anyone build a 308 bolt gun?

I'm thinking about trying my hand at building a 16" 308 bolt gun.  Thoughts, suggestions, etc.?

I would suggest a longer barrel choice for accuracy.

8 minutes ago, JohnnyB said:

I would suggest a longer barrel choice for accuracy.

barrel length doesn't address accuracy.   Barrel length impacts velocity and barrel harmonics impacted by composition, taper, cut.  affect accuracy.  16" barrels are every bit as accurate at 20" or 24" as long as you know ballistics but of course, range gets reduced.

what I want is a shorter barreled set up with sliding stock.  Plenty of places you can buy a set up but was thinking of building one.  Doesn't look to hard, ala ARs, but have never mounted a barrel to short action before.  I imagine it's not too difficult  

1 minute ago, RUTGERS95 said:

barrel length doesn't address accuracy.   Barrel length impacts velocity and barrel harmonics impacted by composition, taper, cut.  affect accuracy.  16" barrels are every bit as accurate at 20" or 24" as long as you know ballistics but of course, range gets reduced.

what I want is a shorter barreled set up with sliding stock.  Plenty of places you can buy a set up but was thinking of building one.  Doesn't look to hard, ala ARs, but have never mounted a barrel to short action before.  I imagine it's not too difficult  

I figured with a .308, you would want to reach out more.  I have never built a bolt action rifle but I don't see it being any harder than an AR!

1 minute ago, JohnnyB said:

I figured with a .308, you would want to reach out more.  I have never built a bolt action rifle but I don't see it being any harder than an AR!

I hear you

I just want a new project and this is something different.  I did think about doing a sidecharging 308 but have seen some pics of shorty 308 bolts and now I've got that itch

What receiver are you going to use.

Barrel length will depend on what purpose in life you will assign the rifle, but by far the most popular general purpose high accuracy length is 18" bull or target profile.

Depending on budget, I’d suggest going with going with something like a Defiance, Big Horn, or Defiance action so that you can easily swap out the barrel if you decide you want to switch out caliber or barrel length in your garage with a few tools and a vise. If I recall correctly, the Big Horn TL3 allows you to swap out bolt heads so you could run a .223 barrel with a quick swap 

4 minutes ago, medved11 said:

Depending on budget, I’d suggest going with going with something like a Defiance, Big Horn, or Defiance action so that you can easily swap out the barrel if you decide you want to switch out caliber or barrel length in your garage with a few tools and a vise. If I recall correctly, the Big Horn TL3 allows you to swap out bolt heads so you could run a .223 barrel with a quick swap 

good stuff thanks.  I was looking at definance earlier but a lot of options to look at.  I do like the idea of caliber or barrel swap.  I'll research this more.  thanks!

1 minute ago, RUTGERS95 said:

good stuff thanks.  I was looking at definance earlier but a lot of options to look at.  I do like the idea of caliber or barrel swap.  I'll research this more.  thanks!

also, If you want to use a Remington 700 action, you  could look into West Texas Ordnance switch lugs. With those, you can do a barrel swap at the range with just a Torx wrench. The only downside is that the barrels need to be spun and head spaced to your action. 
 

Not building a 308, but I’ve been looking at Defiance and Lone Peak actions for my next elk rifle build. Still up in the air if I want 300prc or 6.5prc

About 3 years ago I did a budget .308 bolt rifle build.  MUCH easier than the AR build I completed a couple of months ago.

Howa 24" .308 Heavy Barrel Action from Brownells
B&C Varmint stock
Athlon scope
Knock-off Harris-style stock
 

 

I took my time assembling, but everything went together very well.

The only challenge i found was that the travel of the bolt was sluggish when I had everything bedded/torqued in to the stock.  I took everything apart and put it back together a few times and realized that the channel in the stock behind the bolt wasn't quite deep enough, so the bolt was rubbing against it. This meant the line of travel wasn't straight and there was friction against the metal frame.

I used a light tough with my dremmel tool to make the channel big enough for the bolt, and the action is smooth as silk.

Before:

After:

 

On 1/1/2022 at 10:03 PM, RUTGERS95 said:

barrel length doesn't address accuracy.   Barrel length impacts velocity and barrel harmonics impacted by composition, taper, cut.  affect accuracy.  16" barrels are every bit as accurate at 20" or 24" as long as you know ballistics but of course, range gets reduced.

what I want is a shorter barreled set up with sliding stock.  Plenty of places you can buy a set up but was thinking of building one.  Doesn't look to hard, ala ARs, but have never mounted a barrel to short action before.  I imagine it's not too difficult  

Here's an article where the author tested .308 velocity on different barrel lengths as he CHOPPED his barrel from 28" down to 16.5"!!!!

https://rifleshooter.com/2014/12/308-winchester-7-62x51mm-nato-barrel-length-versus-velocity-28-to-16-5/

So if you're shooting 168 gr bullets from an 18" barrel you're still floating around 2500 fps.  Not going to get you out to 1000 yards, but not going to limit you to 200 either...

Article from same author on his 15.5" tactical bolt rifle build:

 

https://rifleshooter.com/2013/11/super-short-precision-rifles-a-16-5-308-tactical-bolt-action-rifle/