You have $5,000 to spend on a rifle and optic - what would you get and why?

[Rob01]

If you posses any degree of mechanical know-how, my biggest suggestion would be to base it on an action that accepts pre-fits. Especially if you plan to shoot a lot, or use a moderately hot cartridge.

Also, accept the fact that what you like or want will probably change down the road as you shoot more.

It doesn't even really take much mechanical know how. If you can screw a nut into a bolt you can install a shouldered prefit. OP or anyone wondering, it's really that easy. Take out the action screws and take barreled action out of stock/chassis, put the barrel in a barrel vise and tighten the bolts, put action wrench in action and loosen action off barrel, change out barrel in vise to different barrel, then screw on action and torque down and done. That simple. A lot of screwing on and off nuts and bolts.

And being able to do that hits on your second point about things changing down the road. Having a set up like the Bighorn Origin allows you to change as your tastes change. Shooting a .308 but want to try a .223? Change barrel and bolt face and now you have a .223. Same stock, trigger, action and scope so no need to spend a bunch of money on another rifle. Just $450-650 for new barrel and $125 for the bolt face. Want to get a short magnum to hunt with? Same. And then there is changing in the same bolt face so you can have a .308. 6mm Creedmoor, 6.5 Creedmoor and 6GT on the same set up.

 

[Wheres-Waldo]

It doesn't even really take much mechanical know how. If you can screw a nut into a bolt you can install a shouldered prefit. OP or anyone wondering, it's really that easy. Take out the action screws and take barreled action out of stock/chassis, put the barrel in a barrel vise and tighten the bolts, put action wrench in action and loosen action off barrel, change out barrel in vise to different barrel, then screw on action and torque down and done. That simple. A lot of screwing on and off nuts and bolts.

And being able to do that hits on your second point about things changing down the road. Having a set up like the Bighorn Origin allows you to change as your tastes change. Shooting a .308 but want to try a .223? Change barrel and bolt face and now you have a .223. Same stock, trigger, action and scope so no need to spend a bunch of money on another rifle. Just $450-650 for new barrel and $125 for the bolt face. Want to get a short magnum to hunt with? Same. And then there is changing in the same bolt face so you can have a .308. 6mm Creedmoor, 6.5 Creedmoor and 6GT on the same set up.

Completely agree. Shouldered prefits give an end user the ability to make their rifle very fitting for evolving with their wants and needs, without the deterrent of having to send their rifle or action to a gunsmith for potentially months.

I only say that it may require a bit of mechanical aptitude in that while it’s not 100% across the board, quite a few prefit suppliers will recommend you torque on your prefit (requiring at least a barrel vice, action wrench and torque wrench), and probably checking headspace. Knowing that anti-seize is a thing also helps. It’s not unanimous, but few things are.

Granted, you shouldn’t be working on any rifle if you don’t have a basic mechanical understanding of what you’re doing. But it’s essentially torquing a bolt into a nut.

 

[Rob01]

And even recommended torques are just that. Once the shoulder hits the action you aren't really tightening it down any more. A very respected rifle company here on the Hide who have been around for decades does not use a torque wrench. They use a T handle action wrench and turn action in to touch shoulder, back off about a quarter turn and then slam it home. That's it. People get way too wrapped up in exact torque specs.

Anti seize is also not needed. A little grease on threads works the same.

 

[kamonjj]

So you going to take out a personal loan for the reloading set-up, bags, tripod, chrono, weather meter & cleaning gear… or?

Or just buy them. Never said 5k is the limit for the hobby. I completely understand the additional costs for the full kit. I shoot a lot on multiple platforms and reload. Just don’t have a dedicated long distance rig at the moment.

 

[CK1.0]

Or just buy them. Never said 5k is the limit for the hobby. I completely understand the additional costs for the full kit. I shoot a lot on multiple platforms and reload. Just don’t have a dedicated long distance rig at the moment.

As crazy as it sounds, money-wise, it's probably never been more reasonable to get into the long-range thing.

It ain't cheap, but with the proliferation of things like prefit barrels, and ~$10 Apps being as good as or better than $800 Kestrels, etc, it's not as scary/painful as it once was. There was a time not long ago when ~10K wouldn't buy as much "skill" as $5K will today.

I think some people get carried away with rationalizing how much more some of the extra-Gucci shit actually matters once past a certain point ...for the gun/glass at least, and definitely with reloading shit. But realistically, ~$5-6K is about what it takes to run a respectable top-shelf rig these days (IMHO), and if you can screw your own barrel on, then you're already a more qualified gunsmith than some I've met and your lead time is zero so there's no waiting lol.

 

[stanley_white]

$430 for a Howa 1500 barreled action from Brownells.

$400 KRG Bravo.

$70 MDT 20 MOA rail.

$130 Leupold Mark V rings.

$2,000 on some optic.

Total: $3,030

Spend the remaining $1,900 or so on ammo and training.

 

[kamonjj]

As crazy as it sounds, money-wise, it's probably never been more reasonable to get into the long-range thing.

It ain't cheap, but with the proliferation of things like prefit barrels, and ~$10 Apps being as good as or better than $800 Kestrels, etc, it's not as scary/painful as it once was. There was a time not long ago when ~10K wouldn't buy as much "skill" as $5K will today.

I think some people get carried away with rationalizing how much more some of the extra-Gucci shit actually matters once past a certain point ...for the gun/glass at least, and definitely with reloading shit. But realistically, ~$5-6K is about what it takes to run a respectable top-shelf rig these days (IMHO), and if you can screw your own barrel on, then you're already a more qualified gunsmith than some I've met and your lead time is zero so there's no waiting lol.

Thats definitely good to hear. As with most things, I feel its best to buy quality items rather than start with the cheapest option and have to rebuy.

5k seems like a great entry point thats extremely capable and leaves a lot of room for growth.

My dream would be an AI setup but its so much more gun than I actually need.

 

[CK1.0]

Thats definitely good to hear. As with most things, I feel its best to buy quality items rather than start with the cheapest option and have to rebuy.

5k seems like a great entry point thats extremely capable and leaves a lot of room for growth.

My dream would be an AI setup but its so much more gun than I actually need.

As the saying goes: it's the Indian, not the arrow. The reality is that some things like AIs (and Land Rovers, Rolex's, etc) are expensive because they're expensive, and maybe because of their perceived exclusivity more so than any other reason.

Having shot plenty of them, I'd take my plebeian ~$5-6K Manners/Origin/Diamond/Proof/Razor over an AI every time.