building a rifle

trigwig78

Member
What pitfalls do I need to avoid if I am going to embark on building a rifle?

Do I need the calibre on my ticket before I buy the barrel etc. Is it any cheaper to build than say a new tikka t3.
 
Pitfalls - have a look at my gallery. I've bought more rifles than I have fingers and I guess I am slowly getting to where I want to be. That's my fourth 243 and my third 260 Rem in my gallery. Unless you have very deep pockets, you will find yourself making compromises left, right and centre. Compromises or mistakes. Most of my early purchases were misguided. My current list of things to consider includes:

Remington clone action (as good as you can afford)
Mcmillan stock
Calibre that uses Lapua/Norma brass.
Jewell trigger
0 MOA scope rail
Magazine – a very tricky area. I favour a floor plate.
Get a common threading on the end of the barrel.
Barrel – the best you can afford.
Barrel - suitable twist and length agreed based on expected usage.
Chambering – make it a tight neck and supply a dummy round

It's not an exhaustive list and I expect folk to highlight other factors to consider.
The list above is a start, but the most important thing is finding someone handy to do the work.

Good luck. JCS
 
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you need space on your ticket if your chambering the barrel yourself
if somone else is doing it for you ie a rfd you only need space on ticket once the rifle is finished and you want to take it home
but to buy a blank barrel you dont need anything on your ticket as long as its not chambered ,it becomes a firarm part once its chambered
buy the best components you can afford ,a custom action rifle has a better re-sale value
i love the borden action ,mcmillan stocks ,or darrel hollands wich are made by mcmillan ,jewell trigers ,and a trueflite ultra match barrel and it will look and shoot the part
and pick a accurate caliber to suit your needs with the right twist and throated corectly
or you can buld around a factory action tika, sako or remmy and it will shoot as good
 
OK how does one buy or acquire an action which of course is a pressure bearing item.

Best thing I can think of is talk to your licensing department and get their ideas/requirements in writing then work with and round them. Remember what the Firearms act and HO say means little when dealing with some licensing departments.
 
What pitfalls do I need to avoid if I am going to embark on building a rifle?

Do I need the calibre on my ticket before I buy the barrel etc. Is it any cheaper to build than say a new tikka t3.

First thing is you need to be patient, if your asking a traditional rifle smith to build you a rifle it may take time by time I mean 18 months. Some can do it in 3 months or less.

Somebody else has answered your question re calibre on your ticket before buying a barrel, but if you're buying a steel rude with rifling in it no you don't need a calibre on your ticket if it's chambered for a calibre then you do. Action wise depends if you go for traditional (mauser, winchester 70 etc. etc...) or modern (lawton, RPA, etc...) will drive the cost of the build as well. as for the stock, plastic fantastic is relatively cheap compared to wood were the sky is the limit.

Re your question is it cheaper than a new Tikka t3 the answer is yes and no, if you're re-barreling an old action it will get close to the cost of a new Tikka however you will end up with something built to your specification and personal to you then it's going to cost probably more than a sako. if your making a rifle with a wooden stock take your time don't rush decisions you can't put wood back on once it's taken off.

Jason
 
One way of building a nice bit cheaper or similar in price to a T3 would be an old mauser action, I used a 1909 Argentine (under 200 Euro).
Get a new pre chambered and threaded Lothar Walther K98 Barrel in calibre of choice which is around 190 Euro . This
then only needs headspacing and screwing in.
Plenty walnut or cheap plastic stocks around for mausers.
Triggers can be tuned very nicely, no need for an aftermarket trigger.

Fitting a Picatinny rail is not too difficult either. Might need to pin point heat the action on the area where one
would like to drill and thread
I chose a normal steel barrel and could therefore have it blued which is much cheaper than Ceracoating.

edi
 
edg,

The Argentine action you talk about is probable the best Mauser action produced, really tight tollerances it's excellent and getting rare in the UK.

Jason
 
One way of building a nice bit cheaper or similar in price to a T3 would be an old mauser action, I used a 1909 Argentine (under 200 Euro).
Get a new pre chambered and threaded Lothar Walther K98 Barrel in calibre of choice which is around 190 Euro . This
then only needs headspacing and screwing in.
Plenty walnut or cheap plastic stocks around for mausers.
Triggers can be tuned very nicely, no need for an aftermarket trigger.

Fitting a Picatinny rail is not too difficult either. Might need to pin point heat the action on the area where one
would like to drill and thread
I chose a normal steel barrel and could therefore have it blued which is much cheaper than Ceracoating.

edi

Hi,

where do you get LW pre chambered at that price?
 
edg,

The Argentine action you talk about is probable the best Mauser action produced, really tight tollerances it's excellent and getting rare in the UK.

Jason
I got myself a 1909 DWM complete carbine here in Germany unused carbine 7.63xwhatever (argenine mil cal) for 195 euros. One day it will build into something - or maybe I will use the calibre as it is, for deer it would work just fine.
Martin
 
if i were you i would go for a full custom action,building your own rifle you would want the best you can afford,if you have access to a lathe then you are half way there and the reamers are all avalible online the chambering is the hardest part,allways clock front and back of the barrel or find a smith that will allow you to use his set-up with guidance,lucky i built mine at work and had access to customactions and all the bolt on goodies but you will take great pride in shooting a rifle you have built yourself
 
A few points to consider,

If you comission a custom or semi-custom rifle it will never be worth a lot secondhand as it is your dream not someone elses. This is fine if you intend to keep it. Its also great if you happen to find one that someone has built and now wants to move on.

Do not compremise on any of the components, whats the point? You will be enjoying the benefits of that ideal stock/mag system etc long after you have forgotton the extra cost.

Chose your riflesmith carefully based on personal recomendations and research, there are a couple of chancers out there.

Demand a guaranteed completion date, as long as this is realistic then it is not too much to ask. If you end up constantly chasing the maker then it will leave a sour taste.

Make sure it will shoot available factory cartridges unless you are a full on, dedicated reloader.

Agree the spec and put it in writing.

Glyn.
 
190Eu for a loather walter is below retail. think it would cost in excess of £600 for a barrel, fitting and proofed. had one fitted to a customer I had built was a CrMo fluted barrel in .308 and I can definitively say it cost more than 190Eu.

Bavarian brit, hang on the the argentinian action they worth some money in the UK getting as rare as hen's teeth it a really nice action to base a customer rifle on.

Jase.
 
Tikka make economic rifles, price one against the equivilent Sako. They are along way from a custom rifle in terms of both price and performance.

You need to be thinking Sako, Mannlicher, Sauer etc and a custom will be a step up from these in terms of both performance and price.

There is little point building a custom that is in reality just an off the shelf rifle that cost a lot more.

Work out what you can afford and then buy the best second hand off the shelf rifle you can.
 
190Eu for a loather walter is below retail. think it would cost in excess of £600 for a barrel, fitting and proofed. had one fitted to a customer I had built was a CrMo fluted barrel in .308 and I can definitively say it cost more than 190Eu.

Bavarian brit, hang on the the argentinian action they worth some money in the UK getting as rare as hen's teeth it a really nice action to base a customer rifle on.

Jase.

Are you talking about a pre finished, chambered mauser 98 barrel or a custom barrel?
All I can say is, I paid 190 for this barrel in my link, I held it in my hands, it is now proofed and blued.
I also saw the Lothar Walther pricelist with the price next to the barrel.
Not sure what is unclear?
Fitting can be done in short time as the barrel is chambrered and threaded. Only needs headspacing.

I have a Lothar Walther Match barrel fitted to my other rifle, yes they are much more expensive.
Even the mauser 98 barrel in stainless would cost around twice as much as the normal barrel.

The Argentinian is still fairly available in Germany. I know a fella who works in an import/export company dealing
with these old rifles. He picked one out for me.:D

edi
 
.

The Argentinian is still fairly available in Germany. I know a fella who works in an import/export company dealing
with these old rifles. He picked one out for me.:D

edi

well if he ever has a chance for another one, I'd be a happy bunny to take one too!
 
190Eu for a loather walter is below retail. think it would cost in excess of £600 for a barrel, fitting and proofed. had one fitted to a customer I had built was a CrMo fluted barrel in .308 and I can definitively say it cost more than 190Eu.

Bavarian brit, hang on the the argentinian action they worth some money in the UK getting as rare as hen's teeth it a really nice action to base a customer rifle on.

Jase.

Jase, just received a new retail Pricelist from Gerd Walther,
if you like I can e-mail it to you. PM me your e-mail.
edi
 
I see looking at Walther's site they actually make longer barrels :cool: some are listed at 28". The drawback as I see it is that they don't make the Breech flange large enough. Might be good for small ring receivers but older receivers tend to be larger so really need it to be 33mm minimum. One can always trim down but adding metal of course is really not possible.

The BSA Monarch action I was using has a receiver ring diameter of 1.350" (34.38mm) so it would require a "custom" profile and once you start down the custom route the prices very quickly escalate. Ideally what I wanted was a 7mm barrel with 1 in 9" twist unthreaded but chambered in 7x64 with a breech shank/tenon of 34mm and barrel length of 26". I did try pricing one up and it got rather expensive.
 
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