6.5-284 LAPUA
This build took several directions in the beginning before we knew what it would become. Initially we looked for a Remington 700 Long action donor to build a 300 mag with. That donor came from a pawn shop in Florida off GunBroker.com.
A typo on the bolt order from PTG on our part, landed us with a bolt face for your standard .308 (.484") cartridge not the Mag size (.550") bolt face that we had wanted. We could have opened up the face to make it work. But instead thought we would put it aside and come up with a different build based off it.
The wheels were turning and visions of a .260 AI or something of the nature kept coming back around. A conversation with what would be our first client set this build in its final direction. They had always wanted a 6.5-284 and we were headed to Trinidad State for their Summer Gunsmith program. And needed a second rifle to build. Thus the 6.5-284 Lapua was born and parts and tooling were ordered.
The donor was stripped down, cleaned and sandblasted. The original bolt was sloppy and needed addressed. A over-sized reamer was used to open up the raceways to .715 to fit then new .713 bolt diameter ordered from PTG. I like to leave a little clearance, in this case .001" per side. This helps to allows the gun to function under field conditions. From here the lugs were hand lapped. and the action was ready for the lathe
*A note on the bolt. We choose a one piece bolt with a sako style extractor and a straight bolt handle. The bolt has large spiral cut flutes and is a thing of beauty.
GALLERY
Time wasn’t on our side and the parts required had to be “In Stock” no backorders. If you’ve built or had a custom gun built. You know that 6 months isn’t uncommon for a backordered item. Especially if its custom made to order.
We were lucky enough to find the Proof Research barrel we wanted at Stocky Stock’s. Right length, right twist, and IN STOCK! We choose a Proof barrel based purely off its weight savings. A typical 26” Steel Sendero contour weighs a heavy 6+ pounds. This Proof Weighed in at just 3 lbs 5 oz. A must for a gun that is meant to be packed on the shoulder all day.
First a mandrel was built for the action. Remember this action had been oversized so your standard Remington .700-.705 mandrel wouldn’t work. Once complete the mandrel can be chucked up between centers in the lathe and the action face can be squared to the raceways. We didn’t do a full blueprint on this action but its close.
With the action squared. Work began on the barrel. The tenion was cut to length and turned for diameter and then threaded. The bolt recess was measured and then bored. Flip the barrel around and muzzle work was accomplished. Parting and then threading for the brake. American Precision Arms supplied the brake in this case the Gen I "Little Bastard" with standard 5/8-24 thread in case a suppressor was wanted later. A quick 11 degree facing pass for the crown. Then the brake was clocked and turned down to blend to the barrel for a seamless match.
Again PTG was chosen. This time for the Chamber Reamer. Maybe you sense a pattern with PTG products? Dave Kiff puts out some incredible stuff. He offers several reamers for the 6.5-284. We choose one with a .299" neck diameter. This should keep us from having to turn necks and still allow for extreme precision. A Manson floating reamer holder was used for the chamber job.
Again because of weight a Manners stock was chosen. These stocks have a reputation for greatness and for good reason. I would just call it luck that Manners had a Remington 700 stock for sale in their online store. It was the color the customer wanted and specifically for our action, barrel contour and set up to run a Detachable Box Magazine (DBM) already.
Pillars were fitted, and the action was bedded. The DBM cutout was for a H&S Precision setup. But H&S had sold out and the site showed backordered for 3 months… Some research showed that their bottom metal was designed to fit the Standard Remington trigger guards with little to no fitting. A little more researched determined that PTG’s DBM with Polymer magazines was designed the same. We took a gamble and ordered one from PTG. Lo and behold it fit! An Atlas Bipod Adapter was fitted to the front of the stock. The Small picatinny rail allows for a QD style bipod and has a built in Quick Detach Sling Mount.
The Rifle was disassembled cleaned and ready for Cerakote. Armor Black was chosen and everything needing painting was sprayed and cured. And then finally reassembled.
LEUPOLD MARK 5HD 5-25 X 56MM
Well let’s just say you can’t shoot what you can’t see. A scope is a very important piece to any long-range rig. If you ask 100 people what the prefer you will get 100 different answers. In our case we choose Leupold. They are American based and built. Their customer service is second to none. And it only helped that they build a scope with the new Tremor 3 Reticle that we wanted so bad.
The reticle alone will scare most people away. People won’t admit that just because they don’t understand it, doesn’t mean it sucks. This reticle has a lot going on. But if you get down behind it and take the time to understanding it. You won’t own another fine duplex reticle or plain crosshair-style reticle again. Ever! Well at least for us. Todd Hodnett over at Accuracy 1st has us sold. He helped design this thing for Horus Vision. And we can’t wait to get down to his school to use it and learn more about it.
SCOPE RINGS & BASE
Badger Ordnance was chosen for the rail. And one was ordered specifically for a right-hand Remington 700 Long action, with 20 MOA built in and pre-drilled for oversized 8-40 mounting hardware. A good decision when you talk about running a 56mm scope. The Standard 6-48 screws just aren’t cut out for the job. To be honest I would run oversized screws with grandpa’s old $30.00 Tasco just the same….
American Defense Recon-SL holds everything down snug. It wasn’t easy finding a set of rings that were 35mm, QD, one-piece, 0 MOA, and not extended. But ADM had us in mind. The rings were lapped and the scope was ready for mounting.
