Building New Rifles: 7mm08 & 223SHORT

[Redwood]

Custom die maker wont give me an expected lead time and after 10 months thinking i already had them ordered they now say i have to pay in full to confirm the order.

That is piss poor

[1sikxt]

If you don't mind me asking what gun smith you using

[Gwion]

A guy in Tas called Rolf Hey.

Unfortunately, my sporadic finances and issues with component suppliers have ground work on the 223McShort to a halt for the foreseeable future.

[Gwion]

Whoa!!!

After a good (or bad) 20+ months of waiting, the custom die maker has emailed me to say the dies are ready for shippment if i care to pay for them....
ALMOST 2 YEARS AFTER I ORDERED THEM!!!

Well, looks like the McShort might be in action some time the first half of this year.

Still no sign of the go-gauge, though..... ..... I've ask my smith if he can turn one up from the reamer specs.

[brett1868]

Whoa!!!

After a good (or bad) 20+ months of waiting, the custom die maker has emailed me to say the dies are ready for shippment if i care to pay for them....
ALMOST 2 YEARS AFTER I ORDERED THEM!!!

Well, looks like the McShort might be in action some time the first half of this year.

Still no sign of the go-gauge, though..... ..... I've ask my smith if he can turn one up from the reamer specs.

Sweet....some progress, looks like the race to get first shots down range is on mate My stock departed the U.S on the 8/2 and should be with the smith this week providing customs don't sit on it for a month I might actually have the rifle back late next week

PT&G did my reamers and gauges, took a couple months to arrive though which was about what I expected. I'm surprised yours took so long, were they such an oddball reamer?

[Gwion]

Custom reamer... there are only a few 223short reamers around that i know of and the McShort has a few tweaks that were discussed with the guy who came up with the cartridge.

I ordered the reamer with a squarer shoulder, the neck is longer (same length as 222), i ordered a narrower neck because i will turn the necks down after forming the cases unlike the 223short that has a mega thick neck as it is just the same thickness as the brass at that point of the 223 cartridge. The case has also got a slightly straighter wall and a 30deg shoulder instead of 23deg (these tweaks for more powder capacity but also shared characteristics with a lot of very efficient small case cartridges). I thought about a 40deg neck but as it has to feed well from a mag, i thought 30deg was the max i could go.

The 223short is getting the same velocities as a full size 223 with half the powder. I'm hoping the tweaks i've made will add a little speed and accuracy. I intend this as an economical pest control rifle shooting light bullets very quickly with little powder and hopefully a greatly reduced report over a full size 223rem. Ideally i'd like to source a 1:14 twist to handle 35-40gn bullets better but ill have to start with my current heavy 1:12 barrel.

I also like the idea that it will be uniquely my rifle.

The dies, i have no idea why they took so long but now they are ready i'll get over my irritation and just get them shipped.

Looks like the race to fire first is well and truly in your hands. I'm still going to have to find the cash for the smith work, which could take a bit of time with all these other projects on. Good thing is that Rolf is extremely efficient when it comes to turning work around, so once i have the cash the rifle should be good to start fire forming brass within a week or two. I expect maybe April might be a realistic time frame to aim for.

Can't wait to see your custom Project50!

[brett1868]

Can't wait to see your custom Project50!

Neither can I, been a very long build. I bit the bullet so to speak and bought a March 8-80x56 Tactical MTR along with a Seb Max coaxial rest this morning. Scope should arrive tomorrow and the rest probably Friday / Monday. These are the final components so the major expenditure is finally done with, even came in a little under budget so if I add another 20c I can buy a can of coke
The stocks not here yet, the smith needs 2-3 days to fit it and there's another 3-4 days for shipping. You may still get the first shots in as I'll need to get a trip up bush approved by the Russian Princess to shoot mine.

[Gwion]

Better put in your application for leave, then'

[Oldbloke]

Whoa!!!

After a good (or bad) 20+ months of waiting, the custom die maker has emailed me to say the dies are ready for shippment if i care to pay for them....
ALMOST 2 YEARS AFTER I ORDERED THEM!!!

Well, looks like the McShort might be in action some time the first half of this year.

Still no sign of the go-gauge, though..... ..... I've ask my smith if he can turn one up from the reamer specs.

IMO that is crap service. You should get them half price.

But glad to hear you finally have then. Rifle would be useless without them.

[Gwion]

Oh, don't worry. I have my own opinion on how this has run. I was tempted to ditch the supplier and order elsewhere but seeing they have finally come to the party i will just suck it up and complete the purchase. Certainly wont be recommending them to anyone, though!

[RoginaJack]

Yes, It certainly does and I'm told I'm very good!

Compare the cost of rifles - R/H v L/H, even toilet paper is only right handed....

[Jimbo047]

Thanks for the write up. What sort of accuracy are you getting with the 7mm-08 (Howa action + True Flite barrel)? Thinking of something similar.

[Gwion]

Was shooting at 300yds today for a bit of practice. 3 shot groups were under a minute. 2 shots stacked on top of each other and I seemed to consistently throw one high and left a touch. Last group of 4 were all stacked in the 6 ring. Best 100m group has been 0.3" which is about 0.25 MOA. Best group at 500yd has been 3 shots into 0.5moa. I don't shoot many 'groups' with the rifle, so these are pretty indicative of the rifle's precision. I'm usually shooting for scores in F-class. The smith did a very good job truing the action and fitting the barrel.

[Jimbo047]

Great, thanks.

[Tripod]

Once you have the dies form a round with them turn the neck to correct dimensions from the reamer and get Rolf to use it as a 'Go gauge"

[Gwion]

Good idea.

I got such bad service from the die maker that I pulled out of the deal. No confidence that was going to get delivery on payment. Rude emails, no recognition of poor communication and long turn around. There are a few other die makers I can use, so I'll order again. This is turning out to be a back burner project.

[Tripod]

Good idea.

I got such bad service from the die maker that I pulled out of the deal. No confidence that was going to get delivery on payment. Rude emails, no recognition of poor communication and long turn around. There are a few other die makers I can use, so I'll order again. This is turning out to be a back burner project.

CH4D? I ordered 3 sets from them to cut down on postage and they sent 2 and put the third on backorder. Anyway the third set was .224 Stark and was list as such on the backorder but when it arrived 9 months later they sent .224 Clark which is a massive difference in everything other than name. I ended up giving up and did a wildcat of my own design and even made my own dies. Mine will be finished this week once a new scope ring arrives, It is a Ruger 77-44 rebarreled to .224 and the round is a 44mag necked down to .224. If I could figure out how to post pics I would put one up.

[Gwion]

Looks like I made the right decision. Worst business dealings I've ever had!

[Oldbloke]

This must be an expensive PITA.

Another good reason to just do what most people do. Buy off the shelf in a popular calibre.

[Gwion]

This must be an expensive PITA.

Another good reason to just do what most people do. Buy off the shelf in a popular calibre.

Not really that expensive, just having issues with not having the right contacts to get the job done quickly.

Yes, it would be easier to buy a rifle off the shelf but it would also be easier just to buy beer from the bottle shop and knives from the camping store.....


I do like the idea of developing a new cartridge, even if just a tweak on someone else's design. If i can get it to achieve similar velocities to a 223rem with less than half the powder it will save money in the long run. That whole concept of doing more with less is very appealing. Had the die maker and reamer/go-gauge timed as planned, this thing would have been running 18 months ago at a total build cost of around $1300-1400 including reamer and dies. As it is, i am thinking of a 1:14 barrel to be better suited to 35-40gn bullets, so that will cost a bit more. It will be perfect for the pests i shoot and i reckon would make a great little fox rifle as well.

As it is, i still have it in 223rem and it cost me about $1000 to build. Not bad going for a rifle that plugs 5 rounds into less than 0.5moa at 300yds with 50gn bullets.

[Bills Shed]

Hi Gwion,
When you have that short running, let me know and I will give you some swaged projectiles to put down it. We could do a custom jacket length for some 30 grain pills so that there is less jump while retaining seating depth or a thicker jacket made from a trimmed 22 mag cases for a long 40 grain or.......the possibilities are endless.

Bill

[Gwion]

Sounds great, Bill! Need to sort out cash flow first, though.

[Tripod]

Pity you already have the reamer otherwise I would go you halves in a 22TCM reamer, Dies are available.

[Gwion]

What's a tcm?

[Gwion]

Don't worry. I just looked it up. Looks very similar to the short. Didn't know it existed when I started on this and ordered the reamer. Still, the McShort has a few differences and I'm keen to see how it goes. If it works as planned I reckon it will make the perfect wallaby rifle for Tas.