Well, I went out and bought my new rifle today. I got a pretty good deal on a new Ruger M77 Mk II Varmint/Target version in .22-250. The good news was that he had the gun on sale for $560, the bad news is that the reason he has his guns marked down is because he' s going out of business.[:@][:' (] He was the last decent " gun store" we had in my area. I really don' t like buying guns from the big chain stores like Scheels and Gander Mountain. His was a no frills real-deal gun store. He sells guns and gun related stuff and little else, and he knows what the heck he' s talking about. But his partner decided to get out and he can' t afford to buy his share himself and can' t find a new investor, so he' s got to close the store to pay his parter off. Really a shame. [:' (]

But anyway, my new rifle is a Ruger M77MkII. I' ve had my eye on this gun for awhile, but it was always more than the Savage target guns. With the sale it cost me about $30 less than the Savage 12BVSS and like all Rugers it comes with rings, so another $50-75 saved. I also decided to go ahead and get a top-line target scope. He had a Nikon Monarch 6.5-20X44 AO scope on sale too, so I had him put that on the gun and it' s ready to go to the range for breakin and zeroing. My next investment will be the reloading kit, but the extra cost of the scope will delay that purchase a little. Figured it was better to spend the money on really good glass, and the deal couldn' t be passed up.

So so I' m watching the second hand and waiting for the weekend so I can take it to the range!

Mike