Some of you have seen CBM Jr. following along on some of my adventures, he’s been my little hunting companion since he first came on the deer hunt when he was three years old. He has grown up quite a bit, not missing a single hunt, to the point that he thinks he’s one of the guys in our hunting group. This year marks a special point in his life, as it will be the first year that he is old enough to hunt himself. Just last month he finished his hunter safety course, and he is excited as ever to go hunt elk, and deer with the big boys. He has long hunted small game with his little .17HMR, but it surely wont do for anything bigger than rabbits and chucks.

I had anticipated this for some time, and for the last year or so I have been putting together the necessary parts to put him together a proper rifle, one he can use and be proud of as long as he has need for it. A huge thanks goes to the PR community for helping me get the parts put together for a very economic price.

See Junior’s rifle in its first action here!

The game plan I had started with the basics, what action? I wanted this to be good, but cheap. So I figured a good Remington or Savage action would do well, and in short time, I had my hands on a good 700 short action. The next question which I spent a lot of time debating was caliber. Sure, there are plenty of easy options. How many kids start their hunting career with a 243? That was an easy answer, but my kid inherited his Mother’s taste. And he seems to desire elk hunting more so than deer. Granted, plenty of elk are killed every year with 243’s, but I wasn’t sure I wanted something that light for a kid who has big dreams of elk. I also was taking into account the practicality, I already have everything to reload 308, so that would be a valid option as well (downloaded for a small kid of course). So after much debate, going back and forth, I decided to settle on the .260 Remington, the choice of distinguished shooters everywhere. It didn’t hurt that it’s one of my favorites as well, and I have everything I need to load it. Plus, a 260 fits right in that spot; plenty big to hammer any deer or antelope, and just big enough to work well on elk. With the added benefit of still being short action, and modest recoil when downloaded with light bullets, just right for this kid.
So I started looking for a 264 barrel, and to my surprise, I found the perfect barrel for my project. A slightly used pre-cut AAC barrel made for a Remington. It was a 24″ with an 8 twist, but I had a friend cut it down to 16″, and re-threaded for the much needed muzzle embellishments. The stock was made from an old walnut Remington, that I cut down, and did some whittling to fit a smaller framed hunter. I added a pic rail to the front for a bipod mount, and bottom/side flush cups for sling mounting. A bit of bedding compound, and some grip texturing, followed by some keen squirts of Duracote to handsome up the ensemble.

I started out with a very in expensive 120BTHP from PVRI, loaded up on top of 38g of some Benchmark I had been given. With mag feed seating depth, it gave around 2800 fps from the short little barrel. And with very little adjustment, or load development for that matter, I could pound 8″ targets at 500 yds all day long. That’s about all the shooting I’ve done with it yet, I plan on letting him get comfortable with it, and once he has burned up the 500 120 PVRI bullets, maybe we’ll step him up to the 140’s. At first I had put a Minox 1-6 scope on it, but the scope currently riding on top is a US Optics TS8X in 30mm rings and a 30MOA EGW scope base.

Believe it or not, I am into this project for less than 500$ (except the scope of course) Thanks to many who either gave me parts, or their time. It’s a fine rifle, one that any kid getting into hunting would be happy to have.
-CBM