40X Project - Phase 2

[rayjay]

I bought this action about 10 years ago. It was a 300 Win Mag that had unseen rust under the stock line. I was fine with that since I was going to use the action for furthering my education in fitting bbls and doing anything else that came to mind.

I put on a Shilen 14t HV bbl that I chambered in 6mm Beggs since that cartridge shoots well with H4198 that I was also using in my 30BR. I did a Remage conversion on the bolt. I think I shot it in one match and then decided to start shooting my 30BR in both group and score matches [ my club's monthly matches alternate ]. I then quit shooting CF altogether and the rifle sat in the safe until last year when I started selling all my CF stuff due to a health shock. The Stith BR stock sold almost instantly.

To have a chance at selling the action I recently decided to fit a couple of on hand bbls I have, a 221 FB and a 223 factory sporter. They were both a bit short on the headspace with a factory Remington .185 lug so I moved the torque shoulder forward to suit a .235 SSS Savage recoil lug and correct the HS at the same time. One of the first mods to this action when I first got it was to cut a slot in the front face to accept a Savage lug.

I also had on hand an early 722 era 40X RF stock from Numnuts. It's pretty beat up but still functional. I had previously modded a universal trigger guard I got from Numnuts and already had a ferrule and action screw for the front. Somewhere along the way the rear action screw got used in another project so today I received a Midway package with a correct length factory action screw for the rear. The Midway PN is 156089 for SS. The matching front screw is also the right length to work with the ferrule I made.

On the forend I used my sliding compound miter saw to cut off the tip just behind the tuners. With a bit of sanding it now has the same contour as the original. This is one of the stocks that was cut at an angle at the buttpad like you see commonly on the Numnuts offerings. At least this one is still fairly long. I did once receive one that was cut to youth length.

I opened up the bolt handle cut to fit the later bolt that matches the 223 bbl. The 221 FB tenon was cut to suit a PTG 2 piece bolt with SAKO extractor. This bolt has a straight bolt handle so the new bolt handle will work with either bolt.

I still have the 6 Beggs bbl and Remage bolt and I have a 6mm PPC bbl that was fitted to the PTG bolt of the 221 bbl. I rebated the rims on about 20 cases. I also had to put a bevel on the leading edge of the bolt nose to clear the PPC case just ahead of the extractor groove.

I'm planning to take at least 2 bbls and possibly 3 when I go for the first range session with this set up. I have a lot of factory 223 ammo so I am going to start reducing some of my inventory. I also have NEVER shot beyond 200 yards so I plan on making a lot of use of my range's 500 yard range. I have a T36 in Kelbly rings on my 40X RFBR rifle that I will swap onto this rifle.

 

[Fast14riot]

Looking good, one of these days I'll get a proper 40x to go in my stock.

 

[rayjay]

So I've had a few minutes the last couple of days and have been sanding out the bbl channel. My 221 FB bbl is 1.060 dia at the forend tip so this old stock has to have a good bit of wood removed. I am using coarse sandpaper wrapped around a couple of different sizes of deep well impact sockets. I like a good bit of clearance around the bbl for better cooling so I have a ways to go.

 

[shortgrass]

It may be an optical illusion, but it doesn't appear that the action is half way into the wood.

 

[rayjay]

These 722 era stocks have the action sitting higher than the later 700 based rifles. I have thought about lowering it about 1/8" or so.

 

[rayjay]

In the very first pic you can see that the ejection port is almost perfectly aligned with the cutout in the stock.

 

[shortgrass]

The ejection port 'rail' is lower than the half way point on a 700. The gas port hole is about half way on the front ring. The serial number should be just above the wood line. The ejection port rail can be used to judge "level", front of the action to rear of the action, but not for depth. You started with a RF stock. The ejection port isn't located the same on a RF action as a 700 CF action. I've been making wood stocks for 25+ yrs and some folks seem to think I know a bit about the subject, as they pay me quite well for my stockmaking 'skills'. Depth of a round action can be 'gauged' in the same manner that the pic shows the depth of a barrel channel being gauged.

 

[rayjay]

Here is the rifle with assembled for the first range trip. On this "final" assembly with the firing pin assy installed in the bolt I discovered that the slot in the top of the comb was not long enough to allow bolt installation. I have lowered the bedding surface a good bit and am not surprised at the problem. I took the stock back off and put it in the milling machine and moved the slot back. Then detailed the new cut and brushed in a coat of BLO.

This is only one coat of BLO but the stock looks pretty good imo. The blank has a blonde area along the top of the comb and along the lh side of the forend as seen in the pics.

This is the 221 Fireball bbl which I got with the PTG bolt. The 6 PPC bbl I have is also set up to use this bolt with rebated rims on the brass. The late model 223 factory sporter bbl I have is set up for a factory bolt which is why I had to open up the cutout in the stock for the dogleg bolt handle.

Hope to get to the range next week when the rain is supposed to leave town. Going to sight it in and shoot some 100 yd groups with the 221 and 6PPC then put on the 223 bbl and if it will group within an inch at 100 then I will go over to the 500 yard range and see what happens. I've never shot past 200 yards so it will definitely be interesting. I'm taking some large sections of cardboard to shoot at