Rem 700 build

M

mxsailor803

New member
Ok guys. I've been on the fence lately to build my dad a lightweight SA deer rifle that would be capable of accurate/humane kill inside of 200yds. I was originally thinking a .243 but since I reload, figured I would do something a little different. I'm thinking a 6x45 instead. Now I'm not knocking the .243 as I have one already and used it for 10 years on whitetail. I just thinking something a little more custom. I'm going to start off with a 700 ADL .223 and go from there. Trigger wise, I like Shilen and Timney. Both have done well in my rifles over the years so I'm sticking with them. Barrel wise, this is the area I need help in. There are quite a few good barrels out there and I'm not sure on who to start looking at. Since this will be a walking around rifle, I'm not wanting a huge bull barrel or anything like that. Stock wise, kinda unsure about this as well since I'm wanting lightweight, monte carlo style, and wood if possible. The wood is a personal preferance. I know some composite stocks can really take the the weight off though. Rings, Talley's. Scope, Leupold VX-2 or VX-3 in something around a 2-7 power range. Now for budget, I'm not wanting to put more than $1500 in this build since I already have the rifle. Any suggestions?
 
Barrel wise, this is the area I need help in.

"capable of accurate/humane kill inside of 200yds."
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I don't believe there is a custom barrel maker out there that can't provide this. The last rifle I put a custom barrel on I used a Shilen, not only because of their reputation but in large part because their waiting list was not 6 months long. I like a number of barrel makers out there and for a hunting rifle I would not hesitate to use any of them.

Good luck with your new build, looking forward to reading about the results.
 
Your 243 is capable well past 200 yards. Heck, even a 30-30 will do that. Pick the cartridge that suits you. The 6.5's are the hot ticket right now so any of those would be where I'd start.

I'd go with VX-2 in either 2-7X or 3-9X with either long range dots or custom dials. Around $350 with dots or dials, $300 with a standard duplex. Even though you may not plan on shooting farther than 200 yards I'd not limit myself. You never know what the future holds. I've had them both and see no downsides to buying the 3-9X over the 2-7X. If I want less size and lower power I'll go 1-4X. The 2-7's are neither fish nor fowl in my opinion.

I'd put it in a McMillan Edge stock. They run just over $600 if you order a custom stock, but I've found that used stocks pop up quite often for around $400-$450. I have 4 rifles in them and all 4 were bought used for under $450.

This is an older 700 in 30-06 in an Edge stock. With the Zeiss scope in the photo it is 7.25 lbs. I've since sold the Zeiss and put a VX-2 in 3-9X40 on it. Weight is now 7 lbs even lbs ready to hunt.

 
I think a 6X45 is a great option and it'll work a lot farther than 200 yards. I use a 6X47 (6MM-222 Remington Magnum) and with 70 grain bullets I've made humane kills over 300 yards on pronghorn here in Colorado and just inside 200 yards on whitetails in Oklahoma. If you're not worried about not having a lot of factory ammunition options, I'd say go ahead and build it.

With 70-80 grain bullets you should easily reach 2800-2900+ fps from a 20" barrel. I've found in my 6X47 H335 powder gives the best speed and accuracy with the widest weight range of bullets. Go with a faster twist barrel than a 1:10 as that'll give you a little extra cushion if you want to run bullets up to 105 grains. However, for deer I think you'll find a good bullet in the 70-85 grain range.

I built a similar rifle recently using a $380 Walmart M700 ADL .223 that I bedded in a B&C model 2950 ADL stock I purchased for $270. That B&C stock isn't a direct bolt on, it will take some fitting. So if you're not handy or just don't want to mess with it take it to a gunsmith to have it fitted. That's what I wound up doing and it ran me $170 to have the barreled action fitted to the stock, epoxy bedded, and the barrel free floated.
 
Shilen is a good choice as mentioned, even Green Mountain's $100 blank will provide more than acceptable accuracy.

If you want to DIY, instead of using a 'smith, look into CBI's "Rem-Age" barrels.
Re-barrel a 700 with a barrel nut, just like you would a Savage.
 
taylorce1 - On the twist rate, 1:9 or 1:8 would be better? Since your build was pretty dang close to what I'm doing. I'm also planning on using conventional bullets and not premium bullets. Did you go with a bull profile or sporter profile?

JMR - I'm not knocking the .243 one bit. I've killed a bunch of deer with one and still grab it from time to time. Just wanting to do something a little more custom for my dad as he would appreciate the effort more than if I was to just buy a off the shelf rifle and give it to him.
 
My rifles just a .223 with a factory contour barrel, it might become a 6X45 but that'll be awhile down the road. As for my 6X47 when it comes time to rebarrel I'll probably use an 1:8 or faster twist barrel. However, if you run at least a 10 twist you'll be able to shoot all the bullets you'll ever need to hunt deer with.

Oregunsmithing LLC can rebore a factory .223 to 6X45 for $350 with about any twist rate you want. That'll have you about $1100 into the build and leave you plenty for optics. If you buy a barrel and have it installed you'll reach your budget very quickly and possibly exceed it.
 
There are lots of great options for barrels. I built an AR in 6x45 with 1:10 Shilen. I see no reason to faster with this cartridge. Since weight is an issue, I wouldn't go any longer than 20". There really isn't any need. In fact, you could go even shorter. With 85 grain SGK's and Benchmark, Igot as much as 2800+ fps without exceeding published loads but just below that gives better results. IIRC, about 25.8 grains gave the best accuracy and about 2750 fps but I don't have my notes available. I also picked up some H335 and plan on giving that a try. It seems to be the go to powder.
 
Btw, the bullet of choice for deer seems to be the 85 grain Nosler partition. I haven't tried it personally but it performs very well at 6x45 velocities. Lots of 6mm bullets are designed for the higher velocity of the 243 and don't expand as well.

Also, I think that you building this rifle for your dad is great. I am sure he will take great pride in it for years to come.
 
There are a ton of reasons to go faster than a 10 twist. An 8 twist will let you shoot 105 grain A-Max bullets and 107 grain SMK. Going with too slow of a twist will limit your options in a bolt action rifle, especially since you don't have the magazine constraints of an AR. IMO it's better to have more twist than you actually need, it opens up the rifle to be used for more than just hunting.
 
Well, he is building a lightweight hunting rifle. Besides, magazine restrictions or not, the 6x45 has roughly half the powder capacity of a 243. If you want to launch 100+ grain match bullets, the 6x45 is out of it's element. A 1:10 will stabilize 95's and some 100's. If you need a heavier bullet than that, you need a bigger case. On the other hand, a long barreled 243 will shine with those bullets.

I do agree that too fast is better than too slow but just right is better still.
 
Since rifle is Rem 700 SA but has the block in the magazine max OAL is just under 2.350". I think Sierra 107gr 6mm MK is over 1.200" long and your going to have about 1/2 bullet length down into 223 case body which is going to limit case capacity.

Berger has loading data for the 6x45 and with their 105/108gr VLD OAL 2.260", max velocity is 2510fps from 24" barrel and that's compressed load.

You could do 6x22-250 and not worry about magazine length and get better case capacity.

Hornady has loading data for the 6x47 and they used Rem 40x with 27" barrel and 40x is single shot and there OAL was 2.470" and they average right around 2800 with 87gr V-Max,87 gr BTHP,87gr SP and that was heaviest bullet they use and that was from 1/14 twist barrel.

You put 1/8 twist 6x250 case you be under 243 and better than 6x45 and you sure put your deer down.

In my early years I've done 6x47AI,6x250,6x250AI and some other 6mm. Right now I'm shooting Kreiger barrel 243 and Hart barrel 243AI.
 
I don't see where a 105 grain bullet at 2500 fps is a bad thing in a 6X45. The Berger Hunting VLD has a BC of over .500 and that gives you 950 ft-lbs of enegy at it's maximum point blank range of of 309 yards. The 87 grain Hornady is only going to give you 734 ft-lbs of energy at its max point blank range of 322 yards.

Plus with a Remington 700 you can knock the spacer out of the magazine and open it up easily to around 2.90". You can epoxy an aluminium shim back in the magazien to get your desired case length, but you might have to modify the follower. However, I'd probably only give the 6X45 an extra 0.25 of room giving the magazine room for a 2.50" COAL. This obviously can't be done in AR magazines, but that's why in a bolt action running a fast twist that can use heavy bullets 100+ grains make sense.
 
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old roper said:
Taylorce1, I have my opinion bases on what I've build and it's up to OP to decide.
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I'm just giving my opinion as well based on what my experience has taught me. Our experience just doesn't have to mirror one another. You're right it is up to the OP to digest and make a decision on the information given. Regardless of what you might think I'm not picking apart your posts, I'm just offering a different perspective.
 
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