Snowy Mountain Rifle Build with Tony Trietch

[robby denning]

Hey Roksliders,
please welcome our new sponsor, Snowy Mountain Rifles.

Ryan Avery, our own Yoda of Long Range, vetted and worked with them to make sure they were a good match for our crowd. They are and I've worked with our staff to make sure we can get one of their guns in the field on a Rokslide style hunt (more on that below). Paul Donaldson of Snowy Mountain sent me over a quick bit on their company:

"Snowy Mountain Rifles Co. was founded in missoula, MT 10 years ago with the idea of building the most accurate and reliable precision bolt rifles on the market. A lot has changed in 10 years but our mission remains and the same. We cover the full spectrum of precision bolt rifles, everything from light weight backpack rifles which our still capable of great accuracy to 1,200 yards (and farther) up to calibers like the 375 Cheytac for extreme distance shooters. We cover the hunter, match shooter, bench rest shooter and extreme distance shooter and do it all under one roof. We also do custom gun smithing on any rifles you might be looking to improve and can top it all off with over 7 years of custom in house cerakote experience."

Our own Tony Trietch just found out he drew a good Wyoming bull tag so he worked with Paul to get rolling on a rifle build Tony will be taking on that hunt. Tony will be detailing that build from now and through the hunt, right here on this thread. Be sure and subscribe at "Thread Tools" top of this post to follow the project and get to know Snowy Mountain Rifles and all they offer.

(P.S. Snowy Mountain will be launching a new website in about 4 weeks and will be coming out with a mid-year launch of new rifle models for 2018 and 2019)

 

[Tony Trietch]

I am excited about this!

Paul @ Snowy Mountain Rifles and I will do our best to detail the build of this custom. Once it is in my hands, I will share my experience with it this summer and leading into the fall hunt. There is already one tag in my pocket that is firearm only and more draw results yet to come.

I applied for this WY elk tag not only because of the unit and herd but the dates that it takes place. With a handful of CO elk points that I plan on dumping on an archery tag, I already know I will have a FULL late August and September and wanted a tag that would not conflict with my CO hunts. This Wyoming unit is not a General unit and with the limited tag holders, I hope to find a better age class bull.

Paul and Jason @ SMR will be putting together a rifle that fits the type of hunter I am, a backpack solo hunter; A custom gun that shoots lights out, is relatively light weight, is super durable and weather resistant. Not to mention, the highest level of hand crafted quality.
With Paul's direction, we have settled on 28 Nosler for the caliber.

Scope is still in the air but we are looking at what is out there.

Did I mention, I am excited about this?

 

[mt100gr.]

Good to see another quality builder sponsor.

Can you give us an idea of what you are expecting from this rifle for the "type of hunter" you are.
Weight? Length? Brake? Expected effective range for a solo hunter?

I also curious to hear what SMR suggested to win you over on the 28 for an elk hunt. I know Yoda-LR wouldn't have gone that route.

Thanks for the info.

 

[Tony Trietch]

Good to see another quality builder sponsor.

Can you give us an idea of what you are expecting from this rifle for the "type of hunter" you are.
Weight? Length? Brake? Expected effective range for a solo hunter?

I also curious to hear what SMR suggested to win you over on the 28 for an elk hunt. I know Yoda-LR wouldn't have gone that route.

Thanks for the info.

What I meant by that is I don't want a bench weight rifle. Something in the 7-7.5lb range is what Paul says is doable while still maintaining the ability to be accurate at longer ranges.

Barrel length is unknown to me, maybe Paul has an idea what length of barrel he has in mind. To me, length is not a huge factor, it's not going to be a brush gun.

I did ask for a brake to be installed. I most likely will be alone for most of my shooting this summer and during the hunts so I figured it would help me stay on target better than no brake and therefore see what corrections are needed.

As for the rifles effective range, I expect that I will be the weakest link in determining that. The rifle and I will have plenty of time together to figure that out.

I will leave it Paul to expand on the performance of the 28.

 

[2five7]

Was this rifle at the Hunt Expo last month? Looks familiar, if it's the same one I'm thinking of, it was impressive in person!

 

[mt100gr.]

Thanks for the response. That covers most of what I was wondering. I too, do most of my shooting alone but usually have a spotter or I am the spotter when hunting. I was also curious as to your comfort level for longer shots at animals when solo - and I realize that comes down to being able to spot your own shots (every shot).

It's definitely a challenge I try to rehearse - getting everything set up for solo long shots. From gear layout to stable position, range, ear pro, range, dope, wind, range, dope....

Anyway, sounds like a fun build. What barrels do SMR like?

 

[wytx]

PM sent Tony.

 

[Tony Trietch]

Thanks for the response. That covers most of what I was wondering. I too, do most of my shooting alone but usually have a spotter or I am the spotter when hunting. I was also curious as to your comfort level for longer shots at animals when solo - and I realize that comes down to being able to spot your own shots (every shot).

It's definitely a challenge I try to rehearse - getting everything set up for solo long shots. From gear layout to stable position, range, ear pro, range, dope, wind, range, dope....

Anyway, sounds like a fun build. What barrels do SMR like?

Like with any weapon, the time and practice I spend with this rifle will show me what my effective range is with it.

The barrel will be Proof Research



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Snowy Mountain Rifles]

mt100gr.

The rifle we are building for Tony is built around him being a solo backpack hunter but still with all the capabilities to shoot 1,500 yards+ with great accuracy. Weight should be just sub 8 pounds, 22-24" barrel, we build our own custom muzzle breaks in house. Effective range of this rifle with that weight and being chambered in 28 Nosler will be 1,500 yards+ when you start talking about effective distance this will be greatly determined by the shooter and the optic you choose to run on a rifle. We chose the 28 Nosler for Tony because of its superior ballistics with less recoil compared to other calibers in the same ballistic category.

 

[Snowy Mountain Rifles]

Was this rifle at the Hunt Expo last month? Looks familiar, if it's the same one I'm thinking of, it was impressive in person!

The pictures that have currently been posted on here is a rifle we had at the expo. More pictures to come of other builds and Tony's personal build will be posted.

 

[mt100gr.]

mt100gr.

The rifle we are building for Tony is built around him being a solo backpack hunter but still with all the capabilities to shoot 1,500 yards+ with great accuracy. Weight should be just sub 8 pounds, 22-24" barrel, we build our own custom muzzle breaks in house. Effective range of this rifle with that weight and being chambered in 28 Nosler will be 1,500 yards+ when you start talking about effective distance this will be greatly determined by the shooter and the optic you choose to run on a rifle. We chose the 28 Nosler for Tony because of its superior ballistics with less recoil compared to other calibers in the same ballistic category.

Interesting. Thanks.

I am looking forward to following along.

 

[deadwolf]

I’ll tag along, who doesn’t love a rifle build thread?!


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[6mm Remington]

I live in Missoula where SMR is located. I know the folks who work there and they are good people who have a real passion for hunting and shooting. I have never fired one of their rifles but in looking them over and handling them, they appear to be very well made. I'll be watching to see how this new 28 Nosler shoots. Man a 160 gr. Nosler Accubond sure would be sweet in that thing.

 

[Tony Trietch]

I live in Missoula where SMR is located. I know the folks who work there and they are good people who have a real passion for hunting and shooting. I have never fired one of their rifles but in looking them over and handling them, they appear to be very well made. I'll be watching to see how this new 28 Nosler shoots. Man a 160 gr. Nosler Accubond sure would be sweet in that thing.

We will have to see what the rifle likes but Paul @ SMR mentioned they have had great luck with heavier bullet. I don't want to speak for him, as he wants to work up the load before it leaves his doors.

 

[Schnee's]

Love SMR. First had them work on one of my rifles almost 9yrs ago. Great guys and fantastic work!

Matt

 

[Tony Trietch]

Love SMR. First had them work on one of my rifles almost 9yrs ago. Great guys and fantastic work!

Matt

My dealing with them so far have been great as well. I am getting more and more pumped to get rifle!

 

[mtmuley]

I see SMR has opened a shop in Hamilton. Do they offer full service smithing and rifle building there? mtmuley

 

[Tony Trietch]

I think I know the answer.
They plan on having a full time gunsmith there soon but right now it’s drop off location for the Missoula location.
I think it’s where their cerakote and powder cote facilities are.
Not 100% sure but I think that’s the scoop.


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[mtmuley]

Thanks. Think I'll stop in. mtmuley

 

[Tony Trietch]

Just an update here as the rifle is still in the build process, I have chose the Conquest V6 3-18x50 | ZEISS United States as the scope for the SMR rifle project.
These are new this year and I will be reviewing the Zeiss as well.
The hardest part is waiting for the build to be completed!