Help with new build

thatguySHM

Beginner
Feb 11, 2017
249
2
Hey there,

Going to be building a 6x45mm off a Remington 700. Looking for some advice on it. It's going to be a barrel nut set up, with plans of using it as a back up coyote gun and first deer rifle for the kids.

Two girls ages 6 and 8, they just decided they want to start shooting and hunting. I came into their lives a bit later on, so I didn't want to press to much for them to follow in my footsteps unless they wanted to. New one is being born end of next month, and she will be shooting at an early age.

I haven't set any rifles up for kiddos, do it's all new to me. I plan on using it some myself for closer coyotes also. I have take off parts from my SPS Tactical that I will be using. I have a 223 ADL coming my way that will be the base of this build.

I'm wanting 20" barrel, finished around .680-.700 at the barrel, no brake. Plan on it being a little heavy barrel, the Hogue Overmold stock from the SPS Tactical is for a heavy barrel. I'm thinking an 8 twist, so I can shoot what I want in it. I do have 55 to 105gr 243 bullets, would like to be able to shoot most.

Stock will be the Hogue Overmold that came off my SPS, which is heavy barrel profile. Bottom metal will come from the same, will be looking to see if I need to upgrade to standard 308 or similar if I need to load long.

I know I'll need a longer eye relief scope to make up for the standard length of pull and smaller frame of the girls I have at present.

What am I missing? Thanks all

SHM

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Can't speak to the specifics of your build, I tend to repurpose old military sporters. I can speak to building/selecting rifles for youngsters and ladies.

I like the caliber and twist. Heavy enough for deer, low recoiling and versatile.

I assume the ADL is a complete rifle? Consider shortening and bedding the existing stock until they get a tad older and grow into the Hogue. You might even keep it a .223 for the time being due to low cost of ammo and components. Rounds downrange are critical to learning, the more the better. You can add pads and spacers as needed. No LER scope needed in this case. If you need a little more wiggle room, get a scope with a longer tube and offset rings. As they progress in age/size, you may consider a different use for the Hogue, perhaps something in the 6.5 or 7mm family if larger game are on the menu.

Keep the rifle light and relatively short. 20" is probably a good length. Balance and fit are critical to avoid teaching bad habits (like being bench bound). Much more important than sub-moa groups. You want your girls to be comfortable shooting a balanced rifle from field positions, not balancing a barrel heavy beast on a lead sled. Keeping with lighter bullets and velocities will mitigate the recoil. IMHO, a balanced rifle that is light enough for them to handle is worth the potential tradeoff in MOA from the bench. You want to teach fundamentals and practical accuracy, not build an F-class rifle.

I used to teach youth shooters on practical marksmanship as part of our clubs advanced hunter's education. We had 2 centerfire club rifles. One was a well worn Savage M10 in .308, the other an equally worn Mauser M38 in 6.5 Swedish (Kimber Sporter). Other than the shortened and adjustable LOP, both were essentially stock rifles, but very well balanced and ergonomically correct to small framed shooters. They handled like Mannlichers. Both fired reduced, low recoil handloads. Both were 1.5 MOA rifles on a good day. Both, in the hands of youth shooters, firing standing, kneeling, sitting and improvised rest from "deer stand" routinely outshot the fancy rifles that dad brought for the youngster's to shoot that were usually not so well balanced.
 
I would look for a youth model sps stock with the adjustable lop pads to change as the girls get older and their lop's lengthen.

Also make sure that the girls are both right eye dominant, as if they are not, or one is and the other is not, the poi will change from the right eye dominant shooter to the other shooter. Your Hogue may be too long for them until they get older.

For a scope, start them off with a Leupold vx2 3-9, so as to get maximum eye relief of 4" and hopefully keep them from scope bite and the resulting flinch this can create. Also, make sure that they shoot with earplugs and ear muffs. Most young shooters (as well as adults) will flinch from the noise of the rifle as much as the actual recoil. And start them off with lighter bullet weights and powder charges in target practice until they are proficient enough to start hunting with heavier bullets and powder charges.
 
We are going to start with an old Savage model 19 NRA 22 lr. I've taught many people to shoot. My wife now shoots better than I do. She's continually getting 1.5-3" groups at 450 yards with her 6mm BR.

Basically my plan is to to build the rifle with parts I have in hand now, simply ordering a barrel. ADL stock is the Walmart special synthetic, so unfortunately I can't modify that. I guess I'll look for the youth model stock and go from there. I think they are a ways off from shooting the 6x45 though.

I'm glad I asked for advice though, obviously there are some amazing teachers on here that have done it. After the 22LR I plan on getting them on the 223 SPS Tac, and I'll make a load with either H4198 or SR 4759 and 40gr bullets. I bought them ear muffs last year, they like watching milk jugs blow up, and my wife's family is a big hunting family so they have been exposed to it.

I think it's just a way for them to spend more time one on one with me and I'm going to jump on it for as long as I can.

Keep the advice coming, and if anyone has a wooden stock they would like to part with, I'll make an attractive offer. Thanks everyone!

SHM



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159
40-29
Remington
700 ADL Short
Safari Rollover
Ultra Ligth Laminate

$69.00

This is from Richards Microfit bargain/closeout list. Never worked with their laminate, but I've heard good things about them being solid and accurate. I have done a couple of their walnut stocks and they were easy to fit and well made.
 
I did one of their Savage stocks for the wife and it looked like it was profiled by beavers. But for that price I can do that is needed for sure. I'll see what I can do to get that.

Thanks!!!
SHM

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thatguySHM":3qrf5bhx said:
I did one of their Savage stocks for the wife and it looked like it was profiled by beavers. But for that price I can do that is needed for sure. I'll see what I can do to get that.

Thanks!!!
SHM

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Yeah, they do leave a lot of extra wood so you can take them down to desired shape on the outside. I wanted a slimmer forend on my wife's rifle, so I slabbed it down on a bandsaw and took a palm sander with 80 grit to it to round it off. Also slimmed down the wrist a bit to fit smaller hands and took a full inch off the LOP. Fits her like a glove now. Traditional glass bed improved the accuracy somewhat in an already accurate rifle.
https://scontent-ort2-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/ ... e=5A91A6A4

Farm fresh, I think the link will work
 
I took quite a while to hand fit it for her and then used auto clear on it and buffed it. We put a Whidden V block in it.

In all her pregnant glory shooting at 450 yards she's killer.
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Very handsome rifle. Looking forward to your detailed report on performance at distance.
 
Not the greatest lighting, but here you can see the forend slimmed in the Y axis. The "belly" approaching the magazine well which mimics the M1 Garand and K-31 provides very positive indexing for offhand and sitting positions. You can also see the slimming on the wrist and wood removed from front of the rollover to allow for heavy gloves and my wife's high Bohemian cheeks. Finish is BLO/Turpentine base with a beeswax based protective finish.

The cover we hunt is pretty tight with often difficult angles and fast target acquisition required. This rifle is built for that, but would only be limited by caliber (.308 Win) at longer ranges. It is relatively light, very well balanced and to compensate her full power hunting loads are aprox 2500fps 150 SP and off-season practice are 110gr Vmax. Both recoil mildly.
 

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I'm assuming that was a blem due to the backwards nature of the bolt handle? ;) Mighty fine looking craftsmanship! I'll be calling them tomorrow to see if they still have it on hand

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Did some looking around on their site, and even new run stocks in the more common hardwood grades fall into that same price range, but then you'd have their lead time to contend with, which is considerable. You could get into a pretty nice piece of wood with a factory second. This particular stock is their "frontier sportster" style. Very good ergonomics and angles. Sporty look, points and absorbs recoil well. Plenty of wood in the rollover (the safari from their closeout list will have similar lines in the butt) to keep proper cheek weld, you'll likely want to shave some in this area. Unfortunately, the wrong handed version cost me more. If she were right handed, this rifle would have been a Rem 722 rebarreled to 260 rem.
 
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