[atek3]

So 3 years ago I bought a Tikka M595 that had been set up to shoot highpower. 26" tru-flight barrel 1-8 twist chambered for 223. fully adjustable cheekpiece and buttplate, cut outs in the stock to speed mag changes, RPA front sight, PNW rear sight, gehmann adjustable front and rear. I bet some of you are asking why I went with a turnbolt instead of a spacegun... I live in california right now.

My question is what to do now? I haven't shot a highpower match in over a year. The gunsmith that made it has offered me a fair price to buy it back. This fall I'd like to focus on two areas of shooting, 3gun (for which I'll need an AR15 set up for "tactical" class) and precision/field/sniper (for which I'd like something like a Tubb 2000 or rem700/AICS). For these games my Tikka isn't that useful.

I have a B&L 4200 Elite scope for it, and the two combined would make a Sweet varminting rig, but I've never done that before and I have no idea how to get into varminting.

Here's it's picture:
http://i2.tinypic.com/qrdsok.jpg

This fall I'm going to grad school during which I'll be earning no money. Between now and then I plan to clear 14k after taxes, rent, food, gas, and other basic living expenses. If I sell the Tikka that will give me a slightly larger budget to buy an AR, precision rifle, and car (I currently only have motorcycles).

Thanks,
atek3

[Danus ex]

Keep it. Why is it that you'll be making no money in graduate school? What field are you in? Are you going full-time?

[atek3]

I'm going to business school. Working part-time is highly discouraged.

atek3

[Danus ex]

Ah, ok. Professional schools (business, law, medicine) aren't anywhere near as appointment-friendly as the rest. You're not SOL, though, you can try to scare up something like a TA appointment in a department related to your undergraduate major. What's your bachelor's in?

[atek3]

hah, Chemistry ;)

atek3

[Telperion]

You haven't shot a match because you have no car, you bum. Since you may be moving out of state, if you were to get back into highpower at some later point, would you rather use a spacegun or the tikka? If the rifle isn't what you want for both the shooting you plan to do shortly and at some later time, selling could be a good option.

[Danus ex]

Perfect. If the school you're attending has a chemistry department, see if you can teach or TA a section of something there--it'll get you at least a partial tuition waiver (100% waiver if you teach it) and get you around $15/hr for 10 or 20 hrs of work per week. TAing a section is probably the best move, as it takes considerably less time.

Start making friends in chemistry :).

[atek3]

whether I shoot highpower depends on where I'm living. If I go to dartmouth, there won't be much precision shooting and so i might shoot HP by default. If I go to NC, I have more options.