Full package for under $1000-1500?

MoMoney

MoMoney

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Hey folks,

I'm new to any kind of actual long range shooting, and I'm looking to get into it. I don't want to get lost and spend thousands and thousands on my first gun (which has happened w/ pretty much everything else I've bought) so I'm hoping to just find a half decent package for (if it's even possible) under $1000. Will spend closer to 1500 if it's worth it.

I've seen these Howa Gameking packages for $710 or so with a cheap scope. In 308 Win. Was leaning more towards a 6.5 Creedmoor though, and I've seen the Howa APC package at Bullseye in 6.5 Creedmoor for $1500 with a bipod and some OK glass.

I have no idea what I'm doing, and no idea where to look.. and no idea what to expect in my price range.

ANY help is appreciated. If anyone knows of any current sweet deals going on anywhere.. let me know.

Black Friday might just be my best bet for this!
 
Contact Ken Thiesson from BullseyeLondon, he would be a good person to talk to if you are getting into Long Range Shooting.


MoMoney said:
Hey folks,

I'm new to any kind of actual long range shooting, and I'm looking to get into it. I don't want to get lost and spend thousands and thousands on my first gun (which has happened w/ pretty much everything else I've bought) so I'm hoping to just find a half decent package for (if it's even possible) under $1000. Will spend closer to 1500 if it's worth it.

I've seen these Howa Gameking packages for $710 or so with a cheap scope. In 308 Win. Was leaning more towards a 6.5 Creedmoor though, and I've seen the Howa APC package at Bullseye in 6.5 Creedmoor for $1500 with a bipod and some OK glass.

I have no idea what I'm doing, and no idea where to look.. and no idea what to expect in my price range.

ANY help is appreciated. If anyone knows of any current sweet deals going on anywhere.. let me know.

Black Friday might just be my best bet for this!
Click to expand...
 
I may give that a try. I know they have a package for sale for $1800 or so that Ken put together himself. A little north of my budget, but I wonder if I can convince them to put something together within my budget too.
 
Be careful not to get caught up in the impossible goal of getting good gear cheap.
There is a certain minimum that you WILL need to spend to get anything worth having and if you spend less than that you will find long range shooting to be a frustration.

Spend enough that you are confident you can use it long term rather than realize you cheaped out and need to build something new from the ground up later.

Generally you want to look at brands like Tikka... maybe a varmint rifle.... you can later upgrade the stock if you want. Savage is good too as long as the receiver is not cleared across the top of the ejection port.

Caliber choice is generally less of a problem as most modern calibers can do very well with heavy bullets. , but you should select a popular caliber.... 308 Win and 6.5 Creed have an excellent following.

So heavy bullets for the caliber is the key to rifle selection... as you need a barrel twist rate that can stabilize the heavy bullet.

A 308 is more flexible than most as a slow twist rate (like 1:12") can be effective with the bullet weights you are likely to use. As you get down to 6.5 you need a faster twist rate like 1:8.5 and if you consider a 223 you would want a 1:7.

So my advice is to be certain the barrel twist rate is fast enough for the heavy bullets you will be using.

Again... heavy is a relative term as it applies to each caliber... 80 grains is heavy for a 223, 135+ is heavy for a 6.5, 200+ is heavy for a 308
 
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You’re working with a REAL tight budget there for what you want to do.... pretty well any of the manufacturers are putting out decent ‘varmint’ models which are often the same as anything that carries a ‘tactical’ designation, so expand your search that way including the hunting rifles EE. I would look for a good used 10X scope to get started such as the Bushnell, and EGW scope mounting hardware is good value.
If you go maximum cheap on everything, you won’t be long before starting to upgrade so try and prioritize within your budget either a better rifle or better optics/mounting as a starting point.
 
Consider the EE and look for older Savage tactical rifles and varmint rifles. There are several with HS or McMillan stocks if you prefer that style. There are the Savage F class options as well which have a single shot action and decent light trigger.

As long as the barrels are not shot out, bed them properly, load up some quality bullets and enjoy. Most of these are sub MOA capable (1/2 moa being quite typical). There are a bunch in the sub $1k range.

The quality of the factory barrel is likely the biggest hurdle to LR success. I can offer a range of options in prefits for a number of actions that will resolve this with moderate costs. Personally, I would start with a good donor and add a quality prefit... now I know the rig can shoot and not waste a ton of money and range trips trying to sort out a fussy factory pipe.

For optics, tracking is going to be a big hurdle in the entry level optics. Pricing doesn't have to be huge and I have run a few options in the $700/800 range that work great through their entire travel. If I can help with the optics and other bits, please send me a pm or email.

Although older articles, there are many articles on my website for inexpensive ways to get into the LR game. If the links don't work, just pm or email and I can send you the updated links. See my facebook page for alot of customer builds.

For the rifle, your budget is very workable to get a great shooting sub 1/2 MOA rifle that can reach out.

Thanks

Jerry
 
MoMoney said:
Hey folks,

I'm new to any kind of actual long range shooting, and I'm looking to get into it. I don't want to get lost and spend thousands and thousands on my first gun (which has happened w/ pretty much everything else I've bought) so I'm hoping to just find a half decent package for (if it's even possible) under $1000. Will spend closer to 1500 if it's worth it.

I've seen these Howa Gameking packages for $710 or so with a cheap scope. In 308 Win. Was leaning more towards a 6.5 Creedmoor though, and I've seen the Howa APC package at Bullseye in 6.5 Creedmoor for $1500 with a bipod and some OK glass.

I have no idea what I'm doing, and no idea where to look.. and no idea what to expect in my price range.
elp is appreciated. If anyone knows of any current sweet deals going on anywhere.. let me know.

Black Friday might just be my best bet for this!
Click to expand...

If I was to buy a new factory rifle, I would go with this. https://www.savagearms.com/firearms/centerfire/varmint-series/12-varmint-low-profile
You will need to buy a used 20-30 moa scope rail I just sold one for $90. A decent used scope may be $200. Bi pod or front rest $100.
The other issue is reloading. You need match grade ammo. If you go with .223 cal. you can buy budget match factory ammo.
If you are up to reloading, I would consider .243 . If you don't know how to reload, you should learn. Save you money.
 
Savage® Arms 12 FV Bolt-Action Varmint Rifle
on sale at Cabela's for $449.00 can get either 6.5 Creedmoor or 308 Winchester
it will get you going on a budget
 
Plus the Savage rifles are getting even bigger aftermarkets as time goes by. In theory with a Savage if you are comfortable with hand tools you can rebarrel a rifle yourself with a minimum investment in tooling. I've been really consdering building an Axis as a starter project for my first re-barrel attempt. A go/no gauges can be bought for a reasonable price! Plus with International barrels offering pre-fits and Im sure Jerry has other options the limits are really limitless with the Savage Platform.
 
Prefit match barrels that use Barrel nuts for headspace are possible for Savage, Rem 700, Rem 783, Howa/Wby Vanguards, Marlins.... Ruger precision rifle. Tikka T3s have some options as well.

Other "prefits" that need limited gunsmith intervention are possible for Win, Ruger mk77, SAKO, Wby, Browning and others.

A huge range of chambers... old/new/wildcats/match... as are pretty much every desired twist rates and rifling styles.

Exterior shapes (octagonal, half round/half octagonal, Dodecagon - 10 sided) are possible. Fluting is possible. You can even go octagonal with 8 flutes... this looks so cool.

Exterior finishes....muzzle threads, etc, etc, etc.

Lots of options.

Jerry
 
windborne11 said:
If I was to buy a new factory rifle, I would go with this. https://www.savagearms.com/firearms/centerfire/varmint-series/12-varmint-low-profile
You will need to buy a used 20-30 moa scope rail I just sold one for $90. A decent used scope may be $200. Bi pod or front rest $100.
The other issue is reloading. You need match grade ammo. If you go with .223 cal. you can buy budget match factory ammo.
If you are up to reloading, I would consider .243 . If you don't know how to reload, you should learn. Save you money.
Click to expand...

Had this in 308, was a great gun
 
I'd suggest looking at the Savage 10T-SR from Cabelas. It weighs close to 10 lbs as a bare rifle, plus scope, bipod, etc. That gives you the Accustock and mid-weight Accutrigger (down to ~ 1.5 lbs). I added a couple lbs of lead shot to the butt stock to balance better and soak up even more recoil. It comes with an EGW 0-MOA Picatinny rail so you may not immediately need bases depending on scope choice and how far you want to shoot.
It's available in both calibers you mentioned, I went the 6.5 route. Although the 6.5 is gaining acceptance every day, there are still some matches that require either .308 or .223 to enter.
The 6.5 CM out of a 12 lb rifle is an absolute pussycat to shoot, and coming from a guy that dislikes recoil that's saying something. The .308 will kick a bit harder on average, but not excessive.
It's certainly not a custom-build F-class rifle, and doesn't pretend to be. It'll give you 1MOA accuracy or better in my experience, and for the price that's not bad. They go on sale fairly regularly for~$700. Edit: They are on sale right now for $649.00, they don't get any cheaper than that.

The scope is going to be a bit more painful IMO. Expect to pay $700-800+ (new) for a decent scope. I believe going cheap on optics is a poor choice. I'm using a VX-2 6-18x40 Leupold with AO, sadly they're discontinued now though they do show up on the EE from time to time. A fairly fine reticle is what you're looking for. An MOA reticle is a bonus, it allows you to get a better idea where you are if you need to hold off rather than adjust. I prefer a clean simple uncluttered reticle, others don't.
My experience with Leupold has been good. Korth is the Canadian service centre, located in Okotoks AB.
They didn't require proof of purchase for the one scope I sent to them for warranty repair. That tells me the product carries a lifetime warranty regardless of whether you're the original owner or the 5th. That is a question worth asking before you buy used if you have concerns.
You will need to expand your budget if you don't already reload, match grade ammo is expensive and may not be available easily.
 
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If you are shooting from 100-500 yards or meters then I would shoot .223 Rem as it is much cheaper to shoot. Past that I would suggest .308 as the components for reloading are easy to get and there is so much load data available for it. I also wanted to keep it under $1500 for a ready to go rifle.

For .308 I bought a Savage 10TR for under $700 (incl tax) brand new and put a Vortex Viper 6-24 ($800 on sale) on it. $1500. total. You can get for less used on the EE.
For .223 I bought a used Weatherby Vanguard 2 ($450) and a Vortex Viper 6-24 (identical to the one on my .308) used for $700. $1150. total.
*Both shoot sub MOA with the loads I developed (100-300 with the .223 and 100-600 with the .308). I bedded the actions myself (lots of YouTube videos on how to).

The costs after that are where it tends to run away. Factory match ammunition is expensive, especially .308. A basic reloading set up will cost you $300. plus, and the cost of the components.
It is the most expensive discipline of shooting I have done or currently do (and that's pretty much everything except antique, black powder and cowboy shooting). There are a lot of variables in getting a rifle to shoot consistently at distance, most of which will cost money to sort out (case prep equipment, chronograph, bipods and/or shooting bags, bubble levels, muzzle brake, different rail from factory zero MOA rail, gauges and other measuring devices....I could go on). The further the distance, the more those variable become apparent. I am not a distance shooting expert by any means, but have been through the start up experience. There is a lot of on-line and print information out there.
 
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