Advice Needed

[jamieharrower24]

Ok Ive been a shotgun guy for a while and I want to get into long range shooting now I think. I need input from you experienced guys on with all the different models, cal. and platforms out there what would be the best to start with and be able to invest money into further down the road. Just for a starting platform would $1000 do it to get the rifle. Ive been thinking .300 mag but you guys probly know best.

TARGETS

 

[Obtunded]

Long range..... hunting? targets?

That makes a huge difference because target rifles make poor hunting rifles and vice versa. Likewise a 300WM is a punishing round to shoot prone or off a bench.

Secondly, the most important part of your long range investment will be optics... count on spending upwards of $500 (more like $1500) for a scope that will cover long distance properly.

Thirdly, choose a calibre you can afford to shoot. 300WM ammo is about $3-4 per round! Honestly, I'd suggest a 223 or even a 308 for its availability of cheap ammo and match ammo (not cheap-match ammo)

As for the gun, you are goping to have a flood of "Buy a Savage" and "Buy a Remngton" posts. I'm not even going to go there. There are enough similar posts up already that you can have everyone's opinion on a $1000 gun.

Have fun!

Ian

 

[bingo1010]

all i can say on the matter, is when you deciede to rebarrel whatever you get go to ian, i am waiting on my barrel as we speak but thus far the service and communication has been very good, not to mention the price.

 

[XXXXX]

.300 Winchester Magnum is actually about $1.25 a round, BTW.

Just in case that's a deciding factor...

 

[Number Six]

I was in the same spot as you where about year ago, except that it was my first rifle i was buying, best thing you can do is go in to your local shops and handle the actual fire arm you are interested in, i bough a remington 700 vssf and i like it alot, however a friend of mine boughta savage 10fp left hander and i've shot it, out of the box it shot great groups and was generally a good gun, i was not so keen on its plastic stock. My remington was second hand, and already had the barrel broken in, it shoots better than i can so ive got some practice to do yet but i like it, it's all about personal opinion, go fondle some rifles see what ya like.

 

[SignGuy]

i am currently shooting a .300WM for targets going out t o500yds *havent got any where to really stretch it*
while i do prefer savages over remingtons there are many aftermarket stuff available for remingtons more so then savages * thats just cause savage doesnt need so many mods to be an acurate gun *

my current rifle is a build i started with a stevens 200 in .300wm which got a custom pacnor 28" super heavy barrel and a choate ultimate sniper stock. the beautifull things about the savages you can tweeak them yourself and if you need to swap the bbl you can do so without a lathe LOL. as for caliber well i would stick with .223 or .308 for cheap ammo and availability at least until you get comfortable with it then move up to the harder hitting .300wm.

i frequently shoot upwards of 60rounds + a sitting from the prone position and am quite comfortable doing so but ymmv

 

[maynard]

If you are just starting in the long range game I can't think of a better caliber than .223. Cheap to load for and almost no recoil. There a plenty of other things to think about while learning to shoot long range, recoil should not be one of them. That being said, choose a rifle with a fast twist barrel to allow you to use heavy bullets for reaching out there. Savage rifles come with a 1:9 twist that will shoot 75 gr bullets, Tikka's come with a 1:8 that will work with 80 gr bullets.

 

[jamieharrower24]

After poking around and searching here and advice given I think im going to start with either a .223 or .308 Stevens 200 to start into long range target. Correct me if im wrong is the cheaper stevens model using the same parts as the savage or.....

 

[Skullboy]

IMHO, if you are just starting out, don't go any bigger then .308Win...............223 Rem. would be a good way to start.........cheap to shoot, easy to reload, no recoil.........

The .308 is a good intermediate caliber to hone your skills on.....................The bigger Magnums have a lot more recoil and burn more powder making them more punishing and expensive to feed...........When I had my .300 WinMag PSS, I was using 75.0 grs of H-4831 and was loading 93 rounds per 1 pound of powder...............With my .308 Win, at 44.5grs of Varget, I can load 157 rounds...............With the .223 Rem using 26.0 grs of H-BLC2, you can load 269 rounds per pound..................

.300 Winchester Magnum is actually about $1.25 a round, BTW.

Just in case that's a deciding factor...

I worked it out to be roughly $1.60 per handloaded round using match bullets, match cases,and match primers, plus your powder.................that is just for components and doesn't factor in reloading equipment............

SKBY.