Thanks for the offer, but given that I am a gunsmith myself, I would like to have my own set of gauges and reamer. But we might be able to work together a bit. What sort of action did you decide to use?

Its a brand new Remington 700, that was chambered in 17 Fireball, but only fired at the factory. I got it for a great price, cheaper than I could find anything used locally. It is the SPS-V, so I sold off the stock and made some money to put toward the all black HS Percision with full aluminum block that I really wanted. Its unlikely the take off barrel will have any value, but we'll see. The smith already blueprinted the action, and is using a big recoil lug since we're in there already. It will have a LeVang break (I like them on my .223 rifles), and a Badger extended bolt knob. The scope will be on a one piece Leupold single dovetail with 30mm medium rings. Scope TBD, likely my Nikko-Sterling 4-16X50 side focus.

Sounds good! I may still go that route. If I can find enough time I will do something from scratch though as I have some pretty specific criteria.

So how much is this little project gonna cost all said and done?

I'm trying to not think about that!

Honestly, I've traded and sold so many parts it will be hard to figure out total cost. Once the gunsmith gives me a bill, I'll try to put a dollar value on it. I will own the reamer and gauges though, that will be hard to factor in.

Well, its finally done, I got the rifle back on Friday, and fortunately got to head right to the range. After a few shots, I got her pretty quickly sighted in at 50 yards with factory 40 grain V-Max. I moved out to 100 yards, and things were looking great until the wind whipped up. There was obviously some drift going on, so I decided to do the fine tuning on another day. The recoil is basically non-existant, and I'll be interested to put in some chrono work, I'll also see what kind of POI changes happen with ss197. For now, its a single shot, but I will get right on a magazine solution.

Of course now I want to know who did your work so I can have them do it for me too! Nice.....

Damn fine looking gun. We expect full accuracy and reliability reports. And keep us updated on the mag work. Great job!

Don't know much about that model you have, what kind of bedding does it use?

Gun looks excellent! I'm sure your velocities are darn high versus any other 5.7 platform out there.

The gun was built by well-known gunsmith Lee Baker. He's been in the game for a long time, and is a very talented and skilled man. Its an honor to own a gun he built. I'm actually bummed I didn't have him build a brake, since thats the only part I know of that he actually puts his name on. The HS Precision stock has a full length aluminum block that Lee fit to the oversized recoil lug. I'm not sure if he glass bedded the stock, but thats not usually needed with the aluminum block stocks.

Do you have an aproximate total of what you spent? Also contact info for your smith? If I could simply buy a finished gun instead of having one built that would be better of course. I still think I can come up with a magazine well adapter for this that would take FiveSeven mags.

wow, that sure is beautiful no matter what caliber it is in. Since it is in 5.7x28, its even better!

Required stuff:
Gun $430
Barrel $500
Stock $350
Headspace gauges and chamber reamer $170
Blueprint action, re-work bolt face, fit barrel to action, chamber barrel $450

Extras:
Base and rings $90
Scope $200
LeVang $40

Wow, that's so affordable!


Not to mention you got an amazing deal on the original rifle. Thanks for the info! Spending the extra is always worth it, you pay for what you get!!

Maybe one day I'll be able start growing my money tree and afford the rifle

The barrel does not have to cost that much. Fluting adds $150, threading for the brake was $70, stainless adds some cost too. I think the basic barrel could have been had for closer to $250. The project could be done for much less money, the original SPS-V stock would have worked just fine.

OK, I got back to the range for some chrono work. I haven't been able to figure out a magazine, yet. Every time I get close, it looks like I can't do it without cutting into the bottom of the receiver. One more try before I commit that fully. I only have ss195, 197, and 192 at my disposal to test. I have some sized brass, powder, and projectiles, but have not loaded anything yet. I would also like to try some Elite stuff too. For comparison, averages in FPS:

Ammo type 195 197 192

FiveseveN 2100 1669 2008

5-7 Upper 2584 2073 2504

Bolt 5.7 2737 2176 2653

I was hating the stock X-Mark trigger, even though I like the X-Mark in one of my other rifles. So I tried to adjust it a little, and the screw split in half. The trigger still worked, but I decided to try a Rifle Basix, and so far it feels fantastic. We'll see how it works at the range, but I think the groups are going to tighten up.

Usefull data, thank you. Just for my own edification, what is the grainweight of the SS195 bullet? This was the lead free hollow point version right?

28gr hollowpoint. Yes, they're lead free

$2230!!! Don't get me wrong, that is a heckuva a rifle, but I will never put more than 800 bucks in a bolt gun, unless it is a 338 Lapua, even then. I invest everything in the glass.

It looks very very nice though. Much too nice for me