New rifle project - Finished!

[Erud]

While shooting the Berger Southwest Long Range Nationals earlier this month in Phoenix, I was lucky enough to meet Doan Trevor, world-renowned gunsmith and woodworker. Over the last few days of the match, he and I talked about my dream of putting a Barnard action into an Anschutz 1913 stock. My 1913 is the most comfortable rifle I have ever owned or even ever fired, and since I got it 3 years ago, it is the standard that I judge all rifles by. In the last few months, I have sold off the Eliseo tube stocks from my 2 long range rifles and gone to more conventional stocks that are fairly close to the 1913, but not exact.

As it turned out, Mr. Trevor had recently modified a 1913 stock for a Barnard action for a customer. The fit and functionality of the Anschutz stocks is top-notch, but they aren't known for their beauty, they are generally just a slab of maple without much character. Doan told me that he could make a copy of one out of any wood I like with his stock duplicator, and this got the gears in my head turning. As luck(fate?) would have it, I got my name drawn at the awards dinner and ended up with a gift certificate for a substantial amount off of any rifle work done by, get this - Doan trevor. That pretty much sealed the deal for me. Sooo, for the last few weeks we have been going back and forth with pictures of pieces of wood that would work for this stock. Finally found one yesterday that is perfect; a beautifully-figured slab of American Walnut.

Now I just have to wait until my turn comes up for him to start carving it out. I've got a Barnard barreled action with trigger and sights from my original Palma rifle just waiting in the safe to drop in when it arrives. I plan on shooting a lot of Palma in the next 16 months, so having a spare rifle will not hurt. I kind of have a feeling that this will become my primary rifle though, and my current main palma rifle will become the backup...

Here's a pic of the slab of wood that will become my stock, it's the one on the right. I can post some pics of the finished product when it's all done if anyone is interested in seeing it, hopefully will be less than 2 months.

Erik

[shooter115]

Look forward to seeing this one come together. What caliber or does Palma require .308? Can't remember off the top of my head.

[Erud]

Shooter,
This will be a .308. Palma requires .308 or .223, but the game is dominated by .308. The rules were expanded to include the .223 a few years back, but no one uses one as it's incredibly hard for it to be competitive at Palma distances, which are 800, 900 and 1000 yards. A properly set-up .223 is capable of good scores at 1000, but it just gives up too much horsepower when everyone else is shooting a properly set-up .308.

US Palma has no restriction on bullet weights, and a lot of shooters are shooting heavy bullets. Berger 185's are getting pretty popular and I've had some success with those myself. International competition limits bullet weight to <156 grains for .308 and <82 grains for .223. There are some truly excellent sub-156gr bullets in .308, but they are a lot more wind sensitive.

I've switched back to shooting the Sierra 2156 155 gr bullet exclusively in preparation for 2 big international competitions coming up, the 2014 Fullbore National Championships and the 2015 Fullbore World Championships. Fullbore is similar to Palma with a few differences; distances go from 300-1000 yards, there are a few more restrictions on the rifles, and typically matches are fired with 2-3 shooters per firing point. Shooters take turns on each shot and have a time limit in which they have to get the shot off, typically 45 seconds. This makes wind reading skill even more important than in normal individual matches where you can shoot fast in good conditions and try to wait out bad conditions if you like. In fullbore you have no choice but to shoot the condition presented to you so wind calls really need to be solid.

The barrel on the new project rifle is a 12-twist with about 1300 rounds on it from it's previous incarnation. It shoots both 185's and 155's extremely well. When it's time to re-barrel, I will put a 13-twist on it to remove the temptation to shoot any heavies before the World Championships.

If anyone has any questions about this type of shooting I am happy to answer them. I'll post some more pics as things move along.

Thanks,
Erik


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[c.hazelton]

So .308 or .223, you must be shooting F-TR. Whos bipod are you using?

[cobb]

I can post some pics of the finished product when it's all done if anyone is interested in seeing it, hopefully will be less than 2 months.

Yes, please do.

[Erud]

So .308 or .223, you must be shooting F-TR. Whos bipod are you using?

Haha, you funny!


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[Erud]

Ok, I have some pics of the progress.

Here's the block of wood fresh off the duplicator:


And here it is after most of the rasp work is done with the rosewood pistol grip cap glued on:


Here it is a little more cleaned up being fitted for the action:


And here's what it looks like as of 2 days ago:


Getting close now and I'm getting excited. Hope to get a phone call in the next 2 weeks….

[xd ED]

Very classy.
A work of art that will no doubt be supremely functional.

[JJ]

That's a piece of art in the making! Where did you pick up the blank? You can see some good figure in there even thru the work processes.

[Erud]

Thanks guys. The blank was one that Doan had on hand at his shop. I got the impression from talking to him that he has a pretty vast supply of wood laying around that he has accumulated over the years. He sent me pics of quite a few different slabs before we settled on this one. I'll post more pics as I get them.

Thanks,
Erik

[shooter115]

Wow......that's some craftsmanship there. Cant wait to see it finished.

[c.hazelton]

If I am not mistaken, the length of pull looks to be about 9 inches. Hope you don't get scope eye. Otherwise it looks very nice, I especially like the matte finish. Just my opinion, but too much shine can be gawdy.

[Erud]

If I am not mistaken, the length of pull looks to be about 9 inches. Hope you don't get scope eye. Otherwise it looks very nice, I especially like the matte finish. Just my opinion, but too much shine can be gawdy.

Thanks Chris. I'm actually going to have him chop it down to a cool 6.5" LOP so I can shoot it like an M4.

[farmerj]

If I am not mistaken, the length of pull looks to be about 9 inches. Hope you don't get scope eye. Otherwise it looks very nice, I especially like the matte finish. Just my opinion, but too much shine can be gawdy.

That LOP will be what ever he wants it to be. Totally adjustable alone with cheek-riser.

Sweet project. Wish I had the workspace to do something like this.

[northernbird]

That is so awesome! cant wait to see the final pics. As a wood worker, I'm almost tempted to try something like this.. oh wait.. I dont have an action to put in it, and dont really have a place to do any really long range shooting.. dang.