Bully

The 6, not so much. The 22, maybe. Probably 2000ish rounds with the 22. The 6, 2500-3000. There are other cartridges that will consume barrels more quickly for sure. Barrels are a consumable. I'm blessed to have the machines and training to re-barrel my own guns. But if not, and barrel life was something that was holding me back from a particular cartridge, then I simply wouldn't get in to shooting rifles. It's like buying a Hayabusa vs. a SX650. They both burn fuel. The 'Busa at a faster rate. Tires, the same. Brakes, yup. It's simply the price of performance. 308 barrels last roughly 3500 by comparison. Just to be clear, I am not at all recommending those cartridges. I am merely mentioning what I currently and will be shooting. Nothing more than that.

In echoing some of the other posters, it will all depend on several things: What is "long range" to you? If 200 yard benchrest is your idea of distance, it will be a dramatically different set of viable options than, say the guy in Idaho, that has 1500 yards available 20 minutes from his home. You first need to figure out how far you realistically are wanting and able to shoot on a consistent basis. What is your budget? Are you looking to grab a Ruger Precision Rifle with Vortex glass (awesome combo by the way) or do you want to dip your toe in to the custom world? Both guns do roughly the same thing, the expel a cartridge out of a barrel, the custom has more style and operates more smoothly. How do you feel about recoil? If you're planning to run a brake of some type, recoil can be mitigated to a large degree. I'm not much of a brake guy and don't love recoil so I tend to look at cartridges that will perform to the distances I need with minimal recoil. If you're not averse to it, then the world is your oyster. Do you have glass? If so, that's awesome. If not just know that it's almost impossible to spend too much on glass. Do you/will you reload? This is a big one as without it, you will never be able to realize the full potential of any cartridge. Factory loadings are really solid. Federal Gold Medal Match will definitely shoot well from a variety of rifles typically. A few years ago a guy won the NJ State FTR championship using factory ammo (He got lucky and it shot really well from his rifle. He now reloads and shoots even better). However learning to reload, even for just the one cartridge, will teach you more about your rifle than many other things. And, you can truly optimize the load to do what you want with the rifle in any situation. Take a look at Tibosaurus Rex on YouTube. He has a series that will take you deeper in to long range shooting than you can imagine. FWIW, if you look at any of the PRS guys, they are typically shooting the latest and greatest. Many of the cartridges are almost exclusively for handloaders, however what you NEED to be looking at is the bullets being used. Most of them are shooting 6.5's (although less and less), 6's and 22's. The new 22 offerings are amazing and will shoot inside the 6.5's at anything less than 800 yards with almost equal wind and drop corrections. That said, the 6's are an amazing bunch of cartridges. Currently I shoot a: 223Remington. I was shooting it at 600 in matches but the drive got to me so I will be simply shooting it and having fun. 6mmBR Norma. An amazing cartridge and really fun to shoot. In better hands than mine a mildly improved version of this cartridge shot 5@ 1.1" at 1000 yards . 22BR Norma/Lapua. I will be building this this summer. It's a necked down 6BR shooting 22's faster/farther. Good luck in your search. Drop me a PM if you have any questions that you think I can help with.

That sounds great!!! I don't have property in Maine nor do I want property in Maine. I live and work here and would like my FFL to be here. Close to where I live. I actually spoke to a detective from NJSP yesterday. They are completely jammed up as they are not going out for inspections, they are not able to get licenses signed off on since courts are closed, and they are rotating through the office one at a time. ATF agent is also not leaving his home. Crappy timing on my part. I'm heading up to pay my rent today and will be seriously re-evaluating it all toward the end of April.

Will it work? Yes. Would I suggest spending a bit more and getting the RCBS or Hornady kit? Yes. LEE stuff is decent and will work. RCBS is better and will work with less rattle. Both will produce ammo. I will say that I won't buy LEE dies any longer for rifle cartridges. Maybe if I was just looking to build blasting ammo. I'm not. Their handgun stuff seems ok. Their universal decapper and factory crimp dies are respectable.

I just ordered 1k from Ibeji. Great bullets. For action shooting they are great.

Do you care about brand?

I just scored a frame from another site for 150 shipped. It will be a 38Superb

If you decide to go with a Government, I have a Mil-Spec Springfield Armory that I added a beavertail to and did some other work to. New fire control, 4 or 5 mags (incl a 10 rounder). Gun shoots very well. It's a 45.

Sounds about right to me. As stated, if it gets too financially challenging I will simply pull back and postpone until another time. I’ll give it a few months and see how it all progresses.

Agreed. That said, I can't and won't pay rent on a space for too long with no chance of getting something going. I'm no longer working so the money simply needs to be utilized for other things. Thank you. I will be an 01 for the time being. An 07 will come in time.

Alarm system is in. I'm waiting to hear back from NJSP. I've been calling for a few days and no one is picking up or returning my call. I imagine that with the whole virus thing they're tied up, but it is a bit frustrating. I'll keep at it. Currently I am "laid off" and awaiting the whole virus thing to blow over. Hoping that happens pretty soon. Push comes to shove I will bail. I don't want to do that but if that's what it takes, it's what will happen.

Thank you sir.

@JT Custom Guns @blksheep @remixer How many books do you keep? And for what? Thanks in advance for your help.

And the highest prices... Especially Ottomanelli's. Last time I was in there I almost laughed in the kids face at the pricing. @Oakridgefirearms is a super nice guy. Additionally I would say to give Ron at Ramsey Outdoor a call. Explain what's up and see if he can do better. He's always been very fair to me.

A friend with an FFL uses software. It’s up to the “shop” to decide on how they want to proceed.

Well, I mean, it’s already going to state and federal agencies. So, you know, they already have it. regardless, this is about opening an FFL. Please don’t step too far off the path and descend down the tinfoil hat rabbit hole.

Thank you. Application sent to NJSP along with the application fee. $389+$75=$464 so far

I got a "coupon" for 20% off the alarm system I was looking at. It will be here Friday the 13th. So, that's done. I'll get it installed Sunday, if it all goes well. I was going to mail the application fee to NJSP, but when I went to the post office, his machine for printing money orders was down. It will go out today as unfortunately work is on the slow side right now, so I have time. I spoke to one of the ATF agents that works northern NJ. Straight shooter it seems. He gave me some guidelines to follow to hopefully streamline the application process. It was very helpful.

Thank you. Very solid advice. My boss just had to scrap two Mac's as the hardware and software are incompatible. Pricey mistake.

Thank you but I’m not really a computer guy. I have and use, but have zero loyalty to any platform.

Thanks. I got lucky as the town has another FFL so it was not something they could claim to "prohibit" or whatever word they would want to throw at it. Calling NJSP and ATF shortly.

So... The zoning permit is in hand! I can now call NJSP and ATF and get the paperwork ball a'rolling. My buddy and I moved the safe and some other extraneous furniture in this weekend. Moving a safe onto the second floor of a building is truly NOT fun. Signs are on the doors in the building. Lights have been upgraded to LED. Printer is in and seems to be working (hand me down freebie). Filing cabinets are in place. I'm heading to Best Buy to look at computers now. But wanted to check in and fill in the blanks from the weekend and today.

Nothing "official" but I did order business cards... That's something I guess. I'm still waiting on Wyckoff to get back to me with my zoning permit. Hopefully today. Then I can get the ball rolling with NJSP and ATF.

Thank you. I'm already working on that. Trying to get it all figured out. Thankfully the UPS and FedEx hubs are close by.