I should have typed this a long time ago. When looking into firearms there is so much information to filter it will give you over load. The sad fact is most of it is only pertinent to one very small aspect of shooting. There are many different groups of shooters. There are the Bench Rest, across the course, service rifle, Palma, F class (many classifications), tactical, long range hunters, extended long-range hunters. I am sure I missed a bunch of groups also.
All in all this is not a problem but what works for one group may not work for another group. When you are dealing with 1,000yds and under a lot of it is fine from one group to another. What some groups do will stop your rifle before you know what is going on. It is always good to ask these questions. New things come up all the time. Nothing really stays the same over all in the firearms industry.
What works for one person may not work for the other. I build my rifles to take abuse and deliver accuracy at those extended ranges most can not shoot to. I am in the extended long-range hunting class. I do not need a rifle that runs out of elevation on the scope just after 1,000yds. Nor do I need a rifle that will only operate on a clean range or only fits one small aspect of shooting. I would love a Palma rifle but a rifle to only shoot 800, 900, and 1,000yds kind of goes against what I like to do.
To answer your question. I have to ask a few. What is the intended purpose of the rifle? Is weight a big concern? What ranges do they want to shoot? As to ranges you can always start close and work out.
Personally I would just purchase a prebuilt rifle and shoot it. I would opt for a ArmaLite or Savage. Once the tube was gone I would just replace it or at that point change to something that better suits my needs. With that being said any of the custom actions that can hold a 338LM should work. I personally would go for one that is a repeater. I have not heard anything really bad about one or the other. One thing to look at is your scope base. How many minutes do you need? This will be tied to your scope. The NF Bench Rest scopes only have 40MOA adjustment from top to bottom. If you put a 20MOA base on your rifle it should zero at 100yds give or take a little bit. This setup will give you the full scope to play with. My 338LM it takes me 28.5MOA to get to 1,000yds. So If I had a zero MOA base and a 40MOA scope I would not be able to make it to 1,000 yds. I would be 8.5MOA short. But if you put a 30MOA base on your rifle with a 40 MOA scope you will be about 10MOA high at 100yds. Now let’s say you have a NF NXS with 100MOA of adjustment. If you put a 50MOA base that will bring your scope to the bottom for roughly a 100yd zero, but it will give you the full 100moa adjustment in your scope to get out as far as you can. In the 338LM having as much adjustment in your scope is really nice. The reason it is such a good combo is 100MOA should get you to about 2,000 yds. All rifles are different some will be a little less and others will be a little farther. It depends on how hard your rifle will allow you to push it.
As to scope you have first focal plane and second. With first you can use your scope to help range your targets at any power setting. Second focal plane only allows a person to range at certain power settings. Unless a person does a lot of work with their scope knowing how much each little mark equals. I also suggest getting MOA and MOA. That is recital and knobs. Mills work but once you start getting out there each click starts to be a lot of distance on the target. First focal plane is nice where you are shooting and you can see your impact. It is easy to see how many MOA you are off of your target. Or if your shooting partner is off you can easily say you are X moa up or down and X moa off to this side. On a second focal plane scope you have to be at the correct power setting to be able to say that. If you can spot your shots you can then use hold off to follow up. That is still not as precise as actually adjusting your scope but still works.
Now that you have an action picked out what stock to pick? Again what do you want to do with this rifle? Do you want a detachable mag? Most long range hunters will tell you there is no need for a mag. I have fired many many rounds down range and a few just never made it. I have had a few bullets blow up. I have hit some flying birds. A person can never say with 100% certainty this bullet will make it right here. It is nice to just be able to work the bolt and have a shot ready. I have shot many deer that just flop down when hit. I simply put a new round in the chamber and watch for a few min. Some deer are tough and those that try to get backup they get a second or third shot. I shoot until I know they are gone.
If you want a mag there are many options. A few years ago a person never heard of or seen an AICS stock. I have one for my 308 and I love it. The AICS bottom is a big square and that makes it not carry as well as it could. It also added almost 2 pounds to my rifle. I have read many reviews for the AICS and they state their rifle shoots better in that stock than it did before in the old stock. I did not like the original factory stock I was using so I bought the AICS. After mounting it I took it out and shot it. I did have to work the action screws a little and it did shoot better than it did before. I may shoot that 308W better because of a better fitting stock than any other reason. On my 300WM I have a badger ord bottom metal on it sitting in a McMillan A4 stock. If I would have known about the AICS stock I would have gone that way instead of the A4 stock. The stocks were about the same price but the bottom metal made the A4 more expensive. What I like about the A4 is how the grip is set. It allow my bolt hand to be right by the bolt with my thumb right by the safety. It is super easy to flip the safety either way. The bottom of the front part of the stock is flat but the edges are far more rounded than the AICS and that makes it easier to carry. Either stock has been very good to me. There are many others that work very well. I have wrist mobility issues due to the USMC so a traditional stock kind of hurts. To me weight is not too important to me. Yes the extra weight stinks after the hunt is done when I am dragging my game to the car but when you are going to tap off a 338LM or a 300WM the weight and muzzle break makes both kick less than my 308. When I am walking to my spot it only sucks a little bit. My 338LM is 18.25lbs and my 300WM is 18.75lbs
This part is a little off topic but may help someone. Elevation is almost a constant if you are staying around the same altitude. Once you have a good range finder get a big sheet of cardboard set it up in such a way you can keep moving back from it as far as you want. Set up at 100yds fire a shot to confirm your zero if you are not sure. Move to 200yds shoot. Measure your drop adjust your scope to hit point of aim point of impact fire a shot. Is the round where it should be? If no make adjustments and fire again once you can say yes move to 300yds. Shoot measure how much drop you have. Adjust scope for poa poi. Once done move to 400 yds. At each range measure how much drop you are getting write everything down. I go every 100yds until about 700 or 800 yds then I go every 50 until 1,000. After that I let the drop tell me how far to go back. If I am still on cardboard I keep going back 50 at a time. Once I drop off I go back 25yds at a time.
Sure this is a lot of back and forth to measure and find holes but it will tell you and your rifle is doing. My 308W using 175gr SMK is odd. It shoots a little flatter to 300yds then it drops more than what the calculator tells me it should. My 338LM shoots a little better than what the calculator said it should. Granted the wind adjustments seem to be right on or close enough. The nice part about doing it this way is there is no lying. There is a little hole and that is where it is. When shooting steel you flake off a bunch of paint and you can kind of fib how far you are off. Same thing goes for shooting rocks or dirt way out there. How do you know for sure where your bullet hit? Yes shooting at steel, rocks, and dirt are still good training tools for the person who wants to shoot at very long ranges. They just are not as precise as a hole in paper or cardboard. Once a person has some skills under their belt shooting at these things are very useful. Just range it dial in your distance once you confirmed the angle and did some math. Check the wind dial that and fire when ready provided the wind is not messing with you.
All in all this is not a problem but what works for one group may not work for another group. When you are dealing with 1,000yds and under a lot of it is fine from one group to another. What some groups do will stop your rifle before you know what is going on. It is always good to ask these questions. New things come up all the time. Nothing really stays the same over all in the firearms industry.
What works for one person may not work for the other. I build my rifles to take abuse and deliver accuracy at those extended ranges most can not shoot to. I am in the extended long-range hunting class. I do not need a rifle that runs out of elevation on the scope just after 1,000yds. Nor do I need a rifle that will only operate on a clean range or only fits one small aspect of shooting. I would love a Palma rifle but a rifle to only shoot 800, 900, and 1,000yds kind of goes against what I like to do.
To answer your question. I have to ask a few. What is the intended purpose of the rifle? Is weight a big concern? What ranges do they want to shoot? As to ranges you can always start close and work out.
Personally I would just purchase a prebuilt rifle and shoot it. I would opt for a ArmaLite or Savage. Once the tube was gone I would just replace it or at that point change to something that better suits my needs. With that being said any of the custom actions that can hold a 338LM should work. I personally would go for one that is a repeater. I have not heard anything really bad about one or the other. One thing to look at is your scope base. How many minutes do you need? This will be tied to your scope. The NF Bench Rest scopes only have 40MOA adjustment from top to bottom. If you put a 20MOA base on your rifle it should zero at 100yds give or take a little bit. This setup will give you the full scope to play with. My 338LM it takes me 28.5MOA to get to 1,000yds. So If I had a zero MOA base and a 40MOA scope I would not be able to make it to 1,000 yds. I would be 8.5MOA short. But if you put a 30MOA base on your rifle with a 40 MOA scope you will be about 10MOA high at 100yds. Now let’s say you have a NF NXS with 100MOA of adjustment. If you put a 50MOA base that will bring your scope to the bottom for roughly a 100yd zero, but it will give you the full 100moa adjustment in your scope to get out as far as you can. In the 338LM having as much adjustment in your scope is really nice. The reason it is such a good combo is 100MOA should get you to about 2,000 yds. All rifles are different some will be a little less and others will be a little farther. It depends on how hard your rifle will allow you to push it.
As to scope you have first focal plane and second. With first you can use your scope to help range your targets at any power setting. Second focal plane only allows a person to range at certain power settings. Unless a person does a lot of work with their scope knowing how much each little mark equals. I also suggest getting MOA and MOA. That is recital and knobs. Mills work but once you start getting out there each click starts to be a lot of distance on the target. First focal plane is nice where you are shooting and you can see your impact. It is easy to see how many MOA you are off of your target. Or if your shooting partner is off you can easily say you are X moa up or down and X moa off to this side. On a second focal plane scope you have to be at the correct power setting to be able to say that. If you can spot your shots you can then use hold off to follow up. That is still not as precise as actually adjusting your scope but still works.
Now that you have an action picked out what stock to pick? Again what do you want to do with this rifle? Do you want a detachable mag? Most long range hunters will tell you there is no need for a mag. I have fired many many rounds down range and a few just never made it. I have had a few bullets blow up. I have hit some flying birds. A person can never say with 100% certainty this bullet will make it right here. It is nice to just be able to work the bolt and have a shot ready. I have shot many deer that just flop down when hit. I simply put a new round in the chamber and watch for a few min. Some deer are tough and those that try to get backup they get a second or third shot. I shoot until I know they are gone.
If you want a mag there are many options. A few years ago a person never heard of or seen an AICS stock. I have one for my 308 and I love it. The AICS bottom is a big square and that makes it not carry as well as it could. It also added almost 2 pounds to my rifle. I have read many reviews for the AICS and they state their rifle shoots better in that stock than it did before in the old stock. I did not like the original factory stock I was using so I bought the AICS. After mounting it I took it out and shot it. I did have to work the action screws a little and it did shoot better than it did before. I may shoot that 308W better because of a better fitting stock than any other reason. On my 300WM I have a badger ord bottom metal on it sitting in a McMillan A4 stock. If I would have known about the AICS stock I would have gone that way instead of the A4 stock. The stocks were about the same price but the bottom metal made the A4 more expensive. What I like about the A4 is how the grip is set. It allow my bolt hand to be right by the bolt with my thumb right by the safety. It is super easy to flip the safety either way. The bottom of the front part of the stock is flat but the edges are far more rounded than the AICS and that makes it easier to carry. Either stock has been very good to me. There are many others that work very well. I have wrist mobility issues due to the USMC so a traditional stock kind of hurts. To me weight is not too important to me. Yes the extra weight stinks after the hunt is done when I am dragging my game to the car but when you are going to tap off a 338LM or a 300WM the weight and muzzle break makes both kick less than my 308. When I am walking to my spot it only sucks a little bit. My 338LM is 18.25lbs and my 300WM is 18.75lbs
This part is a little off topic but may help someone. Elevation is almost a constant if you are staying around the same altitude. Once you have a good range finder get a big sheet of cardboard set it up in such a way you can keep moving back from it as far as you want. Set up at 100yds fire a shot to confirm your zero if you are not sure. Move to 200yds shoot. Measure your drop adjust your scope to hit point of aim point of impact fire a shot. Is the round where it should be? If no make adjustments and fire again once you can say yes move to 300yds. Shoot measure how much drop you have. Adjust scope for poa poi. Once done move to 400 yds. At each range measure how much drop you are getting write everything down. I go every 100yds until about 700 or 800 yds then I go every 50 until 1,000. After that I let the drop tell me how far to go back. If I am still on cardboard I keep going back 50 at a time. Once I drop off I go back 25yds at a time.
Sure this is a lot of back and forth to measure and find holes but it will tell you and your rifle is doing. My 308W using 175gr SMK is odd. It shoots a little flatter to 300yds then it drops more than what the calculator tells me it should. My 338LM shoots a little better than what the calculator said it should. Granted the wind adjustments seem to be right on or close enough. The nice part about doing it this way is there is no lying. There is a little hole and that is where it is. When shooting steel you flake off a bunch of paint and you can kind of fib how far you are off. Same thing goes for shooting rocks or dirt way out there. How do you know for sure where your bullet hit? Yes shooting at steel, rocks, and dirt are still good training tools for the person who wants to shoot at very long ranges. They just are not as precise as a hole in paper or cardboard. Once a person has some skills under their belt shooting at these things are very useful. Just range it dial in your distance once you confirmed the angle and did some math. Check the wind dial that and fire when ready provided the wind is not messing with you.
