Building my first bolt gun.

[sgruenhagen44]

.260!!! Cuz if you're like me you can sometimes get lazy and buy factory ammo from sporting goods stores and then you have brass to reload with as well.

You can buy Hornaday branded 6.5 Creedmoor too! Which really means nothing to me, as you know i dont buy factory ammo and for a precision long range gun like this I will want to buy brass in large lots to get the most accuracy from the gun not have a mixed bag of different brass. Midway lists 5 choices for 6.5 Creedmoor and 23 for 260. A lot of the 260 stuff is higher end ammo (Nosler, Corbon, etc..) and its super expensive! I don't foresee myself buying any ammo for this gun. I will be rolling my own and if I choose to buy factory ammo the Hornady stuff is really a bargain compared to most of the 260 offerings.

Here is a good thread discussing different calibers. Lots of good intel on barrel life too: http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthr ... ost1877441

Looks like the 6.5 barrel should easily last 1/3 longer than a hot loaded .243 set up.

Headhunter thanks for the info. I am looking at a Stockage Gun works stock in the "money saver" configuration, they have lots of good reviews and I have a body man buddy who owes me a bunch of favors he will handle finishing and painting it for me. I am pretty much set on the 6.5 Creedmoor at this point, I got the go ahead from the misses last night to order up an action so I will be on the phone tomorrow looking for a Savage repeater action in stainless.

well after reading your article, I would pick the .260 newton. Cuz that would just be cool.

[HeadHunter]

I'm another Lapua brass fan....its just really nice stuff.

Another barrel company I would highly recommend would be Brux, they are out of Wisconsin. Their turn around time is very fast, they cut to whatever twist you want and flute how you want for a reasonable price. Check out their interrupted fluting.....its pretty cool, if you want to see what it looks like in person I have one. And their barrels shoot like a house on fire. I've run Scnieder, Hart, Krieger, schilen and Lilja.....Brux shoots as well as any.....I could even argue a bit better than most.

[promod1385]

What would yall recommend for an optic on this gun? I am looking at the Vortex Viper PST in 4-16x50. This gun will primarily be used for coyotes and deer. Is the PST worth the extra money or is the Vortex HS series a reasonable optic?

[engnerdan]

What would yall recommend for an optic on this gun? I am looking at the Vortex Viper PST in 4-16x50. This gun will primarily be used for coyotes and deer. Is the PST worth the extra money or is the Vortex HS series a reasonable optic?

I have not used one but I am ordering one of these for my new varmint good.

http://www.millettsights.com/scopes/lrs/

[promod1385]

Are you getting the illuminated one? I would like to hear a review when you get it, my buddy has a 4-16x50 Millet on his 25-06 deer gun and the quality of the glass is very lacking (his was in the $300-400 range). For the money I would rather pick up a low end Leoupold or Nikon.

[engnerdan]

I planning to order this week, so I can let you know. But I am not sure how valuable my opinion on scopes is. I am running a couple of these $70 Walmart specials on a few rifles and they work. They get blurry at 16X but I still use it. I also have not got any serious testing in on the scopes. The last time out I could not get a group to save my life and it was not until I was out of ammo that I realized one of the scope rings had come loose of the base and was wiggling around.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/CenterPoint-I ... gMethod=rr

[goalie]

I planning to order this week, so I can let you know. But I am not sure how valuable my opinion on scopes is. I am running a couple of these $70 Walmart specials on a few rifles and they work. They get blurry at 16X but I still use it. I also have not got any serious testing in on the scopes. The last time out I could not get a group to save my life and it was not until I was out of ammo that I realized one of the scope rings had come loose of the base and was wiggling around.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/CenterPoint-I ... gMethod=rr

A good rule of thumb is to spend as-much or more on glass than the rifle.