Building a Budget 25 Creedmoor from a Savage Axis - Inside MDT

In our last installment, we discussed the lineage and merits of the 25 Creedmoor. On paper, it may just be the best Creedmoor yet. However, it still has a few limitations. First and foremost, it has not yet been SAAMI standardized and thus has not gained widespread industry adoption. Second, it is based around a caliber (.257) that hasn't received much attention in the past half-century. What does that mean for the average shooter? It means any rifle build will have to be custom, and the shooter will have a limited range of projectiles to work with. Don't be discouraged. In this article, we will walk through the process of sourcing components and building, and I will cover reloading for the 25 Creedmoor in a future article. We will also build a custom 25 Creedmoor without breaking the bank.

More: 25 Creedmoor: The Best of the Creedmoor Family?

USING A SAVAGE AXIS ACTION FOR 25 CREEDMOOR

The action is like the engine of the rifle. If it isn't working or is running rough, it doesn't matter what you put around it; the entire system will still only perform up to the action potential. That being said, it isn't hard to find a rifle action that won't perform at the most basic level. Yes, some will be smoother and held to tighter tolerances (allowing for shouldered pre fit barrels), but at this point, most modern factory actions are at least passable. One thing to note is not all actions have the same level of aftermarket accessory support. Therefore, I recommend spec'ing out your entire build before committing to an action. I happened to have a savage axis sitting around as a donor action for this build. A prudent shopper can still find one of these for less than $350, and since we are just using the action, the quality and fit of the factory stock is irrelevant. Similarly, the original chambering is unimportant as long as it is a short action cartridge with a standard bolt face (.473). Anything in the .308 Winchester family will work

SELECTING A CHASSIS SYSTEM

In keeping with the car analogy, the stock is to the rifle, and the frame and body are to the car. Obviously, it must fit the action appropriately. This was one of the things that impressed me most about MDT back in the 2014 time frame. When other chassis manufacturers were only inletting for Remington 700 patterned rifles, MDT was also accommodating Tikka, Savage, Howa, and others. It was this diversity that drew me towards using their products. Today, MDT inlets for at least eight different action brands and multiple actions within each brand. For this budget build, I chose to use the MDT ORYX chassis.

Just like adjusting the driver's seat, steering wheel, and mirrors is critical for proper driving performance, fitting a chassis for length of pull and cheek height is necessary to allow the shooter to perform their best with their chosen rifle. The ORYX allows for these adjustments, and since I don't plan on sharing this rifle with anyone else, I do not mind the fact that the adjustments require a tool and spacers. In fact, I like the more streamlined form that comes from not having quick-adjust knobs.

25 CREEDMOOR BARREL

The barrel, crown, and chamber are the most critical areas of any build in terms of accuracy. The barrel should have consistent bore dimensions with no "loose" spots. A bell near the muzzle will invariably lead to degraded accuracy. The crown, being the last thing the bullet sees, needs to be smooth and square to the bore. For more information on the effects of a damaged crown, check out this MDT video.

Once we have a good barrel we need a chamber in it. The chamber is the area that holds the case during the firing process. It also must be aligned properly with the bore of the barrel. If the chamber is cut off-axis, the bullet will not enter the lands of the rifling straight, and from there, everything goes downhill.

For this build, I chose to use a "pre fit" barrel from Preferred Barrel Blanks. I greatly respect them because they perform all the processes from gun drilling, rifling, contouring, and chambering in-house. By going with one of their pre-fits, I can eliminate some finger-pointing that can occur if a rifle doesn't shoot well. (Sometimes, the gunsmith will blame the barrel maker and say it was a bad barrel or the barrel maker will say it was a poor chamber job.) In this case, it is the same entity. Additionally, Preferred Barrel Blanks, like MDT, specializes in catering to a wide variety of actions. They offer shouldered prefits for the actions they can and barrel nut style prefits for the rest. In this case, I spec'd a Savage small shank 1:7 twist M24 contour cut at 25" long.

ASSEMBLING A 25 CREEDMOOR RIFLE

The first step in getting this new rifle put together was to remove it from the factory plastic stock. Next, I placed my barrel nut wrench on the barrel and clamped the factory barrel in my Mechforce barrel vise. With a little umph, I broke the nut free from the action and screwed the action off of the barrel. The factory barrel came out of the vise and into the bucket with all of the other factory "take-off" barrels. I put the new PBB barrel into the vise with the nut and wrench on it and screwed on the donor Savage Axis action. I tightened the action down on a 6.5 Creedmoor "Go" gauge (yes, they are interchangeable) and tightened the barrel nut down on the actions. I removed the go gauge and inserted the "No Go" gauge. A hard stop on the "No Go" told me I had correctly headspace this barrel to my action.

Before I reinstalled the newly barreled action into the Oryx chassis, I decided to install a Rifle Basix trigger. While not quite as critical as getting rid of the factory plastic stock, replacing the factory trigger with one having a lighter pull and a crisper break will certainly lead to a better user interface and, thus, better accuracy. I salvaged the floating recoil lug from the factory stock and placed it in the new ORYX chassis, and torqued down the action screws.

6.5 Creedmoor GO/NO-GO Gauge will work just fine for a 25 Creedmoor build.

INSTALLING A RIFLE SCOPE

One rule of thumb when purchasing scopes is to spend as much on the scope as you did on your rifle. While I do not disagree with this, in practice I like to say purchase the best glass your budget will allow. I would rather skimp on the rifle and get a good optic versus the other way around. Since this is a budget build I didn't want to go crazy on glass. I have used scopes from all of the high-end manufacturers, and while they are superior to the mid-grade scopes, they also cost 2 to 3 times as much. There is certainly a point of diminishing returns regarding performance to the dollar when it comes to optics. For this build, I decided to mount up the 2.5-15x44 FFP Mil/Mil Toric from TRACT Optics. I had just used it on another rifle during a 3-day Mountain Hunter class put on by CR2 Shooting Solutions, and it performed flawlessly. TRACT is known for being a direct-to-consumer scope company that uses the highest quality Schott glass for its lenses. Because of their direct-to-consumer model, they are able to offer a top-tier scope at a competitive price. Yes, other scopes on the market list similar features for a lower price, but a few more dollars for the Tract gets the shooter a lot more optical quality.

TRACT makes excellent optics.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

All in all, I am very impressed with the 25 Creedmoor. Its ballistic performance undeniably outshines its fatter older brother. It gets the bullets there quicker with less recoil. Even though it is not yet a standardized cartridge, it is the most straightforward wildcat I have ever used. In my next article, I will discuss reloading the 25 Creedmoor and then take it out in the field for long-range shooting.

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• Capable And Versatile: A Close Look at the 6.5X55 Swedish
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Marcus Hom is a shooter through and through. Born to a pistol-packin mama, he has spent his entire life around firearms. Marcus spent much of his adulthood guiding hunts in Alaska, teaching CCW and precision rifle courses, competing in national-level matches, conducting research and development, and gunsmithing. Marcus is a former Federal Law Enforcement Officer.