Building a 240 Weatherby Magnum...

Deer Sniper · Super Member Joined: Apr 26, 2007 Posts: 539

I am getting ready to start on my wife's 240 Weatherby Magnum so, here we go again with more pictures....

This is the 240 Weatherby Magnum with two of my favorite bullets. The one on the left is a Sierra 85 gr. B.T. - H.P. Game King. The bullet on the right is Hornady's 87 gr. V-MAX. Both bullets perform superbly well out to the maximum 600 yard distance that my wife will be shooting deer....

This shows a lot of the goodies that we will be starting out with -

The Remington 700 short action started out as a factory 243 Winchester...

Everything else in the picture is pretty much self explanatory but, if you have any questions, just ask!

This shows the "cleaning stuff" that will be used to help keep the barrel shooting to it's full potential. I always "clean" with a 50/50 mix of Shooters Choice and KROIL. Another thing that I do is ALWAYS keep the bore "wet" until the day I am going to shoot and then I run several dry patches down the bore to make sure the barrel is squeaky clean and dry. I also NEVER use brass brushes - only NYLON...

The horizontal rod at the bottom of the picture is a 44" Dewey nylon coated rod. Also notice the bore guide on the right, with it's solvent port. Both the coated rod and the bore guide will prevent damage to the chambers "throat" which is detrimental to absolute best accuracy and longer barrel life....

Deer Sniper · Super Member Joined: Apr 26, 2007 Posts: 539

This shows the bottom side of the Remington action with a single shot follower bedded in place and serves a couple of purposes. One, it minimizes vibrations and two, it allows for a more stable and solid bedding platform, both of which will help decrease group size at the longer distances...

Even though my wife will limit herself to 600 yards, I will definitely stretch in on out there another 400-500 yards just to see what the gun will be capable of....

This shows the top view of the action and the single shot follower...

Also notice that I have already re-drilled and tapped the action for the larger 8-40 screws instead of the usual 6-48....

I decided to replace the black bolt shroud with a silver one to match the trigger guard....

I replaced the factory trigger with one from Rifle Basix. I have this one adjusted down to 18 oz. and only because my wife would not let me get a Jewell trigger and go for a pull weight of 6 oz. That's okay though cause this is HER gun and I want her to be comfortable with shooting it....

Deer Sniper · Super Member Joined: Apr 26, 2007 Posts: 539

Factory recoil lug on the right next to the custom tapered and oversize recoil lug on the left. Less "flex" and easier removal from the stock once it's bedded....

I also changed out the factory locking/steel bolt shroud with an aluminum shroud. I also replaced the factory firing pin with a titanium firing pin and also replaced the factory firing pin spring with a stiffer spring as well as tighter fitting spring. The new firing pin and spring provide for a much faster lock-time for improved accuracy at long-range....

Here is the muzzle brake that I am going to screw onto the barrel after threading between centers and then cutting an 11 degree target crown....

I've gotten things set up in the lathe and am getting ready to start machining....

This shows the brake after being threaded onto the barrel and rough turned to approximate barrel diameter and taper....

This shows the barrel and brake after "filing" and a light polish....

Deer Sniper · Super Member Joined: Apr 26, 2007 Posts: 539

Breech end of barrel....

Muzzle end....

BARREL SPECS -

Lilja / 3-groove / 6mm / 1-12" twist / 30" length / 31 1/2" overall length with brake / Match Grade stainless steel...

The barrel is a "straight taper" and starts out at the breech end being 1.200" in diameter for a length of 5" and then straight tapers from 1.200 down to .820" diameter at the muzzle....

The stock of choice was an H-S Precision Target / Varmint with a 2 1/4" wide beaver tail forend. This will ride the bags very well from our elevated shooting stand....

I'll fill in the magazine cut out with epoxy before any bedding is started and even though this stock has the aluminum bedding block, I will still fully bed the receiver and will show pictures of it once I get around to it....

More pictures to follow as time permits....

FALPhil

I wish my lathe was that big...

Can't wait to see how she shoots.

Handloader

Deer Sniper: thanks for the photos and information about your project. I'm a big fan of the 240 WM as well as its counterpart, the 6-284. Mine is in a UltraLite and it is a joy to carry in the field and devastating on mulies and antelope.

And, here is a question: your project action is a Rem 700 Short Action, so, will this be used single shot only?

I've converted all my bolt action scope base holes to 8X40 and I have wondered why the factory doesn't adopt it for the added strength?

Deer Sniper · Super Member Joined: Apr 26, 2007 Posts: 539

FALPhil - my lathe is a small 40" model....

Handloader - I build more 6mm-284's than anything else and for me personally, it's also my favorite cartridge...

If you back up from the bottom to pictures # 17 and 18, you can see the "single shot follower" that I have bedded in place...

If the factories changed to the larger 8-40 screws, then all the base manufacturers would have to do the same thing and I guess all that extra work would just cost too much - yeah right!....

D/S

FALPhil

Deer Sniper wrote:

FALPhil - my lathe is a small 40" model....
D/S

That's about twice the length of mine.

Deer Sniper · Super Member Joined: Apr 26, 2007 Posts: 539

This shows the lugs after "lapping" or at least one of them since this was the clearest picture. Both lugs show nearly 100% contact after lapping....

This shows the bolt face after being refaced and cut perfectly square with the centerline on the action...

This also shows the front of the receiver after being turned in a lathe and also cut on the centerline of the action...

I also replaced the factory ejector plunger with a heat treaded steel "rod" and faced it off square with the bolt face as well, since this gun is going to set up as a single shot....

More later....

D/S

Handloader

Impressive. I admire good workmanship, sir.

At your convenience, please tell us why your chose the 240 Weatherby for long distance, not that I disagree at all. Given the dominance of the 6.5-284 in the 1,000 yard stuff and given the weight of your rifle, what attracted you to the 6mm?

Deer Sniper · Super Member Joined: Apr 26, 2007 Posts: 539

Handloader,

thank you for the compliments, I appreciate it....

I have shot the various 6mm's, more than all other cartridges combined and in all honesty, the choosing of the 240 Weatherby Magnum was my wifes doing. If it were mine, I would have gone with the 6mm-284 as that one is my all time favorite...

Also, given the fact that I have killed more deer with all the various 6mm's and at ranges from just over 12 yards all the way out to just shy of 1,300 yards and to date, all have been one shot kills...

My main bullet for shooting out to 800 yards is Sierra's 85 gr. B.T. - H.P. Game King bullet, even though I have on occasion stretched it out to a full 1,000 yards with great success...

My second favorite bullet for shooting deer out to 1,000 yards is Hornady's 87 gr. V-MAX...

If I'm looking at stretching the 6mm to absolute maximum distance on a white-tail deer, then the nod goes strictly to the 105 gr. Hornady A-MAX...

2008 will be my 12th. year of doing so but, unless I'm shooting archery or a shotgun, I do not and will not shoot a deer inside 600 yards and that also goes for the 6 other guys that I shoot with, with me being the only one to shoot a 6mm in one form or another. Here is a picture of my 29 pound 6mm-284 that has already taken more deer past 800 yards than it has less than 800 yards...

D/S

Vince

Deer Sniper...I have opened a new thread in Big Game Hunting with a question for you mate.

Cheers, Vince

Deer Sniper · Super Member Joined: Apr 26, 2007 Posts: 539

Vince,

I posted a reply to your thread on Big Game Hunting....

D/S

Deer Sniper · Super Member Joined: Apr 26, 2007 Posts: 539

This shows the bore dial as it is being used to dial in the bore....

The bore was dialed in on two points. the first one was 1/2" in from the end and the second one was at the approximate length of where the bullet would be contacting the lands....

After spending just over 2 hours dialing in the bore down to the last ten-hundred-thousandths of an inch, I then faced off the breech end of the barrel....

After facing off the end of the barrel, I used a boring bar to cut the bolt body counterbore....

These two pictures show the counterbore after being cut....

The chamber has also been bored with a longer boring bar and since we have finally received our reamer back from being reground, I should be able to cut the chamber in the next day or two...

More pictures to follow....

Handloader

Neat. Are you going to freebore the throat? If not, how much leade will you cut?