all of my stillers are as smooth as glass.

I'm looking at the Browning X-Bolt Long Range Hunter Carbon Fiber in 270 WSM.

6 lb, 9oz. before you scope it... 26" fluted stainless barrel.

Light enough to haul around, sexy carbon fiber stock, detachable rotary magazine, stainless action and barrel, good for long range. Short magnums give you lighter weight and shorter, faster bolt throw.

The 26" barrel lets the 270 WSM do it's stuff.

X-Bolt Long Range Hunter Carbon Fiber

- But that's just me.

after some filing and polishing

What are you shooting now? I know we talked about the stiller last year at the match but don't remember if you still got it.

Walter

I have to agree with Walter above. Looks to me you want to have a hunting tact"cool" mix rifle. I am more of a hunter and less a shooter--so my tasts will differ a bit I have hunted all over Texas, the western US, all over Southern and western Africa, I will tell you I would build it light and portable enough to hunt with, and yet a heavy enough caliber to take care of business when you need to

Get one of Jerry Stillers actions

http://www.viperactions.com

Mount to a nice #4 or #5 contour of your choice PAC-nor, Lijia, Shilen, Hart, Mike Rock ect...whoever most shoot pretty good.remember to have your flutes cut at the barrel makers..therefore it's there problem if the barrel does not shoot up to par. Cut it at 24 inches and thread it if your heart desires.

Get a McMillian a-3 sporter style ( lighter than a a 5 but still has the deep grip and tac-t- cool look a lot of guys look for--and the gun shoots good from prone with a bi-pod attached.

http://www.stockysstocks.com/servlet/the-651/NEW%21-McMillan-A3-Sporter/Detail

Mount a weaver style rail, or get a set of NEAR rings and bases ( some of the best in biz) and all the scope you can afford. I like the Horus 59 retical in my Bushnell elite tact 3x21, but I also have a vortex razor, and a S&B I am fond of too.

As for caliber I would go a bit heaver than most...if you are going just to hunt around the Lone Star state and shoot at the range..the the 6.5 creed or a mundane 308 is fun and easy on the shoulder.. If you want to hunt I would start at the 300 WSM/300 win mag.and lean real hard on the 338 ultra mag. The 338 RUM is a hard hitting and accurate LR cartridge. It is easy to load for and has a great range of bullets from 180 grains to a 300 grain VLDsand fully jacked solids.

I personally have built a number of rifles, and I can say my 340 WBY can do it all, and if I had a choice to build today, I would go the RUM route. You can put a 338 can/suppressor on it...and it will shoot 1,000 yard with the right training, optics and bullets.

Here is one of my customs..it is a bill wiseman 375 RUM with custom detachable box mag 24 in wiseman fluted barrel VX-7 Leupold 1.5x6 scope..it will carry the mail when needed..that is a 2100 lb Livingston eland



Just my 2 cents.

Yep, We order them 10-15 at a time and I love them. Nice tight tolerances, good features and well made... Oh and made in Texas

Thank you!

Absolutely! I'm looking/hoping to put a 22-250 together to shoot out to 600 yds or even more and now I'm actually wondering what I could do with a 7-mag to get it shootable for me. I'm wondering what type of recoil it would have with the right muzzle brake on it. I wonder if I could shoot it then.

I'm hoping I can get the 22-250 done for around 1k. I've already got an action and stock I'm going to use so I just need to get a barrel and get it going.

I spent around 2500 of the rifle above and that's twice what I originally planned to spend but no regrets and it shoots incredibly well. If I were to do a 7-mag I'm pretty sure I'd stick with a Tikka action. I'd definitely buy it in person so I could check it out to make sure it's as smooth as the one on the rifle above. I doubt I'd spend as much on the stock as I did on the one above though and I'd still go with a Bartlein barrel I think.

Hum...

My 6.5x47, 6.5 Creed, 308 and 223 are all on stillers. My 7mm Rem Mag is on a Rem700 that I bought used but it is being swapped over and Curtis and I are putting together a big ELR gun on their Tac408.

The only real issue I had was on my 6.5x47 the flutes on the bolt would catch the mag lips now and then, I did polish it down but after taking a closer look recently it was related to how my mag was sitting, the flutes catching was a symptom of that. Stiller actions are tight and they do need a little break in but nothing extra ordinary. Their QC and repeat-ability is also incredible. Curtis and I swap components all the time, we will move barrels around from my gun to his, to a test action, whatever and thanks to their tight tolerances and QC details there is never any issue or variation. Hell even when we swap out barrels from one action to another it's still timed perfectly. Hell one time he forget his bolt at home and we shot a match with the same bolt. Would you have the confidence to do that with a Remington or Tika?

Not to mention Curtis and Jerry both do a hell of allot for the support of the hunting and tac match groups, supporting matches, the PRS, youth shooters and more.

They are good actions with good people behind them.

For the OP - there are lots of choices but your one limiting point about wanting accuracy and factory ammo really puts you in 6.5 Creedmore territory. There is lots of 7mm Rem Mag out there that is great but you pay out the [censored] for it. 6.5 Creed will give you all you want with a economical factory ammo solution that shoots lights out.

Other than that - it's all opinion.... barrel, action, stock, trigger. Touch as many as you can and go with what you like. I'm now running Timney Elite's - I like it much better than the Jewel and can get it down into the oz's territory where the old timneys had a 1.5lb bottom.

Sure someone will tell you jewels jam up, timneys jam up, blah blah blah - but most of the time it's because "some dirt got in there" and they blame the dirt vs. some simple preventative maintenance. Your shooting conditions dictate that, it may be after each stage (Oklahoma sandstorm) or it may be once a year. It may be after you dropped it in the mud hiking up a mountain or a quick check after the airplane ride... but at the end of the day they all fail because they were not maintained at the interval required based on the shooting condition.

Kreiger, Bartlein, Rock, Shillen - they will all shoot.

McMillan, B&C, Rock Solid - they will all hold your action and float your barrel.

Crap! Missed the need for factory ammo problem.

In that case, 6.5 Creedmoor is the absolute best bet. Hornady ammo with a 140 gr A-max is nothing to shy away from, it will get the work done.

We did take a 6.5 Creedmoor barell that had been threaded for Tony's RH Tikka, shot for 200 rounds, taken off, stored in a drawer for a year, screwed it onto my LH Tikka and it head spaced perfect. Very impressive for a mass produced action.

Hard to beat a 6.5 Creedmoor if you are going to shoot factory ammo.

I don't have a single Stiller action. He isn't real well liked in the benchrest world, he took a bunch of orders for his drop port action then the government contracts came and he just never filled them. Instead of being 100% upfront about it he kept putting people off. It's a long standing joke in the benchrest world about actually getting something you order from Stiller. Having said that some guys run them and they appear to be really nice actions.

I have 2 BAT's, a Kelbly Panda and recently aquired a Defiance made Short Action Customs Alpha II action. There isn't a bad action in that bunch but my favorite are the BAT's. I got a deal on the other 2 or I would have a safe full of BAT's. For a hunting or precision long range gun I'd melonite the action...that will smooth it out without adding hardly any material at all. You can order BAT's with that done. A BAT tactical or the new Kelbly tactical action will probably be my next build.

FYI - I don't like BigHorns...they are just a fancy Savage. Personally not a fan of the floating bolt head. For what it's worth I want a solid 1 piece bolt.

Only get cut barrels, if you're going to spend the money why not get the best barrel you can. It's not like a button barrel is hardly any cheaper. Just not worth it....Bartlien, Brux, Broughton, Kreiger would be the brands (no particular order) I would stick with. I have been on a Brux kick lately and they have been awesome.

Ok talk to me about 7mm-08. I'm by no means a caliber snob. 3000 round barrel life sounds great... compared to creed more specifically. There is one in my fil's cabinet that's a sporter with cut down stock never shot it.

2 answer earlier question...At 1000 probably looking to kill steel mostly, pigs if I see them lol. No plans on taking grizzlies at that kind of range.

Also on the long range shoot 30's I was generalizing that they seem to favor bigger bullets and more powder capacity. And I getting at the fact that while I am in LOVE with a cz .204(up to 400 that thing can hang with ANYTHING ive ever seen) its not very practical on larger game. Ie Zombies, elk, deer...cartel members

A third of the equipment battle in making precision shots is the ammo. You really need to load your own! Ammo tuned to the rifle, and as much shooting as you need to do you'll save money on ammo evetually surpassing the cost of loading equipment. Another third is optics, whole other topic, and the last third is the rifle.

I have a 6.5 Creedmoor for myself and am almost finished with a 7mm-08 for a rental rifle. I will load it with 168 Bergers and 162 A-maxes and let it eat. Its very very at home to a thousand yards and beyond and sure enough packs a punch for a short action cartridge. But to squeeze all that potential you need to load it yourself. Not necessarily the case with the Creedmoor. I load my own Creedmoor, but a guy that isnt set up for it can buy factory ammo that will hang with a hand load. There arent many carteidges out there that can boast that.

As I said before, I plan to work up a load myself over time, I have access and we reload for this toy i'd do it more... I just wont have time to start out the project loading my own right off the bat. I want to be able to in a pinch hit the gun store on the way to the ranch and have something that will shoot under a minute of angle. In other words nothing that requires fire forming brass your self or having to neck down brass yourself. When we set up the steel for LONG range you wip out the good stuff and show your buddies whats up lol.

Talk to me about good versus bad on a 7mm-08 vs a creedmore? I like the idea of the larger bullets in the 7mm-08 but what are the advantages?

In straight up target shootinf look at two things. Ballistic Coefficient and Muzzle Velocity also known as BC and MV.

6.5 Creedmoor with the highest BC bullet you can put in it being a Berger 140 gr match hybrid, BC of .317 add to that an MV of 2800 fps on a 24" barrel.

Compare a 7-08 with the highest BC being a Berger 168 gr VLD, BC of .316 and an MV of 2700 fps on a 24" barrel.

(these velocities are not set in stone)

BC is just about exatly the same, the 6.5 is leaving faster, but the 7 is carrying more weight. So when I'm looking at pure efficiency in flight I pay close attention to wind drift, specifically. Without inputting numbers right now and basing off of previous research they drift evenly to 1k.

But! To hunt with one or the other I believe the 7 delivers a tad more energy. So all in all both will do a fine job for you. Also why I have one of each.

Run some ammo in a program like the Gseven ballistics program. you will see they are so close depending on what you run in it you can make an argument ether way.

6.5 Creedmoor

Calculated Table
Range Drop Drop Windage Windage Velocity Mach Energy Time Lead Lead
(yd) (mil) (mil) (mil) (mil) (ft/s) (none) (ft•lbs) (s) (mil) (mil)
0 *** *** *** *** 2805.0 2.512 2445.4 0.000 *** ***
100 -0.0 -0.0 0.1 0.1 2658.0 2.381 2195.9 0.110 5.4 5.4
200 -0.4 -0.4 0.1 0.1 2515.2 2.253 1966.3 0.226 5.5 5.5
300 -1.0 -1.0 0.2 0.2 2376.8 2.129 1755.8 0.349 5.7 5.7
400 -1.8 -1.8 0.3 0.3 2242.8 2.009 1563.4 0.479 5.8 5.8
500 -2.6 -2.6 0.4 0.4 2113.4 1.893 1388.3 0.616 6.0 6.0
600 -3.5 -3.5 0.5 0.5 1988.5 1.781 1229.0 0.763 6.2 6.2
700 -4.5 -4.5 0.6 0.6 1867.4 1.673 1083.9 0.918 6.4 6.4
800 -5.6 -5.6 0.7 0.7 1750.0 1.567 951.8 1.084 6.6 6.6
900 -6.8 -6.8 0.8 0.8 1635.8 1.465 831.7 1.262 6.9 6.9
1000 -8.2 -8.2 0.9 0.9 1524.9 1.366 722.8 1.452 7.1 7.1


7mm-08

Calculated Table
Range Drop Drop Windage Windage Velocity Mach Energy Time Lead Lead
(yd) (mil) (mil) (mil) (mil) (ft/s) (none) (ft•lbs) (s) (mil) (mil)
0 *** *** *** *** 2704.9 2.423 2728.8 0.000 *** ***
100 -0.0 -0.0 0.1 0.1 2560.3 2.293 2444.8 0.114 5.6 5.6
200 -0.4 -0.4 0.2 0.2 2420.0 2.168 2184.2 0.235 5.7 5.7
300 -1.1 -1.1 0.2 0.2 2284.2 2.046 1945.9 0.362 5.9 5.9
400 -2.0 -2.0 0.3 0.3 2153.0 1.928 1728.8 0.497 6.1 6.1
500 -2.9 -2.9 0.4 0.4 2026.3 1.815 1531.4 0.641 6.3 6.3
600 -3.9 -3.9 0.5 0.5 1903.7 1.705 1351.7 0.794 6.5 6.5
700 -4.9 -4.9 0.6 0.6 1784.8 1.599 1188.1 0.957 6.7 6.7
800 -6.1 -6.1 0.7 0.7 1669.3 1.495 1039.3 1.130 6.9 6.9
900 -7.5 -7.5 0.9 0.9 1557.1 1.395 904.3 1.316 7.2 7.2
1000 -8.9 -8.9 1.0 1.0 1448.3 1.297 782.3 1.516 7.4 7.4

They run neck and neck pretty much. I was correct that the 7 delivers a bit more energy. But the 6.5 is less effected by wind at the 800 yard mark and beyond, but again, not a wide margin, only another tenth mil at 5 mph 90 degree wind. Straight target shooting, run either one, also gonna hunt, run either one, with the 7 hitting a tad harder.

Good advice on the above... QPQ ( salt bath nitrited) the barrel too and your barrel life will go much,much beyond 3,000 rounds. I have a friend that has a test gun in a 300 win that has over 5,400 rounds down the tube ( it has taking since z1997 to do it) it is still under MOA...and that's a lot of shooting!!!

I once talked to a pretty famous barrel maker on a hunt, and joking around I said I wish I would have QPQ'd all my barrels...he winked and said NO! "I need to sell barrels--I have to feed my family".

Ed

30-375 Ruger ... Fits in a 30-06 action and hits harder than a 300 Win Mag. Wildcat but if you want the best you will reload anyway.

If not for the need for easy to find factory ammo the 280AI would be high on my short list to do what the OP described, but with only one manufacture making it that takes it out of the running.

7mm-08 is a great round and I have been shooting one for over 30 years, it still impresses me with the accuracy and ease of finding a good load for it. For hunting the 140gr will work well and has for me for a long time but if wanting to take it out long range the heavier bullets with higher BC are the way to go. By the way the 7mm-08 started out mostly as a 1000 yard round that Remington standardized.

All of my manuals show the 6.5c/260 running a 140 at 2700 and the 7mm-08 running the 162/168 the same speed. Both can be pushed a touch faster with a longer oal and likely will with a match barrel and chamber. Like stated above they would be my choice for a do all which is why I run a 7mm. The 7mm Rem mag is capable of anything short of the big 5 imo and would be a great choice if it wasn't for the lack of factory match ammo.