Damn this forum.... It reignited a fire I thought was out 20 years ago. Long ago in the Corps I got to shoot several matches to try and make the summer team. I never made it but I did turn out to be a pretty good 8531(Primary marksmanship Instructor aka kitten herder) as a secondary and developed a love of shooting and competing. Early 2000 and the world is at peace so I went a different way after 15 years in. (Don't ask apparently I don't like retirement plans that have lifelong benefits) Obviously the world changed and I still feel guilt over not being there. Back to that mid-life thing. I am now much older and still in great shape only if you consider ROUND a shape. I got on some shooting video's and ended up wandering over here and signing up. Read things for a few days and debated in my head. I am too old for this shit and it has literally been 20 plus years since I focused on front sight tip and squeezed a trigger.
Then last night happened... not a complete impulse as I was kicking this around in my head but something clicked and I said.. well I don't know what I said but it must have made sense to some part of my brain at midnight. (don't ever say what I said to myself if you value your bank balances) I was planning this as a budget endeavor though and at least that stuck. Next thing I know I am on Brownell's website, great place, great selection, horrible search criteria and scary for a newbie. I want a Howa 6.5 Creedmore barreled action and a chassis. Ok found that. Add to Cart. Good to go we got this. Now on to stocks. Brownells most common item is the "out of stock" stock. OK..... and I especially like the out of stock discontinued line... Like can we delete that item so 2:00 AM binge shoppers can make some progress. XLR element chassis.. in stock this looks promising... backordered for the Howa 1500 short action. ^&%$#$^& I know it is because of Covid and the impulse gun buying wave but hey I want my ^$%#$ now too. Longer story short.. I see they have 1 Howa KRG Bravo in 6mm Creedmoor left in stock. Can it be? These are sold out everywhere as are the Oryx's. (I really wanted a Bad Rock or APO SniperHide but... I have this other addiction to fishing that umm well I just hope when i die my wife doesn't sell everything for what I told her it costs) I ended up getting the Howa KRG Bravo in 6mm Creedmoor. I just hope it is a good one.
Now to get the other pieces I need. Note to self.. when you read lots of posts by people saying this is good or go to a club and look at what other people shoot. Do that sh&^%%$ before you spend all night trying to pretend you have any idea wth you are doing on Brownells. 20 tabs open clicking add to cart. Scope Rail. Holy S*&^ that is one expensive Lego. Scope rings.... ohh wait you need to pick a scope first dummy. You need the tube size. What do they mean I need to choose between low, medium and high?? Oh there is my old friend Out of Stock again. Short version, I am going to list what I actually bought so you guys can tell me what else I actually need. I know I need a front and back bag still. If I get serious about this shooting thing and can find a local club in California I will get into the technology side with kesterel and app etc. I will probably take a class or two and shoot factory amo for now. I also bought cleaning stuff and seeing CLP on Brownells refreshed the memory and I could still smell it from the old days cleaning the M16A2.
Seriously, if I got the wrong rings or made a real bad choice let me know.
Rifle- Howa KRG Bravo in 6mm Creedmore 26 inch barrel
Scope - Brownells Match Precision Optic 5-25x56 Not a heavily suggested model here on the hide but looking for sales prices and trying to figure out the different models broke my 3:00 am brain. The few voices that had tried it liked it so I am giving it a shot. The biggest complaint seemed to be people did not like adjusting to the reticle. Since I have never used a scope much.. NO Problem!
Scope Base- BURRIS - HOWA 1500 SHORT ACTION XTREME TACTICAL 1-PIECE BASE 25 MOA base No recoil lug but I could not find one that had one.
Scope rings- Leupold Mark 4 Steel 34mm High mount rings And I thought the damn lego of a scope mount was expensive... you sure electrical tape won't work? those are expensive broken washers...
Bipod- Maglok M-Lock Those notches in the front of the Bravo look like M-Locks so it should all fit. Again not the most popular choice but everyone who tried it seemed to like it or MagLok has terrific compensation program for endorsers
Brake - no cans here in Ca- VG6 Gamma 65 muzzle brake in 6.5 Now I think I could have used the smaller size for 223 but thinking and knowing are too different things. I knew that having a muzzle brake that was for a larger caliber only lost a few % points of compensation and I knew that having too small of a hole at the end of the brake for the bullet to pass through is one of those patented guaranteed bad things so I have a 6.5 brake.
Cleaning stuff - yes... and looking at ammo options now so I can get a few hundred rounds of different weights to test with. I know I want/need a bag or two. Any real favorites out there? (Game changer and air pilow maybe?) I need a case. Do I need a sling in the modern world? I don't think I am going to be humping this thing around but I also did not think I would be 2500.00 in a midnight shopping spree. If you made it this far, thanks for reading and bearing with me.
Most importantly- Did I forget anything?
Then last night happened... not a complete impulse as I was kicking this around in my head but something clicked and I said.. well I don't know what I said but it must have made sense to some part of my brain at midnight. (don't ever say what I said to myself if you value your bank balances) I was planning this as a budget endeavor though and at least that stuck. Next thing I know I am on Brownell's website, great place, great selection, horrible search criteria and scary for a newbie. I want a Howa 6.5 Creedmore barreled action and a chassis. Ok found that. Add to Cart. Good to go we got this. Now on to stocks. Brownells most common item is the "out of stock" stock. OK..... and I especially like the out of stock discontinued line... Like can we delete that item so 2:00 AM binge shoppers can make some progress. XLR element chassis.. in stock this looks promising... backordered for the Howa 1500 short action. ^&%$#$^& I know it is because of Covid and the impulse gun buying wave but hey I want my ^$%#$ now too. Longer story short.. I see they have 1 Howa KRG Bravo in 6mm Creedmoor left in stock. Can it be? These are sold out everywhere as are the Oryx's. (I really wanted a Bad Rock or APO SniperHide but... I have this other addiction to fishing that umm well I just hope when i die my wife doesn't sell everything for what I told her it costs) I ended up getting the Howa KRG Bravo in 6mm Creedmoor. I just hope it is a good one.
Now to get the other pieces I need. Note to self.. when you read lots of posts by people saying this is good or go to a club and look at what other people shoot. Do that sh&^%%$ before you spend all night trying to pretend you have any idea wth you are doing on Brownells. 20 tabs open clicking add to cart. Scope Rail. Holy S*&^ that is one expensive Lego. Scope rings.... ohh wait you need to pick a scope first dummy. You need the tube size. What do they mean I need to choose between low, medium and high?? Oh there is my old friend Out of Stock again. Short version, I am going to list what I actually bought so you guys can tell me what else I actually need. I know I need a front and back bag still. If I get serious about this shooting thing and can find a local club in California I will get into the technology side with kesterel and app etc. I will probably take a class or two and shoot factory amo for now. I also bought cleaning stuff and seeing CLP on Brownells refreshed the memory and I could still smell it from the old days cleaning the M16A2.
Seriously, if I got the wrong rings or made a real bad choice let me know.
Rifle- Howa KRG Bravo in 6mm Creedmore 26 inch barrel
Scope - Brownells Match Precision Optic 5-25x56 Not a heavily suggested model here on the hide but looking for sales prices and trying to figure out the different models broke my 3:00 am brain. The few voices that had tried it liked it so I am giving it a shot. The biggest complaint seemed to be people did not like adjusting to the reticle. Since I have never used a scope much.. NO Problem!
Scope Base- BURRIS - HOWA 1500 SHORT ACTION XTREME TACTICAL 1-PIECE BASE 25 MOA base No recoil lug but I could not find one that had one.
Scope rings- Leupold Mark 4 Steel 34mm High mount rings And I thought the damn lego of a scope mount was expensive... you sure electrical tape won't work? those are expensive broken washers...
Bipod- Maglok M-Lock Those notches in the front of the Bravo look like M-Locks so it should all fit. Again not the most popular choice but everyone who tried it seemed to like it or MagLok has terrific compensation program for endorsers
Brake - no cans here in Ca- VG6 Gamma 65 muzzle brake in 6.5 Now I think I could have used the smaller size for 223 but thinking and knowing are too different things. I knew that having a muzzle brake that was for a larger caliber only lost a few % points of compensation and I knew that having too small of a hole at the end of the brake for the bullet to pass through is one of those patented guaranteed bad things so I have a 6.5 brake.
Cleaning stuff - yes... and looking at ammo options now so I can get a few hundred rounds of different weights to test with. I know I want/need a bag or two. Any real favorites out there? (Game changer and air pilow maybe?) I need a case. Do I need a sling in the modern world? I don't think I am going to be humping this thing around but I also did not think I would be 2500.00 in a midnight shopping spree. If you made it this far, thanks for reading and bearing with me.
Most importantly- Did I forget anything?