Finished my 318 WR

rdog

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Finished my 318 WR about 6 mts in build , action is a M98 Parker Hale originally in 30/06 , stock is on old American walnut Bishop from the 1980s, Barrel is By Swan gunsmiths in Brisbane , mounts, Parker Hale they come with the action, scope old M8 Leupold . Fired 40 rounds through it last Friday . cases all reformed Lapua 30/06, Projectiles 250 g Woodleigh & 250 g Bertrum & Woodleigh 333 Jeffery resized to .329
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all shot very well 1moa to 1.5 moa, very happy with the barrel, no copper cleaned after every 3 shots for the first 10 then after every 5. Stripped rifle down Rust blue barrel & action bottom metal is alloy& cerakoat in graphite black & finished stock , will post range report & target photos asap.
 
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Was any action or magazine work required? Or was this a barrel swap?
 
Good job & great caliber I reckon, I use a 338/06 & 9.3X62, I think in the same league ?

I would swap out those Parker Hale bases & rings, they are border line in staying fast on the lesser calibers in my experience !
 
Much envy. Much drooling. Congratulations.
 
Very cool project. Congrats on the finished product. Best of luck in the bush with it.
 
Yoda green with envy I am. My .318 build still is not finished. It has been a long 10 months. I hope to post photos also if I live long enough.
The barrel was about 4 months it was made by Swan gunsmiths in Brisbane Australia very good people to deal with they fitted it. I did the other work Stock & rust blue . getting dies, forming cases, sourcing bullets all take time , you will get there. You can size down .338 & .333 dia bullets to .329 in a Lee die that appear to work very well at the range. Swan exports his barrels if you are interested.
 
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Finished my 318 WR about 6 mts in build , action is a M98 Parker Hale originally in 30/06 , stock is on old American walnut Bishop from the 1980s, Barrel is By Swan gunsmiths in Brisbane , mounts, Parker Hale they come with the action, scope old M8 Leupold . Fired 40 rounds through it last Friday . cases all reformed Lapua 30/06, Projectiles 250 g Woodleigh & 250 g Bertrum & Woodleigh 333 Jeffery resized to .329 View attachment 463691View attachment 463692View attachment 463694 all shot very well 1moa to 1.5 moa, very happy with the barrel, no copper cleaned after every 3 shots for the first 10 then after every 5. Stripped rifle down Rust blue barrel & action bottom metal is alloy& cerakoat in graphite black & finished stock , will post range report & target photos asap.
Beautiful! Congratulations! A labor of love
 
RDog Nice looking rifle and a fine caliber.
Do you know what make the reamer was that used and just from the photo it looks like the COL is a little bit shorter the the Original. Did you seat the woodleigh bullets deeper past the crimping groove.
 
No i do not know of the reamer make . that cartridge in the picture has a bullet that is a resized Woodleigh 250 grain 333 Jeffery to .329 it is bigger dia at the nose than a 250 grain 318 Woodleigh, with the cases trimmed to 60 mm the 318 250 grain chambers just below the crimp groove, the Bertrum 250 grain right on the grove it will chamber genuine Kynock 250 grain 318 cartridges. IT shoots the resized 333 Jef & Speer 200 grain 338 hot cores very well that Speer bullet will save us until Woodleigh get going again, i will post pict of targets when i get to the range again
 
Congratulations!!! What a splendid cartridge the .318 is. Such a travesty that .330" bullets, especially the 250gr, are not widely available. Fortunately, I was prescient enough to buy a few boxes of Woodleighs at the time I bought this puppy here below (Cogswell & Harrison, circa 1935):

318.jpg


This rifle will accompany me on safari in 2023.
 
Congratulations!!! What a splendid cartridge the .318 is. Such a travesty that .330" bullets, especially the 250gr, are not widely available. Fortunately, I was prescient enough to buy a few boxes of Woodleighs at the time I bought this puppy here below (Cogswell & Harrison, circa 1935):

View attachment 464620

This rifle will accompany me on safari in 2023.
I would love to have an original 318 WR, yours looks to be in very good condition
 
Nice result - well done.
 

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