[J]

Nathan Foster certainly knows what he's talking about whether it's rifle maintainence, shooting techniques, bedding and accurising, terminal ballistics or reloading. He has dedicated his life to this stuff and writes in a no nonsense style that is easy to follow. I recommend all of his books to any serious shooter; they are an investment that will make you and your kit better.

[J]

Another alternative is to rebarrel and have a recoil lug fitted. I had mine done by Long Rifles Inc and the work is superb. Bedded myself using Devcon 10110 and same principles as for Rem bedding. Harder to do on a T3 due to straight walls on the action, but not that difficult.

Give it a try and see how it goes. If you totally screw it up, just get another stock second hand for $100 or less and chalk it down to experience.

[J]

You should not use the large lug as there needs to be slight movement under recoil before the barreled action returns to battery. That's why when bedding a Rem you need to relieve the front, sides and bottom of the lug, leaving direct contact between the bedding and the rear of the lug only. Same principle applies with a T3, but in reverse – you only want contact with the front face of the lug to the front face of the action recess. You should full-length bed and an inch or so of the Knox too.

All you need to know here:

http://www.ballisticstudies.com/Knowledgebase/MatchGrade+Bedding+Compound+Instructions.html

[J]

Meant to say that I second the recommendation to use A-Max. They're not designed for hunting, but they break up well at low velocities, so are good for long range work. Get your chamber throated for bullets seated as far out as you can whilst still having at least one calibre of bullet length in the case neck for concentricity. Make up a dummy round to get you OAL and then ask your gunsmith to throat to that OAL footprint your specific bullet. The T3 action can accommodate long OALs, so you will have no problems there, or with mag length.

[J]

Bedded mine too. I wouldn't go with an oversize recoil lug as you want some free play there to avoid pinching. The front of the lug (nearest the muzzle) should be the only part that touches the action recess front face. The top of the lug and the rear should be relieved with tape. I do this by placing a small crescent of electrical tape on the rear face of the action recess. Once you break the action out of the set bedding, you should scrape the front face of the bedding a little to relieve the area where foremost part if the action sits in the bedding.

I use Devcon 10110 plastic steel.

Glue the recoil lug in the action recess with epoxy and set it into the bedding compound like you would with a Rem action with an integral recoil lug. When you break tha action out the lug will remain in the bedding and will be perfectly aligned.

Useful tip is to put the rifle in a deep freeze for 10 minutes before breaking it out.

Look at Nathan Foster's website (terminalballisticsresearch) in NZ and YouTube vids for details.

T3s aren't as easy to bed as Remingtons, but it's not that difficult to do.

[J]

I removed the slot when I did mine. No need for a Boyd's stock unless you want one, and they're heavier. The T3 stock has a bad rep, but is stiff and much better than most others. Think about stabilizing the front end up to the height of the ribs to make it even stronger. Use resin without metal for that as it weighs less than Devcon.

Before you set the action into the Devcon, epoxy the lug into the recess of the action then let it all dry and the lug will break off and remain in the bedding perfectly aligned.

Look at the terminalballisticsresearch website and YouTube vids for more detail.

[J]

Don't know anything about those, but Lumley Arms do a titanium one of similar design on their US website, which would be my choice.

[J]

I think a lot less than 5000 if you are shooting 10 shot strings in 90 seconds repeatedly. To a certain extent, polishing the throat can help delay erosion. Nathan Foster of terminalballisticsresearch in NZ has a very good book on the market which describes the process:

http://www.ballisticstudies.com/g

[J]

First, you will like it and be pleased you bought it. I bought a Lite stainless from a friend last year for $450, so I think you woukd be looking at somewhere around that figure for a non-stainless with a picatinny rail.

As for aftermarket stocks, there are some on this website, plus Bell and Carlson and McMillan at the higher end. I have a McMillan A3 on my T3 based semi-custom rifle, which is superb, but will cost more than the rifle.

The factory plastic stock is actually very stiff and far better than the Remington plastic stocks, so perhaps you could just try it and see how you do?

Enjoy

[J]

I have NF Ultralite rings on mine – lovely things.

[J]

Found one.

[J]

This has been covered elsewhere on the forum. The solution there was to bend the lips to allow the rounds to sit up at the front, which allows them to feed into the chamber. Same end result, different method. Pleased you worked it out.

[J]

This is an old post, but there are some newer options on the market.

Atlasworxs LA, AI compatible DBM is now on the market from coretac solutions for $210 Canadian.

TPC say they will soon offer a LA DBM which will take the 3.6 OAL AI mags for .300 Win Mag. I'm waiting for them to appear to complete my build.

Either way, I guess the action limitations will require mag modification as described very well above.

[J]

I think I have the factory silver alloy ones somewhere if you want them. Never used them as they look and feel awful. NF Ultralite replaced them and they're beautiful things. Anyway, if you pay the postage you can have them for free.

[J]

Picked up a CTR Monday.  It looked naked, so for a pic I borrowed a SN-3 and bipod from my AR.
Will most likely put it in a Manners T-2A, not decided on which scope yet.

Fred,

Drop me a line if you want to sell the factory stock and DBM.

Thanks