So having taken care of my carry gun problem, I turn now to the Boomershoot 2023 ULD situation. Unfortunately, this leads me to another fork in the road.
But first, let me take care of the easy stuff.
Rifle type (bench vs. hunting): Almost everyone said they had the “hunting” thing taken care of. What they wanted was a bench-type rifle. Check.
Caliber: a vast majority of ticket holders wanted the thing in .308 Win, and almost nobody wanted .30-06 or 6.5 Creedmoor. Also check.
Readers who recall my experiences with the Howa HCR 1500 from last year may recall that I loved the rifle. (Cliff Notes: more accurate than anyone (let alone I) could shoot it, outstanding trigger — just about the perfect rifle at that price point, or indeed at almost any price point.)
So just for the hell of it, I looked at doing the Howa again, and found this situation:
And here’s where the problem comes in. The two rifles pictures have the same silky bolt action, the same astounding trigger, and the same hammer-forged heavy barrel — in other words, mechanically they are identical.
Where they differ, of course, is in the stock setup — the Hogue is free-floated but not “chassis” based, whereas the Oryx is a true bench rifle. (As pictured, the Hogue weighs in at about 8lbs, whereas the Oryx weighs just over 10lbs — the latter being irrelevant as it’s being fired from a bench, and heavier weight is actually a positive attribute.)
That $270 price difference, however, sticks in my craw. (Oh, and the Hogue is available immediately, but the Oryx is on backorder at five different outlets, where I’ve put myself on a notification list, just in case.)
What say you, O My Readers?
