about to start a whisper project, need help :)

[kristfin]

hi all,

i've been reading about those whispers for some months and like to get one, but since i'm in iceland that is not trivial.

i have a Sako l579, short action with a .243 barrel that i was thinking about using as a base. the idea was to geta a new whispered barrel from usa, and have a gunsmith here in iceland fit it to the sako.

given the bolt face on the sako, i think that .302 or .338 whisper is what i can choose between. any reccomendation on which i should choose, easier to get bullets in .300 obviously.

can you give me good advice on the whole shabang.

is the gun right, what caliber?

if i take this further, where can i buy the barrel in usa, can it be prefitted to the sako so the gunsmith here in iceland has just to adjust it or does it require a reamer?
where can i get a reamer and dies if needed?

just to get started, greetings from iceland.

[Spook]

kristfin, We have the issue of an export permit when shipping barrels out of the country. Check with Rock Creek Barrels in Albany Wisconsin first. SSK should also be able to export.

[kristfin]

i have exchanged some emails with jdj. he is a man of few words.

i will ask the good people at RCB in Albany first.

can somebody confirm that .302 whisper is a good choice. do you know where i can find reamer and dies for it?

should i perhaps look at .338 whisper instead?

[Spook]

You might get the Lapua 6BR brass for cheap enough over there to make it less cost prohibitive....but the 300 whisper does most of what a 302 does for much less investment. Load data is more readily available for the 300 too.
If you just have to have one....30BR reamer and dies will replicate it closely enough. You will need a throating reamer.

I've been messing with 338 in both the BR case and the 7.62X39 its nice lobbing the extra 60 grains of lead downrange and the accuracy is just fine If cost doesnt constrain you 338 X 300 grains is good stuff.

[kristfin]

my main reason for going the .302 way, is the fact that i have a sako short action riffle in .243 i was plannig to modify for this. i've not been successfull finding a decent used .222 or similar here in iceland.

i actually started looking towards the .338 whisper because of the boltface on the sako, but then i came across the .302

i still donðt find many resources about .302. are you sure i can find reamers and dies for it.

[kristfin]

is there anybody here that can confirm that i can get a barrel, dies and reamer in .302 somewhere?

also if somebody could comment on the sensibility of it :)

[ReAX222]

Originally Posted by kristfin

is there anybody here that can confirm that i can get a barrel, dies and reamer in .302 somewhere?

also if somebody could comment on the sensibility of it :)

With a bolt action rifle, you will most likely need a finish reamer anyway to set the head space to your bolt. When I built my .308 bolt gun, I got a PTG (Pacific tool and gauge I think) reamer from midway along with a short chambered shillen barrel. If your willing to take the time and you have the tools, you can probably get a blank from most any manuf and chamber it yourself. If not, between a short chambered barrel from shillen, or any other barrel manufacture and a pull through reamer you can build it up to your spec.

If you decide to do your own chamber/set the head space, pick at least a two gauge set if not all three, go, no-go and field.

I know nothing about the .302. I have a 300 whisper and I'm interested in doing a 338 whisper 2 (it's the same 221 case but with a 338 bullet.)

[d-mon]

Hi,
I think I gave you quite a few solutions in another post but obviously your not satisfied with it.

So to make things clear:
You want to keep your sako with 308 boltface, right.
DON't Bother with a 302 whisper, if ssk does not want to export to you.

The 30 br is exactly the same , except for the lenght of the throat; you can have that adjusted with a throater or by having your 30br reamer throught ground for longer bullets.
The reloading dies are easy to find and the bullets are not to expensive.

Now for the 338br, what you are going to need is a reamer as well (I have one), some specific dies that are a bit more expensive and your are going to shoot a very expensive 338 grain bullet if you shoot the sierra match king 300gr.

It is your money, so i don't know what is your budget for the project, but if you can't afford to buy another rifle with a 223 bolt face to convert to 300whisper then your budget seems to be limited.

Then maybe stay with 308 winchester with a tight twist barrel like 1in 9 or 1in 8 inches and you will still have good fun up to 200m.Still the cheapest option then.

If you dont bother with paper work, you could ask your local gunsmith to remove your old barrel, and you can send your complete action to either Pac-nor in US or Border barrel in Scotland and have them rebarrel it to the caliber of your choice. Border barrel is not the cheapest option but might be the easiest regarding papaerwork: again a matter of money and time here.

http://www.border-barrels.com/

www.pac-nor.com

I hope that with all that help you can make your mind...

good luck.
nick



If

[kristfin]

thanks.

i've been working on this for a while now.

i've written off buying a contender here in iceland. all the guys having one seem to have different ideas about price than i do.

i've also written off anything but a .300-221.

i'm still looking into my options.

1) buying a barrel, reamer, hedsspace gauge, go and nogo, and have a local gunsmith fit it for me. would be nice to have a single company that could suply this for me, but i haven't found any. the barrel would come from one and the rest from pacific gauge

2) import a gun, either a cz from kelly kyle on gunbroker or have a company like bullberry create a contender riffle for me and send me.

3) find somebody that has a good gun, dies, brass and everything i need and negotiate the deal of the century.

[pug]

Well I am glad to see you haven't given up because the 300/221 is one of the most cost efficient of the whisper type cartridges.

If you could clarify something you stated earlier. Do you have someone in the US who can ship you a completed rifle if gotten in their hands or do you need an independent dealer to export it to you?

Since a 223 bolt is not available for your action you will need a complete firearm it looks like. A T/C is what it is and make sure a single shot is what you are interested in. I prefer repeaters myself but I know people who hunt with the Contender pistols in 300/221. The link below is what I use to check current "mail order" firearm prices and you could look at the Savage Model 10 in 223 to see if that would suit you. There are people around who can rebarrel one of those in 300/221. That rifle, rebarreled, with the dies and brass delivered to someone who can ship to you should put you in the price range you stated. Of course everyone would have to make their little profit so I am not positive of that.

www.budsgunshop.com