7x57 Build

[harrygrey382]

I guess this is technically just a rebarrel, but it feels more than that at the moment. After finishing my Type B I decided I wanted something else in 7x57 that I could reach out a bit if I wanted but to still be in a similar style. I bought this Stirling 243 with an FN commercial action a couple of years ago. Pretty plane looking varnished stock, alloy BM, but a healthy action and no4 Sako trigger.

Traded the commercial shroud for a military and have a LH low profile safety lever for it. Got some Conetrol mounts in 1” but now looking at 30mm scopes so might switch to S&K. Don’t really like most rings. Haven’t finalised scope yet, was wanting a 3-12x42 Klassik but seriously considering a Maven RS1.2 now.



It’s now wearing a Swan medium weight barrel with a 1:8.5 twist cut to 25.5”. Obviously it’s comparatively heavy, and I’m still on the fence about whether the profile choice was the right one - but whatever, that’s what I’ve got. And the stock will be light. Square threads! Exactly the same headspace and same reamer as the Type B so can share brass.

I turned steel pillars (cut the BM front lug off), epoxied them in then Devcon bedded it.

Scored a steel commercial bottom metal at the Bathurst show a few weeks ago, needed some evening up but it’s not too bad now.

Before going any further I wanted to see how it shot. Initial signs weren’t exciting - 2” 5 shot groups, getting worse the more I tried. Had a bit of a freak out and decided to pull a scope from a good rifle (this one was meant to be a know zero-keeper).

That’s better, apart from the flier which I didn’t exactly pull but I felt something wasn’t quite right as the trigger broke. This was the first load I tried with the good scope - 46gr 2209 behind a 162 ELD-M giving 2700fps, 53.5k psi estimated so still fair bit of room to go. I’ll do work on loads later - at least I know it has potential.

So now the barrel has passed I’m continuing with the stock. I’ve hacked a lot off the forend, copying the Type B. Turns out the varnish was actually hiding some quite nice grain.

I left the original swivel stud hole in place and have epoxied a steel M5 thread for bipod mounting. A barrel band is on the way. Also took quite a bit of meat off around the action. Tapered the tang. Steel grip cap has just turned up so I can finish reshaping the grip. I’m happy with the comb height, and have a 0.6” Old English Decelerator coming. I’ll jack this up to a 1” when TYBs have got a bit more frame to them - this was part of the plan from the start.

 

[Dr. Strangelove]

Looks lovely, I’m sure the stock will be a beaut with some work!

 

[HonestJohn]

Looks like one of the good old C ring FN’s!! Crackers!!! Possible the best commercial action made

 

[coldboremiracle]

Beautiful! and nice work! I helped a friend do something similar with a hand-me-down Mauser, barrel swapped it from 8x57 to 6.5x55. He's been using it for deer and elk hunting since.

 

[Navarone]

Lovely stuff. Have you been getting out much which your type b?

 

[JH83]

I love these kind of threads, more updates as they come please!

 

[harrygrey382]

Thanks guys, hoping to have this one moving a bit quicker than the last!

Looks like one of the good old C ring FN’s!! Crackers!!! Possible the best commercial action made

I wish! Unfortunately it’s a regular old H ring - still, better than no ring! Pretty thin on the ground round here the commercial C rings…

Lovely stuff. Have you been getting out much which your type b?

Thank you. Yeah I’ve been giving it a fairly good run, in fact other than my son using the 222 it’s the only one to have left the safe since finishing it. Taken a heap of goats, roos (including two at 140 meters) and putting down the odd cow. Just can’t resist using it. Got some stripper clips recently which is a handy way to hold ammo and very satisfying to load

 

[Navarone]

Glad to hear the type b is getting loads of use! How long is this one going to take haha

 

[HandB]

Thanks guys, hoping to have this one moving a bit quicker than the last!

I wish! Unfortunately it’s a regular old H ring - still, better than no ring! Pretty thin on the ground round here the commercial C rings…

Thank you. Yeah I’ve been giving it a fairly good run, in fact other than my son using the 222 it’s the only one to have left the safe since finishing it. Taken a heap of goats, roos (including two at 140 meters) and putting down the odd cow. Just can’t resist using it. Got some stripper clips recently which is a handy way to hold ammo and very satisfying to load

Thanks for a fascinating thread and congratulations on your progress.

 

[welshwarrior]

Nice work looks a fun project to me.

 

[harrygrey382]

Thanks guys.

How long is this one going to take haha

Oh man that is a loaded question! Hopefully less than four years… there’s a lot less metal work, and I haven’t had to send the barrel back for a replacement - so there’s a start

 

[harrygrey382]

Fairly keen to keep this rolling… Managed to get a bit further over the past week. Have finished Oberndorferizing the stock - as much as I could with a Monte Carlo anyway. Moved the bottom of the cheek piece up and undercut it, slimmed the whole thing right down and finished the schnabel. Epoxied in an M5 thread for a bipod (will probably rig up a wing bolt mount for an Harris). Also fitted the grip cap, sling mount and a 0.6” decelerator after cutting about 20mm off the length. Once my boys have grown a bit I’ll swap this out for a 1”, but in the meantime the 330mm LOP is just ok for me and the eldest.

Just put the first sealing coat of 1:4 tung oil:gum turpentine. Pretty pleased with the grain, it’s amazing how much an heavy coat of varnish can mask it. After the second it’s on to wet sanding up to 600gr which including drying will take 4 weeks plus I think.

 

[harrygrey382]

Had a go at the safety today. This had a trigger safety, which I’m not a fan of. 3 pos Win model 70 would be nice, but $500 + a day of fitting makes them not so attractive. There’s the two pos vertical swing types but I actually reckon these generally look like a hack job and don’t offer anything over the old style low profile lever. Which I like - it has a lot going for it with minimal effort, bolt lock and of course cocking piece block. Got this one off a mate and is a dead ringer for the NECG one but had PH stamped into it.

The commercial FN cocking piece had no safety notch.

It does now

Also added cross checkering, recontoured a little and remove the PH stamp. Hopefully it’ll blue up nicely. It engages nicely, works as it should and is firm enough it shouldn’t be accidentally put to fire. Having said all that I almost never have a live chamber so this probably won’t get much use.

Scope should arrive in the next couple of days :boogie: then can order rings.

 

[HonestJohn]

That looks very good. The old Parker Hake Lo Swing safeties were fitted to many rifles, including musgrave, PH themselves, and rigby during the time they were in their contentious transitional phase

 

[suburban bushwacker]

nice timber !

 

[wildfowler.250]

Interesting post

 

[Heym SR20]

Had a go at the safety today. This had a trigger safety, which I’m not a fan of. 3 pos Win model 70 would be nice, but $500 + a day of fitting makes them not so attractive. There’s the two pos vertical swing types but I actually reckon these generally look like a hack job and don’t offer anything over the old style low profile lever. Which I like - it has a lot going for it with minimal effort, bolt lock and of course cocking piece block. Got this one off a mate and is a dead ringer for the NECG one but had PH stamped into it.

The commercial FN cocking piece had no safety notch.

It does now

Also added cross checkering, recontoured a little and remove the PH stamp. Hopefully it’ll blue up nicely. It engages nicely, works as it should and is firm enough it shouldn’t be accidentally put to fire. Having said all that I almost never have a live chamber so this probably won’t get much use.

Scope should arrive in the next couple of days :boogie: then can order rings.

Please show how you do the cross checking on things like safety catches.

 

[harrygrey382]

Please show how you do the cross checking on things like safety catches.

I used a thread file, i have both mperial and metric, but prefer the metric as it’s sharper (newer). I imagine a checkering file would be nicer to use, but they’re very expensive (way more than these good Sykes pickavant thread files) and only have one line spacing. Each thread file has 8 different pitches, I chose 1.0mm because it matched the existing lines. After reproducing I just put more lines in, then added them at 90°. I put the first line in with a needle triangle file, then added lines one at a time. I pretty much finished each new line before moving onto the first, otherwise the file wanted to skip. Which results in disappointment!

 

[Trilby]

Cracking job, nicely done by the looks of it! what optic are you putting on there?

 

[harrygrey382]

Cracking job, nicely done by the looks of it! what optic are you putting on there?

Thanks. I got a S&B Klassik 3-12x42 P3L ASV specifically for it - only one in the country. Very excited about trying it out, but I just found today the mounts (S&K) I ordered from the US have been RTS’d because they put the post code as my phone number and Australia Post are so bloody inflexible they can’t except an alteration. Really F****** P***** Off.

The stock is now drying after its second wet sanding. Barrel band installed.

I’ve now started rust bluing the barrelled action, on coat three, from memory it took about 8-9 before I was happy with the last one. My fence-post-boiling-tank goes nicely on the kitchen hob