First build questions?

flandersander

flandersander

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Saskatoon, sk
Hi everybody. I'm looking for a little input on how to get into precision shooting. My basic goal is to get a good (1/2 to 3/4 ish Moa) rifle for at or under $1000. Here are the options I've narrowed it down to.

1) buy a new savage 10pc or 700 sps tac in 308 and shoot the heck out of it. I'm leaning towards the savage because I would like to eventually re barrel in 260 rem. for the 308 looking around 750 ish. Depends when it's on sale etc.

2) buy a used stevens 200 and rebarrel with a krieger or shilen. There's a used one in 243 on here for $375 shipped. Plus a shilen or krieger looking at around 700 ish. Still original stock but a top quality barrel for similar price.

3) I have a Parker hale safari in 308. It's based on a mauser action. If I rebarreled this, where would that put me? I know it's easy to change the barrel on a savage, but I'm unsure about mauser actions. This one also already has an adjustable trigger I quite like. I am aware the mauser has limitations with an extended lock time.

So all things considered, what would you do in my shoes? Buy a factory "heavy" barrelled gun, buy the stevens, or accurizing what I got?

Thanks for any insight you might have.

Flands
 
I'm getting my feet wet in this part of shooting and while it might not be a tack driver, I ended up going the Remy 700 SPS Tac AAC-SD 308. I figure there are sooo many after market parts, once I become a bit more proficient and consistent shooter, I can start upgrading parts.
 
There are three or four ways to go - some depends upon your shooting experience and some depends upon your wallet. Here are my thoughts:

If you want half to three quarter MOA and will be happy with that and don't want to do any more upgrades ( ie take out of box, mount a scope, load with match grade ammo and shoot ) then you will likely find all you want with the Remington R5. About $1200 or so bucks before glass.

If you want to go a different route then, like you say, get a 700 and learn to shoot then later on get a smith to install a barrel and good stock, trigger etc. Cost will be a bit more and you may end up with a 1/2 MOA or better rifle down the road

If you really, really know what you want then go custom from the get go but I caution on this as many folks simply don't really know what they want. Do you want a tactical (sniper) style rifle ? Do you want something more F-Class like ? Kinda sucks to spend $4k or more on a rifle only to wish you had spent more time figuring out what kind of shooting you really wish to do as that will greatly impact calibre selection and everything else.

I know you are looking for advice but, to be meaningful, we would really need more info about what you, the user, want to do with this rifle.
 
well
I have built my rifle myself and it have cost more than 1k
used rem700 action 400$
barrel blank 375$ B7
trigger (riflebasix erv3) 150$
HS precision stock 225$ used 700p take 0ff

if you pay someone to do the job you will have to add quite a bit

dont forget you still have to spend at least another K to put glass onto it
 
It will be a fairly all around rifle. I live in sask, so long ranges are easy to find. Calm days are not. I will be shooting all things. Paper, deer, rocks. Anything I think I can hit. I would like to take a mule deer at 600 yards.

I really like the look and feel of a chassis system style stock.

I will also be hand loading.

Basically I'm looking at an entry level precision rifle. That does anything from deer to paper to gofurs to clay pigeons (on the ground, not thrown in the air silly) for at or under a grand.

I will not be doing competitions with this rifle, just setting up targets at distance and shooting at them. Then when hunting season rolls around I will be hunting with it.

I don't want to go full custom. I don't have the shooting ability to justify spending that kind of coin on something that shoots only slightly better than a 1000 dollar gun. I'm not a good enough shooter to wring out that last 1/4 Moa. It would be wasted on me.

I feel I have it narrowed to my 3 best choices. I like the 20 inch barrels on the two guns in #1 option, that's why I chose those.

Edit: just re read my post and realized it sounds like I'm ignorant of suggestions, but I'm really not. I appreciate all advice given.
 
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see my articles on my website in the Tech section. Should give you more ideas on how to get started.

Personally, if accuracy is the end goal, you may as well put the resources in that direction.

Barrels with properly loaded ammo is critical. Factory barrels vary so much in performance. May as well start with something you know will shoot.

Triggers. There are some factory triggers that are decent. Most are so so and then you pay twice to upgrade. I would just start with a great trigger as that is so important to consistent accuracy.

Stocks. If the rifle doesn't fit, forget about consistency. Maybe you get lucky and a factory stock fits. Better climb behind some rifles and see what might work. Like a pair of poor fitting shoes, you will not be comfy - recoil is worst, consistency is lacking, you will tire fast.

Do you need to spend more then some factory rifles to meet all of these requirements? No...

Let me know..

Jerry
 
So what exactly are you saying Jerry? That I would be best off starting with an action. Then getting a barrel that shoots, a stock that fits me and a good trigger (jewel, Timney etc)
All for the same as or just slightly more than a good factory rifle.

I like this route. Trouble is finding just an action to start with. I'm a fan of the savage system. So I suppose I could pick up a stevens 200 and sell the factory barrel, stock and trigger to recoup some costs. Then I have just an action, for quite cheap.

Looking online, it appears buying just an action is just as expensive as buying the whole gun. Kinda makes that an easy decision.
 
Well, I took my fore mentioned parker hale 308 out for a little shooting. It was windy as heck. Gusts between 5 and 20 mph. Not exactly ideal shooting conditions. I still managed a 3 shot group just under an inch. Not bad for a stock rifle with a sporter weight barrel and an action salvaged from WWII. So I think what I'll do now is pickup a stevens 200 short action and build a nice accurate coyote gun in 223. Ballistically similar to 308.

Is 1 or 0.75 Moa accuracy "good enough" to shoot deer sized game at a max of 800 yards? I mean, theoretically, if I was a perfect shot and judged the wind perfectly, I could hit an 8 inch circle 10 out of 10 times. A deers vital area is bigger than that. I'm not exactly sure, what do you think?

This is with fed gmm 168 grain factory ammo. I could hand load to a frequency node and almost guarantee better accuracy.
 
Sounds like its shooting well. Was that your best group, or your worst group? I hate to sound like a pessimist, but I judge my potential for a miss, based on the worst grouping, as that gives you a realistic idea of how bad things could get.
 
I only shot one group. It was crappy conditions and didn't feel like shooting anymore 308 shells. That's about average from what the previous owner has told me. He figured it was about a 1 to sub Moa gun. I haven't really shot it enough to know for sure.

I agree with that. Especially on a game animal. I don't think that's pessimistic at all.
 
You are headed in the right direction. A Savage action with a good barrel in a decent stock is a great way to start. Contact Sean at North Shore Barrels, he has done a lot of projects just like this and makes a great rifle. My first rifle from Sean was very similar to what you are looking for and totally done was right around 1200...Savage action, Shilen barrel, Bell and Carlson stock chambered in 260 rem, shot great too. Good luck!
 
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