An American(mostly) 300M rifle.

[dc.fireman]

So, I began the project of building a 300M International competition gun, about a year ago, intending to compete at the 300M National's this year in Minnesota @ Minneapolis Rifle Club.

Realistically, I didn't want to pay the pricetag demanded of the Bleikers, Grunig & Elmigers, Hammerli's, or Tanners that (infrequently) pop-up for sale from time to time.

I had decided on .260 Remington as the caliber choice - beating out 6.5x47 Lapua simply due to the cost/availability of brass. I made my first batch of brass by necking down some Federal .308, and it worked great.

I had an older Savage M12 stagger feed action, that was originally a BVSS in 22-250. I contacted James @ Northland Shooter Supply, and he walked me through the game plan & equipment I needed: A Shilen Select Match 26" barrel, an NSS Stainless recoil lug and nut, a set of Forster headspace gauges, and the NSS action wrench.

A few months later, I replaced the original Accu-trigger, with a Rifle Basix SAV-II trigger, and immediately wondered why I waited so long to do that - it's perfect for my application. The safety DOES NOT work - but, I don't need it for my application.

Another member here sold me a BVSS stock that has been re-worked by Alex Sitman of Masterclass Stocks, and it served as a placeholder, until I could find a maker who could nearly replicate my Feinwerkbau 2700 Alu stock in my smallbore match gun.

After scouring this forum, and multiple internet searches, I happened upon PDC Custom, in Michigan. I spoke with Craig Kierstadt a few times, before finally deciding to pull the proverbial trigger on his chassis. He happened to have a few of the older stagger feed action spacing chassis' left, and he machined an Anschutz rail into the fore end for my hand stop & sling, powder coated it black, and sent it to me sans a grip & butt plate (I had ones I was planning on using already). There are a few minor issues with it - overall, i would rate this a 9.5 out of a possible 10. The price, and the features built into it, plus the ease of which everything fit together, far outweigh any minor issues, and two of the issues I had, are already corrected with three pieces of teflon tape. I will need to make a walnut cheek piece - a curved one isn't conducive to aperture iron sight shooting.

Today, it was a beautiful 75º F here in Northern Virginia, with frequent switching winds, occasionally fishtailing from 5 to 11 o'clock.

Here are the particulars:

Savage M12 stagger feed action, 4.27" spacing
Shilen Select Match Barrel, 26", chambered in .260 Remington Match
Rifle Basix SAV-II Trigger
PDC Custom Chassis, with tool-less adjustments
Walnut Target grip for AR-15, off of eBay
a MEC Spy Long rear sight (German)
a Centra front sight tunnel & adjustable aperture (German)
a MEC handstop/sling swivel (German)
a MEC Contact III Butt plate (German)
a Bobsled SLED for single loading as required by competition
a Medesha sight extension tube & collar
a Champion's Choice front sight base,
a Champion's Choice mirage band.

The practice load:

.260 Remington Hornady brass
Hornady 123 ELD-M
CCI - BR2 primer
H4831-SC @ 42.0

The results:

25 shot initial prone test today shows promise. There are 5 sighter shots, and 20 record shots. One of the 9's @ 9 o'clock is my first sighter, the other one I own. The high 9 @ 12 o'clock is a cheek pressure issue. The 8 out @ 4 o'clock was a round that was difficult to chamber - I should've ejected it, and tried another round, but things were going so well - oh well. my initial scoring puts me somewhere in the vicinity of 193 - 7x. My match load should shoot mildly better, I'll know more with a little practice.

The target used is the NRA C2, "300M International Rifle Target, reduced for 200 yards". The 10 ring is 2.40", the "inner 10" (X ring) is 1.24".

-tc

 

[dc.fireman]

One more shot of the action/chassis - it locks up really tightly, and you can tell Craig spent some time on the CNC work need to make this all fit:

 

[hpshooter]

Great looking and shooting rig. Like your approach on assembling components that are affordable and effective to reach your goal.

Hope you do well!

 

[Mikey_P]

Nice build - well done. Great that you could put together a rig that's at least similar to your FWB smallbore rifle. Looks like it has great potential too, based on your testing. Thanks for sharing the pics.

Mike

 

[theallcineyes]

Excellent Setup , Good luck your future endeavors.

 

[lb-ft]

Sharp! Looks like things have really come together for you, a testament to your persistence and hard work. Well done!

 

[marty dabney]

good looking setup. I am planning a 300M build this fall. i'm assuming you know about Denise Loring's 300M reduced prone match held at Fairfax a few times a year?

 

[kvd]

Fine looking rifle and good shooting the first time out. Nice job.

 

[dc.fireman]

good looking setup. I am planning a 300M build this fall. i'm assuming you know about Denise Loring's 300M reduced prone match held at Fairfax a few times a year?

Marty - I do know about it; I'm a member there, Denise is a friend of mine, and I've shot the match several times over the last three years that it's been held. Seitzland Rifle Club in New Freedom, PA. also holds a match twice yearly. With those two matches, that gives you a couple of practice runs before the big match.

Thanks for all the positive comments from everyone - the amount of knowledge gained here on this forum has made this all a reality, instead of just a passing thought.

-tc

 

[davek]

Nice job. hope to see you at Fairfax in the fall , try some varget at 36.1 with the 123,s, and good luck at 300m. Davek.

 

[dc.fireman]

Nice job. hope to see you at Fairfax in the fall , try some varget at 36.1 with the 123,s, and good luck at 300m. Davek.

Davek - my match load uses Varget @ 37.9, and a Nosler 123; it was a recommendation by a gentleman with a lot of experience in 300M shooting.

 

[Forum Boss]

I wrote this up as a Sunday GunDay feature in our Daily Bulletin. You can see the Bulletin version here.

http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/2019/05/sunday-gunday-old-savage-becomes-300m-match-rifle/

Big thanks to dc.fireman for providing all the information and the photos. (Please send some higher rez versions if you can!)

 

[dc.fireman]

Thanks Paul! Photos sent - I'll try and get the other one you asked for today.

-tc

 

[Pres100]

Great looking and performing rifle. Your going to love MRC - lots of great shooters there too!

 

[dc.fireman]

Update:

The Cliff's notes are, the rifle performed flawlessly - the loose nut behind the trigger needs some more work.

So, I just returned from the 300M matches @ MRC. A great time was had by all. The match was well run, and the range has some tricky conditions from time to time.

Prone practice day was warm, breezy, and bright sun. The wind flags would occasionally point at each other, or sometimes all point in a different direction, but wind conditions were manageable if you paid attention.

I began by firing a 99, and closed it out by firing a 195 in practice. I noticed a flag on my right pointing at me, a flag on my left pointing upwards, a down range flag pointing towards the center, and the last range flag pointing down. I decided to pull the trigger to see what happens when you shoot in that condition. My suspicions were confirmed, and the shot scored an '8'.

That evening, the temps dropped to the high 50's. The range was clouded by a dense fog for the 0800 start time, and we were delayed for 1.5 hrs. for the first relay. When the fog began to lift, the lighting conditions changed multiple times over the next 75 minutes, from cloudy and dark, to sunny and bright, back to cloudy and dark. This makes using the requisite aperture sights difficult. One of my fellow competitors told me he spent "nearly as much time switching filters and apertures, as he did pulling the trigger" just trying to find a clean sight picture. I fired a disappointing 565/600 possible on Day 1. Position and vision issues need to be addressed.

On Day two, it was back to warmer and brighter weather, with a gathering wind. We began the 2nd relay a little bit late due to cloudy/dark conditions for the first relay again. Midway through the match, a frog-strangling thunderstorm kicked up. Just prior to the 'STOP!' command given by the range officer, I fired a string of 10.5, 10.4, 10.7, 10.8, 10.5, and then 'lost' my target completely from the driving rain.

Once the thunderstorms passed, we were given a new 5 minute sighting period, and the match continued.
When it was over, I had fired a 575/600. 10 points lower than my practice average. Winning scores for the matches were a 587/588, 587/583, 583/585. One competitor fired a 592 on day two - but had crossfired 4x times during the string, and lost the mandated 10 points per crossfire dropping him to 552.

Minneapolis is a tough range, run by great people. The awards ceremonies were followed by pizza & beer on day one, and a barbecue picnic on day two. There was talk among the other competitors of starting a postal competition Standard Rifle 3x20 match between the various groups/clubs represented.

 

[dc.fireman]

A few more:

 

[dc.fireman]

 

[davek]

A few more:
View attachment 1127862 View attachment 1127863

Good job shooting out there, glad to see that the "Shooting chef" was on the firingline too. davek.