I'm currently in the market for a tactical rifle, and being a former Marine armorer, I'm looking for something in the M40A1/A3 style.  

I've seen G.A. Precision's Rock, AWC's Leatherneck, and TBA's M40A1/A3 rifles. Has anyone bought one of these rifles, or done business with these companies?  Right now I'm leaning towards the Rock with a 24" barrel and the McMillan A4 stock.  I'm going to go with either a Leupold MK4 or a US Optics ST10 scope.

Any thoughts are greatly appreciated.

USMC,
  Go with the ROCK.   A few guys down here in TX show up at the Tactical shoots with them and those rifles.....well, ROCK!

You can find more info at Snipercountry.com
I believe that there are reviews posted and if you ask on the "duty roster" the guys will be more than happy to help you out.

George Gardner of GA Precision is a good guy. Very knowledgable and very easy to work with.  He has always taken the time to answer my questions peronally and he has great insight since he is a shooter so he's been in your boots. He also has his work done in house and you aren't waiting 2+ years  for your stick like at some other famous but Sloooooooow "local" gunsmiths.   Give him a call and you won't regret it.

If you are interested at all in the finest top drawer Marine Built rifles in existence, you will buy an Iron Brigade Armory rifle. TBA uses some sort of peanut butter for bedding... and customer service is umm interesting lets say. Call up Ret. Col. Norm Chandler USMC and prepare for an education.

His rifle techniques are not secret, but he sets the pace for all the new innovations for solidity and rock hard Marine Proof precision tactical rifles. How do I know? I own them, shoot them, and train with IBA at Blackwater. I have seen how they perform shot after shot at the 1000 yd range. You cant break a Chandler rifle, and they use REAL Marine Corps RTE 2112 armourers to build the rifles. Attention to detail is second to none.

The Col. would be happy to hear from a former Marine..... call him, you wont be disappointed.

Everything takes a back seat to IBA rifles IMHO.

You pay for it, and you will wait.... but you wont be unhappy.... no sir.

Dram

email me if you have questions:

[email protected]

www.ironbrigadearmory.com/home.html

The Chandler Brothers website.

Hey man,
I own neither, but my vote goes for Gardner.  Check out the reviews on snipercountry.com and check in the duty roster there.  You won't find a bad word about him.  Chandlers are great, but it seems like you're paying a lot for the name (don't get me wrong, if I had the money I'd buy one).  Check out George's sight at www.gaprecision.net/indexr.html and read what all the guys at SC have to say about him.  I wouldn't doubt any of their opinions, as there are an awful lot of BTDT's there.  His partner is also a former 2112.
Keep us posted man,
Trumpet

Im not very hip on bolt guns, but Ed Brown the famous pistol smith has added a very nice addition to his bolt gun lineup deemed the "Marine Sniper". Looks like a pretty squared away rig.

It's late and im lazy so you'll have to copy and paste this link.

http://www.edbrown.com/cgi-bin/htmlos.cgi/004049.1.966265029820080647

Semper-Fi Do or Die, 03 out!!  

Thanks to everyone for their input so far.  GA Precision's Rock or an M40A3 clone is looking like the way I'm going to go.  In a world of unlimited funding I'd like an IBA rifle, but fiscal reality (damn student loans)dictates something less pricey.  GA Precision seems to have a good reputation, and I don't want to wait a year for a rifle.

Another question, anyone have a Remington 700 with misaligned scope base holes?  My 700PSS puts my Leupold Var.III tactical almost to the limit on windage just to sight it in.  Three different bases and rings, same problem.  I finally used a Dremel to elongated the rear hole in the base, now it's dead center.

If money is an issue and you want to avoid the long wait for custom-built,why don't you just re-barrel your PSS action,tune the trigger,and buy a McMillan stock of your choice for it.If you have a PSS and Leupold already,you're way ahead of the game as far as a (VERY) good base to build off of.I'm sure you could sell the stock and barrel off your PSS.Are you not happy with the groups you're getting with your PSS to want something else in a bolt action?Unless you got a PSS that really slipped through Remington's QC (send it back if you did)....I'd try handloading different loads to see what it's capable of before I dropped $2000-$5000 bones on a new custom-built boltgun.Although Chandler and these other guys build beautiful rifles (I have Chandler's one-piece scope mount on my PSS/Leupold M1 in 7mmMag),other than the "oohs and ahhs" you'll get at the range,I don't think the accuracy will increase THAT much to validate what you'll end up $pending on $omething new.

USMC2111,

      I've done a lot of looking around and in my honest opinin Iron Brigade Armory have the best built M40 series of rifles currently avalible on the market.  It's a Marine's rifle made by a Marine.

      Give them a call some time and Norm and Norm Jr. will definately give you and education on the M40 series of rifles.  Just my .02



Semper Fi
Jeff