Re: What to do with a Rem700 Long Action?
To me, the .280AI makes the most sense on your budget. It's pretty much a 'pull apart, true, put new barrel on and go' proposition. You can add all the other Rem 700 cool stuff later. For the stock, do a good job of bedding and hogging out the barrel channel you have now so it's free floated. Get your trigger adjusted down where you like it, and later you can add bottom metal with a high capacity magazine. And change the trigger if you so desire.
As usual, get the best glass you can afford without having to upgrade. I found that better scopes hold a better percentage of their value than lower end scopes. Get one that you can get your money back out of if you do decide to upgrade. Even if that means working some extra time/job. Hopefully the money you save on not getting all the extras right away will help fund this aspect of your build.
<span style="color: #000099">Added:
Which is not to say the 30-06 isn't still a good choice. I just think there are better choices. I read the articles that ogonzales gave us and have only a couple points to make. Number one is DON'T waste your barrel and time shooting moly. It's a pain in the @$$ to clean. Work up by using his 'naked' recipe's. Second, I fully believe the 30-06 is quite capable of launching the 'heavies' just fine. So, get a 1-10" twist. You won't be sorry you did. That's also insurance to help keep bullets more stable as they transcend the trans-sonic range. All bullets get affected by it. Some moreso than others. But two external factors that help the most are altitude and twist(retained rotational inertia on the bullet). As long as your bullet doesn't go 'radically unstable' it will regain stability and maintain some degree of accuracy. Tight twisted, heavy .30 cal bullets can do this fairly well.</span>
