By Terry Houin
First off, when I say build a rifle, I’m talking about selecting the rifle and accessories for a specific objective. I’m not in the garage turning metal and printing pieces. That would make me either an engineer or a psychopath, and I’m neither; but it’s arguable that I’m closer to one of those.
Whenever someone asks me for a recommendation for a rifle, bullet, optic, bow or anything else equipment related, my first question is always ‘what’s your objective for this equipment?’ Because turning little prairie dogs into a drifting cloud of pink mist across the prairie is much different than anchoring a massive bull moose up close and personal in the thick stuff. My second question is ‘how are you going to use it?’ I’m not recommending a heavy elk rifle if you’re planning on backpack hunting for six days in the mountains. Then it also comes down to price ranges, but fortunately these days consumers have lots of options.
Ultimate Long-Range Rifle Build
With that setting the stage, here’s my objective for this build. I wanted a precision rifle that I can reach out a long ways, but also adaptable for my students to shoot all day without getting worn out. This is where the Barrett MRAD MK22 steps in. High-quality tool, check; accurate, check; adjustable stock to fit multiple shooters, check; easily swap barrels for heavy caliber (300 PRC) and light caliber (6.5 CM), check.
With the rifle and caliber selected, the 300 PRC shots out to 1.5 miles or more, and the 6.5 CM for students banging to 2,000 yards or better, it’s time for the accoutrements. For the glass, I chose the new Kahles K540i. It has a 5-40x magnification range, excellent glass, large field of view and a lot of elevation in the turrets for reaching way out there. Up front I have the Q Trash Panda silencer so I can swap between both calibers. For support, I mounted the Spartan Precision Vidar bipod that attaches with their new Disc-Lok system, allowing me to easily pop off the bipod to move over and shoot on the Hercules tripod and CP brace for non-standard shooting.
Ok, we have the objective and use defined–long-range class gun for students and myself, primarily off benches and not humping the hills. It’s time to put the pieces together, so here’s my basic process.
First I punch the barrel. I want to start clean and make sure I begin with a known barrel condition. Then I jump over and check all the screws to make sure everything is tight or torqued to specs, adding Loctite as needed. There’s nothing more frustrating than chasing groups because of a loose action screw or scope base.
Final Adjustments
Once the rifle is ready and I’m familiar with its functions, I’ll adjust the length of pull, torque on the Cherry Bomb muzzle device, and adjust the trigger if needed. My first attachment is the Spartan Bipod to make it easier to work on the rifle. For this gun, I mounted the Kahles K540i in an Area 419 unimount since the 36mm scope tube doesn’t give me many options, and this came highly recommended. With the scope mounted loosely I adjust eye relief and cheek weld based on my most likely shooting position, which for this is off a bench. Finally, I level the gun and optics before torquing down the rings and adding a bubble level.
Now she’s ready to hit the range. But before I fire a shot I need to adjust the diopter; that’s the scope part closest to your eye that makes the reticle clear and focused for your eyeball. To focus the reticle, you have a couple options like looking at a clear sky, a wall in the basement, or just having a friend hold a piece of paper in front of the scope. It doesn’t really matter; you just need a clean backdrop so your eye will focus on the reticle and not get distracted.
The next step is checking and adjusting your parallax. I’ll typically do this at the 100-yard target. I find a specific aiming point, and then using the parallax knob, I’ll bring that point into focus. With both the reticle and target in focus, I do the head bob drill. With the rifle bagged and steady on the aiming point, I’ll move my head slightly up and down to see if my reticle shifts on target. If it does I’ll fine tune the diopter and parallax until there’s no movement in the reticle. It’s hard to explain in words, but there’s plenty of Youtube videos to help.
Long-Range Rifle Trigger Time
So now we’re ready to let it rip. The rifle fits us, the scope is tuned to my eyeball, and hopefully the gremlins are gone. I start my zero with the basic bore sighting to get me on paper without wasting ammo, and then I send my first shot. After the first round I’ll make any big adjustments that might be needed to get close to the bullseye before I start shooting groups to fine tune the scope. While I’m zeroing, I also have the Garmin Xero C1 chronograph setup capturing my muzzle velocities, killing two birds with one stone, so to speak.
Now that I have a pretty good zero and I’ve identified the ammo the rifle likes, I build out my ballistic profile and confirm the profile, or as we call it, truing the gun or truing the profile. Using my ballistic solver, I’ll find a distance just shy of the transonic range (where the bullet slows down and transitions between super- and sub-sonic). For example, let’s say my bullet hits transonic at 1,000 yards. I’ll find a target around 800 yards to true out my profile. Truing sounds complicated, but all I’m really doing is dialing the dope for 800 yards and adjusting a few inputs so that my round is impacting at the correct elevation for that distance.
So there you go, a very quick explanation of how I set up or build the ultimate long-range rifle. Obviously, I can’t go into depth in a short article, and there’s more fine tuning that goes into it as I continue to shoot. But it’s a good start and some things to think about as you purchase a new gun or want to rebuild your current lead slinger.
Rifle Build Troubleshooting
Important notes on common problems I see. First, make sure the gun fits you. I see people show up with a rifle they purchased with a scope mounted by the gun store clerk, and they struggle to shoot well. My rule is if the gun fits and is comfortable, it will be repeatable. If it’s repeatable, it’s accurate.
The second major problem is parallax and diopter. Spending the extra time up front to get these focused and set will save you a lot of frustration down the road. And if you shoot often, invest in some tools like our Field Ethos Do Everything Kit from Fix It Sticks. It has a torque wrench and bubble levels, along with some other pieces that are handy to have on the range.
