Custom Rifles of Great Britain E-Book

Bruce Potts

• Herausgeber: Crowood
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 375

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

If you are contemplating buying a custom rifle, or if you already own one and wish to make further modifications, then this is the book for you. Bruce Potts takes you on the journey of choosing, building, owning and shooting a custom rifle. The three major types of custom rifle are covered: the factory custom (special or limited editions); the semi-custom (a factory rifle that is customized by the addition of upgraded parts requested by the owner); and the full-blown custom (a complete rifle designed in accordance with the customer's specific requirements and utilizing the very best precision parts and the highest quality materials to produce a unique rifle). On a chapter-by-chapter basis each of the constituent parts of the custom rifle is considered and the reader is made fully aware of all of the choices that have to be made, and the issues involved. Bruce Potts has been lucky enough to meet some of the best custom rifle makers in Britain and test many of their rifles, and this book showcases their work and demonstrates what is available to the Britiish shooter. Aimed at all those shooters who are interested in customizing a part, or several parts, of their rifles, or who would like information regarding the purchase of a new, compeltely customized rifle, and superbly illustrated with nearly 400 colour photographs.

Leseprobe

Custom Rifles

OF GREAT BRITAIN

BRUCE POTTS

THE CROWOOD PRESS

First published in 2017 by

The Crowood Press Ltd

Ramsbury, Marlborough

Wiltshire SN8 2HR

www.crowood.com

This e-book first published in 2017

© Bruce Potts 2017

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 1 78500 259 5

Photography

All photographs taken by Bruce and Jake Potts.

Disclaimer

The author and the publisher do not accept any responsibility in any manner whatsoever for any error or omission, or any loss, damage, injury, adverse outcome, or liability of any kind incurred as a result of the use of any of the information contained in this book, or reliance upon it. If in doubt about any aspect of custom rifles, or any subject covered in this book, readers are advised to seek professional advice.

Dedication

This book is dedicated to John McKenzie, Pete McKeown, Pat Farey, Roger Buss and John Archer, all friends and fellow shooters who have sadly passed away during the course of writing.

Contents

Introduction

1 The Stock

2 Rifle Actions

3 The Barrel

4 Scope Mounts and Sights

5 Triggers and Safeties

6 Feeding a Custom Rifle

7 All the Trimmings

8 Custom Builders

Useful Addresses

Index

Introduction

Ever since man picked up a stone and used it as a weapon, the object has been customized in some way, such as rounding off the edges to make it feel better in the hand or scratching a symbol on it to denote ownership or religious belief. There is an almost inbuilt desire to improve and perpetuate one’s possessions. The weapon is no longer simply a tool for getting the job done but is now cherished and lovingly looked after, and often exhibited to show one’s status in the tribe. How much customizing is up to its owner and the level of adornment usually depends more on the skill or wealth available to achieve the desired outcome. But the desire is the same: whether it be a weapon, knife, car, house or clothes, it always feels good to have something different that no one else owns. That’s the crux of the custom gun ethos, whether it has been built from raw materials to a fully customized state or is limited to a new barrel or a custom stock design. It does not matter: the point is, it’s yours.

Many routes can be taken when following the custom rifle project, which often involves trawling through reams of information to select grades of wood, barrel profiles and action designs. The pleasure can be tempered by the long lead times for work to be completed and, more immediately, a huge dent in your pocket. Regardless of the size of the project, however, it will all be worth it as pride of ownership of the completed rifle as a unique item has its own rewards. Modern day firearms have evolved to such a state that price and quality go hand in hand and the great majority would find that a factory rifle met all their hunting or target shooting needs. There may be a time, however, when doubts start to form and the ‘what if’ questions come to mind. A Ford Focus, for example, will get you from A to B, but why not make it stand out with a special paint job, magnesium wheels, or perhaps a chipped engine and tuned exhaust note? Life would be boring if we all went around in the same old cars. Guns are exactly the same, but enthusiasts mostly go about individualistic in a more sedate fashion.

Ownership of a custom rifle is not simply about enjoying the look and feel of the rifle. It has to perform perfectly in the field where it belongs.

The author, aged twenty one, with his first custom rifle, a Harry Lawson Cochise thumbhole stocked Sako with Shilen 5.5 profiled varmint barrel in .22-250 cartridge.

I was that young chap who bought a standard rifle off the shelf, though it was actually second-hand because I could not afford any better. It didn’t, however, stop me tinkering with it to improve the balance, looks and accuracy.

For more than three decades I have had the good fortunate to enjoy shooting and writing articles for three British shooting magazines, testing and also owning some fantastic custom rifles. I want to share the process of what to look for when you decide to follow this route. Once you have started it is hard to turn back, but the rewards are worth it.

First you have to look at the whole picture, how much you want to spend and where that money may best be used. Often all that it needs is a new custom barrel to pep up a tired old rifle, but these have shot up in price, especially if a wildcat calibre is ordered. It is not only the raw materials such as the barrel itself, but you need to choose a competent riflesmith to undertake the work. The ancillary kit, such as reloading dies, case forming dies and custom-ordered chamber reamers, add to the expense. You should also consider the overall time of construction and the higher degree of skill involved. Not everything, though, may go to plan. You have to think of a rifle as a finely tuned instrument: all the parts must play in harmony together to achieve the perfect ensemble. Often you can replace one part only to find it has a negative effect on the rifle’s performance, so you need to change another to get it back on song.

Replacing the stock can instantly transform the rifle’s appearance into that of a custom item. This can also be the cheapest option if an aftermarket synthetic stock or laminate is used. These are often a ‘drop-in’ item, so bedding is not necessarily needed and this is something you can achieve yourself. But beauty can be skin deep as rifles are fickle mistresses. Unless the unity between the barrel and action in the stock and bedding is perfect all that lovely new wood is of no benefit.

Custom rifles often grow with the owner. Unless you are careful, what started as a re-barrel job can soon involve a custom stock, new trigger and fancy chequering. Even then sensible choices are necessary to achieve the perfect rifle, which is what this book is about. Chapter by chapter we will look at the individual parts of the custom rifle, laying out the choices and pitfalls you need to be aware of before you embark on a journey towards your dream rifle.

There are three major types of custom rifle:

Factory custom. A special edition or limited run of a particular rifle issued with upgraded finish, engraving or select woodwork.

Semi-custom. Probably the most popular and cost-effective way to obtain a custom rifle. Here an existing factory rifle can be ‘customized’ by adding aftermarket upgraded parts, such as Match grade trigger units, Select Match grade barrels, blueprinted actions and high-grade wood or synthetic stocks. There are also what may be called ‘semi-custom’ designs, where a rifle manufacturer, such as RPA, Kimber or Lynx, produces a rifle of upgraded quality that can be ordered to a customer’s requirements.

Factory uprated Schultz and Larsen in 300 Blackout; (middle) Lynx semi- custom; (bottom) Norman Clark full custom .35 Whelen AK rifle.

Full-blown custom. As the name suggests this is a rifle designed from the floor up exactly to the customer’s requirements, utilizing the very best precision parts and highest quality to produce a one-off rifle.

There are many excellent custom riflesmiths in Britain and as a nation we have an incredible depth of knowledge and talent at our disposal. Custom rifles have changed a lot in the last century, from refashioned military rifles taken into the game fields to fully blown, computer-designed and engineered modern marvels. The skill remains the same, but the design and individual tastes have changed across the generations.

Classic rifles that use the ubiquitous military Mauser 98 action are still perhaps the epitome of a true British custom rifle, with meticulous attention to detail and long man-hours required to build what can only be described as pure art. These Mauser actions have spawned many of the world’s classic rifles: old Argentine or Oberndorf Mausers are much sought after as the basis of a purely custom creation. We will look at many classic-styled custom rifles made in the old ways and some with a modern twist, but today’s custom rifles are more accessible due to the vast range of aftermarket products, available at reasonable prices, that can be custom combined to achieve your heart’s desire. Again we will look at each item used in the make-up of a custom rifle – action, barrel, stock, trigger, scope mount and accessory choice – and delve into the world of wildcat cartridges and how cartridge choice and precision reloading equipment can extract every last ounce of performance. You may, though, reach the stage in your shooting career when the standard factory rifle just does not satisfy your desires as your tastes evolve alongside a maturing interest in rifles.

In the past most custom rifles centred around the classic English design. This incorporated English or French walnut stocks with vivid figuring, subtle hues, long raked profiles and a shadow-lined cheekpiece with exquisitely executed chequering. Add to this the flawless, deep rich blued metal finish, with perhaps a custom set of scope mounts, and you have a very British custom item admired around the globe. What factory rifles can never achieve is that close tolerance of manufacture that custom rifle builders can obtain. Where the factory rifle ends, the custom rifle begins. A custom rifle builder, for example, is able not only to enhance the look by sculpting the metal but to also apply a variety of finishes such as Teflon, classic blue, Duracoat or glass peened. In my opinion, however, custom perfection lies under the skin as a precision riflesmith has the knowledge to achieve a perfect fit for better handling and accuracy.

Whereas a factory rifle’s trigger may be heavy or have creep in the travel, or it exhibits a bedding area that is sloppy and bolt movement is stiff, a good custom riflesmith can reprofile the bolt and hone the finish to ensure that there is total contact on the lugs. The trigger can be replaced for a benchrest quality item, or honed to the perfect trigger setting and the action bedded into the woodwork or synthetic stock option so that it fits like a glove, using the finest bedding compound and aluminium pillars to achieve stability between the metal and woodwork for consistent accuracy. There are also a myriad of small details that contribute to a rifle’s overall finish and fit. These may only be apparent to the skilled eye of riflesmiths themselves, but they become manifest in the overall handling of the finished rifle.

Some people seek pure accuracy in a custom rifle and will demand perfection in this way without worrying about the looks. Here deep bluing and exotic woods count for nothing and all the custom work goes into achieving perfection in the fine tolerances between metalwork and an exact barrel fit and concentric chambering. Work like this is not as visible as a lovely walnut stock, but it is the basis of nearly all the finest British custom rifles.

The wood used for the stock starts as an uncut blank. You should start by selecting the quality or grade, ranging from plain, fancy and extra fancy to Exhibition grades and selected one-offs. You then need to choose the type of wood. Should you consider classic walnut, such as the English or French varieties that are becoming harder to find? Or perhaps it should be an American Claro, Bastogne or Turkish walnut? Many people at the custom stage opt for an untypical wood, such as maple, with bird’s eye or tiger-striped varieties remaining popular. Exotic woods like cherry, Zebra or Hyedua also make attractive and unusual custom stocks. Many stocks will cost a good deal more than a complete factory rifle and are becoming increasingly difficult to find, hence the trend towards alternative woods and laminates. But don’t forget the synthetic route. In Britain there is massive interest in long-range shooting and deer stalking, and many shooters believe a custom rifle must be fitted with a synthetic stock for durability and stability in all weathers where a wood stock might warp at the wrong moment. A synthetic stocked rifle is dependable out in the field and can be made from fibreglass, plastic, nylon or Kevlar; a walnut stock is reserved for more traditional sporting arms. Many synthetic stocks are ‘drop-in’ items, inletted at the factory for your rifle’s action, but all would benefit from custom bedding in the search for perfection. Laminate stocks are also very desirable and span the divide, combining features of a traditional wood stock with the stability of a synthetic. As the name suggests, these are made from thin layers or laminates of wood glued together with an epoxy compound for stability and rigidity. The chosen wood can be traditional walnut, but far more common is cheaper birch wood, often coloured to give a distinctive pattern when cut and polished. Joe West Custom Stocks has a superb array of laminate stock types, colours and styles for any semi- or full-blown custom job, while off-theshelf GRS laminates offer a radical design to enhance any custom project. For a handmade custom stock that is really one of a kind, however, you could look consider something like the Steve Bowers thumbhole stock for sporter, varmint or F Class custom rifles.

Classic designs such as this very English TT Proctor stalking rifle never go out of fashion.

A stock can be adorned with many a custom feature. With walnut the finish is everything: usually a classic hand-rubbed oil is desired to contrast with superb hand-cut chequering with a fine line configuration, or there might be an elaborate pattern, such as basket-weave or fish scale. Adding exotic woods to the forend tip and pistol grip is always popular, as are custom butt pads of rubber or metal and floor plates for concealed ammunition storage.

Steve Bowers is one of the new breed of custom rifle builders whose exquisitely beautiful handiwork is capable of extreme accuracy.

Actions and barrels are key for any custom rifle and remachining an existing factory action is cost-effective. Actions such as the Mauser 98, Remington 700 and old Sako or Tikka models have been long favourites for custom projects. These can be tweaked with a process called ‘Blueprinting’, in which actions are machined concentrically around their axis and the internals similarly machined or trued up. This ensures a perfect fit, stress free and a uniform platform for the stock and internal action workings. If the bolt is then sleeved by adding a precision fit collar and truing the bolt lugs for a smooth, precise lock-up, you start to see the route a true custom rifle can take. Many, though, want a new custom-built action and there is now a huge range of custom-built designs just waiting for your new rifle. All sizes, shapes and models are available. These can be single shots or magazine fed, Mauser 98 clones in stainless steel or pure benchrest models. All have a common theme: they are made to incredibly tight tolerances, far more precise than any factory action, and thus give any custom rifle that sense of class and a head start in their accuracy over a basic factory unit or even a blueprinted one. The action is only as good as the barrel and in many regards this is the pivotal feature of any custom rifle that you want to shoot accurately and not just look good.

The barrel, as with the other components of a custom rifle, has many variations and can be a minefield for the uninitiated. You first need to choose whether to go traditional with a blued finish or maybe rust blue? Should that be a matt or highly polished finish? Or do you go for a stainless steel barrel for longevity and all-weather attributes. Again this can be matt, polished or even coated with Teflon, paint or tough military specification coatings such as Cerakote. A rifle’s true beauty, however, is all on the inside and not necessarily obvious to a potential buyer. That’s what you are buying: a precision cut or button rifled barrel with a honed surface that runs true along its entire length. The chambering to a calibre of your choice needs to be similarly concentric to the bore so the bullet runs perfectly true when fired. Again there is another headache as you need to specify chamber dimensions such as neck diameters, leade or throat length to suit varying bullets, rifling twist and number of grooves, not to mention muzzle threads, muzzle crowns and muzzle brakes.

Custom means just that: you can have exactly what you want in a rifle. This beautiful .22 BR custom rifle is from Valkyrie Rifles.

The Venom Arms Company in Birmingham was the premier custom house. Ivan Hancock and Dave Pope made the best custom air rifles in the world.

The real beauty of any custom rifle is that you have a chance to order exactly what you want. Take the chance to build the rifle to fit you, the owner. Face the challenge and buy the best! These are just the most basic considerations of any custom rifle build. Throughout this book we will look at specific parts of the rifle and show the choices that can be made, the pitfalls and advantages of certain items, the finishes available, how your new creation can be fed with custom loads and, of course, all those little extras that make a rifle very personal.

THE LURE OF THE CUSTOM RIFLE

My journey on the custom rifle trail started with air rifles and Venom Arms was instrumental in fostering my desire for and love of all things custom. Ivan Hancock and Dave Pope were masters of their game and turned ordinary airguns into works of art. I remember drooling over the pages of Airgun World and Air Gunner magazines to see their latest creations. In time, as money allowed, I too became the proud owner of Venom Arms custom air rifles, as well as firearms from their Custom Shop. My HW77 Hunter in .22 cal with custom Walnut Hornet stock and .20 Sidewinder Tomahawk are still used regularly and shoot as well as when they were first made nearly twenty years ago, bringing many rabbits and pigeons to the Potts household table.

Custom rifle owners are often a bit quirky – it goes with the territory. I don’t take myself very seriously and often there are references to Monty Python, Father Ted or Fawlty Towers in my articles and custom rifle themes. The time when I dressed in a Where Eagles Dare camouflage jacket to shoot a muntjac deer with a custom German K98 sniper rifle, however, might have been taken a little out of context.

It all started when I ordered my first custom rifle after an inheritance back in my twenties. I minutely examined all the magazines detailing all I wanted my rifle to have. In the end, due to the need for precise benchrest quality actions and barrels, I had to look to America where about 90 per cent of the precision items then had to be sourced. I settled on a .22-250 cartridge with a tight neck chamber in a Shilen Match grade, stainless steel number 5.5 contour barrel with an 11-degree muzzle crown. This was precision fitted to a new Sako A2 medium action by Shilen themselves. and then all the metalwork was matt blued for the action and glass peened for the barrel. This was then married to a extra fancy Claro walnut stock by Harry Lawson in his classic thumbhole design called a Cochise. This later became my favourite stock design, as will be apparent throughout this book. The total cost in those days was £1275, a fortune to a twenty-year-old as a new factory rifle could be had for £300. Nowadays, however, £1275 will buy only an action, and even then the choice is limited. Sadly I had to sell the rifle to fund my photographic business, but fate can spring surprises and I managed to buy back this rifle back some twenty-five years later.

Sometimes custom rifles can take you down strange paths of desire and often there will be a theme to a single rifle or collection that has some particular resonance with their owners. I had my own epiphany with a series of four custom rifles that stemmed from an initial concept I had been mulling over for a while. It neatly illustrates the route that a would-be custom owner will take and how different rifles, although similar, can be very different. The theme was ‘The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse’, inspired by the New Testament book of Revelation 6:1–8. The four horsemen were sent by God to wreak havoc on the impenitent havoc on earth. It seemed a good idea to have a set of four custom rifles that would similarly diminish the vermin population down on the farm, here on earth.

The rifle that started it all: my Sako custom A2 actioned .22-250 tight-necked chambered Shilen stainless steel barrel bedded into a Harry Lawson Cochise walnut stock.

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (top to bottom): Plague, Famine, War and Death. As their names imply, they have been very effective custom rifles in the field.

The first stage came when Dave Tooley, a US gunsmith, built me a custom 6mm PPC rifle in 2001. This was the best looking and shooting rifle I could afford at the time and was dubbed the ‘Plague rifle’ by all who saw it in action due to the unnatural way it laid waste to the hooded crows that my parents found were such pests in Scotland. The name stuck. Later, in conversation with custom rifle-maker Mike Norris from Brock and Norris Custom Rifles, we agreed it would be fun to have four rifles, each named after one of the horsemen, that followed the general appearance of the original Plague rifle. I looked up the original biblical reference and found that the four each rode a horse of a different colour: Famine had a black horse, the red horse was for War and Death rode a pale horse. The first to appear, on a white horse, was Pestilence or Plague. Some translations prefer to call this figure Conquest, but that would spoil the story, so Plague it was.

An unholy quest begins: Plague

A quick description of the Plague will give some idea of the format of each rifle and the thought processes that go into planning a custom rifle (or four).

I like my long-range varminting and the look of a heavy-barrelled varmint-style rifle, especially if it is shod with a thumbhole stock and better still if it has a custom action, especially if a wildcat calibre is chambered. The 6mm PPC custom Dave Tooley rifle sported a Hart barrel with 1 in 14in twist rate for the lighter weight bullets with six flutes, and it was threaded for a ⅝ × 18in pitch sound moderator. This was fitted to a McMillan MCRT custom action that had a semi-cone bolt system with only an extractor and non-ejector, so I could pick out the brass without it falling in the mud. This gave me the best possible chance of precision. Fitting a Jewell trigger unit set at 10oz weight transforms any custom product into a tack driving machine. All the metalwork was then clad in Teflon coating to achieve a muted finish, perfect for hunting as it eliminated any shiny surfaces that might spook the game. The best bit was the stock. I love the stocks from Harry Lawson, a stock maker in Tucson, Arizona. My first custom rifle had a Harry Lawson walnut stock, but this time I wanted a synthetic stock and luckily McMillan produced a copy of his design called the Lazzeroni thumbhole stock, which was perfect for my needs. The stock is the single part of the rifle that transforms the overall look and feel of any custom rifle and it will be your biggest choice. The thumbhole just looks right and I really like the pistol grip, which has an offset of some 20 degrees to give a more natural hold. The action was aluminium pillar bedded in Devcon synthetic material and the rifle was topped off with a set of Talley rings and bases to hold a NightForce NXS 3.5-15 × 50mm scope, which it still wears. Finally a superb MAE muzzle can is fitted to reduce the muzzle report to a whisper. Stage one complete: the Plague rifle shoots a 65 grain V-Max bullet at 3087 fps with a payload of 26 grains Vit N133. Nothing within 500 yards is safe.

The Plague rifle in 6mm PPC is superbly accurate. It has a Hart barrel and McMillan MCRT single-shot action, all bedded into a black Lazzeroni stock.

The single-shot McMillan MCRT action does not have a magazine cut-out and is very solid. Its Teflon coating means that its operation is as smooth as butter.

War

The red horse or War was next. This was to be a fully customized piece featuring a wildcat calibre. The first requirement was the same Lazzeroni stock, so I ordered a black textured Kevlar reinforced stock from Jackson Rifles, ready inletted for the Remington M700 action. I could have used a Remington action, trued or blueprinted, but what’s the point when by the time you have paid for that work you might as well buy a true custom action that fits into the Remington bedding platform. I ordered an excellent Predator action from Stiller Precision. The Predator was again synthetically bedded to the stock and this time I fitted a Timney trigger as I like its wider trigger blade and generally solid feel. I also fancied a change.

The components of the War rifle, a necked up 6.5 × 47L case to .30 cal custom-made by Steve Bowers to my design. This is the rifle I choose for everyday deer stalking.

The War rifle is superbly accurate and offers great handling in all weather conditions.

I wanted a detachable magazine as this was to be a deer gun and this is a handy feature, especially if you need to change bullet weights for a chance at foxes. The HS Precision unit from Viking Arms, with its stainless steel construction and black finish, suited the rifle as well as my criteria and the single final feed of the cartridge is actually very positive. I could have fitted a one-piece scope rail with a 20 MOA (Minute of Angle) bias, but this was to be a deer gun up to 300 yards so two- piece Leupold steel bases were fitted so I could use any Weaver type rings I liked. In fact I choose a set of Apel mounts with the upper section made to fit a Zeiss rail mount system, which here was a Zeiss 7 3 50 T scope with a simple 4a type reticule, thin and with the option of an illuminated central dot. This would be perfect as a no-nonsense, hard-wearing, take any abuse deer rifle.

Now the problem was choosing the right calibre. Having gone this far a standard .308, although very good, would be a bit boring. I stuck to a .30 calibre, but for the War rifle I wanted a small but superbly efficient wildcat design. I thought it would be interesting to neck up a 6.5 × 47mm to .30 calibre. The resulting 30-47L is a simple wildcat to make, superbly efficient and deadly from muntjac all the way up to red stags. It shoots a 125 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip bullet with a load of 41 grains of Vit N130, producing more than 3000 fps velocity at 3026 fps and 2541 ft/lb energy. The barrel was a Walther stainless steel unit with a 1 in 10in twist rate, fluted to reduce weight and a short length of 20in, so that fitting a sound moderator would not make it long overall.

Nosler Ballistic Tip bullets with 125 or 150 grains, depending on the size of deer, are very accurate and effective.

Famine

Famine, on his black horse, represents a very unusual rifle indeed. It satisfies my odd obsession with big bullets travelling very slowly with a meagre diet of less than 10 grains powder – hence Famine. Subsonic full-bore rifles are of interest due to their ability to send a 240 grain projectile, in the case of the .308 Winchester, at subsonic velocities (below the speed of sound). What you have is a 500 ft/lb energy rifle that is no louder than a .22 rimfire subsonic gun when fitted with a sound moderator, although it is no good for anything other than playing, military use and foxes (in my case). It does not matter as I often set out a course of fire across a few fields in Scotland up to 500 yards with steel silhouettes adopting a ten rounds to spot, range and ‘one round, one hit’ scenario, which really makes you think about the shot. The bullets drop like a stone, but energy loss is minimal even at 500 yards and the wind has little effect as it travels below the super and transonic air turbulence. A 200 grain Lapua B416 bullet, for example, propelled by only 9.25 grains of Vit N320 powder achieves consistent subsonic velocities. I have used other weights and powders, such as IMR Trial Boss and Tin Star N350, but the Vit N320 works in my rifle.

The Famine rifle is a silent killer, designed to shoot subsonic ammunition with a built-in sound moderator. It has been restocked by Ivan Hancock of Venom Arms with a Cochise walnut stock.

This rifle is an original Sako Factory SSR (Sniper silenced rifle or Super silenced rifle), built on a high quality Sako A2 action and fitted with a short 16in barrel with a 1 in 10in rifling twist rate. Surrounding this is a 2in sound moderator shroud that fits back to the action and extends 12in past the muzzle, where a series of baffles are sited. Using subsonic reloaded ammunition, the rifle just coughs: you hear the action tighten up and the firing pin strike is actually audible. To make it into my Apocalypse set I had Ivan Hancock from Venom Arms re-stock the SSR in a Lawson walnut thumbhole stock. Ivan sourced this from his friend Trooper in the States and crafted it into a totally silent rifle with superb handling.

When using my .308 Win Famine rifle I find that the best load for effective subsonic stopping power is the Hornady 90gr XTP bullet and 12.0 grains of SR4759 powder.

The Death rifle is a Sako .20 BR rifle made by Venom Arms with a Pac-Nor barrel and specially selected Claro walnut stock.

Death

Death rides a pale horse, which is appropriate for the final rifle in the quartet of misery, the good-looking Venom Arms .20BR rifle. This time Ivan Hancock and Dave Pope’s son Steve sourced a select, not quite Exhibition grade, Claro walnut stock called a Cochise from Harry Lawson. He inletted the forend with a diamond tiger maple inset and inletted the stock for a Sako 591 action sourced from Gregor at R. Mc-Leod’s of Tain. Old Sako actions make a great donor action for custom projects. The bolt was jewelled and the trigger was a factory-set trigger unit. The barrel was a 26in Pac-Nor stainless steel fluted masterpiece of .204 calibre with a 1 in 12in twist rate. Pacific Tool and Gauge made me a reamer and head space gauge for the .20 BR case machined without a throat or leade because the .20 BR cartridges can be hard on barrels. Up front is an excellent MAE 32mm muzzle can for a very quiet report.

I use a load of 30 grains RL15 powder and a 40 grain V-Max bullet for 3885 fps and 1341 ft/lb energy. Alternatively for real speed, a 32 grain Sierra Blitz King reach more than 4300 fps with just 31 grains of Vit N133. The .20 BR is topped off with my favourite Varmint 4-16 × 50 scope from Schmidt and Bender with side parallax and dot reticule in the first focal plane. The multi-dot reticule is fine enough even at the highest magnification and mimics the .20 BR’s trajectory well out to 750 yards. The .20 BR is a great cartridge and I will probably have it rebarrelled when it gives up the ghost with the faster 1 in 8in twist barrel to handle the heavy 55 grain Berger bullet that I use in my .20 Satan wildcat.

Conclusions

Therapy may be the only course of action here but it shows what can be done with a little thought, yielding a rifle collection that gives hours of varied shooting pleasure. This series of rifles shows that every aspect of design and component choice can be varied around a common theme to achieve a totally different rifle for differing purposes, yet still please the owner, which is what a good custom rifle is all about. Choice of custom items is often made on availability. For a long time most custom items came from the USA, but truly bespoke items from home-grown custom gunsmiths can always be fashioned and quality actions, barrels, stocks and triggers are now made to rival even the best from the US. Unfortunately it soon becomes an addiction. You are always looking for the next best thing, a strange custom item or a weird calibre to satisfy your craving. Don’t blame me if your wife finds you mumbling to yourself about polygonal grooved fast barrels and case hardened Talley mounts.

One of my favourite crow cartridges is the .20 BR cartridge with 40 grain Hornady V-Max bullets that reach more than 4000 fps.

The Twenty calibres are currently very successful in Britain, ranging from the .20 Hornet up to the .20-250 (right). The best balanced is the .20 Tactical (third from left).

Chapter 1

The Stock

The stock is often the most striking and distinctive part of any custom project and instantly transforms an ugly duckling of a rifle into a swan. Be it traditional wood, newer laminate materials or the practical synthetic, a visual and ergonomic stock design really transforms a rifle. Like every part of a custom rifle, however, beauty cannot just be skin deep. As much attention must be given to the interior fit as to the exterior finish. There is a hugely enjoyable range of choices in design, materials and exterior finishes from which to choose, but with a custom rifle the bedding of the action and barrel to the stock is vitally important for accuracy. The stock should be considered an extension of the rest of the rifle.

WOOD, LAMINATE OR SYNTHETIC

One of the major decisions is whether to go for a wood, laminate or synthetic stock. Traditionally walnut has been the choice of the rifle stock world, but many other types of wood have been used as necessity has dictated. This has led to a diverse variety of wood species finding their way onto the world’s custom rifles. Some are exquisite works of art and others are a reflection of the individual’s preferences. A gun stock needs to be strong but not too hard, as otherwise it may crack or shake, which can be a problem with oak. It must be able to take a chequering tool for ornate chequering at the finishing stage. A standard walnut will take 16 lines per inch for chequering, while a high-grade, denser walnut will be able to hold 24 to 26 lines per inch for ultra-fine, delicate chequering. Selecting the correct tree and buying sufficient material from the one source makes sense for stock makers as it ensures a uniformity of supply and quality, but this is not always possible. It also ensures that only properly seasoned material is used, which is the most important aspect of a stock.

Shooters can choose between laminate, wood or synthetic stock materials.

One of the enjoyable aspects of selecting a wood stock for your custom rifle is that you can choose the type and grade of wood. Here are some well-figured and seasoned walnut blanks.

A freshly sawn tree has a very high moisture content of 30 per cent, depending on the species, but this figure has to be brought down to well below 10 per cent before it is any good for rifle stocks. Unless it is properly seasoned there will be shrinkage, warping or cracks, making even the best wood unusable. Oak is not a good gunstock as it dries and cracks, or shakes too much despite being strong. That’s why walnut and maple have become popular. By the same token you want it strong enough to withstand recoil, so a close grain structure, but with enough good colour and figuring, is still needed to add appeal. That’s why hard woods like poplar and birch are used in laminate stocks, not for their beauty but for their strength as the grain structure is close and dense. It’s a dilemma but wood has been refined and cross-grown over the centuries to achieve some extraordinary custom stocks. Unfortunately good quality walnut is getting harder to find as a walnut tree can take between fifty and seventy-five years to grow big enough to be cut for timber. Older stocks of trees have been exhausted in traditional growing regions, such as England and France, and now a Turkish and American hybrid walnut seems to be yielding better quality wood.

Suitability of the wood style is not just about fine figuring, as strength is also important for hard-kicking rifles.

Characteristics of wood for custom stocks

Straight, dense and close grain.Dries to a consistent state with a stable moisture content.Minimal degree of shrinkage, cracking and splitting.The wood must be machine ready and capable of being carved or inletted to a precise degree.If it is to take a stain or finish when completed it should not be too oily or dry.How well is the wood figured for a particular task, with good figuring in the butt section but closer grained through the pistol grip for strength.

Above all, every stock and application is different. Every project deserves a considered choice.

HARVESTING THE WOOD

Choosing a good walnut blank for a gun stock is a tricky decision dependent on how the wood blank is harvested from the walnut tree’s trunk. The figuring on a good walnut blank is made from mineral lines striating throughout the wood blank. The degree, density, curvature, colour and pattern is different in each individual trunk, but certain cuts through the trunk yield different patterns. These mineral lines travel up and down the end grains of the blank and their formation is the basis of nearly all figuring to the custom stock.

Three main cuts are available to achieve the differing grain patterns and quality figuring for which the walnut tree trunk is renowned: flat sawn, three-quarter sawn and quarter sawn. Quarter-sawn blanks are plainer and more regular with mineral lines and colour that is even and duplicated on both sides of the blank. They are cut with one outer edge pointing at the bark and the other towards the centre of the trunk. Three-quarter-sawn blanks have more variation in the mineral lines, with swirling, curvature and colour variations to the grain that give individuality to each blank as it is cut. This variety comes from whether the sawn blanks are taken from the top or bottom of the trunk, with horizontal cuts across the trunk to the centre line. Flat-sawn blanks are the best quality and come from the inner part of the trunk where the best grain patterns are present. When cut you can see the density of colour, marbling and figure by looking at the end grain, indicating the type of figuring to the sides of the finished stock that will give a superior grade of wood.

The layout of the stock pattern is also vitally important, especially on high-recoiling rifles. Stability across the entire stock is important, but the way the grain pattern flows through the vital areas, such as the pistol grip and bedding areas, is the difference between a usable stock and one that will not do. The grain should ideally be straight through the areas that take the torque stresses from firing the rifle. If the grain goes in at an angle, the stock then becomes liable to splitting or cracking. The figuring and colour variations can vary in the pistol grip, forend and bedding area, but the grain direction must be straight. That is why the stock on a big game rifle has a plainer pattern for strength, not beauty.

Flat sawn blanks yield the best figuring patterns across the whole wood blank.

Three-quarter sawn blanks have very good figuring running through the stock.

Quarter-sawn blanks offer attractive figuring with more open wood spaces.

The end of a walnut blank showing how the grain runs from one side to the other, depending on how it has been sawn. Check the figuring on both sides before you buy.

WOOD TYPES

Walnut

Walnut is the most commonly used and loved wood for custom projects. It has a vivid and varied array of colour, grain, streaking and pattern from dark lustre to sandy brown, with intense swirling or curls. It is also easily worked but hard enough for strength. Although quite open-pored in structure, after sanding it allows a good penetrating oil and finish to be applied and sustained.

English (Juglans regia)

The best of the many types of walnut available is usually termed English, but it is also known as Circassian, French or Turkish English. It is defined and distinguished in appearance by the soil and area from which it is derived and where it is grown. This is the most prized variety of walnut as it can vary from light sandy shades to dark rich chocolates, with fine black streak figuring to a dense, swirling marble cake. French regional ‘English’ walnut, for example, can be sandy with vivid black streak figuring, while trees originally from eastern Europe are better in colder climates and have a slower growing period. This results in a denser and more varied marble cake figuring. Both types, however, can be called English walnut. It can be confusing but prospective clients for a custom stock usually know the style and figure pattern they are after, even if they do not know the real name or origin of that blank.

English walnut is much sought after and good quality blanks are now rare, but it makes a very elegant wood stock for a classic English rifle.

Dark figuring running parallel along the blank makes for a beautifully flowing grain pattern.

Bastogne Walnut

Bastogne walnut is a quickly growing hybrid cross between English walnut and black walnut. It is not commonly used, but is sometimes asked for by shooters who require a dense, hard and strong walnut for rifles with a heavy recoil as it has closed pores and regular grain. With regard to the colour and pattern, Bastogne has a typically shady, almost beige-green tinge, but can also exhibit high figuring and strong a fiddleback, but it varies enormously from tree to tree and region to region.

Black Walnut (Juglans nigra)

Black walnut is far more common and usually has the traditional American reddish overall colour to the stock blank. It displays a wide range of figuring patterns with excellent selections of burr, crotch or fiddleback pattern. The quantity and quality available means that this is the first walnut of choice for many since the reasonable price and relatively good figuring and colour are enough to satisfy all but the connoisseur.

Black walnut is graded from standard to Exhibition grade. This special selection piece has everything you want in a custom rifle, displaying great figure and colour.

Claro Walnut (Juglans hindsii)