What after market action?

[dse]

Thinking about building another rifle. I want a prairie dog rig that will be good to 6 to 700 yds. I want this to be the most accurate rifle I own, a true one hole rifle. I'm also looking for little to no recoil, excellent barrel life, and mild muzzle blast.

I've got a good idea on most of the components I'm going to use, but I don't know anything about aftermarket actions. So far I'm looking at the Defiance Deviant Tactical, but all i know is what I read on their site. Anyone with any experience with this action?

The caliber I'm not completely dead set on yet but the two I'm looking at are the 222 rem, or the 22 PPC USA.

On the barrel I'm thinking a 26" Krieger 8 twist in a REM varmint contour.

The stock will either be a Manners MCS T4A

or a McMillan A5.

I'll finish it up with a Timney trigger a Swaroviski Z6 5-30 and an Atlas bipod.

Any advice would be appreciated on the action & stock.

[Allforelk]

Why .224 for 600 yards?

[dse]

Light recoil and muzzle blast, I want to be able to call my own hits in the scope,and I don't care for brakes.

[muledeerarea33?]

If choose something in the 6mm class. Light enough for prairie dogs and heavy enough for deer.as far as aftermarket actions go I'm not sure? I've thought of going that route for the sexiness of it but it's really not needed since a factory action can perform or out perform the nice aftermarket ones. I'm sure any aftermarket action you choose with a built in rail will be good.

[Couzer]

I have a model 7 action I need to sell, NIB, pm if interested

[DesertBull]

IMO, the barrel and the gunsmith that cuts the chamber are more important to accuracy than the MFG of action. The money saved on the action can be put toward glass.

 

If money is no object then BAT and Sturgeon are highly regarded custom actions.

 

700 yard PD hunt sounds like a big fun.

[dse]

If choose something in the 6mm class. Light enough for prairie dogs and heavy enough for deer.as far as aftermarket actions go I'm not sure? I've thought of going that route for the sexiness of it but it's really not needed since a factory action can perform or out perform the nice aftermarket ones. I'm sure any aftermarket action you choose with a built in rail will be good.

 

Don't really need it to be deer rifle already have 22-250 Ai,243wssm,25-06,257wby,6.5x55 Swed,6.5-300wby,a couple 270wsm's,30-06Ai,and a 300rum for backup deer rifles.

When I go for some prairie dog action 600 rnd days aren't uncommon so looking for another rifle that's easy on powder, barrel, ears,shoulder, and just plain fun to shoot. Some times I go by myself so being able to call my own shots would be a plus.

[dse]

Appreciate the offer Vowell but already have a couple rem 700 short actions laying around.

Thanks for the info Desert Bull I'll look into those actions. 700 yd pd action is a hoot when you get into a good town.

[cjl2010]

600 rounds!!! That sounds awesome

[azslim]

don't about the action, but I've got a Ruger Mod 77 from 1971 in .220swift that has tipped things over from a long ways off for many years, I load 60 gr bullets because they seem to buck the wind a little better at long distances

[Hoss50]

You already have a 22-250 so it sounds like you are set.

 

A medium to heavy weight 22-250 wont have much kick.

[PRDATR]

Sounds like a fun build, for me I would choose the PPC with a 1/12 twist.

[goatsie]

I really like the bighorn action, they just came out with the T3 which looks to be pretty slick. Budget I would go with a Tikka. I have had a couple of rifle builds on defiance actions and they are excellent. Once you get into custom actions, my opinion is all of the tolerances are near identical, so at that point it is more about features and feel.

[Big or Bust]

I'd consider a .204 Ruger twisted fast for 40's through 55's....

 

Meets all your requirements...

[dse]

Eargesplitten Loudenboomer doesn't sound very low muzzle blast Lance lol! I considered the 22 dasher, 220 Swift Ackley, and the 22-6mm Ackley when I built the 22-250 Ackley. The 22-250Ai is a touch over 12 lbs and shooting low .2's with an 80 gr Berger Vld @ 3420 fps. Yes it's pretty recoil friendly but it's still pretty tough to watch the bullet strike in the scope. My fire forming load is a 53gr V-Max @3500 fps (22 PPC velocity). This load is crazy fun! Smacked a Coyote at 350 yds a couple weeks ago, and man I love the sound the V-Max makes when thumping song dogs.

My first varmint rifle was a Savage 340B in 222 rem. Bought it at a yard sale in pieces for 100 bucks. The original stock was missing, but had a blank wood stock that someone had begun to inlet. It was missing a spring for the ejector & had no magazine. Stopped by my gunsmith friends house on the way home and he made the spring for the ejector and ordered a five Rd magazine. I went home and took my dremel and some sandpaper and finished the inlet. Finished I had under $200 into it with a cheap tasco 6-24x50 scope. Loaded up some 50 gr Moly V-Max and away I went. To this day the best 100 yd 3 shot group I have ever fired came from this setup, measured around .02". Now it's sitting at around 15000 Rds that I've put through it, god only knows how many before I had it. The extractor won't pull the cases any more, the safety doesn't click anymore when pushed to fire, and everything on it is loose. It still shoots better than my rem 700 223 that has less than 200 Rds through it.

The 222 rem set most of the bench rest records in the 50's & 60's. A few still stand I believe but most have since been beat by the PPC & BR lines.

An added bonus to the 222 is a pound of powder will load around 350 cases.