After a year of saving and a few agonizing months in the shop, I finally got my “dream” target rifle. It started out as a pawn shop Remington 700 BDL in .308 Win. I took the barreled action to Leonard and Jon Baity at Baity’s Custom Gunworks and they did the rest.
- The barrel is a hand-selected 26” Stainless Douglas medium-heavy with a 1 in 10” twist. The headspacing has been set specifically for the 168-175 SMK bullets that I prefer, loaded at standard COAL. I asked for the barrel to be threaded so that I can run a muzzle break during extended range sessions and then throw on a thread protector for hunting. Jon did so and fabricated the break so that it cams up so perfectly. You cannot see any seam between the break and the barrel when it’s installed. He also supplied a neat knurled thread protector, cut the flutes and recessed the crown.
- The stock receiver has been trued. Instead of trying to blueprint the stock bolt, the guys fabricated a completely new one that is perfectly square in all dimensions. A neat feature of the bolt (aside from the cool-looking spiral fluting) is that it takes down without any tools so that a blown primer in the field is no longer a show-stopper. The bolt has a straight handle as opposed to the regular Remington style. Also, they fabricated and installed an oversized bolt knob.
- The Jewell trigger has been polished and set for 2.5 lbs, though adjusting it is a breeze.
- The Badger steel trigger guard that I supplied had a shitty powder coat and rusted out in the box so Jon CNC’d, finished and installed a flat-bottomed custom job that looks fantastic.
- The stock is a McMillian A5 that has been epoxy bedded – Leonard talked me out of straight pillar bedding. I wanted a Pachmayr Presentation recoil pad, but none could be found so they guys installed and ground to fit a Kick Ez pad that just feels awesome.
- Optics are a Nightforce NXS 3.5-15x56 on Badger rings and mount.
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Shameless plug:
All said, the guys at Baity’s are fucking awesome. When designing the rifle, they walked me through the features available, what works and what is a waste of money. They were also super patient with all of my noob questions and guided me through the gear, reloading processes and load development procedures that work for them. They even schooled me on how environmental factors effect bullet trajectory at long ranges. Of course, the finished product was flawless. And fairly cheap considering the level of work being done. Would definitely recommend to friends.