Hello everyone! Greetings from the Bayou!
So I'm a new shooter just getting into dipping my feet into long range target shooting. I'm not a hunter so I'm really just looking at shooting targets with this rifle.
I currently own a Remington 700 AAC SD in .308 (20 in. barrel) that I put in a Bell and Carlson Remington 700 BDL, Varmint/Tactical Style Fully Adjustable stock (no DBM) but I'm not really fond of the recoil much. In fact, I bought this rifle back in 2015, shot it around 20-30 times and went back to my AR's because I just didn't like the recoil on the .308.
So here recently I've decided to get the rifle out of the closet and give it another shot - however I want to put a new 6.5 Creedmoor barrel on it from Criterion to dampen the recoil some or buy a new rifle.
I checked out Northland Shooters Supply and at least by math, a remage barrel and all of the tools to change it out myself would run me about $700. I've built my own AR's with good results, but I've never done anything with a bolt action except to put it in the B&C stock.
I called my local gunsmith, he has a good reputation around these parts and after talking to him, he recommended a remage barrel and also wanted to blueprint the action and "true everything up". He said this would ensure I got the most accuracy possible out of the rifle. His price for putting on the barrel and blueprinting the action etc. was $300-$400. $100 for installing the barrel and $200 for the blueprinting. He said would probably have to do a little work on the stock to accommodate the barrel nut which is why I added an extra $100 to the mix (and for incidentals). So, if I order the barrel from Northland and have him do the work I'm still looking at around the $700 mark and that is without adding a DBM.
Another option, because I've read a lot on this forum about Tikka's and I like what I've read, is to buy a new Tikka T3x CTR for $1k and dropping that in a KRG Bravo and selling my Remington 700 and B&C stock to offset the cost. If I go with the Tikka and KRG bravo I'm looking at around $1400 and I get the ability to use magazines from the get go. Not sure what I could get for the Rem and stock but thinking/hoping that after selling it I could get to somewhere around the same out of pocket expense as my first two options or am I way off base?
What would you guys advise? Thanks in advance for any responses.
John