Wednesday, October 24, 2007

No luck with the Super Sniper scope

As you can tell by my recent posts, I am in gun mode.

recently I was hoping to acquire teh Super Sniper scope from SWFA. Despite it's silly name, my research indicated it was a great scope. Good enough in fact to win the US Navy contract, and also find itself used amongst other US forces areas. It was a good price too, compared to the expensive Leupold, Leicas, and Nightforce offerings.

Sadly though, SWFA will not ship to other countries. I can see why their policy makes sense, but I have to admit it is disappointing.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

It's time to start saving money

I am going to have to start saving any cash I can. I decided to build my first custom rifle, and it won't be cheap. Unlike a some folks, I will not be spending $3000 - $5000 on the rifle, but I can see at least $1000 disappearing pretty quickly. Using budget components is still a little expensive for someone like me. A inexpensive tactical stock is $190. A barrel is probably $300. A decent (cheap) scope is at least $300. Chambering is going to be at least $200. Then I will have to accurize the system, and I really have no idea what that will set me back.

Looking over all this, it could almost convince me not to do this.

Monday, October 15, 2007

Rechambering one of my rifles

I'm about 95 % sure I will be re-chambering one of my rifles. My buddy Bill has been reporting great results with the 8.6 x 72mm Swamp Donkey Magnum I think I will follow suit, and chamber my left handed Remington 700 in the .338 Gaillard cartridge. It's basically the same cartridge, with some minor differences in shoulder angle. Essentially this is a 8mm Remington Magnum necked to .338 cal. It has a slight body taper, improved capacity, and a good shoulder. It is one hell of a great cartridge.

It has a fair bit of recoil, but I have shot my .338 Winchester Magnum enough, that I don't mind recoil. You just have to learn to ride with it.

I will visit the wildcat cartridge's creator Ted Gaillard soon and have my barrel inspected. This will tell me if the old barrel is worth re-chambering or not. In the future I will get a new barrel from Ted, and try to scrap up enough cash to get a decent stock and trigger job.

I can't wait.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

I am actually reading a book

Sounds a little weird doesn't it? I am actually reading a book other than a technical manual. After what is probably ten years, I have finally decided to enhance my life by getting back into recreational reading. Admittedly, the books I selected are firearm related (historical). I figured that I should at least start reading again with something I might actually enjoy enough to finish.