[J]

http://www.brownells.com/reloading/brass/rifle-brass/brass-prod37539.aspx

.300 SAUM brass. Not cheap, but cheaper than the changes you mentioned and would last for years if annealed.

[J]

7 WSM would be another option, but necks are short. I heard that .300 SAUM was back on the market, so it could easily be necked down to 7 SAUM – perhaps neck turning too.

Or just get a good brake fitted to your current rifle. I have a Long Rifles Inc brake on my .300 Win Mag that reduces recoil to around .308 levels. Terminator Products T2 and T3 are also very good.

http://www.shoot-long.com/products/long-range-accessories/terminator-muzzle-brakes/

Would be a much cheaper option than switching chambering and re-barreling.

[J]

.260 is very much in the short category – it's essentially a .308 necked down. I think I would want to have a long bolt stop and mag to allow projectiles to be seated way out and still easily fit the mag. I'm going that route with a .284 build on my .25-06 T3, with the barrel throated for long OAL.

[J]

You will need:

– a new barrel as you said.
– a new bolt with a magnum face.
– a longer bolt stop for short action cals.
– a shirt action mag.

Would be much cheaper to buy a used T3 in short action configuration and add a new barrel chambered for .243.

An alternative could be a 6.5 or 7 SAUM as you could use the same bolt.

To get the best out of it you would also need to bed the barreled action in the stock.

[J]

Welcome.

All T3s are the same long action. The difference is that short action chamberings use a mag with smaller internal dimensions and a longer bolt stop to limit the length of the throw. Longer chamberings obviously have more mag space and a shorter bolt stop.

I don't know anything about chassis stock replacements, but I did a .300 WM build using a T3 in a McMillan A3 with a Bartlein barrel and I like it very much.

If you are sold on a 6.5 Creedmoor, go for it, but I would suggest that you look at a .260 Remington as that is a factory chambering and the Creedmoor doesn't do anything new that a .260 can't do. Creedmoor is just the latest trendy chambering. That would save you the cost of a new barrel.

Good luck whatever you do.

[J]

My experience with Boyd's stocks is limited to the pro varmint model In which I just bedded my b-mag. Jason is totally correct about the marginal quality of the inletting. It seemed that every dimension was off just enough to make trouble.  After 2 days of sanding, chiseling, drilling, grinding and installing the barreled action at least 30 times I finally had that time-sucker ready for the Devcon.  I'm still not totally satisfied with the results (although the Devcon process went great- thanks Dogdown and Yukonal- clean and no bubbles).  I would not tackle a Boyd's stock project again unless I had access to an end-mill.

Save yourself some grief and pay more for quality.

I agree that the inletting is not great, but if you plan to bed that's not an issue. With a Dremmel I removed about 60-80 thou all through the action area and an inch down the barrel channel. I then wrapped a piece of wooden broom handle in sandpaper and opened up the barrel channel and finally sanded along the top line to get a smooth line on each side. That all took about 90 minutes. Once the bedding was cured I sanded along the top edge, cleaned out the mag well with the Dremmel, relived the bedding at the front face of the action and applied yacht varnish in the barrel channel to seal it. Probably 4 hours all up.

It's not that hard and is worth a try. The stocks are good value for money really.

[J]

I have never taken one off myself, but Chad at Long Rifles Inc told me that they are the tightest barrels he's seen. I also believe they have some sort of thread locker on them that responds to heating before you torque the barrel off. However he did mine, it came back without a mark.

[J]

Get a long action mag, which will allow you to seat your bullets as far out as you wan. You may also need a bolt stop from a long action too, which will allow you to throw the bolt longer. Plenty of used mags for sale cheaply on the forum. New mags are incredibly over priced.

[J]

Long Rifles Inc in SD.

[J]

Long Rifles Inc put a new barrel on mine too. $25 shipped to them from MO, superb quality work and a fast turn around.

[J]

I had my bolt fluted and the face of the action machined to remove the 150 thou or so progression and had a Remington style lug fitted. I didn't weigh before or after as the difference would be slight. Plus, I added a 26″ light Palma barrel and brake, so the tiny weight I saved would nowhere near offset the added weight of the heavy .3″ lug and much heavier barrel.

I can tell you that the resulting rifle build bedded into a McMillan A3 is lovely and smooth and shoots .3 MOA when I'm concentrating.

The T3 is a very good action to base a build on and has lots of advantages over an M700 action (side bolt release, true action, no slop in the raceway, good adjustable trigger and good barrel if you don't want to change that).

I think that bolt fluting is more of a cosmetic thing than a weight saving, but it does look good.

My work was done by Long Rifles Inc, who I highly recommend.

[J]

M6 x 1 from memory.

[J]

Guys have looked for actions on here before without luck, and being a lefty, you're chances are even more slim. I would look for a cheap, second-hand rifle or a deal on a new one and have the barrel pulled.

I did that and then had Long Rifles Inc fit an integrated lug and a Bartlein barrel. Superb quality work from those guys and it shoots really well. 

[J]

Yes, that's all it does, so if you have basic ability you should be able to knock one up. Let us know how you go.

[J]

Bartlein and Brux are very good. 

Long Rifles Inc fitted mine and installed an integrated lug when they fitted the barrel