.30 XCB wildcat, from scratch.

[MBTcustom]

Very well said Ian. However, I see this as just the first step in a long journey.
If I can experience some success in this business venture of mine, I intend to move to a bigger spread in the country and set up shop like I mean it.
I have a granite surface plate here (that squatted the springs on my truck rather well) that I would like to build a rail gun on. Absolutely eliminate any semblance of human error, but for now, these four rifles I am building are a first step.
They are meant to be a trophy to the recipient. My personal "thank you" for all the help I have received, and others have as well. The MBT "Golden Boolit Award" if you will.
Like you say though, I hope that these rifles will be used to learn and to help each recipient to do what they were already doing even better, and I swear to you on my knees that I did absolutely everything I could to build accuracy into the rifle. I may know more tricks here in another 5 years, but for now, each of these is to be a personal 1 in a million.

[cbrick]

That would be me with the bluing tanks at Dan Wesson.

Back in the day when Dan Wesson ruled the Long Range Revolver competition in silhouette they were the finest factory bluing I had ever seen. They shot pretty well too . . .

Rick

[runfiverun]

about 4 cc is in the ball park.
you'll gain or lose a little with your case thickness.

look at the picture gear posted of the finished case, it has a bit more going for it than just case capacity.
the neck length, case taper, and shoulder angle give the round a couple of other advantages.
like not speeding up a powder and effectively directing the gasses in a straighter line.
the case being longer and slightly thinner than the 308 has some ignition advantages too.

[geargnasher]

Got the steel pillars from Tim and bedded them tonight per Ernie's method, lookin' good!

Step two is to clean that up and bed the receiver around the screws and recoil lug. Perhaps tomorrow if I have time.

Might get to shoot it this weekend yet.

Gear

[btroj]

Sounds good.

Don't forget the moleskin on the stock or you will be wearing band aids for Christmas dinner.

[geargnasher]

I inletted the stock today at lunch, relieving all the material around the pillars and bedding area and clearancing for a thicker layer of epoxy behind the recoil lug. A little plasticene, JPW, mix mix mix, dab dab dab, squishhhhh, wipe wipe wipe and she's sitting in repose in the gun vise right now waiting for the chemical magic to finish happening. Action screws were snugged to about 20-inch-pounds, loosened to just zero, and retightened to three inch pounds.

Gear

[tomme boy]

Gear, have you ever tried the Q-Tip and WD-40 trick for cleaning up epoxy? Spray a q-tip with the WD-40 and while the epoxy is still soft, it wipes right up. You have to keep changing the tips, but it cleans up real nice.

[geargnasher]

Got it all detailed and put back together, WOO HOO! Now just to drag the gun vise out to the garage and check the crosshairs before final-torquing the scope rings.

After taking wifey to dinner I'll load some ammo so I can hopefully head to the range tomorrow.

Gear

[geargnasher]

Ack. Back from the frozen, arctic blast of a range. Not even going to post target pics, best five-shot group was about an inch and a half, worst over three inches. Same exact load as last go with the factory stock and a cheap 3x9 with a loose windage screw.

So, I don't know. Either the lube doesn't like 38 degrees, something's way off with the new stock and pillar bedding, the new T-36 is having problems, or the wind that blew the scope adjustment cover caps off the bench several times was affecting groups. I don't think the wind blasting hard from 1:00 is the issue here, I was getting vertical AND horizontal dispersion, just random. Could have done better with my revolver I bet, but I'd had enough of being cold.

I'll try it again on a better day with a different lube.

Gear

[runfiverun]

could be the bedding too.
i have seen it take 20-30 shots for a newly bedded rifle to settle down.

[btroj]

38 degrees and windy? In Texas? And you were outside?

Hard to say what happened. Lube could be an issue but I haven't ever seen a lube that shot poorly in cold after the barrel warmed a bit if that lube did well in warmer weather.

Sometimes I just decide it wasn't my day and move on to the next day.

As my wife puts it, sometimes you are the pigeon, sometimes you are the statue. You had a statue day.

[geargnasher]

The last group was in fact the best, it actually came in just over an inch, but it took two hours to get 30 rounds downrange due to a rather green and annoying RO at the range. Rather than observe the line and make assessments of those needing to check/post targets in groups to minimize cease-fire time, he stopped us for every single one, right on the spot. I managed to get off five un-interrupted shots during a particularly steady blow, but even that didn't heat the barrel. I could feel the cold wind blowing through the action from the muzzle with the bolt open, which it was most of the time. This was weird, usually when benching a long string at the range I'm pondering pouring a bottle of cold water through the bore every ten shots or so to keep it from blistering the finish on the fore-end.

I'll check action screw torque again. I actually set the scope up at the range and torqued everything to spec on the spot, I just couldn't get a good reading on it here at home. Ever try to level the crosshairs on a 36-power scope in a 14' room?

Gear

[tomme boy]

If you have a 1-piece base it is really easy. Take a set or two of feeler gauges and stack them under the scope at the flat of the center of the scope. Keep stacking or taking them out as you tighten down the scope rings. Perfect level every time. As long as the reticle was put in square anyway.

[Love Life]

Odd. It was 61 degrees with a 1-2 MPH half value wind here at 5,000 ft elevation. We need to swap weather and we'll both be shooting better!! Seriously, the Mirage has been brutal here.

[geargnasher]

Two-piece base, action screw holes not drilled exactly right per Savage Precision, and no flat places on the action to judge from. It was FUN getting the action bedded straight, the action screws aren't perfectly aligned, either. The scope bases are level with the stock, but the bolt raceways are off a few degrees. The other difficulty is the super-fine crosshairs. But I'll say that all was worth it the first time I lined up on a the 1/8" diamond in the middle of the 1" orange pasties at 100 yards, and didn't have to lug a spotting scope to the range.

I still need some Tacticool stock tape and a better rear bag, the bag I have is too wide at the base and too short so it's difficult to snuggle up to the buttstock from a bench.

Maybe what I need is a LRT bipod!

Gear

[Love Life]

I hate bipods, but they do come in handy. How is the clarity on that weaver?

[geargnasher]

Very good if you have time to get the focus fine-tuned. It's great on the bench but I'd want a side-focus if I were shooting prairie dogs with it. I could easily tell that the lube stains around the boolit holes were being very consistent from 100 yards, but I also noticed the sharpness fluctuating as the target backer (A piece of cardboard stapled to a pair of 1x2s stuck in a steel stand, the range standard) swayed toward and away from me a few inches in the wind. For less than $450 bucks I don't believe you'll beat it or even come close.

Gear

[alphapredator]

Any thing else going on with the 30 xcb?

[runfiverun]

waiting on the rifles and stuff, Tim still has to make a living.

[btroj]

waiting on the rifles and stuff, Tim still has to make a living.

Pretty much. We are back burner to making a living. Least we should be.