cal30_sniper
Lil-Rokslider
Wasn’t sure which forum this was best suited for, so I figured I would try here. I’m guessing the weight would get me made fun of on the lightweight forum, and the lack of antlers would get me poked at in the elk forum, but I’m excited to wrap up my first build with a kill and wanted to post some details!
The rifle:
-Defiance AnTi Long action Standard bolt
-Proof Research 24” Carbon Fiber 7mm Rem Mag Defiance Ruckus prefit (headspaced perfectly on the AnTi even though the stampings ended up clocked at 6 o’clock)
-Mesa Precision stock
-Timney Elite Hunter Rem 700 trigger
-Hawkins Oberndorf bottom metal
-Talley 30mm low rings w/ bubble level
-Leica Amplus 6 2.5-15x50mm scope
-Lantac KeyMod brake
-Sandman S suppressor (will eventually get a hellfire and TBAC Ultra 7 once it ever clears tax stamp jail)
-Spartan bipod and mount
-Cerakote by Roman Arms to match the stock
I’ve built a ton of ARs, but this was my first bolt action. I bought a Viper barrel vise and the Defiance action wrench, as well as some headspacing gauges as I was leery of Proof listing this barrel as only a prefit for the Ruckus action. Everything went together very smoothly, and overall I’m extremely pleased with the result. Once my TBAC gets out of jail, I’ll be swapping the brake for an Area 419 Hellfire setup, but the Sandman worked great for its first hunt. I’m having feeding issues with the magazine, but I’d imagine I’ll get it worked out with the proper box/spring/follower combo. I went with a Redhawk kit, but may just need to try a factory Rem 700 belted Mag magazine internals.
Finished result:
Weight details (8.2lbs)
Sighting in with several different loads, all consistently holding 1MOA 5-shot groups. This is my final sighting group at 300yds with Nosler Trophy Grade 160gr Accubond. It measures 1.1MOA with the called flyer included (I called it real-time, it was 30degrees out with a 15mph headwind, and I was shivering a bit). The loads were chronoing right at 2900fps with my LabRadar. I bumped the scope down 0.4Mils after this group and reset the zero on the turret, which gives a true 300yd zero with that load at 6500’ elevation.
Two days later, it was packed and on the road to Colorado for a cow elk hunt.
Glamour shot from my glassing ridge the evening before season opening:
Demonstration of the camo pattern in action (and a shot of my ‘tard card):
The next morning I was up and moving before dawn. Got into heavy elk sign, and blew out several onesy-twosey groups of cows trying to get to my glassing location. I also watched a nice pair of bulls from several hundred yards out as they got ready to bed down. I finally made it to where I wanted to be at around 11am, started glassing, and immediately picked out a bedded cow two ridges over at 509yds. I made my dope changes and settled in for the shot, but there was a dead log/branch that forked right over the vitals and I wasn’t confident I could snake it through the opening without clipping the branch. I also couldn’t tell how much distance there was between the branch and the cow from that range, and elected not to take the shot.
I shucked my pack, jacket, and other non-essentials, and dropped off the ridge to stalk in closer (blowing out another cow cross-canyon on a ridge 90 degrees to my right in the process). Undeterred, I closed the gap to the intervening ridge and popped up right where I had wanted to. From the closer ridge, I now had a 330yd shot, and the offending branch had moved about 6” aft on the body, opening up just the window I needed. From this angle, the cow was bedded and quartering 30-40 degrees away. I rechecked my zero, settled the crosshairs at the aft third of the rib cage, and lit off an Accubond.
With the suppressor, I clearly heard the thwack of a solid impact. I was back in the glass in time to see the cow jump up, bolt straight into a tree, and topple over stone dead. After that, it was 30 minutes to retrieve my gear and cross the canyon back to the kill, 3 hours to skin and quarter, and I got the first load back to the truck an hour or so after dark. Bullet performance was great, smashing the liver and both lungs before exiting just below the spine and an inch or two aft of the opposite shoulder. The next day took 3 more trips to get the rest for twelve ground miles of total packing.
A day of driving home, and my first elk is in the books!
Ridge from where I first glassed her. She was bedded two ridges away, through the V-notch in the intervening ridge. I moved to and shot from the intervening ridge:
A camp full of meat!
The rifle:
-Defiance AnTi Long action Standard bolt
-Proof Research 24” Carbon Fiber 7mm Rem Mag Defiance Ruckus prefit (headspaced perfectly on the AnTi even though the stampings ended up clocked at 6 o’clock)
-Mesa Precision stock
-Timney Elite Hunter Rem 700 trigger
-Hawkins Oberndorf bottom metal
-Talley 30mm low rings w/ bubble level
-Leica Amplus 6 2.5-15x50mm scope
-Lantac KeyMod brake
-Sandman S suppressor (will eventually get a hellfire and TBAC Ultra 7 once it ever clears tax stamp jail)
-Spartan bipod and mount
-Cerakote by Roman Arms to match the stock
I’ve built a ton of ARs, but this was my first bolt action. I bought a Viper barrel vise and the Defiance action wrench, as well as some headspacing gauges as I was leery of Proof listing this barrel as only a prefit for the Ruckus action. Everything went together very smoothly, and overall I’m extremely pleased with the result. Once my TBAC gets out of jail, I’ll be swapping the brake for an Area 419 Hellfire setup, but the Sandman worked great for its first hunt. I’m having feeding issues with the magazine, but I’d imagine I’ll get it worked out with the proper box/spring/follower combo. I went with a Redhawk kit, but may just need to try a factory Rem 700 belted Mag magazine internals.
Finished result:
Weight details (8.2lbs)
Sighting in with several different loads, all consistently holding 1MOA 5-shot groups. This is my final sighting group at 300yds with Nosler Trophy Grade 160gr Accubond. It measures 1.1MOA with the called flyer included (I called it real-time, it was 30degrees out with a 15mph headwind, and I was shivering a bit). The loads were chronoing right at 2900fps with my LabRadar. I bumped the scope down 0.4Mils after this group and reset the zero on the turret, which gives a true 300yd zero with that load at 6500’ elevation.
Two days later, it was packed and on the road to Colorado for a cow elk hunt.
Glamour shot from my glassing ridge the evening before season opening:
Demonstration of the camo pattern in action (and a shot of my ‘tard card):
The next morning I was up and moving before dawn. Got into heavy elk sign, and blew out several onesy-twosey groups of cows trying to get to my glassing location. I also watched a nice pair of bulls from several hundred yards out as they got ready to bed down. I finally made it to where I wanted to be at around 11am, started glassing, and immediately picked out a bedded cow two ridges over at 509yds. I made my dope changes and settled in for the shot, but there was a dead log/branch that forked right over the vitals and I wasn’t confident I could snake it through the opening without clipping the branch. I also couldn’t tell how much distance there was between the branch and the cow from that range, and elected not to take the shot.
I shucked my pack, jacket, and other non-essentials, and dropped off the ridge to stalk in closer (blowing out another cow cross-canyon on a ridge 90 degrees to my right in the process). Undeterred, I closed the gap to the intervening ridge and popped up right where I had wanted to. From the closer ridge, I now had a 330yd shot, and the offending branch had moved about 6” aft on the body, opening up just the window I needed. From this angle, the cow was bedded and quartering 30-40 degrees away. I rechecked my zero, settled the crosshairs at the aft third of the rib cage, and lit off an Accubond.
With the suppressor, I clearly heard the thwack of a solid impact. I was back in the glass in time to see the cow jump up, bolt straight into a tree, and topple over stone dead. After that, it was 30 minutes to retrieve my gear and cross the canyon back to the kill, 3 hours to skin and quarter, and I got the first load back to the truck an hour or so after dark. Bullet performance was great, smashing the liver and both lungs before exiting just below the spine and an inch or two aft of the opposite shoulder. The next day took 3 more trips to get the rest for twelve ground miles of total packing.
A day of driving home, and my first elk is in the books!
Ridge from where I first glassed her. She was bedded two ridges away, through the V-notch in the intervening ridge. I moved to and shot from the intervening ridge:
A camp full of meat!
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