I want to build a centerfire rifle. Suggestions needed.

[El Rojo]

I am starting to look into building a nice centerfire rifle in 6.5x55 Swede. Rather than fork over a ton of money for a Sako Varminter, it was suggested that I build my own.

Question 1: I am a Remington fan, but could probably be persuaded to new realms since most likely I am going to rebarrel whatever I get. So, with that being said, if I do get a Remington action, does it have to be from a 6.5x55 gun or can it be any remington action as long as I rebarrel it and get the right bolt?

Question 2: Any suggestions for barrels? Do most of the cheaper custom barrels come unfinished, meaning I have to ream them or get them reamed, refinished, ect.?

Question 3: Anything else I need to know? Obviously I will have it put together by a competant gunsmith. Thank you for your input.

 

[S&W 24]

A military action (m98) takes alot of work to do a quality job on so I would buy a howa or interarms markX action for a custom job. As far as barrels you get what you pay for but a bad gunsmith can make any barrel shoot horrid. Haveing said that my custom rifles are built on 1903 springfield actions that were "sporterized" by someone else and so all the hard work was done but they were cheap.

 

[Tshoes]

new rifle

El Rojo,
In answer to some of your questions.......
You can use any reciever you want.
As long as you get the correct action length, and bolt face.
I strongly suggest you get a 700, and send it to Hart Rifle Barrels.
Buy a HS Precision stock, and get the BDL type hardware........
Have them do ALL the work.......they do very good work, at an excellent price, and you don't have to wait but about 4 months at the longest.
Call Jim at Hart, tell him what you are looking to do, and he'll give you some ideas.
Expect to pay around $1,500.00 for the whole shebang.......
This is a sum of money, but I learned a long time ago this little quote, "I am too poor, to buy cheap things".
Moral, if you buy the best the first time, you only do it once.......
If you "Make Do", you'll wind up spending 3x's that amount, and still have a sub standard rifle.( over the long haul).
My .02's...........