Custom .338 Lapua Build - Remington 700 LA Mag

[Shooter2675]

I want to build a .338 Lapua bolt action rifle. I was looking at a a Remington 700 Long Action Magnum Stainless and Remington's website says it can handle a .338 Lapua,. I understand it isn't the bet choice and there are better (albeit much more expensive) options out there, but I just want to know if this would be safe. I know Remington may be a little biased towards the "yes! It will work" side so I wanted your opinion on the matter. I understand a .338 Lapua needs a .590 inch bolt faces and I am unsure of the bolt face of a Remington 700 long action MAGNUM.

Thanks so much for your help,

John

[riflemen]

She'll take the lapue with out an issue, I own one myself...
start with this girl here...
http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/Vie...Item=455954418

add a jewel trigger http://www.midwayusa.com/product/706...ProductFinding ,

have your smith add a bolt knob http://www.midwayusa.com/product/814...ProductFinding there are plenty out there, from $5 and up, I like badger myself but there is nothing wrong with pTG http://www.midwayusa.com/product/358...vc=subv1358592 Hollands is another nice knob ...

and have your smith thread the barrel {maybe cut to a length you prefer} for one of these guys {or what ever you pick} http://www.brownells.com/rifle-parts...prod54370.aspx

Add a check piece {depending on your weld} http://www.karstenskydexcheekrest.co...e-cheek-pieces

Add a bipod http://www.brownells.com/shooting-ac...-prod6945.aspx

Add a rail http://www.brownells.com/optics-moun...-prod1391.aspx I like badger but there are plenty of them out there too...

Then your optics with some rings and you will have a good start...

Another good option is a TRG-42, used pre13's pop up once and a while for a decent price.. I own the police {with the above parts installed} and the TRG-42 both are well worth the investment...
heres one with glass for $3300 not a bad price they are giving you a lot of stuff with it... Its a 1-10 twist, mine is a 1-12 twist but I hear awesome things about the 1-10 as well..
http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/Vie...Item=455051290


good luck, them setups really let you reach out there, I look like a pro marksman at 1000+ and I can't shoot to save my life

BTW the rem will take it no problem to answer yoour question, I have aruond 200 rounds through mine, it still looks new..

[Shooter2675]

Thanks for your quick reply and the good news. I've been looking for some good info on a build and your post was like a whole encyclopedia of knowledge! Thanks so much! The .338 Lapua seems to be what I want for a long range caliber and I like the Remington 700's because they have so much stuff available; you can customize them so much. Mind posting a pic of your gun? Would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks,

John

[riflemen]

I don't have any good pics of the 338, I have an entire picture of my 308 mil spec too..

heres a picture of 3 of my other 700's I have 7 of them, 1-300 rum, 1 338, 1 7-08, 2-308win, 1-243, 1-22-250, I also like the ruger m77 for a factory bolt gun, I have a couple of them too...


there is tons of stuff out there for the 700, the gun world is like that, other stuff changes to often or doesn't catch on as well, things like the 700, the 1911, ar15, PPK, mosin, m1 garand, browning a5, 1898 marlin, sw revolvers, ect ect ect, them guns will never steer you wrong, they will always have value and never go out of style...

[Shooter2675]

Sick guns! I'll keep you posted on my gun's progress. I'm thinking I'll get some of the parts from Santa this christmas lol

[Shooter2675]

On a more serious note, do you reload at all? I was thinking that if I got a .338 Lapua that reloading might be a good path to go down to save some serious $$$. Also, do you think stainless or blued is the way to go? I like the easiness of cleaning with the stainless but what is more practical/shoots better? Also, can you put a black finish on stainless steel? Thanks a million. john

[reynolds357]

700 will take the Lapua. The only problem is getting the round bottom action to sit still in the stock. If you are an accuracy addict, you will spend considerable time fighting the action.

[riflemen]

I do reload and while I have the dies for 338 I do not shoot enough of it to justify putting in the time to reloading them, plus there are some seriously nice off the shelf stuff that will shoot awesome... For me I would rather spend the time loading 357 and 45 acp pistol cartridges since that is what I shoot every single week, my self and home defense ammo, hunting ammo, and rifle target ammo is used so little that it would probably take me 2 years to make back what I spend on the dies, lol...

I buy my hunting and defense ammo from Underwood ammo, 308 and 338 target stuff I have a bunch of it from buying a box here and there to not need it for a while.. On the other hand if I needed it, I probably would load 338 because some the decent Hornady stuff is like $5 a round now, lol...

If you are considering reloading for a medium low investment...
http://www.amazon.com/Hornady-85003-...dy+classic+kit or the rcbs rockcrusher {like Hornady} kits would be a good start, then a set of http://www.amazon.com/Hornady-338-La...+lapua+hornady
that would get you 600 free hornady bullets right now too, {before the end of the year}... The bullets alone are worth around $200 {although they arent offering a 338, you can sell them or trade them, still $200 of hornady bullets...

If you want to get really accurate with your loads you can get this kit too http://www.amazon.com/Hornady-Lock-P...+precision+kit and that gets you another 500 bullets!!!!

figure almost $4 a bullet for Hornady match ready to fire---
or these http://www.midwayusa.com/product/253...ProductFinding at $2.50 each

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/467...ProductFinding 79 cents each for these

then add in $.04 per federal 215 primers and another $.08 for aliant 33 powder {around 100gr charge for these guys, lol} so you can reload for around $3.50 a bullet, not a huge savings to start BUT if you buy loaded bullets and then reload the brass you are saving $2.50 each time, getting you down to $1 per shot...

700 will take the Lapua. The only problem is getting the round bottom action to sit still in the stock. If you are an accuracy addict, you will spend considerable time fighting the action.

I have NEVER had an issue, I even just googled that to see if I was missing something? Didn't come up with much, the police comes with an HS stock and it really is decent. My 700's all shoot better than I can shoot, when I strap them in the sled they shoot groups the size of the bullets ...

[Hunter2678]

Being a regular centerfire rifle re loader myself I highly suggest you price out the cost of reloading components for the 338 Lapua..even reloading that round will cost a significant amount of money....last time I checked it will be around 2-4$ per round on the conservative side. Buying your ammo will run you around $5-$7 per round depending on store..something to seriously consider before spending the time and $ on something like this.

[Shooter2675]

Thank you for all your help. Hunter2678 - I'll do some more research, but I get what you mean, however, I have MANY other guns (some obsolete calibers like the 8mm Mauser or .303 British) which would also benefit cost wise from reloading, so I may get a cheap reloading set and some equipment. As for the rifle, what kind of scope do you suggest? I understand you can spend a lot of money on one, but I was thinking of a scope under $300. I know that's not very much and it won't be too good, but I just need something to get out to 400 or 500 yards for now, as my local ranges and shooting areas don't have too far of distances. In the future, I'll definitely get something better, but for now, I was thinking more of a budget scope. I was looking at a Bushnell, as I have those on both my 12 gauge and .22 magnum, so I'm thinking those are decent scopes. I found a good one here: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Bushnell-E...scope/16560951, let me know what you think or if you have any other recommendations. John

[riflemen]

Your way off on the scope...

for an affordable scope that is still nice look to these guys
http://exploreoptics.com/cart01.htm

[reynolds357]

Riflemen, the round bottom action has been a major issue for the 700 ever since its inception. The recoil of the Lapua exasperates the problem exponentially. Ask some bench rest shooters, that were shooting before we all went to custom actions, about the 700.

[riflemen]

interesting, any articles or forum threads on the problem? I never noticed it, like I said the gun shoots better than I am capable of. I do some long range shooting and I can get as good as the next guy, does my trg-42 have this problem too, because I shoot about the same with both???

[Shooter2675]

Reynolds,

I think I have heard that before, but from what I've read, it's mainly for the long action only whereas the long action magnum took that issue away. I think some people, not you, may be misinformed and mistake those two models. And riflemen - what kind of ammo have you been shooting? Do you think if I got a heavy barrel it might help accuracy wise?

Thanks,

John

[riflemen]

I would start with the police 700, comes with a bull barrel...

I shoot Hornady match, but bought a bunch of it a while back, I bought 100 rounds every time I took the gun out and sometimes only shot 8 or 9 rounds, so I I have over 15 boxes in the safe..

[Shooter2675]

Riflemen, the cost to buy a Remington 700 Police is almost 2 times more than the cost to buy an action, a good barrel, and then have a gunsmith put it together. What groups are you getting at around 600 yards?

[riflemen]

I don't shoot 600 much but I can tell you at 300 {zero} I shoot dime sized groups, considering the round is that big lol, at 1000 I shoot clays one after another, to group out there for me I am not super consistent {nothing to do with the guns} my groups go from amazing to "so so", just the nature of good days nod not good days...
1 point I can make is that the police with a little bit of work {trigger, threaded, check piece} shoots as good as my trg and my custom build {308}, maybe a little less consistant towards the end of the day, but they shoot on par... So for 5 times less money its something to think about.

I can also tell you this, the 338 barrels don't last a very long time, so I buy complete guns, shoot the barrels out and then go the custom route, by then I will know where I want to be... I don't think you are getting abetter rifle than the police built for its price, I really like that 5r barrel...


with my mil spec 308 I shoot 1/3 moa at 100 with out too much effort...

I just don't shoot long range much anymore, my SH build is kind of my go to now, but I take the others out once and a while too...

[Bart B.]

There is merit to info stating the Rem 700's round receivers torque loose from bedding. That's why people using them in the early 1950's with .308 Win. barrels shooting 190-gr. bullets with max loads had to rebed them in epoxy every few hundred rounds. When 30 caliber magnums were used in the 1960's, they needed rebedding every 100 shots to maintain 3/4 MOA accuracy with new cases at 1000 yards.

One solution was to use a 2" thick recoil lug; that helped a bit but only doubled the round count before they needed rebedding. The other was to epoxy the receiver in a flat bottom/side aluminum sleeve which fixed the problem and allowed a Rem action to finally shoot the good scores done with Win 70 ones. Pillar bedding helped but never equalled what Winchester action based magnums would shoot with conventonal expoxy bedding.

But the many flaws of Remmie's failing parts made them not all that popular. Extractors breaking was the worst. My first high power match rifle used a Rem. 700 short action and it's .308 Win. barrel shot sub 1/2 MOA at 200 yards; for a couple hundred rounds. Then it opened up to 3/4 MOA or more. Cleaning out the 1/10th inch thick epoxy then rebedding it fixed the problem; again and again until I got fed up with extractor failure as well as feeding failures from its magazine design. The recoil lugs of some 30 caliber magnums in factory stocks were bent forward from recoil; I can imagine what a 33 caliber Lap Mag would do. After seeing other Remmie actioned rifles doing the same thing, I switched to Winchester ones.

Unless you shoot your Rem 700 based rifle with epoxy bedded receiver into no more than 3/4 MOA at 1000 yards or 5/8 MOA at 600 yards for at least 20 shots in as many minutes, you'll never see the torque issues they have after a couple hundred shots of barrel life.

Riflemen, how often do you shoot dime size groups at 300 yards? How many shots each? I ask because few benchrest few-shot group and aggregate records are under .705" (.235 MOA). Clay pidgeons are a bit over 4" diameter. No benchrest rifle on this planet shoots that size or better all the time; the best 5% of them keep all shots inside 6 to 7 inches at 1000 yards.

[Shooter2675]

Riflemen, correct me if I'm wrong but I could get an action for $525, barrel for $300, the rest of the small parts for the action for $150, and a hogue over molded stock for $100. That brings the cost to $1075, which is on the high side as I rounded up the prices to the next $25-$50 or so. I'm sure I missed something though Becuase between work and Christmas by mind is jam-packed.

Another question... What are the main distinct problems in a .338 Lapua Remington 700 action with aftermarket barrel and stock? Riflemen, I know you have had nothing but good luck so I'd like to hear from someone who has a different opinion, although your opinion is certainly music to my ears as it makes me more confident in my possible decision.

One other question... What are the distint advantages of a .338 Lapua over a .300 Win Mag? I know ammo differs in cost but ammo cost isn't just a big deal for me, $3 a round isn't too high for a big girl like a .338. If I were to be doing shots out to about 800 yards or so and some hunting for animals ranging from white tailed deer to blackbear (at fair distances), I would want the .338 Lapua right?

Thanks,

John

[Shooter2675]

Bart B.,

No offense to you at all, and your information was extremely helpful, but do you think that after forty years some of those problems got worked out? Also, you said you used a short action 700, I would be using a long action MAGNUM, which remington can support a .338 Lapua. I'm gonna email them tonight and ask what they have to say about a .338'lapua in a long action magnum, but Ill take their word with a grain of salt as they are trying to sell their product.

[HKFan9]

Riflemen, correct me if I'm wrong but I could get an action for $525, barrel for $300, the rest of the small parts for the action for $150, and a hogue over molded stock for $100. That brings the cost to $1075, which is on the high side as I rounded up the prices to the next $25-$50 or so. I'm sure I missed something though Becuase between work and Christmas by mind is jam-packed.

Another question... What are the main distinct problems in a .338 Lapua Remington 700 action with aftermarket barrel and stock? Riflemen, I know you have had nothing but good luck so I'd like to hear from someone who has a different opinion, although your opinion is certainly music to my ears as it makes me more confident in my possible decision.

One other question... What are the distint advantages of a .338 Lapua over a .300 Win Mag? I know ammo differs in cost but ammo cost isn't just a big deal for me, $3 a round isn't too high for a big girl like a .338. If I were to be doing shots out to about 800 yards or so and some hunting for animals ranging from white tailed deer to blackbear (at fair distances), I would want the .338 Lapua right?

Thanks,

John

Sounds like you are just going to be ******* away your money to me. .338LM is expensive... and great at long range, if you want to shoot consistant groups at 800-1000 yards you better have a rifle that was built to do it with percise consistancy or you will just be throwing your money into the wind.

Hogue overmold stock wont cut it, and did you factor in having a gun smith take that action and barrel you purchased and installing them, and blueprinting them, then bedding them in a quality stock?

If you want to shoot good groups at 1000yards it will be expensive, no matter what caliber, and even more expensive using .338LM. If you want to shoot stuff under 1000 yards... there are PLENTY of other more affordable calibers to do it.

[Shooter2675]

Hkfan,

Thank you for the insight. I have thought about the gunsmith costs. How much does a good bedding normally run you? And I have some more questions regarding caliber choice. You are right, you need a good gun to get good groups out that far, but if I wanted to hunt elk or deer at 1000 yards would a .300 win mag cut it? What other caliber choices do I have? It has to be able to reach out t to 1000 yards, and Hopefully,as my marksmenship improves, I'll shooting much further, out to 1500 yards, which is why I like a .338 Lapua becuase it gives me room to grow.

Let me know what you think,


John

[HKFan9]

I don't hunt at those distances (furtherst was crows and woodchucks 400-700 yards.) nor do I find it rather desirable to do so on a large game animal. I am still on the long range learning curve, but I have walked shots onto woodchucks at those distances if I missed, however on an Elk, you might wound it.

I am sure others can talk about calibers for hunting at distance, however I know people use 7mm Rem Mag .300 Win Mag and similar calibers for those distances on Elk... but generally in $$$ custom rifles, with spotters, guides, laser range finders to compensate quickly ect. Shooting known distances on static ranges, as Bart has suggested in the past is do-able with cheaper scopes, but in the field, where you can be dialing for random distances, you better have a quality scope with accurate turrets that is up for that task, or as Bart does, tests his scopes in a collimeter and knows what his turrets are doing.

That being said, if that is your desired outcome and goal, you are going to do big money into a rifle, and big money into a scope to be going for cold bore lethal (read humane) kill shots on large game animals.

As Bart said.. the top 5% of Bench Rest rifles in the world can't hold a group of 4'' at 1000 yards.

Bedding is one thing, most money will go into blue printing the action, and installing the barrel. A good quality stock (Manners, McMillian, HS Percision, some of the newer chassis systems) will run you $500+. To bed it, and do all the action work, really depends on the gun smith, but labor is generally $80+ an hour depending on the smith.

[Shooter2675]

Ok, I understand, but if I want any gun more powerful than a .308 wouldn't it be the same cost except for ammo, which like I said isnt that big of a deal to me. My barrel maker (E.R. Shaw) doesn't charge anymore for .338 then a .30-06. And before you take a stab at E.R. Shaw for not being "match caliber", just realize im not wanting to spend $500 on a barrel so please don't go there. John

[HKFan9]

Well just looking on the self at the shop I work in... 7mm Mag ammo is about $35 - $55.

.338 LM ammo is $90-$160 a box.

The barrels might cost you the same, but shooting them is going to be a major difference ammo wise, even with reloading. Brass for .338LM is $$ and sometimes hard to track down. Bullets, and a large powder charge add up.

Use whatever Barrel Mfg you want, just keep in mind the differences, and expectations. Personally I like to buy once cry once. If you are buying "cheaper" componets, and expecting the same results as a $5000 blue printed rifle wearing a $2000-$3000 US Optics or similar scope, you are going to be disapointed.

If you are dead set on hunting with a .338 Lapua be my guest, however I know of people using Remington Sendero's and similar rifles for long range elk hunts, but a lot you will see hunting at those distances are packing $$ custom rifles.

If you want to keep your cost down, I would check out buying a factory gun, like the 700P or the Savage LR hunter, or 110BA. Or step down in caliber to a Remington Sendero or similar rifle in 7mm Mag or .300 WM or some of the ultra mags.

Also not only rifles and scopes you need to factor in quality steel bases and rings as well, which will cost $150-$300. You can save some money by lapping them yourself with a $40 kit, but keep in mind if you mess up the rings are shot.