My Rifle Journey..

[loadsandlattes]

I don’t know what it’s worth, but figured I’d put this out there. I believe @mtwarden nailed it with his post… and this isn’t going to be nearly as informative - but I figure for the newer hunters out there kicking around rifle ideas, maybe this will help.

(edit) SIKE… it was @huntnful

I started my real hunting journey off in 2020. I’ve always hunted, but I wasn’t really much into firearms. I basically hunted with an old Model 70 up to that point. A bug hit me and I wanted to start really getting into long range shooting. With the advice of a buddy, I purchased a Savage 110 High Country in 6.5creedmoore with the intention of hunting whitetail here in Texas, as well as mule deer, pigs, and coyotes. I put a Vortex PST Gen 2 on it and let her rip. Those first couple of years I did a lot of hunting, and learned that I wanted a suppressor. After a lot of research I purchased a SilencerCo Omega 300. With that combination I killed probably 10 whitetail doe, 2 mule deer, and more pigs and coyotes than I can count. Great rifle, but I despised the action, it felt like I was feeding an action packed with granite dust. I also felt undergunned and really wanted something more capable of big game.

Since I was going to upgrade my rifle, I decided to go ahead with a bigger cartridge as well. Next purchase was a Tikka roughtek in 7RM. Another thing that I had noticed by this point was that I didn’t love the Vortex scope. Don’t get me wrong, it did the job but it was SUPER heavy and I didn’t love the clarity of the glass. On another hunt, I shot my buddies 7RM with a Nightforce NX8 2.5-20 scope and fell in love with it. I never thought I’d spend that kind of money on a scope, but soon had a NX8 4-32 on the Tikka. I hunted a bunch with this combination as well. I don’t know how many whitetail I killed, but a LOT. I loved how smooth the action was, and I loved the horsepower on that 7RM.

During a spring bear hunt in 2023, I learned the value of a folding chassis and how well they packed on backpack hunts. I kicked around the idea of building a custom rifle on a folding chassis, but realized that it was going to be an expensive proposition. Rather than shell out a ton of cash, I figured I’d just put the Tikka 7RM in a chassis and go about my business. I wanted a HNT26, but the cost was out of this world and I just couldn’t justify it at the time. I didn’t even know if I was going to like a chassis or not. I picked up an MDT LSS-XL chassis and dropped the Tikka in, off to the woods I go. This rifle was amazing. I realized very quickly that I was a big fan of the chassis and being able to fold it, and make it fit to my body exactly like I wanted was priceless. I shot the absolute shit out of this combination for a few months. The only thing I disliked was how heavy that rifle was. I want to say it creeped on 12lbs with scope, suppressor, and ammo. That said, all the weight sure did make a sweet shooting rig and it was an absolute tack driver.

This past winter I started to seriously consider a true custom build on a chassis, aiming for a lightweight mountain build. A buddy of mine had a custom built 6.5PRC in a HNT26 chassis and was kind enough to let me check it out. That was about all it took. He is an avid shooter, particularly in the PRS world. If you’ve heard of Precision Rifle Blog, he owns it. The guy knows what he is doing and decided to copy/paste his hunting rifle. It was going to be a very, very expensive build - but by this point I had mostly figured out what I love and hate in a hunting rifle. I knew that I could build exactly what I wanted and wouldn’t have to worry about spending money on something I wasn’t going to like.

Here’s where I landed:
6.5PRC shooting 147 ELDM
MDT HNT26 Chassis
Impact Precision NBK short action
TS Customs 20“ carbon wrapped barrel
Nightforce NX8 2.5-20
Spuhr rings
Jewel Trigger
9.8lbs ready to hunt with loaded mag


Had a few DM’s, so adding this:
147 ELDM Factory on a brand new barrel, only about 25 rounds through it
2757fps average
Will update after 150rds!

 

[loadsandlattes]

I started to sell pieces of gear and a few other rifles to help fund the build and started ordering parts. It took me about 2 months to get everything in. Here’s the finished product!

A few lessons I learned:

• Don’t jump into a custom rifle immediately, even if you have the funds for it. Pick up a few factory rifles and play with them, learn what you love and hate, and learn as much about ballistics as you possibly can
• Don’t overthink the cartridge. Bigger isn’t necessarily better, despite what you read on the internets. Pick something that serves your purposes within the ranges you are comfortable shooting. Bullet selection is more important than the size of the bullet… (go ahead, roast me)
• Folding chassis are the shit. Seriously. They are everything you wanted and more.
• In my opinion, the NX8 line of scopes are worth the weight. They are absolutely bomb proof.
• Spend the money on rings. I had a set of NF rings, a set of Talley rings that cracked, and finally landed on Spuhr.
• Every rifle should come with ARCA
• Get a suppressor. It’s absolutely worth the headache. I would sell gear to fund a suppressor. I’d sell a rifle I don’t shoot much to fund a suppressor.
• Spend a TON of time shooting. Go shoot PRS matches, I learned so much from attending those even though I was absolute trash versus the competition. You will learn VERY quickly what you suck at, and it can be applied to hunting.

 

[Maverick1]

Thanks for sharing. That is a very nice setup!