I've done a fair bit of finagling, weaseling, and shenanigan-ing over the course of this year to get this rifle together.
And waiting, there was a lot of waiting. Hopefully it was worth the wait, I have high hopes for this rifle.
All the work was done by a member of my local gun club, he doesn't advertise as far as I know, but he builds rifles for at least one record setting member of the NRA F-class team, and holds a few records of his own, so I felt confident in handing my gear over to him. That and he's an all around great guy who doesn't mind sharing his wisdom with a novice.
I think my total wait time was about 5 months, the main hold up being out-of-stock reamers and gages for the barrel. I did find myself resisting the urge to badger the gunsmith for updates, but I managed to stuff down my impatience and just give him space while I waited.
Lest I forget, a thank you goes out to the Hide members who provided their wisdom and helped me locate and acquire all the parts that brought this together. Also, 'Screw You' to the few people who answered questions with responses that were of no help whatsoever, or along the lines of 'Go look it up'.
So, everything is assembled, and painted, the bubble levels are out so the scope can be secured, and I can now introduce you to my new arrival, Dr. Krieger!
I realize naming this rifle after Dr. Krieger would be much more fitting if it was built on a Surgeon action, but this is what I ended up having to work with, so shaddup. Anyways... If you get the Krieger reference, you're awesome.
Remington 700 AAC-SD, trued, raceway reamed out, etc...
Hand fitted PTG two piece fluted bolt w/ mini-m16 extractor (a one piece bolt was going to be a much longer wait =(...)
Krieger barrel, fluted, chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor, AAC 51T muzzle brake/suppressor mount up front
XLR chassis
Nightforce 20 MOA steel rail, chopped to fit.
Leupold Mark 4 34mm, Super High, 1.40"
Bushnell ERS in Leupold x-high rings, Butler Creek flip up on the rear, and some ass-clown designed Butler Creek 'tactical rubber super duper' piece-of-shit on the front.
I'd originally planned to purchase an AAC can to go with this build, and I figured meh, why not keep the AAC-SD as the donor action? It seemed fitting. Tuition and wedding rings are expensive though, so I don't see a can in the plan anytime soon.
I'd originally asked for a plain bolt, and somehow ended up getting the more expensive fluted bolt. I didn't complain though, since he didn't charge me for the coating job to match the barrel and action. I probably should have gone with a one piece bolt, but the wait time would have been even longer, and I was really hoping to get the gun back before the weather turned real shitty (as it currently has).
The Krieger barrel finished out at about 27" before the muzzle brake was installed. I'd considered chopping it short so it would fit in my Pelican case in the McMillan A5 I'd originally had for this build, but came across an XLR here on the Hide and decided to switch to a folding chassis so I could keep the barrel long.
That led to the 'Fuck-Me' moment of realizing neither my existing rings nor scope base would work on the XLR chassis.
Dear XLR, perhaps incorporate a cutout in the chassis to accomodate extended scope rails?
Anyway, chopping the Nightforce rail wasn't a big deal, but the Seekins low rings I loved so much were a no-go. Fortunately the Leupold Mark 4 rings caught my eye, and with the 1.4" high rings, I have about 0.2" clearance between the scope cap and the rail.
It's currently still got the factory trigger on it, because of course I totally neglected to get a quality trigger while all this work was being done. A CG X-treme Mod 22 will find it's home on this build someday, but the factory trigger has been very nicely tuned for a light, crisp break in the meantime.
Now I'm just looking forward to getting to shoot this thing. I've got plenty of ammo sitting around, the only hold up is cleaning gear (rods, jags, bore brushes, etc...) so I can take this to the range and break it in. I spent all this time tracking down ammo, brass, dies, and I totally forgot to order a cleaning rod and accessories for this thing, fuck-my-life.
Based on the wisdom I've heard, my break-in plan is to shoot 2, clean, shoot 5, clean, shoot some more if groups are good, then take it home and give it one last cleaning.
Better pictures and range report to follow as soon as it isn't 15*F w/ wind chill outside.
And waiting, there was a lot of waiting. Hopefully it was worth the wait, I have high hopes for this rifle.
All the work was done by a member of my local gun club, he doesn't advertise as far as I know, but he builds rifles for at least one record setting member of the NRA F-class team, and holds a few records of his own, so I felt confident in handing my gear over to him. That and he's an all around great guy who doesn't mind sharing his wisdom with a novice.
I think my total wait time was about 5 months, the main hold up being out-of-stock reamers and gages for the barrel. I did find myself resisting the urge to badger the gunsmith for updates, but I managed to stuff down my impatience and just give him space while I waited.
Lest I forget, a thank you goes out to the Hide members who provided their wisdom and helped me locate and acquire all the parts that brought this together. Also, 'Screw You' to the few people who answered questions with responses that were of no help whatsoever, or along the lines of 'Go look it up'.
So, everything is assembled, and painted, the bubble levels are out so the scope can be secured, and I can now introduce you to my new arrival, Dr. Krieger!
I realize naming this rifle after Dr. Krieger would be much more fitting if it was built on a Surgeon action, but this is what I ended up having to work with, so shaddup. Anyways... If you get the Krieger reference, you're awesome.
Remington 700 AAC-SD, trued, raceway reamed out, etc...
Hand fitted PTG two piece fluted bolt w/ mini-m16 extractor (a one piece bolt was going to be a much longer wait =(...)
Krieger barrel, fluted, chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor, AAC 51T muzzle brake/suppressor mount up front
XLR chassis
Nightforce 20 MOA steel rail, chopped to fit.
Leupold Mark 4 34mm, Super High, 1.40"
Bushnell ERS in Leupold x-high rings, Butler Creek flip up on the rear, and some ass-clown designed Butler Creek 'tactical rubber super duper' piece-of-shit on the front.
I'd originally planned to purchase an AAC can to go with this build, and I figured meh, why not keep the AAC-SD as the donor action? It seemed fitting. Tuition and wedding rings are expensive though, so I don't see a can in the plan anytime soon.
I'd originally asked for a plain bolt, and somehow ended up getting the more expensive fluted bolt. I didn't complain though, since he didn't charge me for the coating job to match the barrel and action. I probably should have gone with a one piece bolt, but the wait time would have been even longer, and I was really hoping to get the gun back before the weather turned real shitty (as it currently has).
The Krieger barrel finished out at about 27" before the muzzle brake was installed. I'd considered chopping it short so it would fit in my Pelican case in the McMillan A5 I'd originally had for this build, but came across an XLR here on the Hide and decided to switch to a folding chassis so I could keep the barrel long.
That led to the 'Fuck-Me' moment of realizing neither my existing rings nor scope base would work on the XLR chassis.
Dear XLR, perhaps incorporate a cutout in the chassis to accomodate extended scope rails?
Anyway, chopping the Nightforce rail wasn't a big deal, but the Seekins low rings I loved so much were a no-go. Fortunately the Leupold Mark 4 rings caught my eye, and with the 1.4" high rings, I have about 0.2" clearance between the scope cap and the rail.
It's currently still got the factory trigger on it, because of course I totally neglected to get a quality trigger while all this work was being done. A CG X-treme Mod 22 will find it's home on this build someday, but the factory trigger has been very nicely tuned for a light, crisp break in the meantime.
Now I'm just looking forward to getting to shoot this thing. I've got plenty of ammo sitting around, the only hold up is cleaning gear (rods, jags, bore brushes, etc...) so I can take this to the range and break it in. I spent all this time tracking down ammo, brass, dies, and I totally forgot to order a cleaning rod and accessories for this thing, fuck-my-life.
Based on the wisdom I've heard, my break-in plan is to shoot 2, clean, shoot 5, clean, shoot some more if groups are good, then take it home and give it one last cleaning.
Better pictures and range report to follow as soon as it isn't 15*F w/ wind chill outside.
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