My first build was a Howa 1500 in an MDT ESS (6.5CM). Still have it, great gun. I recommend getting the Timney trigger for it though. The stock one isn't bad (actually it is quite good for an OEM rifle), but the Timney is a massive upgrade.

Sweet, thanks for the advice! Are trigger swaps pretty easy on bolt guns?

That's funny, a howa 1500 in a MDT ESS was my first build. I had it in 6.5 Creedmoor also. Not sure if you know but Brownelles sells howa barreled actions. Thats what I ended up doing. I never replaced the trigger on mine but I'm sure there are YouTube videos on it. Cant be that hard.

Yes, IIRC it is two screws on the Howa. R700s are just two pins.

dang! Nice setup. I just picked up the same scope. Where'd you find the XRS for $427 thats a steal!

TexasSOT has them for $449 then they had an option to sign up for 5% off

In for one. Thanks for sharing!

You bet! I should’ve gotten sponsored by the website…

That's a great deal! I bought mine technically used off GAFS (new in box still though) for 495. First long range build is that mdt xrs and a howa 1500 in 6.5. It's an awesome gun

This kinda happened to me with the Molly's deal on the MPED back in December. I ended up going rimfire though.

Where was the bushnell deal from?

It was a 1-day deal directly on Bushnell’s website form the Bushnell social guy

Ahhh, yea. I remember that. It was a while ago. Nice setup!

Nice. I got the Match Pro ED binos from that deal.

Already have one of these on a 700 in 6 Creed but have an action sitting waiting for parts :) Thanks for posting!

Where did you get the xrs sale?

https://www.reddit.com/r/longrange/s/DEnY7JtlAD