Need advice...

Hey OP @joelinux, don't let the naysayers an negative nannies talk you out of what you want. Yeah, maybe for someone who just wants to dip their toe in the water a nice 6.5CM might be the right recommendation.

Definitely read the article posted by @BoltBandit on what the Ko2M shooters use (and my thanks to him for sharing that). Most of the top 10 shot a .375CT or wildcat derived from it. If it were my choice, I'd get the HTI in that. Especially if it converts to a .416. You will eventually rebarrel.

I ran into a guy at my range who was breaking in a new Christianson barrel. He doesn't reload but is considering it. My advice to him was that he is much more likely to get the full potential out of his specialty barrel by reloading than he is to find it on the shelves at the LGS.
 
Eh...I'd rather buy, then resell on something I think I might use forever than buy and sell something I know i will never touch once I graduate.



See, I'd rather learn to get over that now than get REAL good on a rifle I don't have to worry about that, then have to re-learn how to fire to accommodate the flinch. That is the exact kind of thing I want to avoid by jumping in with both feet.

On a side note, a friend just asked me this, and it's just so very very very wrong, I thought you all might laugh:

"Rather than have a full size human target at 50 yards, why don't you have an infant target at 10? Or a preemie at 5?"
Joe, from delusional narcissist grandiosity to piss-poor jokes. AMF
 
Joelinux,
Ive got a DT HTI in 375ct. Its a recient purchase. But ive been shooting rifles for 30 years. I shoot rifles for a living so I shoot quite a bit, (daily).

If I had it to do all over again I would buy a DT in a covert with a standard bolt and shoot a 243, 6xc, 6.5creedmore etc and work your way up to a 338 using the same platform. DT systems are great because they can grow with your abilities. Then after youve burned up a few barrels, jump to a HTI.

Just my 2 cents
Xdeano
 
Well, seeing as "the rifle really doesn't matter" and I should "just get used to shooting at 1k before I jump up to big bore", I went ahead and ordered a Hi-Point chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor.

Also, I don't know what I was thinking buying an H&K USP Expert in .45ACP from the get-go.

Despite being really good at it because of all the range time I've put in on just that gun, I obviously need to get a .22LR.

So, I got a ZiP22.

Because, hey, the gun really doesn't matter, right? It's the skills you develop.
 
Joelinux,

I’m issued a H&K USP in 40 S&W to carry for for work. Being that it’s volunteer status for a federal agency I’m responsible for my own training. Even though I can afford 40 to train with, a large portion of my training is with a Walther P22 in 22LR. It is similar enough in controls, especially the stupid magazine release, and nothing beats repetition in developing muscle memory. I can shoot a brick of ammo for less then the cost of a box of 50 regular ammo. I have no plans to stop using it.

In a previous job we would regularly employ $50,000 weapons, operationally. Training was done almost exclusively with $50 weapons that weighed 2% as much. Just as good for training.

All people are trying to do is help you. My money is that you’re a yong kid and / or a troll. From experience I’d say you’re the and/or.

Mike
 
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So, did we all get it out of our system? Good!

Thank you to those that messaged me privately. You guys have been very helpful.

I understand that the support equipment is just as important. However, the rifle is what I want to focus on here. I will set up separate threads when I go to purchase those.

To all those that tell me to get a different rifle, train up in mid-range, the transfer over, thank you, but no.

One ELR gun, purchase, then go. If it ends up costing me a little more in the long run, so be it.

I'm a minimalist. I have no desire to collect bunches of guns, or cycle them through my inventory.

I'll put out a revised set of requirements:

I am looking to get into ELR and ULR shooting. I'm not trying to win Ko2M, but I'm thinking 1+ mile.

Here are the bounds:

1) At least 3/4 MOA at 2000+ yards
2) Somewhat ruggedized and factory standard. I don't want a rifle that is hyper-accurate, but not resilient. (I've read about the extreme levels of custom parts and hypermaintenance that the Ko2M guns require. No thank you.)
3) Looking at mostly rifles chambered in .416 Barrett or .375 Cheytec. Barrett preferable. Reconfigurable is better. (.338 Lupua is not in the running, as it starts to tumble at about 1200 yards. 1600 yards if you are using custom match ammo)
4) California legal (yeah, yeah, "Kommiefornia" jokes can stop here)

Here is what I have turned up so far:

Barrett Rifles are only accurate to ~1500 yards or so. For having made such an impressive round (.416 Barrett), their rifles are surprisingly inaccurate.

Desert Tech HTI is reconfigurable with .375 AND .408Cheytec, as well as Barrett .416, but I called them, and they are discontinuing the .416 conversion kit. I'm waiting to hear back from them on approximately how many rounds their barrels hold up under factory .416 cartridges.
 
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Here is one (and others in the thread):
https://www.snipershide.com/shootin...408-cheytac-accuracy-and.136879/#post-2670741

There are others, but I have to make an appointment. Talk at you later!
They didn’t specify the distance. It was most likely at 100 yards.

I agree with the other posters here, it’s hard to believe you are genuine. With the engineering background you claim to have, you should understand that complex problems are generally tackled by reducing them into simpler components, especially when one is still learning. This is kind of like saying you don’t want to waste your time with an undergraduate degree in aerospace engineering and just want to go directly to designing the space shuttle.
 
If OP wanted someone to tell him he doesn't really need what he wants, he'd either ask his wife or go find one.

He wants a rifle capable of 3/4 MOA and supersonic out to 2,000 yards. A few bucks and a little due diligence and he can just go out and buy that.

If the platform is capable of 3/4 MOA at 100 and and the projectile is stable, it should translate to 3/4 MOA at 1,000, but for that to happen, the variable added by the shooter needs to be zero. That is the part that requires dedication.

@joelinux, go choose your rifle. You indicate that you are able and willing to drop some serious coin. Go for it! Then either find a commercial load and stock up or bite the bullet and plunge into reloading and get some serious trigger time. 3/4 MOA at 100 translating to the same at 1,000 means you have to caress the trigger like a sensitive nipple and read the wind without flaw. Both are learned talents. That learning can only come from experience. Sometimes shortcuts can be taken. You don't have to learn every lesson the hard way. Be willing to stand on the shoulders of giants. The best place to meet a mentor in long distance shooting is at a match just as the best place to meet Miss Right is at church but the best place to meet Miss Tonight is at a bar. We'll know what you really want by where you are found Sunday morning. In church or recovering from Saturday night.

The reloading is another art that involves time, expense and in depth study, but that is truly the only way to know whether that suboptimal range session started with the Lot# stamped on the cartridge box or the nut that holds the trigger.

Don't succumb to analysis paralysis. Make your decision and start down that path. Pick your rifle, mount a good scope and make or choose quality ammo and get thee to a range with the sole objective being to get match ready ASAP. Whether you really want what you say you want can be determined by what you do next. People can say all day long what is the most important thing in the world to them. What they actually do tells me what that really is.
 
Would this be like me asking the op for recommendations on a race pistol so I can compete with Rob Leatham at my first pistol match? I don't shoot pistols very much but I want a gun that I can go out and be competitive.
 
Would this be like me asking the op for recommendations on a race pistol so I can compete with Rob Leatham at my first pistol match? I don't shoot pistols very much but I want a gun that I can go out and be competitive.
It seems worse than that to me. You don’t really do anything differently with a race gun than a service pistol. If someone has a ton of money and wants to start shooting pistols, I don’t see a reason why not to start with a CZ Czechmate Parrot or Limcat 2011 instead of a Glock 19. If anything it might be easier to pick up on pistol fundamentals that way. But starting with a 375 or 416 at a mile is going to skip a lot of steps and make success less likely, and the OP refuses to listen to anyone’s advice. Also concerning is that even after weeks of talking about this, he appears not to have done basic reading that doesn’t require experience (see the comment about .338 LM “tumbling” at 1200 yd).
 
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Hi,

7060420


Sincerely,
Theis
 
You've been given tons of great advice here. Honestly I've been down this path. I've owned and sold more rifles than I should have. Barrett M99, EDM Windrunner, DTA srs etc. I'll lay out two paths. Big bores are are going to be louder and kick harder and may induce a flinch which is harder to overcome once its there, learn on something like a 6.5 creedmoor, it will get you out to 1200-1400 yards based on atmospherics.

1. Buy a quality scope, S&B 5-25, 3-27 or 5-45, a NF 7-35 or a Tangent Theta 5-25. Reticle should be P4F, LRR, MIL-C, Tremor3, H59, MIL XT, or gen3xr. Here Is where the your options will now diverge.

Path A. Buy a tikka 6.5cm https://www.eurooptic.com/Tikka-T3x-CTR-65-Creedmoor-Stainless.aspx and put scope from above on it. Learn to read wind, thats what will be most challenging, most phone ballistic apps can get you on target or close enough these days for you to learn and create your drop chart, gravity is easy, wind is difficult. When you have burned up the barrel or are confident in your skills pull your scope and put it on a .375ct or some other custom you have built, you could rebarrel your tikka or sell the action.

Path B. Buy a barrett MRAD in 6.5creedmoor and learn on that, then buy another barrel kit in 300 prc or 338 lapua. That will get you to 2000 meters. A .338 Hornady eld-m at 2800fps will go subsonic at 2200 meters based on JBM 2200 -27.9mils of drop 1079fps 4.187 seconds of flight. From the 300prc a 225grain eld-m at 2850 goes subsonic at 2100 meters.

Also buy a suppressor such as thunder beast for your rifle, it will make shooting much more pleasant and will help eliminate a flinch if you developed one.
 
He ordered a Highpoint 6.5. That alone set the red flags off! Good troll!
Well, seeing as "the rifle really doesn't matter" and I should "just get used to shooting at 1k before I jump up to big bore", I went ahead and ordered a Hi-Point chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor.

Also, I don't know what I was thinking buying an H&K USP Expert in .45ACP from the get-go.

Despite being really good at it because of all the range time I've put in on just that gun, I obviously need to get a .22LR.

So, I got a ZiP22.

Because, hey, the gun really doesn't matter, right? It's the skills you develop.
Ordering a Hi Point in 6.5, Zip22? Very good troll!
 
Man, I was using "search" for stuff about a walther, and stumbled in to the last half of this thread. WTF. Wish I had $20k to dump into ONE weapon right now..... I'd go shopping with Sirhr
 
If OP wanted someone to tell him he doesn't really need what he wants, he'd either ask his wife or go find one.

He wants a rifle capable of 3/4 MOA and supersonic out to 2,000 yards. A few bucks and a little due diligence and he can just go out and buy that.

If the platform is capable of 3/4 MOA at 100 and and the projectile is stable, it should translate to 3/4 MOA at 1,000, but for that to happen, the variable added by the shooter needs to be zero. That is the part that requires dedication.

@joelinux, go choose your rifle. You indicate that you are able and willing to drop some serious coin. Go for it! Then either find a commercial load and stock up or bite the bullet and plunge into reloading and get some serious trigger time. 3/4 MOA at 100 translating to the same at 1,000 means you have to caress the trigger like a sensitive nipple and read the wind without flaw. Both are learned talents. That learning can only come from experience. Sometimes shortcuts can be taken. You don't have to learn every lesson the hard way. Be willing to stand on the shoulders of giants. The best place to meet a mentor in long distance shooting is at a match just as the best place to meet Miss Right is at church but the best place to meet Miss Tonight is at a bar. We'll know what you really want by where you are found Sunday morning. In church or recovering from Saturday night.

The reloading is another art that involves time, expense and in depth study, but that is truly the only way to know whether that suboptimal range session started with the Lot# stamped on the cartridge box or the nut that holds the trigger.

Don't succumb to analysis paralysis. Make your decision and start down that path. Pick your rifle, mount a good scope and make or choose quality ammo and get thee to a range with the sole objective being to get match ready ASAP. Whether you really want what you say you want can be determined by what you do next. People can say all day long what is the most important thing in the world to them. What they actually do tells me what that really is.

@Howland , I feel like we'd be good friends.

I've had friends and family my entire life tell me how I should live it. I've steadily ignored them, and done well for myself. I know who I am, what I want, and how I will go about it.

3 engineering degrees, a house, wife, and kid (hopefully another along the way), and an exciting life later, I have no regrets.

Which isn't to say that I haven't made a few mistakes along the way, but they have been genuine surprises, not the norm. nosce te ipsum and all that.

I presently have a knowledge gap when it comes to quality of ELR/ULR rifles chambered in .375CT or Barret .416. Which is why I asked a forum dedicated to that kind of information.

I was not asking about my life, how I should go about learning to fire at ELR/ULR, or anything like that. I want to learn about different qualities of a specific subset of the long distance class of firearm.

As Howland pointed out, if I want someone to tell me I'm wrong, I'll log off and ask my wife which rifle I should buy. She'll tell me none, and that I should invest it in some MLM marketing thing her friends are involved with. (If one of her friends tries to pitch me again on essential oils....)

Think of this another way: for the sake of argument, let's say you all are right. I go out to the range with my ELR/ULR rifle, and discover I am biting off WAY more than I can chew.

So, at that point, I'm forced to sheepishly come back here and ask which starter 6.5 Creedmoor rifle is best (Actually, I would like to know, only because I feel like it would start a flamewar).

Suppose all that happens. What is the WORST case? I am now learning with a 6.5 Creedmoor like you are saying I should anyway, but I now have my ELR/ULR rifle already purchased when I'm ready to graduate.

Now, here is my whole point, and my original purpose of this post: I want that ELR/ULR rifle to not be a piece of sh*t. Which is all I am trying to learn in the first place. I'm trying to make a good investment of my money into an ELR/ULR rifle.

I don't want to find out I've purchased the Hi-Point of ELR/ULR rifles.

I don't want to know that when it comes to shooting at a mile+ distance, I have a gun whose reliability and maintenance requirements make the Chauchat look effortless.
 
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It seems worse than that to me. You don’t really do anything differently with a race gun than a service pistol. If someone has a ton of money and wants to start shooting pistols, I don’t see a reason why not to start with a CZ Czechmate Parrot or Limcat 2011 instead of a Glock 19. If anything it might be easier to pick up on pistol fundamentals that way. But starting with a 375 or 416 at a mile is going to skip a lot of steps and make success less likely, and the OP refuses to listen to anyone’s advice. Also concerning is that even after weeks of talking about this, he appears not to have done basic reading that doesn’t require experience (see the comment about .338 LM “tumbling” at 1200 yd).
Perhaps not tumbling. I consider loss of sonic to be the start of possible "tumbling."

I'll admit to poor choice of words. I want something that remains sonic past 2000. Is that better?

And, funny you mention that, I chose my pistol based on almost that exact criteria you mention. I wanted a combat pistol, but something that would by hyper accurate as well, so that I wouldn't sacrifice reliability for accuracy. I wanted only one pistol for both, which is why after ~4 years of research and shooting, I settled on the .45 USP Expert, and I have not regretted it once.

Well, except for that goofy rail system.
 
One last time, I hope I don't regret it.

If you ask 5 different ELR shooters what their favorite ELR rifle is, you're going to get five different answers.

Starting on a rifle that will allow you to get more practice in less time without huge recoil and muzzle blast will allow you to determine your preferences in a long range rifle.

People generally don't do what you're asking about with an off the shelf rifle so knowing your preference is the minimum of what you need before you commission a master gunsmith to built a custom rifle for you.

There is ergonomics, trigger choice, optics, reloading preferences, weight, fitting in your car, etc.

If you go in blind, you'll probably wind up with something fighting you later.
 
Perhaps not tumbling. I consider loss of sonic to be the start of possible "tumbling."

I'll admit to poor choice of words. I want something that remains sonic past 2000. Is that better?

And, funny you mention that, I chose my pistol based on almost that exact criteria you mention. I wanted a combat pistol, but something that would by hyper accurate as well, so that I wouldn't sacrifice reliability for accuracy. I wanted only one pistol for both, which is why after ~4 years of research and shooting, I settled on the .45 USP Expert, and I have not regretted it once.

Well, except for that goofy rail system.
300 win mag can do it, 300 PRC easily, 338 LM no problem. But you should know this already.

Have you read Cleckner’s intro to long range shooting yet? That may help to get some of the background.

As others have said, there’s no one right answer and there is a lot of personal preference. Even putting aside all the arguments for starting with something smaller, asking for the “best” mile+ rifle is like asking about the “best” sports car. Porsche and Ferrari are both great but not everyone likes the same things. Hard to appreciate when you haven’t learned to drive yet.
 
One last time, I hope I don't regret it.

If you ask 5 different ELR shooters what their favorite ELR rifle is, you're going to get five different answers.

Starting on a rifle that will allow you to get more practice in less time without huge recoil and muzzle blast will allow you to determine your preferences in a long range rifle.

People generally don't do what you're asking about with an off the shelf rifle so knowing your preference is the minimum of what you need before you commission a master gunsmith to built a custom rifle for you.

There is ergonomics, trigger choice, optics, reloading preferences, weight, fitting in your car, etc.

If you go in blind, you'll probably wind up with something fighting you later.
300 win mag can do it, 300 PRC easily, 338 LM no problem. But you should know this already.

Have you read Cleckner’s intro to long range shooting yet? That may help to get some of the background.

As others have said, there’s no one right answer and there is a lot of personal preference. Even putting aside all the arguments for starting with something smaller, asking for the “best” mile+ rifle is like asking about the “best” sports car. Porsche and Ferrari are both great but not everyone likes the same things. Hard to appreciate when you haven’t learned to drive yet.

I hear what you are both seeing, and I completely agree.

What I'm more or less looking for is the examples I have given in my various replies.

There are some guns that people generally agree are trash. (ZiP22, Chauchat, Hi-Point, etc.) I want to avoid those. From what I've been told, evidently Barrett does not make a very accurate rifle.

Then, there are some that have obvious strengths but also glaring weaknesses. (Glock, 1911s, etc.)

I don't know what those are. I've done my homework on cartridge selection, which should limit the number of rifles that should be evaluated, but past that, I need to know what rifles "tend" to do.

I know there is no "best."

I was looking for, "Desert Tech is good for ______, but generally lacks in ______", "Cheytac is good when it comes to _____, but if you like _____, steer clear", "Noreen Arms' .416 offering has outstanding _________, but _______ is their weakness."

I know what is important to me, but I need to get a feel for what to look at when evaluating these rifles. That's all.
 
If you’re serious about hitting targets at 2000+, then you should skip a factory gun in my opinion
What he said. I'd start doing research on the different custom actions, barrel makers, and stock/chassis selections. You'd be better off with a custom rifles than an off the shelf rifle.
 
Fine, here is what you're looking for: you want THE BEST, go buy a JJ Rock action have a well known smith spin up either a 416, 375ct, 375 enabler or 338 enabler with a bartlein or K&P Barrel, pick a nice heavy contour Stick it in a manners or macmillan stock with lead added and top with S&B, TT, or NF. Oh and go buy a charlie tarac.
 
Fine, here is what you're looking for: you want THE BEST, go buy a JJ Rock action have a well known smith spin up either a 416, 375ct, 375 enabler or 338 enabler with a bartlein or K&P Barrel, pick a nice heavy contour Stick it in a manners or macmillan stock with lead added and top with S&B, TT, or NF. Oh and go buy a charlie tarac.
Maybe he should just get the JJR-375? It’s as close to a turnkey solution for 2k+ as anything on the market. I haven’t shot one but I haven’t heard anything negative about them, ever.
 
Maybe he should just get the JJR-375? It’s as close to a turnkey solution for 2k+ as anything on the market. I haven’t shot one but I haven’t heard anything negative about them, ever.
So, looks like they have been in business for a whole 3 years.

Cheytac has been around for at least 18 years.

Desert Tech and Noreen for at least 12.

If JJR goes out of business, and I need to get a new barrel, I'm pretty much SOL, right?
 
So, looks like they have been in business for a whole 3 years.

Cheytac has been around for at least 18 years.

Desert Tech and Noreen for at least 12.

If JJR goes out of business, and I need to get a new barrel, I'm pretty much SOL, right?

What in the heck? First, you spin a new barrel on. The barrel isn’t proprietary to JJ Rock. Have a GS chamber and thread a new one .... torque it down and drive it like you stole it.

Comparing to a old cheytac brand, Noreen or even a DT isn’t even within reason

Good luck and great shooting.
 
I've got a Remington 700 that out shoots my Ruger Precision, all day.....
And from what I can tell, the Ruger Precision Rifle is the best stock 6.5 Creedmoor ever.
This post is a blatant attempt at trolling out ALL the possible responses to who, what, where, when why, how, this, that, and EVERYONES fucking opinion on the 6.5 creed clambering. The answer has been given to you, ball is in your court. Something as regarded as 6.5 creed around here; there are a metric shitload of threads on it. You want a standard clambering like that, use the damn search function. Also, I'd suggest getting a gunsmith, and picking his brain, for days.
 
Hi,

LOLOLOL and yet Cheytac is on about their 7th ownership after how many financial restructurings lol?

So technically the Cheytac of today has not been in business near that long since the original cheytac was named cheytac & associates....now it is cheytac USA.

How many safety recalls has Noreen had?

Sincerely,
Theis
 
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So, looks like they have been in business for a whole 3 years.

Cheytac has been around for at least 18 years.

Desert Tech and Noreen for at least 12.

If JJR goes out of business, and I need to get a new barrel, I'm pretty much SOL, right?
You’ve really got your head in your ass or just trolling for fun. Reminds my why I don’t care for engineers
 
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Hi,

@sobbarry
How about take your copy and paste shit somewhere else. You are clueless and could not answer any rebuttal question to that copy and pasted post if you needed to.

Nice splicing work for this post though.
You copy and pasted a thread from 2012 not realizing that the new sniper rifles are not even LMs..they are NMs.
You even copied the incorrectly spelled words, lolol.

Sincerely,
Theis



Bart B.
Senior Member

Join Date: February 15, 2009
Posts: 6,318
When the military folks were testing rifles for their latest sniper weapon, the .300 Win. Mag. shot the most accurate through 1500 yards. But the US Army was addicted to the .338 Lapua Mag and could not reason that its inferior performance meant the snipers who used it were handicapped.

Note that the more recoil a rifle has while the bullet's going down the barrel, the harder it is to shoot accurately. So, I'd suggest using one of the 30 caliber rounds without a belt as belted cases are a nusiance to reload for best accuracy. The .300 RUM and WSM rounds are good enough.

You'll do best by not using actions having a round receiver. Heavy recoiling rifles tend to twist them out of perfect epoxy bedding after a couple hundred shots. Use a receiver with flat sides and bottom; Win. 70's are excellent. However, folks who don't shoot too well may never observe the difference between these two receiver types.
 
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I think what everyone here is trying to do (in a polite way) is advise the OP that there is MUCH more to shooting ELR than just the rifle. There is a certain high level of skill that cannot be instantly developed in a short period of time. I'm not the expert in ELR, but I do have a great amount of skill in something else. And, I occasionally have people approach me wanting me to teach them how to do one particular thing without learning the fundamentals. I end up telling them "OK, it's going to take at least a year if you really apply yourself, and I'm going to make a lot of money off of you and in the end, you are only going to know how to do this one particular thing with this one particular 'tool', and even then, that's a big 'maybe'."
 
That will follow me in this endeavor. Once I start shooting the large-bore rifle at crazy-far distances, 1500 meters will no longer interest me. It'll feel like I'm taking it easy on myself.

Really? Can you put them all in a dime-sized hole at 100 yards with a good-shooting 6mm or 30 caliber rifle? How about a quarter-sized hole? Because, if you can't do that yet, you might want to hold off on buying the cannon.
 
OP

I’d personally get a moderate cartridge rifle like a 6.5 Creedmoor and learn on it.
It’s amazing how far the 6.5’s can go and practice is cheaper.

Once you feel confident with it get something bigger.

When I first started getting serious I found I had LOT to learn especially at shooting big magnums.

They really magnify bad form.

I’m planning on building a 338something soon as I really enjoy shooting my buddy’s 338 norma now.

A 338 will get me as far as I want to go now as anything above 2000 yards is difficult to find and more expensive than I need right now.
 
So, taking in everything that everyone has said, what would you say if I got an Anzio Iron Works 20mm rifle?

Because, like so many have said, the rifle is a relatively small part of the setup, right?

Plus, my effective range would now be 5000+ yards, so I'll be sure to hit the target at 2K.

The rifle costs as much as a fully kitted out Desert Tech HTI, so, no real price increase there.

True, the ammo is a bit more, but, I can reload to knock off ~40% of the price.

It's either this or the best 6.5 Creedmoor ever made, the Savage 110BA.