Anyone who knows anything about me knows that I love guns. You can’t have a conversation with me without mentioning one project or another, a new wildcat I found, or some companies’ entrance to some military acquisition program. This fascination used to get me in trouble as a kid, because I was always carrying around a copy of Shotgun News or a book on the history of military sniping, and I know it scared some of my teachers to death. While I was never the school shooter type, I did have a unhealthy fascination with mechanical objects that go “boom” and their history, and still do to this day.

This is the driving force behind 80% of my hobbies, and one of the few things that I was fascinated with as a kid that carried over to my adulthood. In particular, long range precision firearms have haunted my dreams for, no shit, well over a decade and a half. Because of the inherent cost of long range precision rifles and their accoutrements, I never really devoted a lot of time or effort into laying my hands on one until the last couple of years. Obviously, I went with the most common rifle in America, the Remington 700, as the basis for this pursuit.

This shouldn’t surprise anyone, if you just want a basic Remington 700 receiver to build on, you can snag one for around $400 from gun broker and most online suppliers. I bought factory Remington rifles advertised as precision platforms instead, simply because I didn’t need a high end chassis system or trigger. The first one was a 700 LTR in .308 that had already been through my gunsmith’s hands through a weird coincidental connection. It was completely stock, save for a incredible stock trigger adjustment and HS Precision DBM kit that isn’t my personal favorite. The other was a recent production Remington 700P in .300 Winchester Magnum, that I through a Badger Ord M5 DBM kit on and a Grayboe Renegade stock that I sadly didn’t scoop when they had the adjustable cheek rest.

Right now, my goals with these two rifles are as follows.

The LTR will be re-barreled with a 22 inch Remage barrel, probably Criterion, with a M40A6 and chambered in the ever popular 6.5 Creedmore. I’m going to replaced the HS Precision DBM kit with something more modern, probably another M5 DBM kit from Badger. I really like the Hawkins Precision Heavy Tactical Rings I just got recently, so I will probably snag another set of those. The stock is a Remington 700P take off from another dudes .308 700P, it’s a classic design that I have always enjoyed so I plan to keep it. This rifle won’t have heavy recoil, at all, so I will probably put the Vortex Strike Eagle II 5-25×56 optic I just snagged on it.

The 700P will be re-barreled much the same way, just keeping the .300 Winchester Magnum caliber and at 24 inches in length. For now, I will keep the Grayboe stock, and eventually add a Spuhr mount. I’m really going to need a higher quality optic than a mid grade Vortex, so I am probably going to pickup a Nightforce at some point. They have some seriously good glass in the $2k range (Ouch. – my wallet) that would be able to handle the decent recoil of a 190 – 215 grain projectile being thrown down the pipe.

This is obviously subject to change, but this is the basic direction I’m headed with these. I’d like to be able to shoot long range at least once a month, and maybe hunt with the .300 Win Mag depending on geography. Of course, when these are completed you will be able to find photos on my Instagram.

SIDE NOTE: I was writing a post on the 2nd Amendment, but as I was finishing it, something came over me and I quickly deleted it. I’m tired of saying the same things over and over, quoting the statistics, discussing the intricacies of inherent rights, all the while the people who agree just continuing to agree and those who don’t or are on the fence being un-moved. Simply put, I’m going to continue to own firearms, no matter how many terrible people use them to kill others, and no matter what laws are passed at the state and federal level. If you are on board with that, cool. If you’re not, also cool. Just don’t advocate for myself or other Americans to not have the right to defend ourselves, that’s the most unfriendly thing a person can do, and nearly as bad as committing unwarranted violence against someone.

I love ya’ll, unless you are a Marxist.