Thread: A new custom tool.

Hi all.


I've just had a rifle build finished. I'd hate to add up the number of hours of thinking that I've put into this. Anyway, I thought I'd just outline my thought process for each component for those thinking of doing something similar. I think some will find it useful, whether you agree with my decisions or not.


Criteria - A lightweight & practical rifle for the big country down south. Red stags, bull tahr & hopefully a Wap bull one day.


Calibre
Criteria - Balance of terminal performance, BC & recoil.
Decision - Quickly settled on the 7mm.


Case
Criteria - Quality (Norma or Lapua) brass available from factory, no fireforming etc. No belt. Long neck. Fit in the magazine with the heavies & feed smoothly.
Options were 7SAUM, 7WSM, 7/300WSM, 7RemMag, 7Blaser, 7Fatmax, 28Nosler (+ others).
Decision - After swinging from 28Nosler to 7Saum I settled on the 7mm Blaser Mag. Reason for this is that any larger and I felt it was going to cause myself headaches in the future with barrel speeding up, throat erosion etc and I simply acknowledged that I'm not a LR hunter so why build something so specialised. Swung from the 7saum as I'd like one in a superpig one day. The BlaserMag, has Norma brass readily available, Redding dies readily available, no belt, shorter and fatter(?) case, standard magnum bolt face, can seat the heavy projectiles out and still fit in the magazine, long neck for various seating depths for different bullet weights. Downsides - very limited factory ammunition 'available', not a lot of reloading info (but enough).


Action
Criteria - Light, strong, functional bolt action.
Decision - Tossed up between Pierce & Lone Peak Arms titanium actions. LPA was much smoother so went this way. Also, for the sake of practicality and being able to magazine feed everything I went for a long action - this only adds 50grams and 2cm to OAL.

Stock
Criteria - Lightweight (Carbon Fibre), stippling for grip when wet, straight comb, slightly raised comb (better for 30mm tube scopes). BDL (considered ADL but was advised to avoid it in magnums).
Decision - McMillian NZH stock. Couldn't find much else to fit this brief - although Ken H's seem to now with the stippling (& his are probably lighter).

Barrel
Criteria - 26" 1:8 twist. Match grade. Stainless. Cut rifled.
Decision - Settled on Bartlein. No real reason for it above the others, but my gut feel was that it was less of a gamble than some other manufacturers. Didn't consider a CF Proof Research as they are nearly twice the cash.

Muzzle brake
Criteria - Usual reduce recoil etc. Suitable for going on and off regularly.
Decision - Went for a radial brake as they do not need indexing - side ported brakes can lose their horizontal indexing when put on & off a lot as the shoulder wears. On this brake the 3 forewardmost ports are directed at 90* to the barrel, while the rear port is angled slightly forward - theory being that the forward gas from the rear port will redirect the other gases away from the shooter so it doesn't feel like a punch in the face. Downside - Not the most efficient brake at reducing recoil but I'd counter that with, how much recoil do I really need taken off? Also, dust etc will get kicked up from under the barrel but laying a jacket down when needed should resolve most of this.

Trigger
Criteria - Clean break, no creep, easily adjustable.
Decision - Triggertech. No real reason here over the others. I like that it can be adjusted without having to take out the stock and reviews say that it's good in dusty/mucky conditions.

Rings
Criteria - Lightweight, solid, bubble level. No rail (I strongly dislike rails on hunting rifles).
Decision: Hawkins LR hybrid ringmounts. No question.


Now for some pics. Grouping is with the 180ELD-M.








It will never be sold.


Thanks to @camo wsm for sourcing parts and bouncing ideas around.

I'll also start a thread on the cartridge in the Reloading section with some of the info I've collated. Seems to be a few of these popping up now which is good to see.

love the group.

That's a good looking build and boy it can shoot.

Thanks fellas. A bit of a relief to know the barrel isn't a lemon.

I've just added the reloading thread.
https://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co....43/#post715331

Awesome rifle mate!!! Whats your barrel profile?

Not too shabby! You’ll be shooting them in the eye then.

Bloody good when things come together like that, well done.

Very nice “ investment”, went down a similar decision path recently myself - the 7mmBM is a sweet spot for big 7’s

This is awesome! I would love to build something like this one day!! How much does it weight?