DIY build with Shilen DGR

[Hondo64d]

Stopped into Shilen Barrels today on the way home from a business meeting. Very nice folks. They gave me a tour of their facility, showing me the entire procedure for making a barrel, from a piece of bar stock all the way to a finished barrel. It was extremely interesting and I learned a lot.

While I was there I checked out one of their DGR actions. The Shilen DGR and DGV actions are built by Stiller to Shilen's specs. It is essentially a Stiller Predator threaded for standard shank savage barrels. it uses a barrel nut and comes with a dual pinned recoil lug, so fitting your own barrel is a snap.. Also has the floating bolt head, which allows perfect lug contact. The machine work and finish is superb. I had a Predator a couple of years ago, and while it was great, it appears that they are getting even better.

I've been wanting to pick up one of these for a while. Remington 700 footprint with DIY barrel fitting and custom action tolerances makes this a great candidate for a budget DIY build. Top quality prechambered and threaded barrels are available from numerous sources in the $400 to $450 range. Any pre chambered and threaded barrel for a standard shank Savage will work on the DGR. I'm figuring on putting it in a Manners with their DBM mini chassis or maybe bed it in a McMillan with Seekins DBM bottom metal. Best guess it that it will take me less than 20 minutes to get it all put together and I bet it will shoot... Very well... Additionally, quick mental math tells me I'll be saving about $450 in chambering and bedding costs. I remain very surprised folks haven't caught on to this in greater numbers yet. More to follow...

John

 

[DeltaBravo]

John,

I've been very happy with my DGV for many years now! The folks at Shilen are GREAT; David showed me how to assembly mine using the go/no go gages, and I'm on my third barrel now, the last two installed by me. You should attend the swap meet this month!

Dennis

 

[Hondo64d]

Here's a few more pics of the action:

I like the small firing pin and ejector. Great for the 6.5x47, which will be the first barrel I put on it.

Pic of the pin for the floating bolt head.

Can do single or multiple pins for the recoil lug if you like. With both pins provided, no reason to not use both.

John

 

[BigBlueandGoldie]

Thanks for sharing the pics, there aren't many good ones out there. Going off of memory, it looks like they've located the extractor at an angle compared to the the Savage which is inline with the lugs.

 

[Concha]

Look at big horn actions.

 

[Hondo64d]

I've got a varmint weight criterion barrel chambered for 6.5x47 in route from Northland Shooter's Supply. The freebore Criterion sends them is .167, which should work for the bullets I'm using. Was a tossup between a prefitted Shilen and the Criterion. I mainly went with the Criterion because the freebore was closer to what I wanted. Also ordered a NSS trued barrel nut and appropriate wrench.

I have an HS Stock with PT&G Stealth bottom metal that I picked up off the classifieds on the way and a Timney 510 thin trigger from Midsouth.

Going to initially shoot it in the aluminum bedding block without any epoxy bedding. Very anxious to see how good a DIY bolt together rig can shoot.

John

 

[Pablo]

Where is the gas supposed to go on one of those actions if you split a case?

 

[jghoghunter]

John,

I've been very happy with my DGV for many years now! The folks at Shilen are GREAT; David showed me how to assembly mine using the go/no go gages, and I'm on my third barrel now, the last two installed by me. You should attend the swap meet this month!

Dennis

Dennis
What kind of accuracy have you been getting with your DGV action. What calibers have you had on it? How smooth are they what are their tolerances?

 

[Hondo64d]

Here's a few more pics of the action:

I like the small firing pin and ejector. Great for the 6.5x47, which will be the first barrel I put on it.

Pic of the pin for the floating bolt head.

Can do single or multiple pins for the recoil lug if you like. With both pins provided, no reason to not use both.

John

Way past due for the follow up and range report...

Did a bit of reading and decided to go with a varmint weight Criterion Barrel in 6.5x47 Lapua from Northland Shooters' Supply . Also got a trued barrel nut and wrench from NSS. Very happy with the CBI barrel and will very likely use another when I get my next barrel. More on that later.

Picked up a used HS Precision stock with PT&G DBM bottom metal from the 24 Hour Campfire classifieds.

Like all HS stocks, it has the aluminum bedding block.

But, this one was sent back to PT&G to be inletted for their DBM bottom metal.

The inletting was perfect and the AICS mags feed perfectly. I wasn't sure I would like a DBM setup, but they simply cannot be beat for generous COAL constraints, great feeding and convenience.

Got PT&G go and no-go gages from Midway and commenced to assemble my rifle. I wish I had taken pictures of the assembly process, but suffice it to say it is a simple process. I put the barrel nut over the barrel then put the barrel in my barrel vice, put the lug on the action, held in place by the pins and partially screwed the action onto the barrel. I then put the go gage in the chamber and closed the bolt and screwed the action on until I felt light contact on the go gage. I then attached the nut wrench to my torque wrench and torqued the barrel to the specs suggested by NSS (the number escapes me right now). Checked the headspace. Bolt closed on the go gage with the slightest of resistance and would not close on the no-go gage. Good to go...

Bolted the barreled action into the stock. Thought about bedding it, but was curious to see how a true bolt-together rifle would shoot so elected not to. Initially mounted a 16x Super Sniper in SWFA rings, but have since changed out the scope to my 3-12 LRHS in the same SWFA rings.

For load development I did a combination of a ladder and OCW method, shooting three rounds of each powder charge at the same POA at 500 yards. Was shooting 130gr Hunting VLDs, gently kissing the lands pushed by Varget. I had two consecutive charges, 37.4 and 37.8gr (6 shots) group in about 2" at 500 yards so split the difference between the charges and loaded up 37.6gr.

Here is a group I shot yesterday at 500 yards. It is about 2". It is very repeatable and I have done it several times with this load at the same distance.

Also worked up another load yesterday using the same method but different components, this time using H4350 behind 140gr ELDs. I shot three-shot groups of 4 different charges in .4gr increments. Eleven of the 12 shots went into less than 4" at 500 yards. Very wide node there. I'll likely pick the middle of the charges and drive on.

Here she is as currently configured. Considering upgrading to an MPA chassis, but she's shooting so well I hate to mess with her.

All things considered, I'm extremely satisfied with the project. This rifle is, so far, the best shooting rig I have ever had, and I've had a bunch, put together by some of the best in the business.

I encourage everyone to give this route a try. You might be pleasantly surprised at the results and save some $ to boot.

John

 

[Hondo64d]

Attempt at better pics.

John

 

[hoz53]

Thanks for the report.

 

[Hondo64d]

Attempt at better pics.

John

Here it is with latest upgrades; MPA BA Lite with bag rider and also installed an extended rail for better ring spacing. Still shoots...

John

 

[Wirelessguy2005]

Nice work and thanks for sharing the pics. I have been thinking about one of the shillen actions for some time, this was the motivation I needed to get one ordered.

 

[Hondo64d]

Shot this 4-shot group a couple of afternoons ago. Cudos to Shilen for their DGR action, Criterion for their prefit barrels an MPA for their precision inletted chassis.

John

 

[Riesel]

Read this thread from beginning to end and I can feel this set-up calling my name. I like the fact that you did a 6.5 x 47 as opposed to the 6.5 Creedmoor. I think the 6.5 x 47L just rocks.
Thanks for an interesting read.

 

[1953greg]

when ordering hs stock for the drg what action bed do you ask for?

 

[Hondo64d]

The 1st stock I put on it was a takeoff HS Precision from a short action Remington 700. The DGR is on a 700 footprint but the recoil lug that comes with it is .300" thick so I did have to have the recoil lug opening milled out a little bit for the lug to fit. The stock was inletted for the PT&G Stealth bottom metal by PT&G but the owner that sold the stock to me had already had that done.

I don't know if HS Precision does custom inlets but if they do, I would ask for a Stiller Predator inlet. The DGR is just a Stiller Predator with a different bolt design. I would also ask them to inlet for whatever bottom metal you are going to use.

John