I posted in my intro that I'm fairly new to this (never practiced over 500, longest kill 431), and that I had a house fire that destroyed my current project. Here's my dilemma. I'm currently looking into building a gun that I could take game, preferably whitetails, out to 1000 yards (once I'm competent and capable). I have 3 options at my disposal.
1) I bought a Model 70 270 WSM with synthetic stock that as a current replacement which easily shoots factory under under 1" @ 100, and that was with me shooting off a bag, not a bench rest or anything. Best group was .75", and that was out of only 3 groups and I think I could get it to .5" with a rest and reloads. If I use this action it will only be the barreled action. I will get a new stock and new optics for it for sure.
2) I have a Remington 700 SS Long Action that I cleaned up from my 25-06 in the fire, so it has the non magnum boltface on it and limits my options as far as using a magnum. It shot .5" groups with 115 Berger VLD's loaded by gunwerks through the factory barrel (it was pillar and skim bedded in a Boyd's laminate stock). The magazine wasn't found (not in the gun at the time) and I removed the barrel. It is also about 16 years old so it is not in the newer category of Rems that I hear has gone way down in Quality Control...which is the same for the next action...
3) Remington 700 300RUM still has barrel...was a blued finish. Would need blasted and refinished. I loved this gun, dad let me have the action after the fire. I have all the parts for this as well but would not keep the trigger and put and aftermarket trigger on it (as well as the other action if I used it). Not sure how this shot as it was my dad's gun, but he shot a lot of deer with it, a few at at 400 yards. I never measured any groups on it. Action is about 10 years old.
This will be a budget build. The plan is to sell the other two that I don't use and use that to fund the build of the other. I would love suggestions on caliber choice and which you would personally build off of. Any of these will include a muzzle break for sure. The 25-06 would need a new barrel, but I'm also looking for something in a bigger caliber than that. I will do most of the work myself, but understand that a few things a I may need to send off to get done as well, such as a barrel or muzzle brake. I've also toyed with the idea of waiting to find a Sendero Barrel to save money and put it on the 300RUM donor action and I could get lucky and not have to have it reamed.
Any suggestions are welcome and thanks for your time...pics of the actions are below...
300 RUM donor
25-06 donor
1) I bought a Model 70 270 WSM with synthetic stock that as a current replacement which easily shoots factory under under 1" @ 100, and that was with me shooting off a bag, not a bench rest or anything. Best group was .75", and that was out of only 3 groups and I think I could get it to .5" with a rest and reloads. If I use this action it will only be the barreled action. I will get a new stock and new optics for it for sure.
2) I have a Remington 700 SS Long Action that I cleaned up from my 25-06 in the fire, so it has the non magnum boltface on it and limits my options as far as using a magnum. It shot .5" groups with 115 Berger VLD's loaded by gunwerks through the factory barrel (it was pillar and skim bedded in a Boyd's laminate stock). The magazine wasn't found (not in the gun at the time) and I removed the barrel. It is also about 16 years old so it is not in the newer category of Rems that I hear has gone way down in Quality Control...which is the same for the next action...
3) Remington 700 300RUM still has barrel...was a blued finish. Would need blasted and refinished. I loved this gun, dad let me have the action after the fire. I have all the parts for this as well but would not keep the trigger and put and aftermarket trigger on it (as well as the other action if I used it). Not sure how this shot as it was my dad's gun, but he shot a lot of deer with it, a few at at 400 yards. I never measured any groups on it. Action is about 10 years old.
This will be a budget build. The plan is to sell the other two that I don't use and use that to fund the build of the other. I would love suggestions on caliber choice and which you would personally build off of. Any of these will include a muzzle break for sure. The 25-06 would need a new barrel, but I'm also looking for something in a bigger caliber than that. I will do most of the work myself, but understand that a few things a I may need to send off to get done as well, such as a barrel or muzzle brake. I've also toyed with the idea of waiting to find a Sendero Barrel to save money and put it on the 300RUM donor action and I could get lucky and not have to have it reamed.
Any suggestions are welcome and thanks for your time...pics of the actions are below...
300 RUM donor
25-06 donor
