Building a Howa barreled action up, is the juice worth the squeeze

[noonesshowmonkey]

Sirs,

Been budgeting and planning a long range precision rifle build for a while now, and have plans to finish the project by year's end. Brownells just put a .308 barreled Howa action up for a pretty decent price, and it got me to thinking.

Typically, I look at two particular states for a firearm project: stock configuration, and end-state. End-state being after all of the tinkering and crying is done, and the goodies are locktited down, and you have a bin of extra parts from figuring out what doesn't work. The goal is to either buy in at the stock configuration that requires the least amount of work (in this case, a Tikka T3 base rifle, largely left untouched but for a set of scope rings and an optic), or to try and determine what the end-state gadget is going to look like (a Remington 700 on a magpul hunter stock with a trigger and a trued action and all of the other nonsense that folks dump money into).

The particular end-state in question is a chassis built rifle, utilizing the Howa barreled action. There seem to be some really good advantages to doing this. Modularity on the fore-end, AICS magazine usage, adjustable length of pull and comb height, and purported increases in accuracy from a properly bedded rifle.

My goal is to get a platform to shoot from 400-800m, and beyond if possible, accurately and with good repeatability, without having to take out a second mortgage. The rifle itself, starting with a Tikka, is going to cost me $600-1200, so $1200 describes the upper limits of my budget and the outer reaches of my sanity.

The chassis would ideally allow for adjustable LoP, comb height, use AICS mags, easily mount a bipod, and be light / practical / not look like a space gun.

What chassis should a fella be looking at, were a fella into spending gobs of money on such a toy? There appears to be quite a range available, and most of them look like either over-built, over-gadgetted competition sleds or things that might burn my fingers if I don't have an appropriately tactical beard, a brace of ears from my slain foes that I wear about my neck, expensive salomon boots, and several grand invested in arm tats.

I am a true novice at this, so a basic headcheck is in order. Is the juice worth the squeeze, and if so, where should I start.

Thanks, fellas.