The Sickness

[Rustypipes12]

Well as Ronnie would say "Here we go again"! In my infinite boredom I've decided to build a long range gun; I don't really know why.
I live in New York and my longest shot in the last 40 years has been about 350yd.s. It was longest deer drag of my miserable hunting life!
Anyway, I've decided to build, no build is too strong of a word, improve (in my own foolish way) a Howa 6.5 Creedmore with a Bull barrel and a Boyd Stock with a detachable 10 round magazine.
'Cause you can never have too many bullets (I better check and see if that's legal in New York) or as many as I'm allowed. I'll up date as my little project takes shape.

 

[Karnivore]

What kind of scope/mounts are you leaning toward?

I have a Howa HB with a Trijicon 3x9 in .308. Shoots like a champ.

 

[Rustypipes12]

I'm not sure just yet, I have a Kona 6x24-50mm laying around brand new.
If I decide I don't like it I'll probably splurge on a Night Force or Vortex. I'm planning to make this a 1000yd. rifle so a 3x9 ain't gonna get it with my eyes!
I know Trjicon makes some nice glass as well. I'm just going to have to wait and see whats left after I break the piggy bank open.
This won't happen over night. I've been off work on disability for a few weeks but I'm going back next week and putting in the OT!

 

[Rustypipes12]

Brownells has .308 Howa HB cerakoted barreled actions on sale right now with free shipping for $399. if I didn't already have one I'd jump on it!

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

A couple of suggestions.
1) Barrel length is your friend! 24" minimum 26+ is better.
2) Barrel weight? Something in the 8 to 12 pound range should give the stability you need.
3) Scope; you'll want a 30mm tube and as big of objective lense as you can afford.
The 50mm Kona sounds like a good starting place (even with a 1" tube) you may be limited on elevation adjustment.
) Scope Base; you will want a 20 MOA base made of steel. One or two piece will be fine. One piece allows more rigidity, Two piece allows easier loading
(The bottom of the scope have been known to get dinged up from brass hitting them with two piece bases.)
5) Scope Rings made of steel.
(if rings are the same front and rear, measurer the post to the inside of the ring, and put the longer ring in the rear (a couple of .001's is a couple MOA at 1000 yards).
6) Level; either a ring mounted or extended base mounted Spirit Level. 7) Ammo; Buy 200 or more brass or loaded ammo at once, and specify it all be from the same Lot #.
7a) Reloading dies and shell plate. (Since you will have a SAMMI spec barrel, your chamber will be a little loose as opposed to a match chamber.)
I would recommend Redding Competition Die set. These will use a separate Neck Sizing Bushing.
use full length sizing, so that the brass is returned to the original shape and size (it will need trimmed to length every 2 or 3 firings).

Some things to think about, will you be shooting from a Bench or Prone? Will you need a Front Rest or Bi-pod? Are you allowed a rear bag?

Which Bullet weight and B.C. will you use?

There is much more, but this will get you in the right direction.

Ivan

 

[Tom S.]

I got bit by that bug a few years ago:





Yes, non conventional as far as type, but it shoots as well as a Model 70 Target my father once used in at 1,000 yard matches at Camp Perry - at least at 100 yards.
I don't have a long distance range near by to try it out at. Base rifle is DPMS in .308 caliber. Here's a comparison shot with a standard AR15:



Definitely NOT something I would want to drag through the woods though because it tips the scales at around 12 pounds.

 

[Rustypipes12]

Thanks for the advice Ivan, Tom thanks for sharing, that's a sweet looking target rifle. I'm going to try the impossible and see if I can get the gun to weigh in right around 9#.
It's not ideal for lugging around the woods but you don't get many 1000yd. shots in the woods.
I don't want the gun to be strictly target. I'm thinking more of a varmit, ridge to ridge deer, target gun. I suffer from Don Quixote syndrom!

 

[RSBH44]

Well as Ronnie would say "Here we go again"! In my infinite boredom I've decided to build a long range gun;
I don't really know why, I live in New York and my longest shot in the last 40 years has been about 350yd.s. It was longest deer drag of my miserable hunting life!
Anyway, I've decided to build, no build is too strong of a word, improve (in my own foolish way) a Howa 6.5 Creedmore with a Bull barrel and a Boyd Stock with a detachable 10 round magazine
cause you can never have too many bullets
(I better check and see if that's legal in New York) or as many as I'm allowed.
I'll up date as my little project takes shape.

Of course a 10 round magazine is legal in NY. 6.5 Creedmore is a decent long range round.
I ran into a fella at the range recently with a rifle chambered in 6.5 and it so happened that he was left handed as am I. After a bit of conversation
He offered to let me touch off a few rounds and I gladly excepted! It's an amazingly accurately round. His rounds were hand loaded so that probably helped.
I fell in love with that rifle as soon as I finished off the last round.
Would love to see your upgrades on your rifle as you progress.

 

[NYlakesider]

Well as Ronnie would say "Here we go again"! In my infinite boredom I've decided to build a long range gun;
I don't really know why, I live in New York and my longest shot in the last 40 years has been about 350yd.s. It was longest deer drag of my miserable hunting life!
Anyway, I've decided to build, no build is too strong of a word, improve (in my own foolish way) a Howa 6.5 Creedmore with a Bull barrel and a Boyd Stock with a detachable
10 round magazine cause you can never have too many bullets (I better check and see if that's legal in New York) or as many as I'm allowed. I'll up date as my little project takes shape.

Rusty, I do not know where you live in NY but there is a club with a 1,000 yard range just outside of Albany NY. It originally was a WW1 firing range!
Do to neighborhood encroachment they only shoot a thousand a couple times a year. Deepening on circumstances you can shoot up to 600 yards many more times than-at the 1,000 length.

Up till when I moved away in 04 I shot at that range many times!
It is the Forbes Rifle club located in Colonie NY!

 

[Doug627]

I had two built this year. Each has a Bartlein barrel, Night Force NXS 5.5-22x50, .250 MOA MOAR reticle (Model C433) scope,
Night Forces bases and rings, Timney trigger, H-S Precision stocks and other extras. One in 308 Winchester and one in 300 Winchester Magnum. I reload.
Why? Because you never know what might happen. My trunk monkey is for close range only.

 

[Rustypipes12]

Thanks for the info. Lakesider, unfortunately I'm on the other side of the state, it's a closer drive to Pa. but if I ever get up that way, I do have a cousin in that area.
Doug you're WAAAY out of my league, My whole build (if you can call it that) should run under $1000.00.
I'm in this more for fun than anything and I'm old school in that I prefer wood to plastic. I'm coming around slowly but I just like the feel of a solid laminate stock with a glass bedded action.
That reminds me I'm gonna open another thread about stocks.

 

[Rustypipes12]

Tom, I will post as things progress (or regress)

 

[Snapping Twig]

6.5 is a good caliber, way better terminally than the documentation would suggest for taking game and accuracy.

I'm shooting a Remington 700 with a SS Hart competition barrel in 6.5-06.

 

[Rustypipes12]

The first and most accurate gun I ever owned was a 1970era 700BDL in Rem. 25-.06 that I got from my buddy for $100.00 while he was going through a divorce.
That gun was stolen from a hunting cabin some years back and I look for it at every gun shop and show I go to!
Unfortunately Remington doesn't make the Creedmoor caliber and while I could re-barrel a .308, it's just not in my budget.
I've never owned a Howa (they make Weatherby)and the price on a Cerakoted heavy barreled action was too good to ignore so that's what I'm going with,along with the historic aspect.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

The is a range in Southwest Ohio called Rayner's Range (they have a website). In checking the Long Range match results
The 6mm and 6.5mm guns are the rage now, and my friends are shooting mostly single shot bolt guns.
I'm in the stone age with my magazine fed 308 Win and 338 Lapua in Savage 10BA and 110BA. Out of the box, they will shoot to whatever your ammo can do.
The Hornady Match with A-Max bullets (165 grain) put 20 rounds is the same hole, vary easily. My first time a Rayners,
I was hitting cigarette pack sized targets at 300 and 500 yards with the 308.
And have done so at 500 with hand loads in the 338. I know a little about loading 6.5mm rounds,
but only in the bigger 6.5x284 and 264 Win Mag cartridges (for both of them, H4831 SC is the powder to use). My friends all swear by the Hornady Match ammo for Creedmoor factory ammo!

I have owned a few of the Howa made Weatherby Vanguards.
The bull barreled 22-250 was a 1/4 MOA gun to medium distance, the 270 Win was a 1/2 to 3/4 MOA gun to 300 yards and my 300 Win Mag is a 1/2 MOA gun to 400 and 3/4 MOA offhand to 100!
These are all with factory ammo! (my pastor took a record pronghorn with the 270 at 70 yards offhand with the pronghorn running R to L! in 1998)
There is absolutely nothing wrong with the Howa action and barrels!

Please keep us up dated on your project gun and above all... be safe and have fun!

Ivan


BTW: Many of us share "The Sickness", for which we seek no cure!

 

[Rustypipes12]

Thanks Ivan! I've already ordered the barrel and action and just got done ordering the stock from Boyd's, I'm on a budget so I went with what I know and ordered a varmint thumb hole in nutmeg laminate. I've found these stocks to be rock solid after just a little bedding work. I'll post as I go.






[Seek not, Cause you'll probably find it!]

 

[carpriver]

Bitten

This last month I changed the gas block and sights on my M 4 and decided to make some changes to my LR 308. Now I want to build another LR 308 myself. My current 308 is a DPMS and my M 4 is Rock River. So now I am pricing parts form both DPMS nad Rock River. I know I don't need one but I just want to try my hand.

 

[Rustypipes12]

Cool Carpriver: if you don't mind keep us posted and let us know how it's working out. One of the great things about working on guns is that we do it for ourselves. Everyone has their own idea about how something should look and work. Doing our own, even if it's just changing grips, or a stock or something more involved makes it something personal and to be proud of! If you haven't looked at the thread in the lounge "show us your favorite grips and stocks" you should.

 

[Rustypipes12]

I'm not very good at this photo bucket thing but here goes.... It's been 6 months since I posted on this and I apologize!
Since I've gone back to work I haven't had much free time. Here's my Howa 6.5 Creedmore Build with a Boyd stock.
I swear every time I buy a stock from them they come out with one I want more the day after I bought it! I actually tried to do video on the glass bedding and if anyone is interested they can pm me
I altered the trigger from 4.5# with a lot of creep to a clean 2# break. I won't go into that for liability reasons. When I seasoned the barrel on this there was no wind out at my buddy's place and it was putting them in the same hole at 150 yd.s with federal fusion 147 gr. factory loads. I went to my local club yesterday which backs up to 250.
There's always a cross wind and it was bucking at 15mph. the target picture is from that trip. I was shooting Hornaday match HP 147gr. over 43.3gr. of H Superperformance powder with federal cases and CCI LR primers with a COL of 2.8" 6.5 Creedmore Build - Google Photos

 

[Rustypipes12]

Hopefully I didn't screw this up! But I finally got the link at the bottom of my previous post and it includes some of the bedding work I did. if anybody has any questions , feel free to ask!

 

[H Richard]

For challenging shoting at "distances", try Prairie Dog hunting. You'll find them in South Dakota, Nrbraska, NOrth Dakota, Colorado and several other states. Imagine the challenge of a target the size of a 2 liter soda bottle at unknown distances out as far as the eye can see. Add a good range finder and a wind meter to your accessories. Anything better than a 25% kill ratio is really good shooting. You will see shots from 50 yards out to well over 1000 yards. My favorite range was in the 300 yard vicinity. Also,look up building a sturdy portable bench rest.

 

[Rustypipes12]

Thanks "H", In my younger years Woodchucks were plentiful around were we lived and I spent many days picking them off out to 600yd.s I don't see them like I used to (probably due to coyotes).
Chucks are probably twice the size of a prairie dog but fun to practice on and farmers with livestock are thankful to get rid of them!