She's finally done

[jmg8550]

Here is a close up of the right side where I filled in the bolt handle cutout.



Closer picture of the right side where I filled in the bolt cutout



Picture of the milling work

[jmg8550]

All of the white areas are where the stock had to be milled out to make room for the left hand parts such as trigger, ejection port, etc. The old bolt cutout was filled in with JBWeld fuel tank repair putty. Chad Dixon at LRI suggested using that. It turned out to be a very strong product to fill in large gaps in the stock with

[jmg8550]

Shot at 100 yards using a Hornady 140gr BTHP, Hornady brass, CCI200 primer, and 42gr AA4350. It's a bit on the slow side when I trued the velocity in the Shooter app, right around 2650fps out of a 23" barrel. I tried 42.5gr and my groups opened up quite a bit. I have some h4350 I'm going to load up and see if I can get it just a bit faster while maintaining accuracy. I'd be happy at 2700-2750. I may also try the new IMR4451 at some point. I think the barrel is going to be a shooter once I nail down a load.

[Delfuego]

Looks great!
H4350 has really been a go-to powder for 6.5 calibers, I think you will like the results.
Try some 142smk or some 140 Berger hybrids too. They are the best bullet your can get now for a 6.5.

Also toss out that trigger, that will help your groups for sure

PM If you want a good deal on a Timney trigger...

[jmg8550]

I also have some A-Max and some Barnes bullets I'm going to try. I adjusted the trigger down to 3.5 lbs, that did help a bit. I really want a 2-stage trigger for it, but I'll have to loom for who has a nice one for a decent price. TriggerTech is supposedly coming out with one, I hope it comes sooner than later. I'll PM you about the timney here in a bit.