Re: Choate Ultimate Sniper Stock Remington 700 BDL
Your post says "Ultimate Sniper," but the picture is of the "Ultimate Varminter" or whatever they call the varmint version. I'm not sure which one you're looking at. But I own an Ultimate Sniper, and it has a few disadvantages:
1. At six pounds, it's too fracking heavy.
2. The pistol grip is extremely large, even by my standards.
3. It's too fracking heavy.
4. The recoil pad is so hard it's more like a butt plate, which is a problem because the design seems to deliver a lot of felt recoil for something that fracking heavy.
5. It's too fracking heavy.
6. The stippling is designed for use with gloves, and has to be sanded down for use with bare hands.
7. It's too fracking heavy.
8. The steep angle on the forend makes the rifle a little unsteady on a Harris bipod.
9. It's too fracking heavy.
And did I mention it's a little too heavy?
The varmint version is a little lighter, at about 4+ pounds. It would still suffer from issues 2 and 4, and possibly 6. It wouldn't suffer from issue 8.
There are some things to like about it. The aluminum bedding block makes it easy to get good groups without having to do any bedding--just bolt the action in, torque it to 30 inch-pounds, and you're done. Spacers can give you a length of pull up to 16", which is very nice if you're not average-sized or smaller.
For a 700, I'd go with one of the new Bell & Carlson "light tactical" stocks long before I'd go with either of the Choates. If you need a longer-than average LOP, they can be special-ordered about an inch or so longer than standard.