My budget hunting rifle build thread

[A-R]

Just add a decent die set and you're good to go.

[Toxxyc]

With the right scope and good ammo your 3006 will hit 1000m easy... It's a good caliber and let no-one else tell you so! If you need brass, shout, I have around 60 once fired S&B you're welcome to, and I'm down the N1 from you.

I'll definitely take you up on this, for sure! I'll send you a PM in a bit. Thanks!

Rifles are like children.

Building/making a rifle is one thing, feeding it, another.

Every pack of bullets is basically R1000 bucks.
The propellant these days, equally as much.
The bullets alone in my reloading cupboard are worth more than any of my rifles, the same as the cost of animals we shoot with them.

So look at it this way, it’s like a wedding, you can do the expensive one, or the cheap one at the magistrate, it matters none, the real cost comes after that.

Yep, this I'm fully aware of. In all my firearms I've beaten the price of the firearm in ammo many times over. However, I'm not TOO fussed about the cost to feed the .30-06. Yes, it's not cheap. However, it's no more expensive than feeding my old .303. In fact, it's often cheaper. To compare the two for now, using factory ammo, PMP Brown box, .303 is R420. .30-06 is R440. R1 per shot - which isn't a lot. When it comes to reloading, it's even better. 50 PMP cases for the .303 (which is shit brass, by the way) costs around R850 now. For the .30-06 I can get Federal brass for R750. For bullets, using what I use now, Sierra Pro-Hunter, the price for exactly the same bullet is cheaper in .30 than in .311, and by a 45c per bullet margin.

I actually appreciate your comparison, as it makes a ton of sense. I've always said that pretty much all rifles and all calibers can be used for a large amount of application if you just do the work a bit. Modern bullets with tuned ogives and better construction and newer metals and and and means that not only the modern raved about 6mm~7mm calibers do better - the .30s are improved as well. I think someone mentioned somewhere that where the .30-06 dropped out at ~1,000 yards, with the newer bullets, ~1,200 yards is easily attainable. I just checked some differences, and with modern bullets you get as much as 110" inches less drop with the same bullet weight at 1,000 yards. That's a big difference. But anyway, this is not a caliber discussion. The rifle is bought and that's done. I just need to make the best of it :D

Cant you rather use a silicone based wrapping. It handles heat easily. I actually make Lead Ingots in Silicone molds.

Then some Material maybe Camo over it.

The material is to help reduce the heat mirage from Silencer so that you dont see it in Scope.

I don't want to spend big money, actually, and a wrap works just fine. As an addition to this, I had an idea while driving to work this morning and I'm going to try and draw up the design for it today during lunch. See if it'll be possible to do what I want...

A good trigger is what ol Toxxyc needs to finish that build off, a good trigger goes about as far as a good scope when shooting.

The rifle comes with the X-Mark Pro trigger, and if I'm correct, it's the externally adjustable one, meaning I can really tweak the trigger pull to my liking. I have some experience with this specific trigger and so far, I like it. I'm not going to change it. Not now, anyway. I might do something like add a trigger shoe or something like that, but that'll come later. If it comes at all.

[Againstthegrains]

My story is a little different. A friend of mine found a bargain 303 plus the safe for 2K. He never got his competency, and didn't know what to do with the rifle he had paid for, so I put it under my name. I sold the safe for R1500 so the rifle cost R500. I put some scope mounts on for about R1200 and used an old scope I had. I then sporterised it, bedded it and free floated the barrel. I discovered that after a bit of work on the bedding the group size has shrunk to half of what it was, about 2-3MOA with mil surplus ammo. I'm sure I can get that better with fire formed cases, neck sizing and a bit of tuning of seating depth and neck tension. It now makes a really handy light weight bushveld rifle, that cost me less than 2k.

[Toxxyc]

My father in law's .303 is also sportered, fitted a nice scope, got a Thor trigger in there, reflex suppressor on the front, free floated barrel... It does 1" group easily at 100m all day long. It's very possible, but I didn't want to sporter the rifle as it's a bit nostalgic, and I also didn't want to spend R2k on a trigger, R3k on a sportered stock, and more on the rest at the price of that .30-06 new.

[Againstthegrains]

Fortunately there was nothing nostalgic about the 303 that I got. It was a 1949 post world war II rifle. Made cheap and nasty to be used as a cadet training rifle, and has all the bangs and dents given to it by a bunch of 18 year olds parading around the quad with it. It never saw anything remotely battle field related, and trust me if I tell you that there must be thousands of them around to make it of no collection value what so ever. The only nostalgia was that the school armory had about two hundred of them that were deactivated and used for the std 9s in the armistice day parade. Of course one kid in our year discovered that his had not been deactivated, and brought a cartridge to school to prove it.... almost got him expelled when something went BANG on the playing field.

[Toxxyc]

Aaaaaand silencer was delivered on Friday. Heavy, but looks good. Can't wait anymore, the wait is killing me!

[Ds J]

Toxxyc, have you realised that we stopped commenting and congratulating because we have not had any proof at all?

For all we know you might have donated the R8000 to GFSA ...

[MariusT]

^^ What he said...

Sent from my ELE-L09 using Tapatalk

[Toxxyc]

Toxxyc, have you realised that we stopped commenting and congratulating because we have not had any proof at all?

For all we know you might have donated the R8000 to GFSA ...

Dominee jy vat my laag... Baie, baie laag...

Alright, here goes. The rifle that started it all:



One of the stocks I sold to buy the other one, now fitted on the other bloke's Rem 710:


The stock that I bought, here still on the previous owner's Rem700, also in .30-06:


And the silencer:



Happy now? :P

[Ds J]

Sien is glo

She'll be a beauty!

Thanks