McMIllan or Accuracy International?

[toolguy2006]

I am dreaming of a long range rifle. Budget will not allow me to start the build any time soon, but I am still dreaming.

Initially, the idea was to build a (please don't lump me into the "tacticool" crowd) M40 clone, chambered in .260 Ackley Improved. I had planned on using a McMillan stock, but some reading lead me to start looking at the Accuracy International stocks instead.

If you could have anything, what would it be, and why?

Thanks all for the input.

[hhunter318]

-Blueprinted Remington 700, maybe standard length to avoid seating issues.
-PT&G bolt for a tighter fit in your action
-Pac-Nor Super-Match Grade #7 Contour straight taper bbl
-McMillan A4, glass bedded
-Badger Ordnance over-sized bolt knob
-EGW +20 MOA picatinney rail
-5.5-22x56 Nightforce NXS w/ Zerostop w/ Nightforce rings
-maybe chambered in 260 AI or 6.5x47 Lapua.
-angle cosine indicator
-Jewell Trigger
You said ANYTHING.

I figure with this setup you could punch paper, take about any game from prairie dogs to Whitetail, and if anything ever broke loose you'd have a rifle capable of fending off any enemy that came close, or not so close.

[Bart B.]

I'd get a Winchester 70 action, their receiver's near 3 times as stiff and they're more reliable than Remington ones. A used one's plenty good enough.

There's several good barrel makers; Kreiger, Border, Lilja, and one in 26 caliber chambered for the 6.5x.284 parallels a very popular cartridge-barrel combination for shoulder fired long range matches.

[Clark]

Bart, you got a typo.
Borden uses Hart, Rock Creek or Krieger Barrels.

15 years ago I used to read Gale Mcmillian on this forum advocate Rem700 actions and Bart Bobbitt on rec.guns advocate M70 actions.

I am grateful for both posters, but I am now a flat bottom receiver person.

[Bart B.]

Clark states:

Bart, you got a typo.

That wasn't a typo. It was a mental. The UK barrel maker I referred to is Border. But I had a "junior" moment and thought it was Borden.

"Senior" moments are mental acts of greatness, perfection and good thinking. "Junior" moments are those bad ones made by teen agers and include getting name of people, places and businesses mixed up.

Clark mentions:

15 years ago I used to read Gale Mcmillian on this forum advocate Rem700 actions and Bart Bobbitt on rec.guns advocate M70 actions.

At the High Power Nationals some years ago, I and others were discussing receiver stiffness; Gale McMillan was one of them. I made him a $1,000 bet that the Win. 70 receivers were over two times stiffer than the Rem. 700 long ones (and both the the single shot FN Mauser No. 6 benchrest action and Win. 70 custom made solid-bottom single shot receivers' might be stiffer than the Rem. 40X single shot ones) and could prove it by running identical stress bending tests on both and referencing Frank DeHass' bolt action rifle book's section listing popular receivers by their well-accepted engineering formulas on stiffness. He refused claiming engineering formulas were bogus and how much a piece of steel bent with the same load and fulcrum length was not a good test. I've thought since then he was afraid of being proved wrong and finagled a way out of it. Few people know the real facts behind the Rem. 7XX receiver's popularity and accuracy-producing fame.

[hhunter318]

Not to hijack the thread but, I had a smith tell me he wasn't a fan at all of the flat bottomed actions for accuracy. Now before this starts an uproar, let me just say that I disagree as my Win. Model 70 in 7mm Rem. Mag. is one of the most accurate rifles I have. I was just kind of shocked that he wouldn't work on it for due to it being a flat bottomed action, since several flat bottomed actions are used in benchrest.

[Bart B.]

hhunter318, that 'smith must not know that benchresters started sleeving their round Remington receivers in flat sided and bottom bars of aluminum when they began using 6mm bullets in their free recoiling tack drivers. The increased barreled action torque from 50 grain 22 caliber bullets to 70 grain 24 caliber ones was noticable by the best shooters and was cured only be rebedding the round receivers as they didn't stay well bedded for the life of the barrel. For shoulder fired rifles, round receivers are OK when bullet weight's less than about 160 to 170 grains; above that the torque's enough to cause noticable problems in a few hundred rounds.

Even bolts and nuts have flat sides so they won't twist loose in wrenches from torque.

[4V50 Gary]

Round bottom receivers were designed for ease of production and cost.

[old roper]

Here is picture of McMillan action.

http://www.mcmfamily.com/mcmillan-ri...s-standard.php

Here some more action

http://www.6mmbr.com/actions.html

http://www.mcmfamily.com/mcmillan-rifles-actions-50.php

Gale McMillan made some action and he claim that the 50 cal action picture above was a copy of his BR action. Also Gale McMillan never made barrels under the name McMillan barrels his brother Pat did. Here good article

http://www.riflebarrels.com/articles...bmg_action.htm

[ogree]

old roper,

Gale did indeed make barrels.
They were done in house @ McMillan (G. McMillan & Co. Inc.) in Phoenix.

[old roper]

ogree, your are right but that company was sold and that business was set up to make completed rifle vs just a separate company like Pat started as Mcmillan barrels. I guess I should correct post that he never made barrel under the name McMillan Barrels.