My .17 Predator

by Dave Affleck

The Rifle – Riflesmith
Now that I had all of the components on the way, it was time to call Greg Tannel about my project.  This was my first project with Greg.  He has built a fantastic reputation among custom rifle fanatics for building superbly accurate rifles.  When I called Greg to discuss my project, I immediately felt very comfortable in talking to him.  He asked me a lot of questions about many of the finer and more subtle details of my project.  Questions that told me he really understood what I wanted to accomplish.  Greg not only builds some of the most accurate rifles in the world, but he actually gets out and hunts with them too, and his understanding of application, not just technical details of machining and assembly, really showed.  It was really nice talking to a world class rifllesmith who was genuinely interested in my project.  Not only interested, but actually excited about it.  Greg had built Dan’s .17 Predator, and already had the reamer on hand.  We discussed the bullets I would be shooting and how the throating of the chamber should be done to work best with those bullets, plus many other details related to fitting and chambering the barrel.  We decided that Greg would give my Model Seven action a complete blueprinting, including his process of reaming the bolt raceway and double bushing the bolt, single point cutting new barrel threads, double pinning a Holland recoil lug in place, plus turning down the firing pin tip and bushing the hole to virtually eliminate the possibility of cratered or pierced primers.  Greg’s “works treatment” on a Remington action brings them up to par with the best custom actions.  I specified a target style recessed crown at 24” and a bead blast finish for the barrel.  I also decided to have Greg pillar bed the barreled action to the stock after he completed all of the metal work.  You can read more about Greg’s action blueprinting procedures on his website here. 

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The Cartridge
Choosing an action
Choosing a stock
Choosing a barrel
The scope
The Riflesmith
Loading dies & forming cases
Load work
Results in the field
Final thoughts

Rocky Mountain Varmint Hunter


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