Have had a heck of a time trying to get a hold of the gunsmith who has the barrel that I was going to fit to an old rifle I had. Well our big game hunts are just around the bend and I was rifle-less but we also just had a baby so funds were almost non-existant... Not a good feeling but a great opportunity to get a new gun.
Well I scanned the classifieds and didn't really see anything within my budget that was worth spending any money on.
A couple of weeks ago I looked in the newspaper and a local sporting goods store had some of the Remington 700 ADL combo guns for $379. I went in to check them out. It had a lovely tupperware stock and a cheap Remington scope but a really nice x-mark trigger... Alittle on the heavy side but no creep that I could feel. Bought the gun in .30-06 and they also threw in a $20 gift certificate!
Got home and cleaned it out and took a box of ammo out and my cleaning supplies to see how it shot and break it in.
Needless to say my shotgun patterned better than the rifle... I was starting to worry but I knew it was probably the scope and stock. I ended up selling the scope for $25 and ordered a refurbed Nikon Buckmaster for $139.
Now to the stock... Well I found some good deals for some Boyd's stocks for under $100 but I really didn't want to spend that much right now. I decided to give a bedding job a try. $25 later, some careful learning, 24-hour drying period and I had my first bedded action! It looked and felt like it should help out.
Well I took the $20 gift certificate and bought a box of Barnes 150 grain TTSXs. I've never shot these bullets before but heard some good things about them.
Loaded up some and went to the range.
First load... (the tear is from my second group shattering the rock that was inside the box to hold it from moving... )
Nuff said huh? Well I shot the rest of my reloads and only one of them when over 2". I ended up with a tight group at the minimum load and one just under max. Going to load up some more of the two and see what it does out to 300 yards.
Needless to say I'm tickled pink with a gun that ended up costing me just over $500 to put together.
Workman Predator Calls Field Staff
http://www.workmanpredatorcalls.com
Well I scanned the classifieds and didn't really see anything within my budget that was worth spending any money on.
A couple of weeks ago I looked in the newspaper and a local sporting goods store had some of the Remington 700 ADL combo guns for $379. I went in to check them out. It had a lovely tupperware stock and a cheap Remington scope but a really nice x-mark trigger... Alittle on the heavy side but no creep that I could feel. Bought the gun in .30-06 and they also threw in a $20 gift certificate!
Got home and cleaned it out and took a box of ammo out and my cleaning supplies to see how it shot and break it in.
Needless to say my shotgun patterned better than the rifle... I was starting to worry but I knew it was probably the scope and stock. I ended up selling the scope for $25 and ordered a refurbed Nikon Buckmaster for $139.
Now to the stock... Well I found some good deals for some Boyd's stocks for under $100 but I really didn't want to spend that much right now. I decided to give a bedding job a try. $25 later, some careful learning, 24-hour drying period and I had my first bedded action! It looked and felt like it should help out.
Well I took the $20 gift certificate and bought a box of Barnes 150 grain TTSXs. I've never shot these bullets before but heard some good things about them.
Loaded up some and went to the range.
First load... (the tear is from my second group shattering the rock that was inside the box to hold it from moving... )
Nuff said huh? Well I shot the rest of my reloads and only one of them when over 2". I ended up with a tight group at the minimum load and one just under max. Going to load up some more of the two and see what it does out to 300 yards.
Needless to say I'm tickled pink with a gun that ended up costing me just over $500 to put together.
Workman Predator Calls Field Staff
http://www.workmanpredatorcalls.com
