Seekins rifle ? /lightweight rilfe

[Fleece82]

Hi,
New to the forum but been researching and reading on here a lot in the past year. I've noticed that people have purchased discount codes from other members for seekins rifles. If any one knows of or has a discount code available. Please let me know!

On to the more important matter. Anyone have any suggestions on a quality builder or setup i could use for a sub 6lb hunting rifle in 6mm creedmoor?

The rifle will be for my father. He has been going through cancer treatment and dealing with parkinsons. He isnt able to handle a 9-10lb rifle anymore and has become recoil sensitive. Want a lightweight, short barrelled set up for him. Thought the 6mm creedmoor with a 20"+/- barrel with a break would be optimal. I know there are a few factory offerings out there but they get into the 3-4k price range, which gets into custom build price. So just weighing options and possibilities.

Thanks!

 

[DJL2]

Seekins makes a 5.5 lb rifle - the Element. Is that what you want the code for?

From everything I've seen, if you want that weight ready to go out of the box, it's gonna cost. I've seen Remington and Browning do factory offerings in excess of $3k. The Sako Carbon Wolf is up there as well, but not in 6 CM.

Examples:
https://www.remington.com/custom-shop/classic-series-rifles/model-700/ultimate-sheep-rifle ($5900)
https://www.sako.fi/en-us/rifles/sako-85/85-carbon-wolf ($3500)

I'd take the Havak Element @ $2800 all day over any $3k+ factory offering I've seen. No contest.

That said, I've been doing some research on this. Lots of customs actions to be had from about 2 lbs and $900-1100. You can get a carbon stock from McMillan/Manners/AG Composites etc. that'll come in around 28-30 ounces (depending on how you option it) and $700-800. You're sitting at 4 lbs and, say, $1800 bucks before you add barrel, bottom metal, etc. You can probably bring it in under $2800 for the Element with some shopping around...but you won't necessarily have a better or lighter rifle.

For consideration:

Best Lightweight Hunting Rifles of 2023 | Field & Stream

If you're looking for your next mountain rifle, these are the best lightweight hunting rifles from Browning, Savage, Weatherby, Kimber, and more.

www.fieldandstream.com

 

[darrenk75b]

Barrett Fieldcraft for the win

 

[Fleece82]

Seekins makes a 5.5 lb rifle - the Element. Is that what you want the code for?

From everything I've seen, if you want that weight ready to go out of the box, it's gonna cost. I've seen Remington and Browning do factory offerings in excess of $3k. The Sako Carbon Wolf is up there as well, but not in 6 CM.

Examples:
https://www.remington.com/custom-shop/classic-series-rifles/model-700/ultimate-sheep-rifle ($5900)
https://www.sako.fi/en-us/rifles/sako-85/85-carbon-wolf ($3500)

I'd take the Havak Element @ $2800 all day over any $3k+ factory offering I've seen. No contest.

That said, I've been doing some research on this. Lots of customs actions to be had from about 2 lbs and $900-1100. You can get a carbon stock from McMillan/Manners/AG Composites etc. that'll come in around 28-30 ounces (depending on how you option it) and $700-800. You're sitting at 4 lbs and, say, $1800 bucks before you add barrel, bottom metal, etc. You can probably bring it in under $2800 for the Element with some shopping around...but you won't necessarily have a better or lighter rifle.

For consideration:

Best Lightweight Hunting Rifles of 2023 | Field & Stream

If you're looking for your next mountain rifle, these are the best lightweight hunting rifles from Browning, Savage, Weatherby, Kimber, and more.

www.fieldandstream.com

The element is the main reason for the code search. Yes. Wont be my deciding factor but figured I'd ask around. It's def on my short list of factory gun considerations and I agree for the price, possibly best off the shelf package.

I have also priced things out exactly as you have with action, stock, etc. My issue is I dont really have anyone around me that is reputable to do the fit and finish work... bedding, etc.....
Thanks for all the input!

 

[Fleece82]

Barrett Fieldcraft for the win

The fieldcraft was actually one of my first considerations but I'd have to change the stock. Dont like the cheek piece. Not a deal breaker but an extra expense and hassle in rather not deal with. Then comes the issue of finding someone to do a decent bedding job.

 

[DJL2]

If it matters, the Fieldcraft is supposed to be full length bedded IIRC. Not really my cup of tea, but I understand the reason behind it - light whippy barrel and all.

 

[Gobears16]

The fieldcraft is an unreal factory flyweight rig. The stock is stiff and lightweight. It’s not full length bedded but Barrett does bed the recoil lug and action perfectly, very tight fit. Mine is the 21in 6.5cm flavor and shoots eldx .75 out to 800 yards. For an all up (sling scope rings and ammo) rifle under 7lbs I think you can’t buy better off the shelf.

I also have a 6cm in Seekins PH1 and if the quality is the same in the element (which I have no doubt it is) then that would be a winner to. They are about a $1000 difference in price.

For me I’d buy the Fieldcraft and use that extra money and buy a Swaro Z3 in Talley lightweights to keep the weight in line with the rifle.

 

[DJL2]

Yeah, good point on pricing...the Fieldcraft is in a pretty good spot for a <6 lb rifle.

 

[Gobears16]

Yeah, good point on pricing...the Fieldcraft is in a pretty good spot for a <6 lb rifle.

Just a side note. Barrett is stopping production, for the time being, of the fieldcraft because of a military contract. For your fathers condition I’d also look at the .243. The Fieldcraft 243 twist is 1-7 so you can shoot the heavies if you like or shoot the 80gr ttsx for a very light recoiling deer killer. There’s a few on gunbroker right now.

 

[Fleece82]

Appreciate all the help and opinions guys. I think I'm going to go the element route. After some discussion and research, goin have some custom touches done by seekins that will benefit him and make it a optimal rig for him!

 

[HydroMT]

Appreciate all the help and opinions guys. I think I'm going to go the element route. After some discussion and research, goin have some custom touches done by seekins that will benefit him and make it a optimal rig for him!

Let us know how you like the Element, been looking for solid reviews on it.

 

[Fleece82]

Will do. I have a custom PH2 coming and now the custom element. Soon as I get them and put some rounds down range I'll get an update posted!

 

[Fleece82]

Update! The element should be getting built soon but I received my custom ph2 in 28 nosler. What a BEAUTIFUL and finely built gun. From the handlaid carbon stock, to the helix fluted barrel.. its truly a work of art! Pictures DO NOT do it justice!! I know some have said the action is gritty at first and I don't know if seekins worked it over since it was a custom build or what. But mine is slippery smooth.

So if the element is built with the same attention to detail and standards of my PH2, There is no doubt it will be a fantastic gun. The provided target has my gun shooting a little under 1/2". I'll update on if I can repeat accuracy.

Now the important part. Seekins has treated me wonderful and went above and beyond throughout the build process. Lucas, their custom guy, called me on day one to discuss my build, gave me recommendations and suggestions on what he felt would be the best for what I was wanting out of the gun. They didn't try to upsale me on anything and talked me through options that would be and not be beneficial for my particular build. From that point, he texted me throughout the process to verify certain build specs and options. Which was nice, bc I decided to change cerakote color after he sent pics of color samples and other builds for reference. He also responded to all of my questions very quickly via text (and I had several). Some gun related and some not.

Now to the icing on the cake. I received a general email from seekins shortly after my order offering a "free gift" on any gun purchase. I texted this to Lucas to see if I could still redeem the offer. He said absolutely and he would work it out. Assumed it would be a hat or t-shirt.

Two weeks ago, I received a text that my gun was finished, verified at range, pictures of rifle and target, and another picture of a really nice knife, sheath, and burnt wood box. The text stated he would like to offer me the custom built knife as my "free gift". YES PLEASE! Fast forward a week and I receive my gun strapped in a nice little foam lined hard case w/ seekins logo, the knife, and a HAT!

On top of all that, based on his recommendations, I got the low rings. However when I attempted to mount my scope, it just wasn't happening. Rings were too low. I texted Lucas to explain I needed Medium rings. That was at 4pm EST Monday. I had the new rings on my door step via fedex at 11am on Tuesday!!! Wizardry!!!

So after all this..... did I pay a pretty penny for the guns.... YES! BUT no more than a Cooper or similar gun. The CS has been excellent and they have treated me like I was their only customer. Now, let's hope they shoot as good as they look!

 

[HydroMT]

Awesome review, thanks for sharing! What custom options did you select for your PH2? Do you have any photos and can you share the photos of other Seekins custom builds that they sent you? Curious what they can do...

 

[Fleece82]

Sure I can get some up of the Ph2 tomorrow.

So I shortened the barrel, added muzzle brake, they installed their m lock plate into the forend of stock. It accepts the adapter plate to connect the gun to a tripod. He recommended a specific tripod that is very slick, lightweight, and one of the legs disconnects. Which allows it to be used as a walking stick and can attach to the mounting system to be used as a monopod as well.. Very nice set up. The m lock plate is flush in the stock so u never know its there. --You can pick what colors you want painted on the stock- I got coyote tan, black, grey.
-Stock finish, matte or semi gloss,
semi gloss looks best in my opinion.
-Choice of cerakote color for action and barrel. I chose burnt bronze..
Style of barrel.. 3 fluting options (strait, spiral, helical) or no fluting.. i chose helical.. beautiful in person.
- Choice of barrel contour. believe mine is 3.5
-Flush cup sling bases.
- 3 trigger options. The timney elite hunter, elite 2 stage and Calvin elite i believe. He recommended the elite hunter for my purposes.

They can honestly do about anything you want in any caliber and barrel length. Worth the phone call if your considering having a gun built.

 

[Fleece82]

Barrel fluting options.

 

[Fleece82]

A short barreled Creedmoor in tan cerakote with matte stock in tan grey and green.

Assume its going to get silenced.

Another with strait fluting, tungsten cerakote. Matte finish as well with sane colors.

 

[Fleece82]

here is the pic of my gun he sent. I'll get better ones tomorrow.

 

[HydroMT]

Those look really nice! I like the helical too, good choice.

 

[cheesefries]

here is the pic of my gun he sent. I'll get better ones tomorrow. View attachment 7300690

This is a great looking gun, congrats! With all of these extra's, what was the wait/build time and final cost?

 

[Fleece82]

Ordered on Feb 4th. So roughly 8-9 weeks. With everything it was around 3700 before tax.

 

[Fleece82]

As another side note. I was installing my scope today and was going get some finished pics to post on here. Was about done and just torquing the base ring screws. Had the wrench set at 20 in/lbs. As i was tightening and waiting for my click.. I thought to myself, man this feels like more than 20 in/lbs. About that time the screw heads snapped off and the stems were lodged inside the lower ring.
Soooo, apparently my torque wrench is shot and not accurate. But texted Lucas with a pic and explanation of what happened. He said no worries and will be sending a new ring base and screws out Monday.

So again, excellent customer service.

 

[thomas abbott]

Sure I can get some up of the Ph2 tomorrow.

So I shortened the barrel, added muzzle brake, they installed their m lock plate into the forend of stock. It accepts the adapter plate to connect the gun to a tripod. He recommended a specific tripod that is very slick, lightweight, and one of the legs disconnects. Which allows it to be used as a walking stick and can attach to the mounting system to be used as a monopod as well.. Very nice set up. The m lock plate is flush in the stock so u never know its there. --You can pick what colors you want painted on the stock- I got coyote tan, black, grey.
-Stock finish, matte or semi gloss,
semi gloss looks best in my opinion.
-Choice of cerakote color for action and barrel. I chose burnt bronze..
Style of barrel.. 3 fluting options (strait, spiral, helical) or no fluting.. i chose helical.. beautiful in person.
- Choice of barrel contour. believe mine is 3.5
-Flush cup sling bases.
- 3 trigger options. The timney elite hunter, elite 2 stage and Calvin elite i believe. He recommended the elite hunter for my purposes.

They can honestly do about anything you want in any caliber and barrel length. Worth the phone call if your considering having a gun built.

how expensive is extras

Sure I can get some up of the Ph2 tomorrow.

So I shortened the barrel, added muzzle brake, they installed their m lock plate into the forend of stock. It accepts the adapter plate to connect the gun to a tripod. He recommended a specific tripod that is very slick, lightweight, and one of the legs disconnects. Which allows it to be used as a walking stick and can attach to the mounting system to be used as a monopod as well.. Very nice set up. The m lock plate is flush in the stock so u never know its there. --You can pick what colors you want painted on the stock- I got coyote tan, black, grey.
-Stock finish, matte or semi gloss,
semi gloss looks best in my opinion.
-Choice of cerakote color for action and barrel. I chose burnt bronze..
Style of barrel.. 3 fluting options (strait, spiral, helical) or no fluting.. i chose helical.. beautiful in person.
- Choice of barrel contour. believe mine is 3.5
-Flush cup sling bases.
- 3 trigger options. The timney elite hunter, elite 2 stage and Calvin elite i believe. He recommended the elite hunter for my purposes.

They can honestly do about anything you want in any caliber and barrel length. Worth the phone call if your considering having a gun built.

who much extra the real deep fluting

 

[Fleece82]

So dont quote me..... but way I understood it, the custom rifle price on their website gets you the handlaid carbon stock, choice of colors on stock, caliber, fluting, barrel length and contour, stainless barrel, timney elite hunter trigger.

From their you have a multitude of options. I didn't price them all out individually. I know the costs of what i chose.. muzzle break was 89.00, rings 139.00 for 30mm, MRAS rail was 50ish, mlock base for tripod adapter was 50ish, And cerakote was around 150.

The rings are were the priciest part. Could probably get any rings that attach to a rail. But theirs are light, well built, and I liked the design.

Now its important to note that if u don't care about the carbon stock, fluting and contour options, mlok tripod adapter and want one of their standard calibers, you CAN order a base ph2 or element at standard price and customize barrel length, add brake, cerakote, etc. You just get the standard stock and barrel.

Really a lot of options and price points. I would highly recommend calling them to discuss if you have interest or questions. Very easy to get ahold of and honestly probably leaving some options out.

 

[HydroMT]

Can you post some pics of your stock? I'm having the custom shop cerakote my standard PH2 and I need some color/pattern ideas.

 

[Fleece82]

Sure.... when I get home ill snap a few of my gun. Here is a pic of some color swatches he sent me as samples. If you have Instagram, they have a bunch of pics on there too. I don't but had my wife get on her account. Found pics on their page of guns I liked and just took screenshots and texted it over to him he then looked up the build and told me what the colors were.

Also, the colors look much different depending on the finish. Again, semi gloss really looked best to me. Otherwise the colors looked chalky IMO


This is coyote tan, a light grey, and dark grey.

I ended up doing coyote tan, dark grey, and black.

My element is going to be green, light grey, and black with tungsten cerakote.

 

[Fleece82]

Here's a close shot of my stock. The coyote tan is a nice deep tan. The dark grey really resembles the same grey in the carbon twill. And obviously black. Which actually ties in all the black trim pieces very nicely! So much so that I changed my colors on the Element to include black! But they have a few shades of tan, greys, green, white, black, brown I know for sure. Not sure what else they offer.

 

[HydroMT]

Looks good, thanks!

 

[psychogecko]

This is making me want to order one now. These guys have always been great to work with. I live close enough to go see the shop and talk shop.

 

[Fleece82]

Finally got a few pics of the full set up.

 

[psychogecko]

lookin good!

 

[gearguywb]

Great looking rifle!

 

[Fleece82]

Thanks! Soon as my Element gets here I'll post pics and my thoughts comparing the two!

 

[jevonniespapi]

Fantastic looking rifle. Looking forward to some range reports!

 

[Fleece82]

Sorry, I've let this thread go a bit. I'll get some pics of the Element up. Both guns shoot excellent! The 28 nosler PH2 is a little picky with factory ammo. Did not like the Nosler factory Ammo at all. Their loads were way too hot and had some serious cratering and sticky bolt issues. Shoots factory 162 eldx good. A little under .75 moa. (Which was what they used for accuracy testing/test target they included).

I'm personally not a huge fan of eldx especially on larger game. So I had my guy do some load development. Took some time due to lack of supplies with covid. Really wanted 155gr. Federal terminal ascent. But couldn't find it. So went with the 155gr Edge TLR.

Not sure of the specifics of the powder load just yet. But shooting a little under 0.5 MOA with Peterson Brass, RL26, jumping about .05. ES of 14, SD of 6. All this at average of 3260 ft/sec from a 22" barrel. So I'm happy! Perfect hunting round for me!

Now the Element in 6mm creedmoor is a different story. Bought 3 diff boxes of factory ammo. Shoots factory ELDX and 100gr Sierra Gamechanger about .5 MOA and factory ELDM is pretty much one hole 3 shot group. Very impressive! I may eventually do some load development if I don't like how the any of these bullets perform on whitetail. But from an accuracy stand point i see no reason for additional load development at this time. Btw all 3 of these shooting in the 2900 ft/sec range from 21" barrel.

 

[jevonniespapi]

Sorry, I've let this thread go a bit. I'll get some pics of the Element up. Both guns shoot excellent! The 28 nosler PH2 is a little picky with factory ammo. Did not like the Nosler factory Ammo at all. Their loads were way too hot and had some serious cratering and sticky bolt issues. Shoots factory 162 eldx good. A little under .75 moa. (Which was what they used for accuracy testing/test target they included).

I'm personally not a huge fan of eldx especially on larger game. So I had my guy do some load development. Took some time due to lack of supplies with covid. Really wanted 155gr. Federal terminal ascent. But couldn't find it. So went with the 155gr Edge TLR.

Not sure of the specifics of the powder load just yet. But shooting a little under 0.5 MOA with Peterson Brass, RL26, jumping about .05. ES of 14, SD of 6. All this at average of 3260 ft/sec from a 22" barrel. So I'm happy! Perfect hunting round for me!

Now the Element in 6mm creedmoor is a different story. Bought 3 diff boxes of factory ammo. Shoots factory ELDX and 100gr Sierra Gamechanger about .5 MOA and factory ELDM is pretty much one hole 3 shot group. Very impressive! I may eventually do some load development if I don't like how the any of these bullets perform on whitetail. But from an accuracy stand point i see no reason for additional load development at this time. Btw all 3 of these shooting in the 2900 ft/sec range from 21" barrel.

cant tell on the seekins site- does the Element have the quick change barrel feature?
Im going to call them but thought Id ask.

 

[Fleece82]

I'm not sure. Best you prob call and ask.

 

[Fleece82]

I do believe their lifetime warranty will cover barrel change at no cost to you. Also covers shipping. But would also verify that with seekins.

 

[kthomas]

Another option may be a custom Tikka.

You can buy this Tikka here for $590: https://www.eurooptic.com/Tikka-T3x-Lite-Compact-65-Creedmoor-20-1-8-JRTXE382C.aspx

Then send it to these guys for ~$1300, and get a composite stock, carbon fiber barrel, muzzle brake, etc: https://omrifles.com/products/tikka-t3-t3x-upgrade-package


That puts you at ~$2000 for a nice lightweight hunting rifle. I've never dealt with OM Rifles, so I can't speak to the quality of their products, but if they do good work, it may be worth a look.

*EDIT: should've read through the thread I see you are already got hooked up, nice looking rifle!