Why I'm here.

I grew up in a somewhat liberal, extremely pacifist household in the equally liberal Washington state. I had some good friends who introduced me to the errors of my upbringing. Guns (any weapons really) were a forbidden topic in my house, so when I was first introduced to shooting sports I fell in love- kind of a forbidden fruit thing I think. My mother still wonders where she went so wrong.
Because of my upbringing, and my poverty in college, I am not your average gun guy. Most “gun people” buy a gun and it stays in the family, passed on through generations when the owner goes to their heavenly reward. I, on the other hand, go through guns like they were work pants. I get bored, or I look too close, or I shoot them till I don’t like them anymore. Over the past five years I have bought, shot, and sold or traded More than 50 firearms. Along the way I have learned TONS, established opinions, and had a great time. Now some will ask, “Why” ? It all comes down to a deal I made with my incredibly beautiful, and patient wife. When we were first engaged we talked about lots of important things in great detail, and one of those was firearms. She knew I liked guns and enjoyed shooting (though at the time neither of us had any idea how big this would become). She was worried about having hundreds of guns strewn everywhere around the house. We set a four gun limit at any given time. Over the years that deal has been revisited and modified, but the rule made me sell a gun before I could get a new one. It also has led me to play with a ton of platforms and a ton of accessories. This review blog is based on the experience gathered along the way. I have also figured out how to self-fund my gun addiction. In our house “gun money” is a separate entity, though I have on occasion used it to spoil my wife. “Gun money” is money made from a gun sale that is used for buying another gun or ammo. (Gun money also magically accumulates when I let my wife pick our sons names). Guns have become a real investment to mee, they hold their value very well. I have made a lot of additional “gun money” along the way. My addiction started with a $550 initial investment and has grown to around $15,000 in guns, and around $8000 in ammo (though little of that is left) in the course of five years.

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The Remington 700 sps (.308 win)



My buddy spent a fortune on a accuracy international sniper rifle, and I like to try new things, so I started looking for a rifle that could shoot long distance with him, and stumbled across a r700 in a pawn shop that had a tapco ultimate varmint stock a 10-40x56 vector scope and a Winchester bipod already on it, they were asking 900 but when I slapped $700 in Benjamin’s on the counter they took it and even threw in a drag bag for it. When I got it home I noticed that it had not been put together right but that was an easy fix, so I put it right and went shooting. The gun was a .75moa consistent shooter with federal gold match ammo, and often 3/8” 5 shot groups with hand loads. The scope worked just fine for what I was doing with it, but the glass was not that clear and when fully zoomed in it was impossible to find the target.  I shot about 600 rounds through it, mostly for groups and load work up, but I also tried to  take it out to great distances, sadly that only meant 650 yards, as the scope ran out of travel. If it had a 20moa set of rings or base, it could have done 800-900 yards. But I didn’t have funds at the time so it went to Alaska when I sold on snipers hide. All in all the gun was great, it did really need an extended bolt handle, as it was difficult to reach the lever under the scope, and the trigger sucked at first but with some adjustment it became great. I took this rifle to all-day sniper training at the price Utah shooting center (the biggest public shooting range in 1000 miles) and in the class was only out shot by three guys. It was not a competition, but the gun shot great.

THE GOOD:
The gun was an absolute tack driver. Shooting pennies at 100 yards was not hard and quite fun (when it is cold out they shatter)
 hand loading adds a whole new dimension to shooting, I rather enjoy the time making great quality ammo.
 the vector scope is huge and had more magnification than I could ever want. It held zero great and was easy to dope in shots, but when compared to a quality scope you would never buy one.
THE BAD:
no way to make a detachable mag on the varmint stock
the scope mount needed to be a 20moa
FINAL THOUGHTS:

I learned so much about drop compensation, and windage. Trigger control, hand loading, and breathing with this rifle. I am not a great sniper, but with the knowledge gained from this gun I can still make consistent 500 yard first shot hits on 10” round steel plates.


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