Well, building my second savage 300 win mag took a detour and ended up heavier than I originally planned. Mcrees G10 chassis still was not available so I went with the G7 (5lbs instead of 3.5), called Northland Shooter Supply for another barel and I guess the APA micro bastard brake requires thicker barrel than I thought. Shilen wouldn't thread a heavy mag contour for it and instead of going to the varmit I settled on a criterion light Varmit to make it work. I really wanted a break that was easy to take off and put on so I could spin it off for hunting with a little rezeroing but leave it on for everything else. (I can shoot out to 750 yds at home)
Since I already blew my weight limit, I tossed on a gen 2 vortex razor hd 5.5x27 which is an anchor itself so this gun became my practice shooter.
I thought I was going to have my new hunting build ready for this season but it's creeping up faster than I realized! The Seekins Havak ph1 is tempting me more than anything else out there under $2500 or more minus the spiral fluting, but they are backordered 4 months out.
What would you do if you had up to around $3k to throw at a gun not including optics? I know it can be done in a custom setup easily. What would you build? Are there any semi custom production setups you'd consider? Going with a custom action is what I was thinking but I'd like to have some time before it's done to do load development and plenty of practice on this particular setup before mid October and I'm skeptical I could get a smith to finish with enough time for me to get comfortable with it.
Here's what I'm looking for:
24-26" barrel plus muzzle break, (directional not radial)
Prefer DBM but not a must
No single feeding rounds (at least blind or internal mag allowing min of 3.6" oal for those 215's.
Folding butstock a plus but also not necessary.
An honest and repeatable 1/2 moa or better with proper barrel cool down.
Minimal POI shift with major temperature swings.
I might have to feed this monolithic copper bullets also if I end up using it to hunt here in CA where I live
This will be used for mule deer between 50-1400 yds and elk up to the same distance but most commonly 350-800 yards.
I hike up about 3,000' above camp daily so I'd prefer to stay somewhere around 9-12 Lb range scoped with bipod (6-9 Lb rifle only)
I know there are a million ways to get there but am curious how others would do it before I pull the trigger.
Since I already blew my weight limit, I tossed on a gen 2 vortex razor hd 5.5x27 which is an anchor itself so this gun became my practice shooter.
I thought I was going to have my new hunting build ready for this season but it's creeping up faster than I realized! The Seekins Havak ph1 is tempting me more than anything else out there under $2500 or more minus the spiral fluting, but they are backordered 4 months out.
What would you do if you had up to around $3k to throw at a gun not including optics? I know it can be done in a custom setup easily. What would you build? Are there any semi custom production setups you'd consider? Going with a custom action is what I was thinking but I'd like to have some time before it's done to do load development and plenty of practice on this particular setup before mid October and I'm skeptical I could get a smith to finish with enough time for me to get comfortable with it.
Here's what I'm looking for:
24-26" barrel plus muzzle break, (directional not radial)
Prefer DBM but not a must
No single feeding rounds (at least blind or internal mag allowing min of 3.6" oal for those 215's.
Folding butstock a plus but also not necessary.
An honest and repeatable 1/2 moa or better with proper barrel cool down.
Minimal POI shift with major temperature swings.
I might have to feed this monolithic copper bullets also if I end up using it to hunt here in CA where I live
This will be used for mule deer between 50-1400 yds and elk up to the same distance but most commonly 350-800 yards.
I hike up about 3,000' above camp daily so I'd prefer to stay somewhere around 9-12 Lb range scoped with bipod (6-9 Lb rifle only)
I know there are a million ways to get there but am curious how others would do it before I pull the trigger.
