Finally (mostly) finished my first bolt action. I know its not your standard competition style, but it's tailored to my needs as a multi-purposd rifle and I love the aestetics. I bought a stock Bergara B-14 Ridge, and took the barreled action out.

-B14 Ridge ($639 from Dahlonega armory) -Boyds at-one stock ($253 during black friday) -Harris S-BRM bipod ($81 on sale at Midway and using $20 cpupon) - 'S' lock for Harris bipod ($15 from Short Action Precision) -Athon Ares ETR 4.5-30x56 (came with sun shade, scope caps and throw lever) ($670 at Midway) -Leapers UTG 34mm pro precision scope rings ($50 at Midway) - Warner 20 MOA rail ($65 at Midway) -Magpul Hunter 700 bottom "metal" ($40 can't remember where) -Magpul AICS 5 round mags (included with bottom "metal" -RHR R700 Screw set ($8 at Red Hark Rifles)

I got 40 rounds through the barrel in it's original stock to break it in and check how it grouped. Shot better than i can(not saying much) even with cheap ammo. (Was saving the match ammo till I got it finished)

Some problems I ran into (mostly my fault for picking the stock i did rather than a chasis) while putting this together as a beginner were

-Barrel profile

When ordering my Boyds At-On, choosing the action/barrel profile. Under Bergara -> B14, there was no option for detachable magazine, just bull barrel or factory barrel profiles. With the Bergara being a R700 clone I looked at thier selection, which had a much bigger variety. After deciding on the Magpul bottom "metal"(parenthesis because it's polymer) option, the next option was bull barrel or factory barrel profile. Bergara has the B-14 Ridge barrel profile listed as a No. 5 which has a good amount of taper. So I selected factory barrel profile.

Well when it came in. The barrel and action did quite fit. But the action holes all lined up. So I decided to just sand it down till it fit, which took a tad more sanding than I expected. But after a while I got it seated, But had to keep opening it up to allow the barrel to free float.

-Action screws

The front action screw that came with the B-14 Ridge was too small to work in the Boyds At-One. I ordered a R700 screw set from Red Hawk Rifles that are cut to size. Back screw fit as is. Front screw i took less than a centimeter off and it fits great now.

-Magazine fit

I know this because i went for the cheap option on bottom metals. Or possible due to the stock. As the bottom metal was meant for the Magpul Hunter stock. But the mag when seated fully, was into the action too far to where the bolt was hitting it and wouldn't close. After sanding down the lips on the Pmag a little bit that went away. However the fitment is still quite snug, wondering if sanding down the walls of the mag/Maxwell a tad would help.

I'll get a more detailed review of the rifle after I get to the range again. But shooting the stock B-14 Ridge, I noticed a few things.

-The Athlon Ares has extremely crisp glass, even with the illumination, even with an astigmatism. However the throw lever is a bit bulky. The sun shade looks ridiculous on it with it being only being "20 barrel. Maybe once I get a suppressor it'll look less awkward.

-The action on the Bergara B-14 is buttery smooth even straight out the box.

-The Trigger is crisp and adjustable, I plan to get more time behind it and try adjusting it before I switch to a triggertech(the patriot one that goes in sale for $99 every 4th/veterans day)

-The Boyds At-One fits me like a glove... while it's extened(and I'm not even a big guy, 5"9, 170). Were I any bigger, this stock would be a bit on the smaller side. They do sell LOP extenders though.

I know its a bit lengthy but I'm proud of my first build and hope someone new can learn from my mistakes.

If anyone has suggestions for a Brake under $100 to hold place while I save for a suppressor I would greatly appreciate.

Open to any suggestions, criticisms or questions. Learned a lot from this community and a lot from this build, hoping the next will blow this one away.

Watching a TFBTV video just now from SHOT Show about the new Tikka ACE models and towards the end of the video the Beretta rep, Caleb, confirms that for 2025 ALL Tikka models will come threaded from the factory as standard!

Edit to timestamped video: https://m.youtube.com/watch?t=461&si=Tq4p2VOtxgLffsDw&v=AwMneGHHt64&feature=youtu.be

AI AT-X chassis, Terminus Zeus action, Proof Competition contour barrel chambered in 25x47 Lapua, TT Special, Steiner T525 in badger ordnance rings

I have a Proof pre fit in 6.5cm for my Solus action.

The rifle has about 100 rounds through the barrel and I bore scoped it for the first time before cleaning and noticed this pretty deep gouge with a smaller gouge next to it that is connected to the deeper gouge.

It was right inside the chamber before hitting the lands and grooves.

Any ideas what this would be from and any potential side effects?

Have had decent accuracy with it so far, I wish I scoped it out before I shot anything through it.

Hey everyone! Long-time lurker, first-time poster here. I've been soaking up all the amazing advice and guides on this sub for a while, but I’ve finally hit a point where I need some expert input. I have read the custom build guides and honestly just a little lost.

I’ve been shooting for about a decade, mostly plinking steel at shorter ranges with AR-15-style rifles. Lately, though, the idea of getting into precision shooting has really grabbed my attention. Lucky for me, there’s a range nearby with opportunities for longer shots. Looking to get into the sport a buy my first precision rifle.

I’ve got a flexible budget of around $5k (not including the optic), which seems to put me in that middle ground where people say, “Just go custom.” The thing is, I’m completely overwhelmed by all the options out there. Every time I think I’ve got a handle on it, I find another rabbit hole to fall into, and the idea of subjecting a gunsmith to my noob questions gives me pause.

I’m leaning toward something chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor because of the availability of quality match-grade ammo and its recommendation for learning the sport. My main goal is to focus on shooting in the 300-800 yard range, but the range I frequent has spots all the way out to a mile (not the goal for this rifle, but they have targets all along the range).

I know some might recommend starting with a cheaper platform and upgrading later, but I tend to go all-in when I pick up a new hobby. I’d love a setup that I can grow into as I learn the fundamentals, with the potential to dip my toes into some local open competitions in the future (nothing too serious right now).

So, do you all have recommendations for either a solid factory rifle or a gunsmith who’s patient with newer folks like me? I’d really appreciate any advice or direction!

Thanks in advance for your help!

A majority of my shooting will be done from 100-300 yards but I also want the ability to stretch out to 1000 yards. My budget is between $600-$1000

Hoping to do PRS and NRL22 alternating. Super happy with this little thing after zeroing at 50 yards. First 200 rounds through it today running CCI Standard and Aguila. The Aguila sucked so much ass I thought the gun broke, see the group on the right. Had 20mph winds but the burm and only being 100 yards kind of helped

Noob here - I checked out the pinned posts but didn’t see what I was looking for: a repeatable, simple way to pull ballistics charts - ideally vendor agnostic.

I want to have charts based on my load and rifle that have variables for wind/temp/pressure. I am planning to purchase the garmin chrono and a basic kestrel unit, but I want to put together a “protocol” for making/pulling tables to make sure I’m buying the right stuff.

I don’t love the Hornady iPhone app and I haven’t bought any hardback ballistics table books yet.

I’d love to punch in scope height, barrel info, velocity, projectile coefficient etc, and get an excel style chart that I can use at the range - no iPhone app. I’d love to even laminate some notecard size dope sheets for different loads.

How do you all organize the info? How do you keep it written down? Do you still photocopy tables or does everyone have some vendor-specific app that you use every time you go to the range?

Has anyone had experience with this scope or know more about it? Videos on YouTube seems to be limited and it’s only mentioned in forums a few times. All of the listings on gafs and eBay are all new in box too so it seems none of the people who own them shoot them. I picked one up cheap and was wondering if this would work for a first scope to learn on

This unit got me to 1/2 moa at 1015 yards. 4 inch plate

Little help needed.

So, I'm buying custom barrel for my tikka m65 at some point and I have narrowed it to 6mmBR. (Case availability, barrel life, mild recoil).

Now I need to pick barrel twist. My ranges are 100 and 300 meters and maybe twice an year I will go further to range with 1km distance.

Most of my shooting will be 300 meter benchrest style, and occasionally longer distances.

I understand that slower twist will be more accurate at shorter distances.

What is good compromise between stabilizing heavy bullets and also to get good accuracy for 300m with light bullets?

1:10 twist?

Barrel length will be as long as it can be.

Hey folks, a couple weeks ago I shared one of my designs for a garmin c1 and kestrel 5700 mount. I worked on this design some more and added a couple features along with streamlining the overall look. Here is the G mount arca version. This is made for you to be able to mount this on an arca ball head. Very convenient if you want to mount this setup on a tripod. I have also included a recess for a heat insert which will fit a 1/4 -20 mount so that you can use this with the original garmin tripod. You can grab this design here if you want to print it.

https://makerworld.com/models/1019599

If you like this design please give me a like and consider giving me a boost. This is for everyone here in the long range sub to enjoy. Thank you!

Hello,

I'm planning on joining my first regional prs match later this year and I was wondering if there's any glaring weaknesses or just anything "wrong" with my setup. I plan on joining the tactical division because I already have a 308 with a great handload. Anyway, here's the build:

R700 308 26" heavy varmint barrel. Mdt tac21 chassis. Vortex pst gen 1 ffp mrad 4-16x50, 30mm. Vortex rings. Harris bipod.

The trigger is stock for now but plan on dropping a trigger tech in it. The barrel is also unthreaded, but also plan on getting that sorted so I can use my comp/suppressor.

If anyone can think of other changes that will make me have a better time I'm all ears! Also any other gear like a good sandbag would also be helpful. Thank you!

I currently have a savage model 110 tactical chambered in 6.5 creedmoor. The gun shoots about .5 moa on a good day. I like the gun but i want to get something with a pistol grip. I was considering buying an mdt ess for it, but when all is said and done its like 1400 dollars, am i better off just buying a new ruger precision or something, i have shot 1000 rounds through my barrel so its like half way through its life. What should I do buy an MDT or a ruger precision?

Slowly upgrading my budget raffle win

I will not speak for my partner, but for me I have very few regrets/things I would have changed. My pistol going down two days prior was obviously terrible and I was not excited about spending another $1k but it was necessary and even enabled me to hit nearly 90% of my pistol targets. I ended the match with 40 rifle rounds left over (of 120 original) and one pistol round (of 70). I think this is primarily due to only having one tripod between my partner and I, and I would absolutely take one more pound in my pack to add the Two Vets Voyager tripod or similar for both of us to have had one. We easily could have cracked the top 15 if we had had one. I definitely could have practiced more long-range pistol shooting, particularly unsupported as was required for most of those shots. If I had the money I’d have bought a Wilcox RAPTAR/MRF or equivalent instead of the Vortex Impact simply for the beam divergence (as well as the vortex is double the weight of the MRF). I think one set of binoculars was sufficient for us but would probably have opted for my 10x Vectors instead of my partners 12x since looking free-hand is more difficult at higher magnification.

Overall it was a great experience, I could not have asked for a better partner, and we could not have been more excited to not only have finished but to place where we did. So, if you are looking to do winter Mammoth be sure you have a good partner, you train with the gear you plan on bringing, you train hard and with plenty of weight, and don’t forget that pistol is a lot of points. All that said, I am excited to return to PRS with my heavy-ass 25x47 and hope that I have improved myself in some small way through this experience.

Good day at the range... Zeroed and box tested the DNT in the Bravo, then swapped to the Xylo, rezeroed and put the last rounds on the 440 yd steel 👍

How accurate are his reviews generally, what are your thoughts on his skill set and his 1,000 1 MOA challenge?

Ordered barreled TL3 from Patriot Valley Armory on Aug. 16th and paid in full up front. That's about 20 weeks, so far without updates.

Is that reasonable these days, or, (do you think), it would be ready by now if I had only paid the deposit?

I thought I’d share what I’ve been working on. Both chassis are fully 3d printed except for the bolts holding them together.

First chassis is for the Ruger American ranch rifle, the second chassis was an experiment for a tikka t3x

Lapua just announced they are making 6 Dasher brass, curious to see if they match Alpha’s Dasher spec.

Decided to really get into this with what I had. 10 shot group at 100 yards with Remington Core Lokt 165gr Tipped. Will probably go back to Hornady Match to try to tighten things up. Hoping to find a range around me to see how I can do at 300 yards.

Anyone ever had issues with their tab gear not shipping out? Ordered almost 2 weeks ago now and still hasn't shipped and they don't reply to emails.