After some barrel drama with another vendor which I shall not name and a replacement action donated free of charge to me by Ted, I finally made it to where I hoped to get when I started this project.
Coming from AI's and TRG's, I was relative new to this segment so I tried a few different stocks to see what I would like best. My initial idea was a "TRG-22 like" rifle for its amazing ergos with AW mags (a must) giving me the best of both worlds in a slightly lighter package with a carbon barrel and using the TRG bipod for its low CG and great stability. It's been at least 15 years since I bedded my Tikka actions in McMillan stocks. Thankfully that is now no longer needed with all the chassis' and mini chassis' available.
So I started with the Manners (LRH and PH) but the ergos on the Manners did not work for me. More specific, the distance from palm swell to trigger is to large for my fairly normal sized hands. I ended up with my hand floating next to the stock forward of the palm swell in order to get good trigger placement and after a while of putting up with it and making excuses for it, I could not "sell" it to myself any longer. They are very nice stocks but for the money spent, they should fit me better, so I got rid of them. Then I tried the KRG. Its a little heavier and it needed some milling for the trigger hanger to fit. Thankfully the gentlemen who sold the chassis to me was happy to help me out with that. Its a perfect fit for me, comfortable with great ergos and I am very happy with the result.
I have to mention that coming from ZCO, a variety of Benders and even some older Premiers over the years, this "budget" Vortex scope took me by surprise. I was looking for a relative cheap scope I could use for a little while and sell after I made up my mind on what I wanted to buy for this rifle. I picked it up new in box here at the PX for a great price and to be honest, I don't know if I can ever justify spending twice that for another scope again. She doesn't leave me wishing for much if anything really. Vortex came a long way in the last 15 years and I am certainly not in a rush to replace it, if at all.
After a little tinkering with the trigger hanger screw, I am very happy how smooth this action runs and how light the bolt lift is. Compared to my AI's she has a substantially lighter bolt lift. She also feeds much better using AW mags than my TRG which was always an issue for the first 2 rounds. I don’t miss those overpriced crappy TRG mags!!
ARC is a fantastic company to deal with. They stand behind their product and even jump in and offer to help out if things get derailed due to errors from others, completely beyond their control. Classic old fashioned quality customer service and I am very grateful for the way they helped me out. I can't say this enough.
She definitely is a shooter. Thus far I only have taken her to 600 yards ringing steel. But thats kinda boring with this setup to be honest. I hope to find the time to go to another range soon with some greater distances available.
Specs:
Proof Carbon Sendero, 24 inch, 6.5 Creedmoor 1:8 (excellent and fast work done by LRI)
Trigger Tech Special REM 700 2 stage (8-24/8-32)
KRG Wiskey 3 Gen 6, folder
KRG Aluminum ajustable Trigger guard
APA Little Bastard
AW mag
Thunderbeast bipod
ARC M-BRACE Rings, 28mm tall
Shooting factory Federal GMM, 130 Bergers @2860 fps
Thank you all for sharing your experiences and inspiring others such as myself to "build" our dream rifles. It was quite an experience and not entirely without bumps in the road. I learned a lot and Its certainly a different experience vs buying an AI with a bunch of barrels or a TRG and calling it a day. However, each of them had their drawbacks. There is no such thing as perfection..but this rifle here is pretty damn close, at least, to me.
