To follow the entire series on my custom rifle build, click here. (The most recent will at the top of the page.)
My Big Horn Arms Tactical action arrived awhile back. I ordered it from Trigger Time Gun Club in Longmont, CO. They had great customer service. I had talked to AJ at Big Horn Arms, and he let me know Trigger Time had one on the shelf. (This fact ensured I had almost no delay for this part of my build.)
When I hold this action and run the bolt – it is solid. Clearly a fine piece of workmanship.
As for the rest of my rifle…. Still waiting on parts. I have talked to Kay at McMillian, she says it will be another four weeks until my stock is complete. My Kreiger barrel is not due to ship until December. I haven’t even ordered my bottom medal or trigger yet, I guess I will do that in the next couple weeks. (I understand there is no delay on those items.)
My new worry is that I plan on using 115 DTEC bullets in my 6XC round and apparently, 115 DTECs are out of stock everywhere. Once all my parts are in, I plan on taking them to Robert Gradous personally so I can meet him. If I have time – and depending on his schedule, I may even take his rifle building class. Anyway, I will not need the 115s anytime soon – but I am going to start buying them when I find them.
To follow the entire series on my custom rifle build, click here. (The most recent will at the top of the page.)
I cannot believe some of the conversations I have had with some of the most respected men in the world of tactical rifles in the last few days. I was telling $$$, my rifle mentor, about one of them today and I realized that this had been his master plan all along. I had a “Karate Kid” moment. You know, when you realized everything you have done, all the hard work you have put in a particular direction that was complicated, or someone else could have done for you brought you to a moment where you see the “why” of the work and where you are headed.
I have made no secret of the fact that I am a novice in the world of tactical shooting – and no matter what I am about to say, that definitely will be true for a long time to come. But, there is no way even six months ago that I could have had the conversations I am capable of having now. The knowledge I have gained has opened a whole new world to me and I am starving to learn more!
Every time I ask $$$ what I should do about my action, barrel, stock, etc. he tells me something like, “Well, if it were me, I would call McMillan.” “If it were me, I would call your gunsmith [Robert Gradous].” “If it were me, I would call AJ at Big Horn Arms.” I think you get the picture. The thing is, I do not want to sound like a silly girl to these experts, so before I would call them, I would read and read and read and try to figure out what they might say, or what all the options were, so I would be able to ask intelligent questions. I am sure they could all see right through my lack of knowledge – but everyone I spoke to was amazingly nice, and helpful in a way I do not see in other industries that often.
I ended up talking to AJ Goddard from Big Horn Arms at length last evening. I did decide to get a Big Horn Action, and he was helping me get the right info that McMillan needed for my stock. The conversation ended up drifting to a random tactical rifle discussion where I explained to him what my plans were for my rifle, the overall details of my custom rifle build, even the pros and cons of Accuracy International production rifles vs custom rifles, etc. What a super nice guy!
When I hung up the phone I could not believe I had sat on my back patio as the sun set in California, just casually chatting about the world of tactical rifles with someone like AJ. When I told $$$ about this conversation, he told me, “I could have ordered all your parts for you, but you would not have learned everything you have and you would not appreciate everything that goes into this.” It had been his master plan all along.
I might have to start calling him Mr. Miagi! (As long as he does not call me Daniel-Son.)
To follow the entire series on my custom rifle build, click here. (The most recent will at the top of the page.)
Yesterday morning, I called Robert Gradous, a very well known and respected gunsmith. He is known for building tactical and hunting rifles and comes highly recommended in many circles as one of the best. I have done a great deal of research and was to a point where I needed some expert advice to make any further decisions. As dialed his business number, and as I heard his phone begin to ring I felt nervous. Who am I to think I am going to call such an expert and hold a conversation about rifles. After all, he is a master in his craft, and I am practically a complete novice.
“Hello?” He said. So, I replied, “Hello, my name is “Lil Chantilly” (names changed to protect the innocent.) Suddenly, he was a little grumpy, and asked the purpose of my call (he thought I was a telemarketer because he had been getting too many sales calls before mine.) I was thinking, this is going to be harder than I thought. I replied, a little quieter than I planned, “I want to talk to you about building a rifle.” Suddenly, his voice lightened and warmed and he quickly apologized for being rough at the beginning of the call. From that point on we had a fantastic conversation – all about my new custom rifle. At one point during the very beginning of the conversation, he even said, “Well, I’m not an expert, but…” This made me smile, he was very humble and he put me at ease.
I let him know that I want to build a rifle suited for me, one that I am going to practice high powered tactical shooting out to at least 1200 yards. Also, I would like to use it for competition in tactical matches, eventually.
He asked me a few more questions about the components I would choose:
What action am I going to use?My answer: Surgeon or Big Horn Arms tactical short action. Mr. Gradous said he had built rifles with both kinds of actions, and thought either would be fine. He preferred the Surgeon Actions, he thought it was more solid, had better repeatability, etc. UPDATE: See the article I wrote comparing the two actions here.
What type of stock?My Answer: McMillian. We discussed the A5 and A3. I let him know that I had used a rifle with an A5 stock in the past, but after some research thought that the A3 might be better. He said he had an A5 available and offered to weigh it for me so we could base part of the discussion on weight.
Did I want the ammo to feed from a 10 round magazine?My answer: Yes 5 or 10 rounds. This was important if I want the rifle to feed from a magazine rather than become a single feed – so we could talk about bottom metal.
What size bullet and type of cartridge?My answer: I let him know I had narrowed it down to a 6mm (243 or 6XC) or 6.5mm (260). This was one of the best parts of the conversation. He made me giggle – and I decided I really liked him. He started talking about how some men building rifles get a little too much testosterone, and think they need .338s, when out to 1200 yards a 6mm will be just as accurate. He gave me his opinion on the cartridges I mentioned. He said the 243 accuracy would drop off around 900-1200 rounds. He said the 6XC would possibly be good up to 3000 rounds, but I should definitely use the 6mm 115 DTEC bullet and seat it just above the powder. He said a 6XC will be accurate to 1/2 MOA every single time.
He finally got to a question I had no idea about, he asked what barrel contour was I looking at?My answer: I have no idea – I seriously did not know. He gave me more homework: To research a Remington Sendero contour. I found a chart that compares various contours. I linked it here. I also need to research ”Marksmanship Training Unit (MTU) Contour”, although in the reading I have done since the conversation yesterday, there is a lot of talk about MTU contoured rifles being impractical due to weight.
What type of barrel?Krieger or Bartlein? My answer: I have not decided. We discussed that either one would be a great choice. He did recommend fluting the barrel, and said I would save about 1/2lb on weight that way.
What type of bipod?My answer: I had not settled on one yet. Some options are Atlas and Harris. He did ask me if I had seen a “Henry Rempel” ski-bipod, and I had not. So, he gave me homework to do – research this option. I have discovered this bipod is popular for F-Class competitions. He said it is the closest thing to bench rest stability in a prone position. He said it will raise the barrel 3″-12″ off the ground, and you can also cant the barrel and lock the bipod in place. This is definitely one heck of a bipod!
Did I plan on using an adjustable cheek piece?My answer: yes. ”Ok” he said, “This is where a lot of weight comes from .”
I did discuss the timeline of this project, and he again had me smiling. He said (regarding schedule), “All gunsmiths lie.” He went on to explain that he is a one man shop and that he works on what he feel like when he wakes up that morning. I chuckled, and just told him that was completely fair, and that I had time. As the conversation grew to a close, I forgot I had been nervous to call – my mood had morphed into near elation. This is so exciting!
I have never built a rifle for a girl, so this will be a first.
“I have never built a rifle for a girl, so this will be a first.” He said that without judgement, without bias – just fact. That did surprise me, and I caught my breath. I did not have anything to say to that except that I was thrilled at the prospect and I was very grateful for the time he spent discussing all these details. With that, we ended the call and I went to work researching the things I did not understand so I could further develop my plan.
Sometimes I cannot believe my good fortune. In this video I am only shooting about 250 yards (with a 223), but the best part of this day was the Rifle I had the privilege of using. It is completely a custom setup and listed below are some attributes:
Caliber = .284 Winchester
Bullet = 7mm 162grain Hornaday A-Max
Krieger 28″ barrel with a 1 in 9″ twist rate
Mcmillian A5 Stock
Remington action trued by Mark Penrod
Rifle completely built by Mark Penrod
Scope: Leupold Mk4 8.5-25x50mm with M5 Turrets
You can see it in the foreground in the below picture:
Everything about this firearm is perfect, just perfect. No, it is not mine, but belongs to one of the smart guys who take time out of their day to teach me more about guns from time to time. I consider it a work of art. Can a girl fall in love with a Long Range Tactical Rifle?
