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Winchester Coyote .308 Hunter Project, Farrel Rings and Base Install
The short barreled .308 rifle is taking shape. The basis will be push feed action on a relatively new model Winchester Model 70 Coyote in Caliber .308. This rifle has a laminated wood stock in a satin medium brown color. The barrel is stainless steel. The action is blued steel. The push feed action allows easy single round loading through the ejection port. The push feed action also has a bolt whose face is open on the bottom. This allows controlled round feeding from the magazine similar to the claw extractor action found on the Winchester Classic Model. Winchester calls this push feed action the Controlled Round Push Feed action.
Action Length
Notes: this action comes in 2 lengths. WSSM for the small varmint calibers .223, 22-250,and the .243 (blued) and all the WSSM calibers. The .308 comes in the WSM length action which also is home to all the winchester short magnum rounds. The .308 model should thus take WSM scope bases. I did verify this when the rifle came in.
Ken Farrel Rings and Bases
The base that I selected was from Ken Farrell. The desirable qualities for me are that it uses all four mounting screws on the action. It is not cut away much at the ejection port. There are not an excessive number of slots milled on top. This will stiffen the action. The rings are very stout all steel. This will allow the scope to stiffen the action as well. The scope will be a 4.5x14x40 Leupold, with adjustable objective, which I have on hand. KenFarrell.com, Rings and Bases
I plan to first make a metal bedding block for the laminated wood stock which, I believe, is pillar bedded. I do not have the rifle in hand to check this. I plan to use stainless steel for two reasons. The first is that it is about 3 times stiffer than aluminum of equal size. The stock will limit the size of the material. Most of the bar I ordered will be milled away. Should be a challenging project for the milling machine that has been updated with my heavy duty fifth column. My choice of bedding block material is 304 Stainless Steel 1.5x1x12 inch from onlinemetals.com They also have 6061 T6 aluminum which would be suitable for this block as well. I chose 304 stainless over 316 stainless, which is also available, as the two alloys have similar properties but the 304 is about 10 % softer. Both stainless steels are annealed and are still about twice as hard as the T6 temper aluminum, but should be softer than the hardened receiver.
I did find some laminated wood stocks with a built in bedding block from Accurate Innovations. These would fulfill my accuracy requirements, but run about $300 at Brownell’s or Midway.
Winchester Coyote in .308
The rifle came in today. Here are some observations. The color is lighter that the display model in .300 WSM that I viewed. I like this color better as it does not look muddy. The action length in the .308 caliber is described as the WSM length for Winchester Short Magnum. It is a longer action than Winchester Coyotes in .243 or .223 which should come in the WSSM action length (for Winchester Super Short Magnum). The WSM length Farrell base that I ordered was the correct length.
First Targets
I shot 3, 5-shot groups with Federal Gold Medal match at 100 yards with the stock rifle. They went 1.630,1.356,1.615 for an average of 1.5 inch. I also shot a pair of shots while sighting in with Winchester Supreme 150 grain Ballistic Silvertips that went 1.045 inch. I suspect that half of this deviation is in the poor bedding.
I removed the strip of bedding material that was touching the barrel after the first 5 shot group on the range. It is a soft material that is poorly adhered to the wood. I was able to cut it out clean with a pocket knife. Some vertical was removed from the next two groups, but the last group was still about the same size. I cleaned between groupsand after the first three sighter shots. Barrel was a bit warm for the start of each test.
Coyote First Impressions
I really like the looks of the stock. I don’t like the bedding. It would have been fairly cheap and effective to put in pillar bedding. The front of the trigger guard was sunk in a little past the surface of the wood affecting appearance. The pillar would have prevented this.
The extractor slides in a channel. It would stick when pushed to the side. I discovered this just inspecting the rifle. I deburred the channel of the bolt at the outer edge with a tiny file to correct this. It worked great at the range after this.
The bolt can be disassembled by hand. Put the safety in the middle position then remove the bolt. Push in the cocking piece lock with your finger and the whole cocking piece and firing pin assembly twists out. This is very handy for checking your sized brass for proper fit in the chamber. It helps to remove the cocking piece so that you can feel for any tension when you close the bolt on the sized brass. Size the brass to remove all tension and be as large as possible.
I have removed the barrel from the rifle. The barrel extension is 1/16 less in diameter than a Remington model 700. There is no recess cut in the end of the barrel. If you can rebarrel a Remington a Winchester will be easy. The chamber neck did not meet the rifling well. It is plain to see with my old eyes with the barrel removed; there is the finish from the bore visible on one side of the neck. It’s that far off. I am told that this is due to the factory using non piloted reamers for production reasons. I plan to lightly hand lap, shorten, and then rechamber this barrel, removing the entire neck in the future just to see what it will do with a good chamber. The barrel is very light for my taste even though it is described as medium heavy. The large section next to the receiver is quite small.
I will reinstall the barrel with blue Loctite. I suspect there is some movement of the breech end of the barrel extension in the receiver as the barrel heats up. The Loctite will improve this as it is not possible to cut an oversize thread on this barrel. The barrel will require heat from a propane torch to remove.
There is a lot of metal in the receiver bottom to make it stiff. It should make an accurate rifle when I’m through.
Farrell Rings and Bases Install
There are no special tricks to installing these rings and bases, but I thought I would put in print the procedure that I use. I like Red Loctite on the threads of the base mounting screws and a thinlayer of red Loctite under the scope base wherever it contacts receiver metal. This beds the scope base to the receiver and locks it in place over years of shooting and storage. If you ever remove the scope base, the Loctite is easy to remove, from the receiver and base, by scraping it with a thin brass strip. Then remove brass marks with Sweets.
Before you use Loctite on any part, it must be degreased. Any of the spray degreasers will work. I use a Q-tip cotton swab, that I have removed most of the cotton, and twist it into the receiver threads to clean them. Same for the holes in the scope base. Degrease the top of the receiver and the bottom of the scope base.
I put on enough Loctite so that the Loctite secures the threads and forms a little tube in the scope base that acts as a locating pin. Not so much that Loctite gets on the base of the screw. If it gets on the base and sides of the screw head, the screw will require heating with your soldering iron tip to remove; the Loctite will liquify with about 6 - 9 seconds of heat and will be easily removed. For the proper amount of Loctite the screw will remove with the standard Torx bit and a screwdriver handle without heat.
The Farrell rings have a nice large Torx screw to secure it to the base. These large screws don’t require Loctite nor do the small screws that secure the ring tops. Use a torque wrench and torque the large screw to secure the ring to the base with 65 inch-lbs.
I like the extra fore and aft adjustment available on these rings and bases.
Level the Reticle
An easy way to level the reticle is to use your combination square ruler and the right angle attachment that has a level. Level the rifle in your cleaning station by putting the ruler on the scope base and use the level to make the rifle level. The ruler allows access to the base while the scope is in place (or on the bipod using spacers under one foot). Put the scope on slightly snug and level the top of the elevation turret. Now torque or tighten the ring top screws to specs. Recheck the level. The Farrell rings require 25-30 inch-pounds. I used 30. Use a thumbnail or good eyesight to set the gaps on the rings the same on both side. This will improve appearance.
Other Rings and Bases that I like, and like not so much.
Leupold QR rings. These hold windage and elevation adjustments very well over years. They even hold well if you remove and replace the scope. No long distance bases are available.
Leupold Law Enforcement Rings.
The only disadvantage is the lack of long distance bases. Great nice looking rings. Beefy hold down screw.
Leupold Standard Dovetail Rings. These are a good value. They have an inexpensive long distance base. I have noticed some drift to the windage over a six month period. The elevation is rock solid. I can’t help but think that this is caused by the ability ofthe front ring to rotate. You need a really accurate rifle to notice this. It is on the order of about ½ inch over six months. There may have been other factors that caused this, but this is the most likely.
Burris Z rings. These rings fit a standard weaver base. A lot of the tiny screws clamping ability is used up bending the thick metal of the slotted base. I don’t like these much as they don’t clamp well enough for me. They look very nice and work OK on low recoiling rifles.
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I have access to a small mill. Where could I get plans on how to make a pistol? I know the make them by hand in the Phillippines. It should be a doable project with a small mill. What are your recommendations? I am going for a 6 shot revolver to plink rabbits with.
12/5/05 11:18 PM