turbobrick
Well-known member
So, last year, @van franke from Plains Precision Firearms was part of a raffle for Rocky Mountain Bighorn Society promoted by @Oak here on HT. I was contemplating a new build and was impressed both with Van’s generosity with his time and money for a good cause, and with the level of work he was consistently turning out.
I’d already started collecting parts for my next attempt at the perfect do everything rifle, and unfortunately, my favorite local gunsmith had recently passed, so I was looking for someone to put it all together.
My last attempt was a Pierce titanium action, HSP stock, 22” Proof barrel, it was great, but I chose the wrong caliber, .260 Remington is awesome, it just doesn’t quite have the horsepower I was after for a do all gun, while it did absolutely hit my weight and length goals.
This time, I was looking for light, short, and powerful. I ordered a blueprinted Model 7 from PTG. They took months to ‘complete’ the action, it arrived with a gaping hole in the receiver for a bolt stop, but with no stop in the hole. I sent it back, and they took even more time to make a bolt stop for it, when it was ‘done’ I sent it right to Van, and he figured out right off the bat that the bolt stop they made didn’t allow full rearward travel of the bolt, and they had helpfully blind pinned the damn thing in.
So I sent it back to them for keeps and ordered a factory Model 7 donor and sent it to Van. He quickly found that this action was so far out of spec he couldn’t even begin to blueprint it. It was then that Van recommended buying a new Defiance Machine AnTi action, they had just came out with a Model 7 footprint receiver. So, I ordered one and we waited.
Finally, it arrived and Van put the thing together, did the break in, and sent it to me in record time. I got to reloading, ran out to the range, got it all zeroed, and was blown away with the gun, it’s amazing. I managed this 9 shot sub MOA group despite mediocre marksmanship and sub-average reloading skills. This is with minimal load development, H4350 and 162gn Absolute Hammers at 3070fps.
The first hunt after completion, was my wife’s shorter than ears pronghorn tag here in our home state of Nevada. She was nervous and wanted to be able to set up and calm down for a minute before having to shoot, and fortunately mid day on our second day out, after about 6 miles of unsuccessful stalks, I spotted a doe and small buck about 200 yards out.
They were just nervously standing around as pronghorn seem prone to do, but the buck kept getting exactly between us and the doe. My wife sat calmly with the rifle on the Bog Pod Deathgrip, waiting for a clear shot, and finally when they separated, the doe turned broadside at 225 yards, and Shannon dropped the doe in her tracks. This was her first ever harvest, and it was an awesome experience, I was so amped I carried the whole doe back to the truck.
This is just the start for this rifle, we have three more tags yet this season, it’s going to get a ton of use, and hopefully more successful hunts.
Here are the rifle specs:
Defiance AnTi Model 7 action 300WSM
Proof Research Light Sendero 22”
Manners EH8+ stock
Badger Ordnance M7 bottom metal
Timney Hunter trigger
Talley rings
Vortex Razor LHT
Griffin Armament Sportsman Ultralight can
Weight w/suppressor and magazine: 7.9lbs
Many thanks to Oak for bringing Van to my attention, and to Van for knowing his craft and having the patience to get this build just right.
I’d already started collecting parts for my next attempt at the perfect do everything rifle, and unfortunately, my favorite local gunsmith had recently passed, so I was looking for someone to put it all together.
My last attempt was a Pierce titanium action, HSP stock, 22” Proof barrel, it was great, but I chose the wrong caliber, .260 Remington is awesome, it just doesn’t quite have the horsepower I was after for a do all gun, while it did absolutely hit my weight and length goals.
This time, I was looking for light, short, and powerful. I ordered a blueprinted Model 7 from PTG. They took months to ‘complete’ the action, it arrived with a gaping hole in the receiver for a bolt stop, but with no stop in the hole. I sent it back, and they took even more time to make a bolt stop for it, when it was ‘done’ I sent it right to Van, and he figured out right off the bat that the bolt stop they made didn’t allow full rearward travel of the bolt, and they had helpfully blind pinned the damn thing in.
So I sent it back to them for keeps and ordered a factory Model 7 donor and sent it to Van. He quickly found that this action was so far out of spec he couldn’t even begin to blueprint it. It was then that Van recommended buying a new Defiance Machine AnTi action, they had just came out with a Model 7 footprint receiver. So, I ordered one and we waited.
Finally, it arrived and Van put the thing together, did the break in, and sent it to me in record time. I got to reloading, ran out to the range, got it all zeroed, and was blown away with the gun, it’s amazing. I managed this 9 shot sub MOA group despite mediocre marksmanship and sub-average reloading skills. This is with minimal load development, H4350 and 162gn Absolute Hammers at 3070fps.
The first hunt after completion, was my wife’s shorter than ears pronghorn tag here in our home state of Nevada. She was nervous and wanted to be able to set up and calm down for a minute before having to shoot, and fortunately mid day on our second day out, after about 6 miles of unsuccessful stalks, I spotted a doe and small buck about 200 yards out.
They were just nervously standing around as pronghorn seem prone to do, but the buck kept getting exactly between us and the doe. My wife sat calmly with the rifle on the Bog Pod Deathgrip, waiting for a clear shot, and finally when they separated, the doe turned broadside at 225 yards, and Shannon dropped the doe in her tracks. This was her first ever harvest, and it was an awesome experience, I was so amped I carried the whole doe back to the truck.
This is just the start for this rifle, we have three more tags yet this season, it’s going to get a ton of use, and hopefully more successful hunts.
Here are the rifle specs:
Defiance AnTi Model 7 action 300WSM
Proof Research Light Sendero 22”
Manners EH8+ stock
Badger Ordnance M7 bottom metal
Timney Hunter trigger
Talley rings
Vortex Razor LHT
Griffin Armament Sportsman Ultralight can
Weight w/suppressor and magazine: 7.9lbs
Many thanks to Oak for bringing Van to my attention, and to Van for knowing his craft and having the patience to get this build just right.
