SmallCaliberCentral

Recently I bought a Mini Mauser action, I'm going to build me a .204 custom rifle, I've already decided on a Richards thumbhole stock in Autumn leaves Laminate, haven't decided on a barrel maker yet but pac nor is high on the list, scope will be at least a 6-24x Mildot, I figure this will take me about a year and a half to complete, on a firefighters pay thats about as fast as this project can go, I'm open to suggestions and input, especially things to avoid from those that have built there own rifles!

Find a reputable gunsmith and ask their opinion on barrels, triggers, bases, rings and reamers. If they are a competitive shooter they will have some good suggestions on which combinations work the best. Then get your orders out because the wait for some of the parts can be pretty long.

Be careful about your choices. My stock was custom inletted for a particular action. If the action fell through that would have meant a lot of wasted time swapping it out. If you start modifying things they may become non-returnable. These are the kinds of things a good gunsmith can help with. There are a lot of members here that have built rifles that will be more than glad to help. This is my first completely custom rifle and being a member of the 204um has really helped.

May I recommend a scope?

http://www.nikkostirling.com

Distributed by http://www.legacysports.com

I purchased a 6-24x56 30 mm mildot and a set of rings. Very happy with the purchase. Fully multicoated, side parallax adjustment (I did not opt for the huge side wheel), and easy to focus eyepiece. The rings are EXTREMELY good...especially for the price.

If you are referring to Richard's Micro-Fit order early and be prepared for a LOT of work. Mine arrived 9 weeks after promised and there were many deep tool marks and it was extremely rough. Very disappointed.

I waited on my Richards stock for 9 weeks as well. It was rough too. But that didn't bother me for a couple reasons. I have a ton of woodworking tools. I enjoyed watching the stock come to life. And most importantly,, You can not put the wood back once it is removed. Mine is a maple t-hole & I think it looks very nice. Be prepared to work a little on it tho.

The Boyds stocks on the other hand come very close to being done. I had a little file work to reduce around the t-hole for my wifes small hand & some final sanding. Some wipe on poly & that was it.HTH

No problem there, I have refinished stocks before and done my fair share of woodworking, like glen said enjoy seeing the progress from just a piece of wood to become a piece of art!, ordered the boyds stock for my boys Rem 597, I'll have him doing some of the work so that he gets a bit of an education in stock preparation. pac nor still keeps floating to the top of barrel selection! unless something jumps out as a better choice it'll probably be pac nor barrel super match grade varminter contour, chrome moly, but hey I'm still open to suggestions

Here is a link to some other barrel makers.

http://www.6mmbr.com/barrels.html

I think that the Pak Nor barrel would be an excellent choice however there are other barrel makers out there that have barrels as good as or better. I still think that a Krieger or Lilja would also be other excellent choices. Also, read the article about barrel break in that the folks at Krieger wrote. This is a very interesting and thought provoking article especially if you have already read the article written by Mr. McMillan. Krieger has a contrasting opinion with a good explaination of how they arrived at their conclusions.

Krieger barrel break in article:

http://www.kriegerbarrels.com/RapidCat/ ... anyId=1246

Mr McMillan's barrel break in article:

http://www.6mmbr.com/GailMcMbreakin.html

I've been wanting to do the same thing! Except my "custom will be rebarrelling/rechambered in .204 on a Interarms Mark X mauser!

Right now my barrel of choice seems to be a Pac-Nor as well.

I've already got a pretty good start on this rifle tho, currently it is chambered in 22-6mm, and since i don't reload i either have to...

a. sell
b. start reloading
c. rebarrel

gun has a 2 lb trigger, walnut thumbhole (nknown maker), super match weight barrel (unknown maker). Figure rebarrel for 250-300$ and i will have another nice .204!

Great looking stick, but I don't think the action is small enough for a .204, the bolt face is wrong, and the extractor, at a minimum, would have to be replaced, along with the magazine and assorted parts. I don't think they ever made a 98 Mauser to fit the .378" bolt face, unless FN did some back in the '50s for their benchrest actions, and I'm not sure about them, either. That size action is better suited to .22/250, .243, 6mm, .257 Roberts and anything larger.

Stock for the mini mauser came in friday, Richards screwed up and put a rosewood cap on it, so now I'll probably end up cutting that off, but sanding has commenced, the action and barrel are almost finished at the gunsmith, gunsmith has taken a bit too long, but as an apology he has jeweled the bolt free of charge!
gunsmith has shipped my rifle, it'll be here by the 14th, sanding just began in earnest!

Rifle arrives today!!! Mini mauser action left hand, with a jeweled bolt, 2lb trigger pull, pacnor 25" barrel with a target crown, matte blue, stock is a richards inline thumbhole autumn leaves laminate (sanding is about half done) I'll mount a bushnell elite 4200 6-24x mil dot scope using warnke scope base and millet rings, i'll post pic when I'm done

my first custom rifle!

Skipper
Good articles. Read them both and more back in the days when I was trying to formulate an opinion on the subject. Personally I'd go with the Krieger theory myself. Not to imply I did a break in on my Krieger 308 tube Fired twenty or so rounds and cleaned it. Just a hint of green. Next outing none. They make a real fine barrel. After 1000 rds or so that tube will copper a little if I push the lightweight cheapos past 3000fps.
Not enough copper to effect accuracy but just a touch.

Now if I had a custom hand lapped 204 tube I wouldn't worry about breakin much. Just start slow. Benchmark and 40 grainers for the first trip. Not gonna be strippin a lot of jacket material with that combo.

Factory barrels are a different subject entirely.

After alot of diligent sanding of the barrel channel the barrel is now floating, the action is pillar bedded, now I need to finish the stock with a little more work with 400grit sandpaper, then some fine steel wool, and a couple of coats of oil finish, project is close but now I have to come up with the money for a bushnell elite 4200.

See the time lag between your first and most recent post and i can relate to it. I ordered 2 204s, a light varmint and a heavy.

While waiting I tried target shooting so needed to get a BR rifle and drop one of the 204s. All the bits were here for the light one but I like heavy barrels, if I could only have one 204 it had to be a heavy.

I've been waiting near a year for a no 9 profile Krieger 1 in 10 twist. The stiller predator is in customs and the smith has my Mcmillan A5 stock.

You show me yours, I'll show you mine

oh, and pure coincidence, I have one of the new sf elite 4200 6 - 24x 50 waiting to go on top!