Does anyone shoot ELR with a 284?

[Dud]

My chassis filing progress is at about 35%. I have 0.200" to remove and I got to about 0.070" removed before my back started hurting a bit.

I decided to thin the front 5" of my chassis forend. That leaves the cut in front of the first oval slot. I think that is going to avoid creating a weak spot in the chassis where there might be bending stress applied.

I'm going to cut away a small amount of my forend to slide over the remaining section. The shape of the forend will lock in to the chassis as well as bolt to it.

I will leave the forend extrusion full height instead of trimming it to the chassis height. It will stand proud of the top of the chassis but it will be stiffer. My bedding plan is changing too. I might only be able to bed the first 2" or so to avoid a permanent glue in.

I will probably cut away the rear 10" of bag rider so the front 8" will be the full 3" wide and probably around 2" wide behind that. That will be holesaw (if possible), hacksaw and finished with files.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to get past 70% on my filing.

If I get to 100% I can start to layout and cut my forend extrusion.

 

[APGE]

This is going to be one heck of a frankengun. Keep the posts coming @Dud

 

[Dud]

Thanks. I think the heat shrink and vinyl wrap will put the cherry on top.

Either Frankengun or Bubba gun.

I like to think that I have pulled off most of the work pretty well despite lacking shop space and several tools I wanted to use for the project.

 

[Dud]

Half way there:

 

[Dud]

70% has been achieved. I'm taking a break.

Hopefully I'll be able to push through to 100% tonight.

 

[Dud]

100%



Now I need to lay out the cuts for the extrusion.

I'm going to drill two holes in the sides that the uncut portion of the chassis will slide in to and then file slots inside the extrusion so it can get there.

The idea is to make the slots so I can push the chassis in at an angle, above some bedding compound and then pull the chassis in flat to squeeze out the bedding and be able to tilt for the release. Hopefully I'll have some nice flat contact on top of the slots so my forend will be mechanically locked to the chassis instead of just bolted on.

I'll add some jaunty angles to blend in with the LSS styling.

The benefit to this method is that I'm keeping the extrusion full height which will increase stiffness and obviously I didn't need a milling machine, router or table saw to get it done.

I may have weakened the chassis forend but in an area where my extrusion doubles it.

I doubt there will be anything I can do to break it short of running it over with a car.

 

[Dud]

I have laid out and center punched the hole locations for the forend. There are four on the bottom for the mounting screws, two on the side to make it easier to file the slots where the rear of the rail locks in and another two to make inside corners when I trim down the sides behind the bag rider.

I might vinyl wrap over the side holes and even fill the holes with bedding material to make it solid under the wrap.

I think I'm going to get a cheapo step drill to do the holes. They self center pretty well.

It's time to bring out the hacksaw to rough cut it to length, put in the angles and then start filing.

 

[Dud]

Thinking about it, I'm definitely going to fill the side holes with bedding to clean it up.

My lines aren't quite working out as I had planned. It will either look good and not lock in like I planned or lock in and not look good.

I think I just have to give myself a bit more extrusion to work with on the chassis side and cut more out of the bottom. More work, more waste but hopefully the end result will look decent and follow the chassis lines.

I'm not going to sacrifice function so that is what I have to do.

 

[Dud]

I think I have a plan for laying out the cuts. The interior angles are making it tricky but I want a flush fit.

The exterior of the forend will be pretty easy, even the jaunty angles to blend it with the lines of the chassis don't have to be exact but a sloppy fit would bring it down pretty badly.

Hopefully careful filing will get me close and vinyl will cover up my sins.

 

[PhilKeil]

I really enjoy following your project, please keep the updates coming. Thanks for sharing

 

[Dud]

I got my step drill and some razor knives for scribing. Tonight I'm going to drill, scribe and maybe do some more hacksaw rough cuts. If I make really good progress, I'll have the interior slots filed out and will be able to start working on the angles on the bottom.

Mostly I'm hoping that I'll know how much work is ahead of me by the time I quit for the night.

 

[Dud]

Major screw up tonight. My step drill wandered a lot, too much.

That's one scrap forend.

I have about three shots at it before I'm going to be filling holes with bedding material to cover up my mistakes.

I'll try again tomorrow.

 

[Dud]

I have hit a snag with my schedule. Some more pressing issues are keeping me from spending time on this project.

I got my heat shrink and might be able to put it on my barrel but I think I want to wait until I test fire it first. My forend will have to wait and obviously I don't have time to load ammo.

Hopefully I'll be able to get back to it next week.

 

[Dud]

I got my wrap from Mossy Oak.

I ordered bulk vinyl instead of a kit because my forend isn't shaped like the typical hunting rifle their kits are usually used on. I got 2' by 2', it should be plenty and I think it was cheaper than a kit. They included a squeegee applicator also.

My heat shrink also arrived a few days ago. It looks like it should work.

So the plan is to cover my chassis and forend in Mossy Oak Bottom Land (new style) wrap. I'll leave the stock mostly black except for Moleskin on the comb. The action is black with a black bolt sleeve, black scope rail, black rings and black scope. Heat shrink over the barrel will make that black too. My magazines will be black. My vertical grip will be FDE, I probably won't try to wrap over that.

Now I just need to find the time to finish my forend, bed everything and wrap it.

I'm just thinking I might use a scrap of vinyl to wrap my Accu-trigger safety blade so it's not silver? I think that would look cool but I'm not sure about risking to gum up my trigger if the wrap fails to adhere.

 

[Dud]

My MDT order is shipping soon, a label has been made.

That includes my magazines and vertical grip.

Once they are here, it's all on me because I'm not waiting on anything else.

My schedule makes it look like mid-January is when I'll be finishing it up.

 

[jbpmidas]

No new updates?

 

[Dud]

Sorry, life got in the way. First I drilled wrong and had to scrap a portion of rail, then a vacation, then I had to help a family member with a new business, then Corona Virus shut it down and I have 9 relatives that are at high risk with 5 living in Los Angeles and Silicon Valley where the outbreaks are pretty serious.

Once I layout and cut a new rail I will start updating again. Hopefully later this week or next. Despite a shelter in place order, I still have things to do before carving up a rail makes the list but I'm getting there.

 

[timriggs]

Very late to this thread. Just now moving into the .284 with Savage Precision/ 180 Bergers.
In regards to not seeing miss impacts with 30s. I've shot the .300 win mag for over 20 yrs in High Power (match rifle) and ELR . One mile missis were very easy to see in dirt, and with a little concentration I could see the little cloud in grass. Handloads with .225 Hornady ELDs at 2850 were awesome. Literally ripped a steel plate off of the chains at 850.
Boy is the .284 making a comeback. Manufacturing seems very light and gone off of the shelves.
Happy shooting!

 

[Konocti's Wigwam]

Interesting thread. I think this really depends on what you call ELR. There are many folks that think shooting 1000 yards in long range, or that a mile would be ELR, but the ELR in my area starts at 2000 yards.

They have very few people, even with 338 Lapua hitting the targets at 2000 yards. And if more than one person is able to get on paper at that distance, they move up to 3000 yards.

You get to a point that only 375 CheyTac up to 50 BMG (not a very good ELR cartridge) are pretty much all that will fetch out to that distance.

So the $64k question is, what do you consider to be ELR?

EDIT: IMO, the best chance of getting on target with 30 cal would be 300 PRC, and that is just my opinion.

 

[Konocti's Wigwam]

One mile missis were very easy to see in dirt, and with a little concentration I could see the little cloud in grass.

This is not true for ELR in my area. I'm in Northern California and ELR is shot in Upper Lake, CA and is sponsored by the Sheriff. The mountains are hard pack and the wind can kick up at any time. It is very hard to see impacts on dirt, even with multiple spotters. That said, they will let you shoot 6.5 Creedmoor if you like. The chances are pretty small of getting on target, and I bet 284 will be similar.