Sawtooth Rifles - Build #8: 7x57 Mauser - Light Weight Hunter
Updated field report at the bottom.
We volunteered to build this rifle for a deserving Veteran. Funds were donated by some great guys at the
24hourcampfire.com forums.
Spec's:
Action: Remington 700 LA
Barrel Blank: McGowan, 7mm, 1:9", Rem Mt. Rifle contour, finished at 22"
Stock: Bell and Carlson, reworked and painted by "Karnis"
Bottom Metal: Rem BDL Aluminum
Trigger: Tuned Remington
Rings/Bases: Talley Lightweight integral mounts.
Optic: Leupold VX-2 2-7x32
Finish, Metal: Sniper Grey Cerakote
Finish, Stock: OD Green Duracoat, by Karnis
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| Parts. And it begins. |
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| First issue, The talley bases/rings are a no go with the little Leupold on the long action. |
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| Next Issue. Fit of the PTG bottom metal on our stock is not that great. Some work on both parts may make this suitable. |
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| Rem bottom metal fit. Much better. | | | |
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| Receiver about to be re-machined. |
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| Blueprinted receiver, nice surfaces and threads cut true to the bolt's axis. |
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| Barrel blank on the lathe, not much to hold on to on this one and have enough sticking out to work with. |
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| A few minutes later, we have it turned down, threaded, and the pocket cut for the bolt nose along with boring out the first inch of the chamber to save time with the reamer. |
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| Reamer time. |
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| I wish this were only a few minutes later... but we finally have a chamber in there. |
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| Receiver snugged up, bolt closed, headspace gauge hiding in there. |
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| Finished on this end, remember me mentioning not having any extra length? I faced off so little on this one that the stamps are still showing. |
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| With the barrel and action together, we can finally see how it fits in the stock. We'll get to the crown after a bit... |
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| Just some minor inletting will be required just in front of the recoil lug |
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| Dialing in the bore on the muzzle end before cutting the crown. |
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| Crown cut. |
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| Lewis, making this one special. |
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| Baking rifle parts. Sniper Grey Cerakote |
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| Prepped for a bedding job. |
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| Epoxy added. Why is this part always scary?. |
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| Epoxy on the other half. |
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| Builds expensive rifles, still plays with play dough. |
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| Hopefully it comes back apart! |
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| Apart! That is always a releif. Just a little bit of cleaning up now. |
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| Ready for assembly. |
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| Engraving, by Lewis. |
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| All together. This is a sweetheart of a little rifle. |
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| 7x57 Mauser. |
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| Just under 7 lbs with an empty tank. |
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| Enjoying the sunshine. |
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| Close up of the colors. |
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| Two happy guys. |
Keywords: SR#8
An update from Brent's post about his first day out with the rifle:
Well I rounded up some ammo, found a good deal on some 139 grain factory
rounds. Finally had some free time so I escaped up to the mountains to
do some shooting. Got it on paper at 25, then moved out to 130 yds and
shot this group.
Just under .9" at 130 yds! Spent the rest of the time banging steel at
various distances. Suffice to say I LOVE this rifle, its a joy to shoot
and handles great. Think it's gonna see alot of use hunting in the
future! A very sincere thanks and gratitude to everyone who helped this
happen!
