Hello campfire! Newer member here but long time lurker,
I have a Remington 700 Long Range 25-06 26" HB. I purchased this rifle new in 2015, I've put only a few rounds through it for barrel break in and sighting the scope on it. Outside of that it sits in the back of the safe unused.
I swapped the M40 medalist stock that came on it with the older small palm swell Remington/HS precision Sendero stock. I did not care for the feel of the large for-end of the medalist. It is essentially a 25-06 Sendero clone without the barrel stamp. I had the identical rifle growing up that was a true unfluted Sendero 25-06 that I took on varmint hunting trips.
My question to you guys would be, what would you do?
I would love to set it up as a dedicated varmint rifle but my opportunities to be in that environment are not as readily available as they used to be. I grew up in North Dakota and trips to the western side of the state and into eastern Montana for prairie dogs were quite common in the summers. I now reside in central Michigan and we dont have alot of great varminting outside of some coyotes and occasional ground hogs. I have also thought about a re-barrel into a lighter contour and setting it up for whitetail hunting. I just don't know if scavenging this complete rifle to make something else is the best option or if I would be better off selling it and starting with another sporter 25-06. I really like the caliber and how it performs. As it sits right now its just over 12lbs, no slouch in weight but it is far too heavy to be carrying around the woods on a whitetail hunt IMO.
I already have a few other calibers that cover pretty much anything in N.A. I have the desire to point at outside of a grizzly so this is kind of in the grey area realm. I'm at a loss, do I turn it into something that is more conducive to my area/terrain or keep it as is and "save it for a rainy day" on the off chance I will get back into varminting/critters.
Any and all thoughts are appreciated.
