8 months in the making but she is finally finished. Can't wait to get her to the range for some fire forming and load development.

Specs:
Stiller tac 338
Bartlein barrel 29in at the threads 31 at the muzzle finished at 1in
Spiral fluted by kampfeld
Chambered in 338 lapua ackley improved throated for the 300gr Berger hybrids
Csr 4 port break
Seekins dbm
Jewel trigger
McM A5a

Pics

That's an awesome looking rifle!

Please keep us posted on your range results.

Wana sell it lol, freaking sweet.

Will do. My smith took it out to the range a last weekend and said it was consistant with 2in to 2 1/2in groups at 600yards using factory black hills ammo. Already impressed I cant wait to see how she does with fire formed brass and load development

That's a good looking weapon.

very nice!

Beautiful rifle, sir,

Very nice!

Nice.

Man, that thing is bad to the bone. Rather than Google "Ackley", I'd rather hear this from someone who obviously knows.

I see various calibers that say Ackley or Ackley Improved (the 243 AI comes to mind). What is that? I mean, what's the difference between a 338 Lapua and a 338 Lapua Ackley Improved? Honest question. I don't know the answer.

sweet

Case capacity and shoulder angle

The difference between 338 lapua and 338 lapua AI is the degree of the shoulder. The ackley improved shoulder is a 40 degree shoulder ultimately allowing for more case capacity.

You use a custom reamer with the specs of the shoulder change to chamber the barrel then fire form the brass to the chamber. After fire forming you also have to use custom dies built to these specs as well to further shape and size the brass. Here is a picture of a 338 lapua (left) and a 338 lapua AI (right) pay attention to the differences in the shoulder.

The 338 lapua will chunk a 300gr bullet at around 2700-2800 fps with the ackley case you can push the 300gr bullets at around 3000fps.

Very nice!

Good lookin rifle!

Sweet set up. Now you need a new hand made knife to finish it off.
Just saying!!

AI will also usually reduce body taper as well. Another huge advantage imo of going AI is the reduction in case stretch thus reducing the amount of trimming. There is also a theory that it is easier on the throat of the barrel by forcing the gases towards the center of the bore, I'm not overly sold on that but it's possible.

Thanks for the explanation. And especially for the pic!

That's an awesome rifle.

Can I have it?

WOW sweet

Mike I haven't forgot about you I still have that Demascus skinner saved to my phone for reference as to what I want. I will be in touch soon.

Awesome looking weapon!

Scotty, isn't the AI on the right in the pic above?

Ooops yes it is sorry

That's about as good as it get's there. Gun should be scary accurate.