Ever dream of building your own custom rifle? Do you want to take your gunsmithing skills to the next level? Gordy Gritters’ Extreme Accuracy Institute is worth a closer look. In this story, I’ll review my experiences taking this class!

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About Gordy’s Class

I took Gordy Gritters’ six-day Precision Rifle Building Class at the Extreme Accuracy Institute about three years ago. That class changed the way I approached rifle building and has allowed me to take my builds to the next level. 

Gordy Gritters has been building world-record-setting rifles for many, many years with a focus on bolt-action precision rifles. He’s set many benchrest, precision rifle shooters, and other competitors up with the equipment they need to succeed and has chambered thousands of rifles. Another thing about Gordy – he is constantly evolving, looking into new innovations and techniques. 

The Precision Rifle Building class affords a unique opportunity to watch a skilled gunsmith perform their craft and talk through all the theory, processes, tooling and more. This isn’t a one on one class, but the small group style actually offered greater opportunities for learning. I met a  great group of guys at my course and have stayed in contact with most of them. 

From GordysPrecision.com: 

One week “PRECISION RIFLE BUILDING” Class

• • This one week (six-day) class is a combination of all three gunsmithing classes below running back-to-back. We will do this in a highly detailed step-by-step process in the order a rifle is normally built – action first, barrel next, then all the rest of the accurizing techniques and procedures needed to complete the build.  So by the end of the week you will have learned all the procedures normally used to build an extremely accurate custom rifle, plus a wealth of other information on accurizing factory rifles.

• • Note that due to the enormous amount of material we cover in such a short time-frame, this is not a hands-on class for the most part.  I will supply all the projects we work on during the class, and there is no time for students to work on their own projects like we can do in a private/one-on-one class.

• • Students will receive a large amount of step-by-step written materials and several hundred captioned step-by-step photos to help you remember all the details as you put this training to use after the class.  Another benefit for students who have taken my class is I am available any time for free consultation via emails or phone calls to help you with your projects when questions arise.
  • *If you are not able to attend the entire week, you may want to just sign up for any one or two of the individual classes that week if they are available .  Just let me know what works for you.

Upcoming scheduled dates:    

• • October 24-29, 2022

• • December 5-10, 2022

• • Cost: $1595 for six-day class

Note:  $200 nonrefundable deposit required in advance, balance due first day of class

You can call/email Gordy to sign up or follow the prompts on GordysPrecision.com.

Day-By-Day Overview

The training is intense with a focus on bolt-action precision rifles, specifically the Remington 700 platform. 

Day one starts with background information and an interactive diagram of a bolt and receiver. 

Gordy’s class is hands-on with lots of visuals. We were able to move around pieces of the diagram to see exactly how it worked and what factors would affect accuracy with discussions as to why. 

For example, in the diagram shown, when the trigger is cocked, it is pushing up on the back of the bolt. On a traditional Remington 700, this changes bolt lug to bolt seat contact. 

We covered rifle accuracy factors, evaluating actions for these factors, dialing in a receiver in your lathe (in preparation for blueprinting), some of the first blueprinting procedures and epoxy sleeving on the first day.

Epoxy sleeving is a technique Gordy developed. If you have excessive clearance between the bolt and receiver, you can take up the excess tolerance/slack to make everything function more tightly and be in perfect alignment. 

On Day Two we finished the epoxy sleeving. After everything has cured overnight, some bolt machining needs to be done. We also dialed in the bolt, covered the second part of blueprinting (machining bolt lugs, truing the bolt face, etc., lapped the lugs, bolt timing and ignition, and covered magazine feed issues and how to fix them. 

Day Three saw the setup of a lathe for a chambering job. The reamer you use is very important. There are special considerations around chatter and a variety of other issues that may arise. Gordy demonstrates his techniques, what you should look for, and how to handle potential conflicts in the chambering process. To me, the actual chambering process is true magic. I find it absolutely fascinating. We also dialed in the bore and touched on barrel evaluation.

Chambering continued on Day Four and was accompanied by custom throating and necking. Sometimes you use three different reamers: one for the body, one for the neck to dial in the perfect amount of space for a tight fit and one for throating. We also covered muzzle brake installation and custom die making for perfectly concentric ammunition. 

Complete rifle evaluation came on Day Five. Part of this included measuring headspace and pillar bedding (including making the pillars). We also talked about advanced scope mounting. I’ve actually done this before and covered it on the channel. I epoxy-bedded a scope tube to the rings. This worked out quite well. Gordy explains how to evaluate the fit between the tube and the rings using a light coating of oil and how to do the epoxy bedding process. At the conclusion of this process, there will be no stress on the scope. 

Day Six is the wrap-up day. We continued pillar bedding and scope mounting after an overnight cure, and borescoped and hand-lapped barrels. This is incredibly important. If your bore diameter fluctuates, the fit between the bullet and the bore is not optimal. This will negatively affect your accuracy. Instead of going to a full-custom barrel, you can fine tune it. We also discussed trigger systems and triggers. 

Conclusion

This class covers even more information that I’ve detailed here. I broke it down into a more digestible form to share. I truly enjoyed working with Gordy and he’s become a part of my professional network, along with my classmates. Gordy thrives on doing a good job and helping others to achieve their own dreams. I am one of them. 

I used to dream about building my own custom rifle. Now I’ve built several and am moving towards building rifles for other people. 

Check out the Extreme Accuracy Institute here! 

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Thanks,
Gavin Gear