Long-Range Bangstick.

Longtime readers of this blog know that I’ve been working on a long-range rifle for some time. Specifically, long before I started this blog I had a tapped-out 1896 Swedish Mauser rebarreled with a medium weight Shilen 1:8″ twist tube chambered for 6.5×55, and then restocked it, mounted a decent scope, and proceeded to try to find just the right load that would allow me to whack 50 lb. steel rams at 500 meters offhand.

I fought with it for a couple of years until I thought I had it licked. Turned out, not so much.

As a last-ditch effort I sent the barreled action to 300 Below and had them cryo-treat it. (Pictures of the Swede at this link.) Deep-freezing helped, but not enough. Two minutes of angle off the bench is a good hunting rifle, but not up to target specs.

Ever since I shot Joe Huffman’s “Spud Gun” at the Second Annual Gunblogger’s Rendezvous, I’ve had a severe itch to build or buy a rifle capable of 700 yard accuracy. Well, I’ve gotten a bit of a cash windfall, and after doing some research I decided upon a Remington 700 R5 Milspec rifle. I decided against a .300WM because A) I like to shoot at least 100 rounds through any rifle I take to the range, and .308 is at the upper end of my shoulder’s comfort zone for that without a muzzle brake, and B) I hate muzzle brakes. Further, the longest range at Joe’s Boomershoot is 700 yards, at which the .308 should be adequate, and around here finding a place to shoot 700 yards is fairly tough, so the .300WM wouldn’t buy me much more than a little flatter trajectory at the cost of more bruising.

Anyway, the rifle’s on layaway right now. I need to acquire a scope base, bipod, Lapua brass, and some Sierra 175 grain MatchKing bullets. For the interim I think I’m going to move the Simmons scope off the Swede, but I plan on getting a better scope in the future. A NightForce would be nice, but outside my price range. I’ll probably end up with another Leupold.

Oh, and I intend to take the rifle to Mac’s Shootin’ Irons to have him finish it in matte black. Mac refinished my M1 Garand a while back, and it looks mahvelous! I’m not too thrilled with a stainless rifle, though, so getting it finished in black is a high priority.