17 replies to this topic

[A17Shooter]

Well, I got the XP back with the 22-250 barrel installed. The objective was to have a utilitarian, accurate varmint pistol with a minimum of money invested. Of course another part of the objective is to have an accurate handgun, Hopefully producing 0.5" 100 yd groups. The resulting barreled action with a standard XP-100 223 for comparison is shown below.As you can see the barrel is fatter, .870 vs .570 and the length has increased to 16.5"Mr. Mister asked if some pictures of the procedure for rebarreling and accurizing could be shown. I do have some pics of the results but, was not able to do on-site documentation of the actual process. After disassembly of the XP the first process was to true the bolt lugs and the bolt face. First let's look at the bolt lugs from a box-stock Remington 700. The shiny surface on the lugs show that the left lug probably has less than 10% contact and that is not evenly distributed. The right lug has a little more contact and it is making some contact along the width of the lug. Typical and not conducive to accuracy. Next, the trued lugs on the reworked action.This bolt was mounted in a jig and turned to true the lugs and the bolt face. You don't see the shiny contact spots yet because it had only been cycled about 25 times. On a complete accuracy build some grinding compound would be applied to the bolt lugs and the bolt would be worked to lap in a perfect fit. After the bolt was trued it was time for the action to be mounted in a jig and the receiver lugs were trued. No pics of those lugs. The remaining job for the bolt was to add some vent holes. In the case of catastrophic primer failure it is preferable that the gas vent out the side of the bolt instead of blowing out the back and in your face. Photo shows a comparison with an unmodified bolt.Time for the barrel. If this was a 700 action, replacing the recoil lug about this time would be good. A Tubb lug, about three times as thick as the Remington and milled to have parallel surfaces provides an excellent bedding surface and no flex. It is more difficult on an XP as the recoil lug is part of the trigger mechanism. So the standard recoil lug stays. There were mismatches between the barrel and action which required some machining and running the reamer in about .009" to get the head space right. The last picture is of the muzzles. Now I need to deepen the barrel channel on the stock and do some load tests. A17Shooter

[A17Shooter]

The 22-250 XP has now had two range excursions, a replacement of the riveted extractor and an attempt at deepening the barrel channel on the stock. It has been one of my more problematic projects but, there are rewards on the horizon.The first trip was to fireform some brass and generally find out how things were going to work. First discovery was that the extractor was only extracting about 3 out of 5 cartridges. With perseverance and a cleaning rod, the 50 round session was finished. All of the loads being tested were using WW 748 powder and 50 gr VMAX bullets. At the upper end of the test loads there were groups just under an inch at 100 yds and four of the five shots for one group went into .66" the other group had four in .53". The scope in use for this session is a Burris fixed 10X pistol scope, which is no longer in production.The second session was different in several ways. First the extraction problem was fixed. The powders for the test loads were AA 2460, WW 748, and WW 760, all are powders that I have used in the past with some success in a 22-250 rifle. The bullet used for all loads was the 40 grain VMAX. The scope for this test was a Burris 12X Fullfield Target. Yep, a rifle scope. With 50 rds and a day off I started to the range with pistol and chronograph is tow.The scope had been bore-sighted with the Leupold bore sighter and the first group was about six inches low but, windage appeared to be good. I cranked in 26 clicks of up and found the group was dead on. The following eight groups were all very close to the same poin of impact. This was a little surprising. But, just to make up for the easy sight in, the scope was kissing my nose about three of five shots. And, when I sneaked forward a little bit, it would give me a little love tap. Maintaining concentration on the marksmanship basics was a little difficult under these conditions.The results for the second session were more consistent than the first set of tests. All three powders produced groups that were under an inch at 100 yds. If I hadn't pulled one shot, the 2460 would have produced a 0.7" group with a velocity of 3687 fps. The 760 started producing decent groups but, the velocity was only 3370 fps. A little more 760 may help the groups and the velocity. So far I'm satisfied with the 22-250, it is shooting consistently and with reasonable accuracy. The velocity is what I had hoped for. 3700 fps from a pistol does have the potential for long range varminting with a handgun. Now I need to find a rifle scope with a little more eye relief or maybe just buy another 3-12X Burris pistol scope.A17Shooter

[ShooterJohn]

Gary, that's quiet a project but it looks like it's paying off. Lots of scope to eye relieve! You don't want to end up with raccoon eye.

[Cranky Farmer]

Have any pictures of a completed product?

[A17Shooter]

smallblockfuelie,Completed Product? This is an XP that started life as a 7 BR, then before I got it it was rechambered to 7-08. After shooting it in IHMSA matches for a while I rebarreled it to 6 MM Remington, now it's a 22-250. Seems like it isn't destined to be finished. But, here is how 11 pounds of steel, fiberglass, lead, glass and burgandy paint look today.Maybe it would look better as a 20-250?A17Shooter

[bzzrd feedr]

Very Nice Gary! Wow 11# for a pistol.

[Shoot-it]

smallblockfuelie,A17Shooter

What is that called a bolt action pistol /rifle thats neat i don't believe I ever saw anything like it before.

[capitol]

What is that called a bolt action pistol /rifle thats neat i don't believe I ever saw anything like it before.

I call that a noise maker. That sure must bark something fierce when fired. I think it needs a muzzle brake

[ShooterJohn]

I call that a noise maker. That sure must bark something fierce when fired. I think it needs a muzzle brake

You and those darn muzzle brakes! One thing I noticed about Gary's gun. At least the bolt handle is on the right side for a left handed shooter.

[A17Shooter]

What is that called a bolt action pistol /rifle thats neat i don't believe I ever saw anything like it before.

Bolt action pistol, let's not say rifle cause that would attract the BATF liike a swarm of meat bees to a freshly butchered deer. It is a Remington XP-100 with an aftermarket stock and a barrel replacement. They were made from about 1960 until a few years ago. Remington just took the 600 action and didn't make the magazine cut. The forward part of the trigger mechanism is attached to the recoil lug. The first versions had a 10.5" barrel with really cheap iron sights and were chambered for the 221 Fireball. Later the standard guns were chambered for 7 BR or 223 and had a 15" barrel but, had no sights.A17Shooter

[ShooterJohn]

Since you're not really hunting from the holster. I mean it's a bit large. Any special reason for going with the .22-250? I would think there would be much flatter, faster and lower recoil rounds for a "pistol."

[Fjold]

Here's a stock one in 223 that I have in the safe. It has a 7x Burris LER scope.They also made a repeater version called the XP-100R that had a three round magazine.

[ShooterJohn]

The famous Remington plastic stock. Reminds me of my old Remington Nylon 66.

[A17Shooter]

Since you're not really hunting from the holster. I mean it's a bit large. Any special reason for going with the .22-250? I would think there would be much flatter, faster and lower recoil rounds for a "pistol."

Let's see if I can lay out my logic.1. This XP has a large bolt face so that restricts the cartridge choice to something with a .473" cartridge head. Of course you can go to the trouble and expense to get a different bolt but, that didn't appeal to me.2. I ddn't want another wildcat.3. Remington take-off barrels can be had for a low price. They can be fitted to another Remington bolt gun with a minimum of effort.4. The 22-250 is producing very close to 3700 fps with a 40 gr bullet.5. I already had dies for the 22-250.6. If the gun had a small bolt face, the 17 Rem or 204 Ruger would have been reasonable alternatives.7. The goal for the project is to tag a prairie dog or ground squirrel at 500 yds or better.So, with all these restrictions the 22-250 seemed to be a good choice. Does anyone have suggestions that I overlooked?A17Shooter

[ShooterJohn]

I guess your choice makes sense then since I didn't know you didn't want any additional wildcats. But not knowing that in the beginning I was curious as to why you choose the particular caliber.Plus it seems like you've put some money into this project. So just getting a cheap barrel didn't even enter my mind as a possible reason.Dies are cheap, enough they would never influence me. So I didn't figure them into the mix.As for the range you'll be shooting it's a toss up either way.Thanks for the response. I now have the reasoning behind your project pretty well laid out.Good luck with it, I hope it works out for you.

[Cranky Farmer]

Sound reasoning !

[Fjold]

The best reason to buy or build a particular gun is "Because I want one".

[A17Shooter]

The best reason to buy or build a particular gun is "Because I want one".

Darn right! All that other stuff is just why I wanted that particular one. I had been trying to get a 22-250 take-off for quite a while and things finally lined up. The change from 6 MM to 22-250 cost about $200 with the frugal methods that were used.A17Shooter