Long range hunting rifle build

[PEI Rob]

My hunting buddy begged me to make him a rifle, here it is. Stevens 200 LA turned into a .338 Lapua mag with early Timberwolf mag and bottom metal. Gaillard barrel, Holland brake, Farrel base, TPS rings, Falcon Menace, Kydex cheekpiece I made, my freehanded bolt knob and a quality custom stock. It shoots good enough to win in F Class [clarify - if it were allowed, it shoot informally along with us] with 225 accubonds, he was one point behind me at 600. I had a tattoo artist paint it, his first rifle job. Overall I'm very happy with his paint job but I failed to tell him it was important to paint the rings, sear, trigger and cheekpiece bolts which didn't get the first coat of Ceracoat. I waited forever to get this painted, until I found this guy then it was no problem.

 

[mattri]

That is one trick rifle. Been thinking of picking up a 200 in .223 as a varminter, any suggestions?

 

[Rustystud]

Your friend is a brave man.

The 1.350 OD Stevens action is bordering on being too small. The bolt lugs, and bolt body are also undersized for the 338 Lapua Magnum. Hope it does not let go when someone is shooting it. If I were building a 338 Lapua magnum it would be on one of the oversized actions made to handle the larger magnums. At least after firing it measure the lugs for cracks and deflection.

Nat Lambeth

 

[PEI Rob]

I tried to weigh it but I have no scale past 10 lbs, I'd say its about 14 as in the photo. Feeds perfectly, ejects empties like a dream but, as can be expected with such a front heavy round, the loaded rounds don't flick out with nearly as much authority.

Nat, no kidding. I talked to several experts about that before hand, I will not make another for anyone else. I put some VERY HOT rounds through it for testing and all is perfect, lets just say a Savage bolt handle is not going to break. Another 50 normal rounds before I let my buddy have it. One thing I can tell you is that it has more lug surface contact area than a factory Rem 700 Lapua, primarily because of the chamfered lug edges on the 700, and quite a bit more meat around the chamber, the 1.120x20 tpi unj threads do not penetrate nearly as deep as 16tpi.

 

[PEI Rob]

mattri, I hate a cheap stock on a rifle that is supposed to be fairly accurate. A Stevens 200 is a super deal on a good action and they make great truck guns as is. Have a plan and do the math, sometimes its signifantly cheaper to buy a new varminter with a nice stock. Its certainly faster. Of course if you want a custom barrel, a nice laminate is easy to get from Fred and it will shoot. Pre-fit barrels and Fred's laminates make these hot items for the tinkerer.

 

[Lesterio]

Re:

i crashed a three wheeled atv going about 70 rolled it three times, flew 20 feet, hit the ground so hard that my shoes and one of my socks came off haha. it was 8 years ago. i have tried everything i have been in physio gone to cyropracters , i have been told the only thing that will help is surgery but im too young. im 20 years old. i can shoot some heavy calibers but only a few shots before my back starts to hurt and i want to do lots of target shooting in the off season and then some long range hunting.

Tommy Bahama Comforter