Long Range Precision Rifle Boss - Building with King"™s Arsenal

If you add up all the parts in the Grandpa’s Gun Reborn project, it would amount to a stack of cash. But if there was ever an occasion where “The sum of the parts is greater than the whole” was true, this rebirth of the old Remington 700 as a tactical long range precision rifle is it. Hopefully, you’ve followed this story since inception and been inspired to dig in the back of the closet, dust off your old bolt action rifle that’s buried there and take it up a notch or two. Yeah, we know our rebuild is more ambitious than most. That’s why we turned to Jordan King, owner of King’s Arsenal. He was just the guy we needed. Jordan has this combination of over the top vision needed for the project and the crazy skills to actually pull it off.

It’s funny how things work sometimes. Little did either of us realize when we met that a precision rifle capable of taking down hogs – or most anything else – at well beyond a thousand yards was in the cards. SHWAT™ was at the first ever Silencers Are Legal Shoot in Dallas. Silencerco created the event, and King’s Arsenal showed up with all their goodies. Walking past table after table of mostly really cool kit, I had to stop suddenly. I involuntarily exclaimed, “Look at THIS!”

Fellow SHWAT™ founder Stephen Owen and I were looking at the result of Jordan King’s imagination. He’d built a 300 Blackout AR pistol unlike any I’d seen! To top it off he hung a matching Silencerco Osprey suppressor on the end. Not exactly anything pointing to a long range hunting or competition gun, but my snapshot of it somehow went viral across social media. To date, I’d dismissed AR pistols as a novelty, but King’s was a thing of beauty, and extremely well made. King was a guy I wanted to stay in touch with!

The next thing you know, I get a call from him. “How’d you like to see our new .50 BMG XKaliber rifle?” Uh…. YEAH! . You can read my full review with video, it was impressive to say the least. Smooth, accurate, and the recoil was far more manageable than other .50 BMG guns I’d shot. Sitting in a visually stunning Cadex Defense chassis, the King’s Arsenal action was impressive to look at and even better to shoot. Imagination and expertise. The table was set.

Contemplating the folding buttstock on the chassis, I ventured, “So… any chance we could drop a Remington 700 into that?” Jordan cracked a wry smile, “You bet we can.”

I soon got word that that Todd Hodnett at Accuracy 1st had run King’s .50 caliber build and had run it well. That settled it, I had to have one, and had to have it built it built from grandpa’s old big box store Remington. It just seemed like something you would see on a gun building TV show. Hey, Discovery Channel, are you paying attention here?

I visited with King about possibilities and variables. While making the rounds in Vegas at the 2013 SHOT show Glenn Williams at Cadex Defense and Tod Litt at Nightforce Optics got wind of the project and were stoked. Both wanted in on the action. We knew we were on to something awesome, and so the project began.

The vision of giving new life to the sadly neglected .30-06 Remington 700 as a rebuilt .300 Win Mag tactical precision rifle was mine, but the results are without a doubt, a King’s Arsenal weapon. So what does that entail?

It starts with picking the right parts. The Remington 700 receiver from grandpa’s gun was the foundation. King’s Arsenal trued and blued the action to maximize its potential accuracy. They matched a single piece bolt created for this gun by Pacific Tool and Gauge. Using a match reamer, King’s Arsenal chambered the Proof Research .30 caliber barrel blank to .300 Winchester Magnum. Yes, we could have stayed with the original .30-06, but seriously, how much more fun is it to say “300 Win Mag” when hitting the line for a precision rifle class? The tenon was threaded to perfectly match the barrel to receiver. The barrel was threaded to accommodate the SWR Specwar 762’s Trifecta silencer mount/flash hider. King replaced the stock trigger with a Timney set to a super crisp 2.5 pounds.

Getting all that right matters a lot to me and to King’s customers across America’s time zones and zip codes. The customer I found to talk to was a long time precision rifle shooter and owner. He maintained that King’s rifles are “more accurate than advertised.” And they are advertised as being pretty darn accurate.

Using the highest quality parts, his XKaliber bolt action guns are guaranteed to shoot 1/2 MOA. Those bolt action builds can be had in virtually any caliber from .22 to .50 BMG. Using his own CNC billet uppers and lowers, his custom AR-15 builds known as “Krown 15” get a 1 MOA guarantee. His custom 1911 work includes the option of a titanium frame! Essentially, if you can dream up a custom build, he’ll join your dream and make it a reality.

Quality matters to National Sniper Champion Todd Hodnett as well. Given his prowess in long range precision shooting and his familiarity with King’s rifles, I contacted him to get his impressions of King’s long range guns. “I am very impressed with what I see coming out of King’s Arsenal. I have shot several of their guns and all have been exceptional. Nice guys, good character and always looking to better themselves and their business. My kind of people.” Indeed.

So here’s the deal. Before I knew Jordan King, I had a simple formula for bolt gun assessment: Bolt action = boring. So here’s to eating crow…I have to tell you, I love shooting this gun. When the firing pin drops, the feel, the sound, the pause waiting for bullet impact at range, it all comes together putting a giant grin on my face.

After simply swapping out the stock trigger and scope (something most readers could do) I went prone off the Harris bipod and killed a couple of wild hogs with some DRT .30-06 ammo. That was cool then, but I can’t wait to go hunting with it now, and hunting at long range! Picture this custom build in front of some big dead pigs… To prepare, I’m heading to Tac Pro Shooting Center next month for my precision rifle class. I wonder if Bill Davison has any hog targets, live or otherwise, out there…