The Damara comes standard with a soft rubber cushion buttpad and sling swivel studs.

An easy-to-operate, push-button bolt stop is located on the left rear side of the receiver, and there is a three-position safety lever on the right rear of the bolt shroud. The safety catch has three positions. The full-forward position is ready-to-fire; the middle position, with safety perpendicular to the bolt, locks the firing pin but the bolt may be opened (so an unfired cartridge can be unloaded while the safety remains on); the full-rear position locks both the firing pin and bolt.

The pre-heat-treated carbon-steel receiver body is 1.360 inches in diameter and machined with a solid rear bridge, round bottom, and a thick heavy-duty .300-inch collar-type front recoil lug. The walls of the front receiver ring are .185 inch thick with a .115-inch-diameter gas-relief hole drilled into the right side of the front receiver ring for the unlikely event of a ruptured cartridge case head. The standard Model 702 bolt head will take cases up to .460 Weatherby and .338 Lapua size, but Ed recommends a single-shot design for these huge cartridges as the magazine is not wide enough to ensure feeding.

Internal magazines are standard to the Model 702 action with front-hinged floorplate and release-button at the front of the machined steel trigger guard. Single-shot versions are available for long-action cartridges. The Model 702 trigger is attached to the lower rear of the action with two pins and is fully adjustable for weight of pull and overtravel.

Other standard features for all available Ed Brown rifle variations and models include match-quality, hand-lapped Shilen barrels, handpicked for the ultimate in accuracy. Each barrel is button rifled, hand lapped, air gauged, and optically inspected to ensure it falls into the "Select Match" category, which is .0003 of specs and uniform over the entire bore to within .0001. There is benchrest quality chambering, using Brown's own specially ground reamers, plus deep-countersunk barrel crowning for maximum accuracy and durability and socket-head action screws.

The Damara easily achieved MOA accuracy from the shooting bench and is the author's rifle of choice when he gets to choose what rifle to use for hunting big game.

The receiver is drilled and tapped to standard Remington Model 700 spacing, but the holes are threaded to a heavy-duty 8-40 dimension instead of Remington's smaller 6-48 dimension. Brown rifles come standard with Talley machined steel scope mounts already installed, using 8-40 scope mount screws. You can use any different brand of Model 700 mount bases on an Ed Brown rifle if you want, but you'll need to drill out their holes to the 8-40 diameter, and use the bigger screws.

Ed also strongly suggests that new owners allow him to supply and install the scope as well. He offers Swarovski and Nightforce scopes. All-weather McMillan fiberglass stocks are standard on all models, precision-bedded with aluminum pillars (custom wood stocks are available on special order). Standard length of pull is 13.75 inches with one-inch recoil pad. That's a little shorter than most factory rifles, which I like, because most all hunting conditions I ever encounter involve nonlightweight clothing that add too much length to the effective shouldering of the gun. Sling swivels are standard equipment.

Ed really believes what he was telling me about balance versus weight. He says, "We don't try to make a super lightweight rifle by compromising safety and accuracy, even though we are certainly capable of it. We feel you need a certain amount of weight, and particularly rigidity, to shoot a rifle accurately, and you need balance most of all. All our hunting rifles vary slightly in weight depending on barrel contour and caliber.

The Damara is our lightest weight rifle because it has a shorter barrel and action and lightweight graphite stock. It does not have a butchered action, which reduces rigidity. It is also quite a bit more compact, and thus handles much easier than a larger rifle. A lighter weight gun increases recoil and shorter barrels increase muzzle blast slightly. Make your choices accordingly, and remember that balance is more important than weight, and accuracy is more important than velocity."

Okay, Ed, I hear you. I'm thinking really seriously of having you make up another Damara in .325 WSM for an elk rifle for me. With a 20-inch No. 3 noncompensated barrel, of course!