[craigepo]

Building a gun is really fun.

A few years ago I had a .308 built, and am about halfway through a 7mm mag build now. It sounds like you are actually going to be carrying this rifle, so I assume you are not going to want to carry a bunch of extra weight.

My .308 was one of the few 700 guns that I've seen that just wouldn't shoot out of the box, so I basically had to build it. I used a #3 Lilja stainless barrel. I've carried it through a lot of rain and snow, and never had a problem. I found a black Macmillan mountain stock on the company's website that had been ordered but not picked up, so I got a decent deal. My gunsmith worked the action, then aluminum pillar bedded the gun, and installed a Schilling trigger. The gun is very light, and shoots much better than I can.

My friend liked my rifle so much, he built the exact same thing, except in a .300 Winchester short mag. That gun is lights-out for a mountain elk gun. I think your .260 is a short action. Good caliber, but you have other choices when you purchase your barrel. .260 should be fine on everything from a mule deer and down. I like my .308 for whitetail-sized stuff, but if I were building it again, I would pick a more modern caliber.

I'm presently in the process of building a 700 in 7mm mag. The gun was a tack driver out of the box. I special ordered a Macmillan "mcswirley" mountain stock. This is a process where they take your preferred colors, then mix them when they pour the stock. The colors swirl, they don't blend like school paint, so you end up with some really neat looks. They used to have mcswirley pictures at 24hourcampfire.com, some really neat looking stocks.

For the 7mm mag, I'm going to get a #4 fluted Lilja barrel. The stock is already pillar bedded. I put a Zeiss scope on, with a good drop compensator reticle. I have a Leupold on the .308, which I will probably trade pretty soon, as the model I bought doesn't gather enough light for dawn and dusk shooting.

Final note: use a good gunsmith. Since you already have the action, you should be able to get a great rifle without spending all of the money you mentioned. Just don't go to the wrong guy who will reward you with an overpriced rifle that won't shoot. If he won't guarantee his work, with similar parts like I have mentioned, walk.