick a bit under 5ft long it's a HEAVY sob, finished with pour on bar top epoxy, it's got some tiny air bubbles on one end but it was my first time working with that stuff so I think it came out pretty decent. The legs are pistons from the boat I work on we rebuilt one of the main engines they were going to scrap the pistons so I snagged 2 of them. They are from an MTU 8000 series v20 quad turbo roughly 11,500hp engine.
20191016_181138.jpg
 
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Did some load testing yesterday. Tired 8208xbr and h4895. It wasn't very scientific as I dont have a chronograph but it definitely seemed to like xbr more than the h4895. 29.5 and 31gr of xbr seemed to do the best. The 3 out in right field on the top left target were burners after I cleaned the barrel.
20191018_181307.jpg
 
I didnt even bother taking pics of the h4895. I'll be sticking to the imr powder big plus it meters much better out of the hornady auto charge.
20191018_181312.jpg
 
Update.

Everything was going great until tonight. I finished loading up 300 rounds for a class I'm attending this coming Friday and Saturday with ghost firearms training.

I was attempting to float the turrets back to zero from my inital 100yd zero adjustments. Following the user manual to the letter the Elevation knob went smoothly no hiccups. Went to float the windage back to zero backed the lock screws out 1 turn as the manual states to do, popped the turret to the unlocked position and one or both detent balls (I'm not sure how many its supposed to have) flew out at mach 3. I managed to find one of the balls on the floor in my living room by some miracle they look to be .5mm in diameter or smaller. The detent spring on the bottom of the turret looks damaged as well. I will be calling USO first thing tomorrow morning and see what they will do about this as its completely unacceptable on a scope that cost this much.
 
Uso got the scope this morning got it fixed and on it's way back to me, it'll be here tomorrow morning, now to get it back on the rifle and dialed in again before class on Friday.
 
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One of the instructors had a labradar there so we found out what my loads were actually doing. I will say I was pretty surprised to see that velocity, most of the 6mm guys say you need a 26" barrel. This is with a 24" 31gr of 8208xbr and 107smk. I'm thinking I need to mess around with the neck tension a bit to get those numbers a bit lower.
20191024_155719.jpg
 
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