PRS rifle build. What would you do?

[Seth1913]

A buddy of mine got me into Rimfire PRS last year and I’ve shot the ultimate hunter course at Cameo during a long range class a couple of years back. Now I’m looking at building a centerfire setup for PRS.

I currently have a Ruger M77 mkii short action receiver with a magnum bolt that I could build of off. My main question is on what chambering to go with. I know the majority of people are running 6gts 6 Creedmoor, etc.. I’d like to avoid getting another action or bolt and was considering the following :

6.5 prc- factory support
6.5 saum - brass is available but that’s about it
25 prc- will need to neck down 6.5 brass but not a big deal
25 saum- same as 25 PRC.
Or any of the Sherman short tacticals- most expensive as far as dies and brass.

I’d really like a 257 cal setup but I haven’t really found any barrels in stock anywhere.

My other option is to find or trade my magnum bolt face for a standard bolt face and run a .243 win which I have brass and dies for already.

Also, I’m really just looking to have a fun gun to have around and not really be competitive.

 

[Judd]

The key in that game is to be able to manage recoil with a very accurate rifle. That’s why most of them are shooting 6br improved cartridges.

Your setup would be much more suited for an NRL game…with power factor helping you.

If you must stick with that action, I’d get the lightest recoil option you can get.

 

[schmidty3]

A buddy of mine got me into Rimfire PRS last year and I’ve shot the ultimate hunter course at Cameo during a long range class a couple of years back. Now I’m looking at building a centerfire setup for PRS.

I currently have a Ruger M77 mkii short action receiver with a magnum bolt that I could build of off. My main question is on what chambering to go with. I know the majority of people are running 6gts 6 Creedmoor, etc.. I’d like to avoid getting another action or bolt and was considering the following :

6.5 prc- factory support
6.5 saum - brass is available but that’s about it
25 prc- will need to neck down 6.5 brass but not a big deal
25 saum- same as 25 PRC.
Or any of the Sherman short tacticals- most expensive as far as dies and brass.

I’d really like a 257 cal setup but I haven’t really found any barrels in stock anywhere.

My other option is to find or trade my magnum bolt face for a standard bolt face and run a .243 win which I have brass and dies for already.

Also, I’m really just looking to have a fun gun to have around and not really be competitive.

You're gonna put so much money and effort into getting that thing viable for prs, and still find it lacking...

You're better off getting a whole new gun and leaving that one setup as a hunting gun.

You could probably have a great time with a tikka 223 in a krg bravo. I plopped my tikka ctr 6.5 creed in a chassis and its definitely not why I suck.

Point is, you could spend about $1500 ish and be prs viable.(less then you'd spend getting the ruger up to speed)

Concerns with the ruger.... chassis/stock. New bolt (popping 10-12 magnums off in sub 2 minutes doesnt sound conducive to success or barrel life). Trigger??? Aics mag compatibility?

 

[SloppyJ]

That rifle is going to be more trouble than it's worth. You need something with much more support from a parts perspective.

As a guy who ran two local matches to see if I liked it with my 18" 6 creed, if youre serious, make the investment in your rifle.

I went from an 8lb rifle, completely setup to a 23lb rifle with a 26" barrel and the difference was night and day. None of the cartridges you listed are going to be anywhere close to optimal. If you want a 25cal, go with a 25 creed. No one is shooting a magnum for multiple reasons but mainly recoil.

If I were starting over again, id strongly consider a 28" 6arc. I run my 6 creed pretty slow. Around 2850 with 115 dtacs. Your biggest hurdle with that action will be a stock or chassis. There are none.

Not sure what your budget is but I absolutely love my Foundation stock. Check them out.

 

[Seth1913]

MDT inlets the LDS gen3 for ruger M77 short actions that would be aics compatible. Also there’s PTG bottom metal available and I could have a gunsmith inlet a flattop stock for me. 20 MOA rails are available. My hunting rifle is a ruger tang safety set in a manners EH3 with a Bartlein 2b and was no more expensive to build than any other rifle. I know I’m an oddball as a Ruger fan and I guess I like to be different from everyone else. There’s very few CRF actions out there and custom ones are ridiculously expensive, at least the ones I’ve found.

My main goal is to just have a fun long range setup on an action I already have and shoot a couple of matches a year.

It does sound like I should get a different bolt face and run a more recoil friendly setup.

Thanks for the reply’s.

 

[Judd]

If you’re hung up on the CRF…one of the cheapest actions out there, price wise, a Zermatt Origin is CRF and arguably a much better mouse trap than an old Ruger.

Just depends on how competitive you’re wanting to be…

 

[coyotekilla]

While I love the idea of a 25 prc, I love my 25-06, they are not the ideal rifle for fast match shooting. Plus their barrel life is 1/3 what prs calibers usual are. Additionally while the selection is getting better, bullets are either tailored to 257bob, or crazy spendy for the high bc 25 cal stuff.

Id either do a 6mm or 6.5, likely a 6.5x47. Better barrel life, reasonable components, an established match cartridge for data.

By all means make your 25prc, just leave it for hunting.

 

[acochran]

You’d enjoy the .243 win you mentioned much more than a magnum. I would not spend any money putting together a magnum bolt face rifle for PRS. The low recoiling, extremely accurate BR, GT, etc type cartridges are the most fun rifles to shoot in my opinion.

 

[B Harrison]

I know this isn’t as much fun, but a Seekins PH3 in 6 CM or 25 CM or 6.5 PRC is likely going to be a 1/4 MOA rifle by the time you work out a hand load.

I just got some very low SD and sub 1/2” groups at 100 with factory ammunition

This is 2 factory groups fast fire off a single front bag.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[schmidty3]

While I love the idea of a 25 prc, I love my 25-06, they are not the ideal rifle for fast match shooting. Plus their barrel life is 1/3 what prs calibers usual are. Additionally while the selection is getting better, bullets are either tailored to 257bob, or crazy spendy for the high bc 25 cal stuff.

Id either do a 6mm or 6.5, likely a 6.5x47. Better barrel life, reasonable components, an established match cartridge for data.

By all means make your 25prc, just leave it for hunting.

My 25 prc is a monster! Ive got just shy of 400 rounds on it (aka, half dead). Thatd be 4 prs matches

Its done well at 2x 1 day NRLs. The most ive ever shot in a stage is probably 7 rounds. Usually just 4 or 5. In a prs context it might already be burnt .

Put a lot of work into it all for taking one shot on a mule deer (which went very well).

 

[schmidty3]

That rifle is going to be more trouble than it's worth. You need something with much more support from a parts perspective.

As a guy who ran two local matches to see if I liked it with my 18" 6 creed, if youre serious, make the investment in your rifle.

I went from an 8lb rifle, completely setup to a 23lb rifle with a 26" barrel and the difference was night and day. None of the cartridges you listed are going to be anywhere close to optimal. If you want a 25cal, go with a 25 creed. No one is shooting a magnum for multiple reasons but mainly recoil.

If I were starting over again, id strongly consider a 28" 6arc. I run my 6 creed pretty slow. Around 2850 with 115 dtacs. Your biggest hurdle with that action will be a stock or chassis. There are none.

Not sure what your budget is but I absolutely love my Foundation stock. Check them out.

Whats that 18" shoot the 115s?

 

[jzs0040]

If having fun and not being competitive is the going in argument, your bolt swap .243 option sounds best.

If magnum bolt face is truly non-negotiable, you could do any of those and load them down, but I'd do 6.5 PRC for easier acquisition of components.

I'd venture to guess if you enjoyed rimfire that you'll enjoy centerfire, and that you'll ultimately end up with a classic PRS gamer rig down the road so I'd just bite the bullet and build a gun for the task...but I have no problem spending other peoples money.

If you've never shot NRL hunter, that's pretty fun too and if you played your cards right, you could have a gun that allows you to make weight in NRL and still have a good time in PRS.

 

[Shortschaf]

I see no drawbacks to trading your bolt for a standard face and shooting 243 to start

Even if you decided to build a gamer rig right now, Id still do that to the M77

 

[SloppyJ]

Whats that 18" shoot the 115s?

I only got the 115s after the long barrel. I shot 108s at that match.