Long rang shooter

rustynut1

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I have been getting ready to purchase a budget sniper rifle.

What I have settled on is a Remington 700 SPS Varmit in .308 with 26 inch bull bbl in left hand bolt. This is worth about $800 new price. Model 84229. I'm thinking of a Harris bipod, that I already own off another gun and maybe a Bushnell 10X40 scope. This setup is similar to the setup at snipercentral dot com I think. I may upgrade the scope somewhat but no $3000 scopes for this cat!

I haven't bought the gun yet but am price checking locally before I go out of province.

I'm sorta cheap, not going to be a serious shooter, just want to own something in this line of gun. I think the Remington 700 is a good starting point, I like the .308 as it is cheaper to shoot, I own all the gear already to handload, it doesn't damage the bbl, doesn't kick too bad and is old school.

If someone sees serious flaws in my thinking I'm all ears!
 
I have that same rifle. I found Federal factory 165 gr Sierra game kings shot very well along with 175 gr factory Fed SMK and 165 gr Trophy Accubonds.

I have the Harris 6-9 also and last time I checked my dope @ a lasered 383 yds/350m. I had 3 shots at a measured 1.407" with factory Federal 165 gr Game kings.

It is a bone stock out of the box left hand bolt with only the Harris bipod attached.

That is my experience prone, off bipod and with a popcorn filled sock as rear bag. I thought the results were great for a factory production rifle.
 
I also have that exact same rifle (in left hand even).. it's going to eventually become a more customized 6.5 of some sort.

I swapped out the POS remington trigger for a Timney and it's sitting in a McMillan A5 stock.. it actually shoots pretty decent with reloads (155 Amax). Barrel needed a few hundred rounds through it.
 
I would look into a different scope. Sky's the limit depending on budget. Now you say no $3000 scopes. So I would recommend sightron SIII 8-32X56, NF SHV or the new PST Gen II. Most of these will get you out to 1000 yds once you are comfortable to try. Don't under scope yourself as once 500 yds is accomplished you will only attempt to shoot farther. Also the 3 scopes mentioned have nice reticles in my opinion; and will run around $1500 new give or take. I would look for a used one here in the classifieds.
 
The rem 700 varmit is not bull barrel but is heavier,I have had 2 of them (204 & 243) both are great shooters.
As for a scope I like 100 MOA and you will need it if you want to get past 1000 yards,I would suggest you get a 20 moa rail or better also.
Can't go wrong with a sightron 3 for the money.
 
Well I bought a gun. There are so many choices and used the prices are all over the map. I bounced between Remington and Savage. I originally wanted a .308 and a long bull bbl. I found a used gun at a great price locally but I became concerned about the seller and that the gun maybe stolen. Lot of red flags so in the end I ran away from that deal.

Long story short I got a new Howa 1500 heavy barrel, 20 inch, in .308 calibre. This gun was in inventory before the USA exchange rate went through the roof so I got the gun for $611 on sale. It has a Hogue stock. I installed my new Nikon Coyote 3x9x40 scope for now. I'll break it in right and play around at 100-200 yards for the time being.

This dealer (non-supporting) has more of these guns at this price till end of Feb. I can PM the contact info if others are interested. They have black and green and some other calibers as well I think.
 
I don't know what your issue is? I have a gun that is similar to what the police use, tactical, maybe. I have three books here about snipers, two from WW2 and Chris Kyle's book called American Sniper, also a movie called the same. Way you're going on these books and movie need to be renamed, maybe American Puffy or some other political correct name. Frankly I don't care about your political correctness. I shoot paper targets, thats it.

At this point the gun has a normal scope on it so likely 400 yards would be about it, inside the scope without guessing/holdover. The salesman, who is a long range shooter suggested about 800 yards with the 20 inch bbl.
 
This could turn sideways quick, but the reason I never use the term "Sniper rifle" is because it gives the anti's too much ammunition to get mad at us. All we need is the anti's screaming that a Sniper rifle is capable of long distance killing for the government to try to ban them. To me, a "Sniper" is someone who shoots people in war scenarios. That's why you will rarely see Long range rifles, or Precision rifles called "sniper rifles" on a forum. Some of my friend's who don't shoot still call them sniper rifles and I just cringe every time.
 
I can understand a response like this. I'm not saying this is a bad idea, not using this phrase. When I first joined on here, maybe 8 years ago I used the term weapon for a handgun and had a similar exchange.

Now for the thought police deciding this word or that word is bad I push back. Buddies user name is Sharp Shooter, maybe Shooter is an offensive word, now on next week. He could look at changing that so as not to offend the thought police. Also our web site is gun### maybe the word gun is offensive to the thought police now or next week. Maybe we better change that too. Where does this end, is this a race to the bottom?
 
For a factory 700 setup I like the 5R milspec.
For me is it proven to 1006yrs with no modifications (Other then glass bedding and tuning to the trigger) and a good piece of glass.
 
The reality is that anything from the Kentucky rifle to the Remington 700 has been used by the military at one time or another in the sharpshooting/sniper role. However that does not make those models sniper rifles. Unless someone has a real ex USMC M40A1, British MOD marked L115A3 , or anything of that sort, it is just a rifle.

The media has called gunmen running around with AK47's "snipers" in the past and I have no doubt they could make the general public believe the long bow is a "sniper bow" given enough airtime. They have zero credibility and will spread propaganda regardless of anything we say.
 
The 10X Bushnell Tactical scope is a bargain, works well. The only thing is many have a mil-dot retical and moa turrets, find one that is mil-mil, makes it more difficult but not undoable in the field.

As you mentioned you like value for your dollars, suggest you look at a Tikka T3 varmint, this rifle with good hand loads should be a 0.5moa set up from the factory, a bench rest quality trigger can be had with a Yodave trigger spring for <$30 to your door. With the Tikka you will have an action that is arguably better/ or as good as a blueprinted Rem 700 , the varmint barrel is hand lapped at the factory and is on par with many aftermarket barrels. Burris Signiture Zee rings and a Talley rail will be another $200.

So for ~$1800 you will have a 1/2moa set up, no fuss no muss.

And, when you get tired of the 0.5moa accuracy the Tikka is capable of, you may want to bed the action , this will put you into the 4's.
 
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I have a Howa 20" Houge heavy barrel I load 175 SMK"s and it shoots MOA out to 600 yard, I scoped it with a Bushnell 5-15. I feel this gun deserves better glass Howas are very underrated and are superior to Remington's any day
 
The 10X Bushnell Tactical scope is a bargain, works well. The only thing is many have a mil-dot retical and moa turrets, find one that is mil-mil, makes it more difficult but not undoable in the field.

As you mentioned you like value for your dollars, suggest you look at a Tikka T3 varmint, this rifle with good hand loads should be a 0.5moa set up from the factory, a bench rest quality trigger can be had with a Yodave trigger spring for <$30 to your door. With the Tikka you will have an action that is arguably better than a blueprinted Rem 700 , the varmint barrel is hand lapped at the factory and is on par with many aftermarket barrels. Burris Signiture Zee rings and a Talley rail will be another $200.

So for ~$1800 you will have a 1/2moa set up, no fuss no muss.


And, when you get tired of the 0.5moa accuracy the Tikka is capable of, you may want to bed the action , this will put you into the 4's.

Really? Don't BS this guy. Tikkas are good guns but if guys were really shooting that well there would be pictures of it all over the internet.

The Bushy 10X is a good scope for about $200 - the price it was about 5 years ago - I think they are like $300 to $350 now. There are better value scopes out there IMO, they will cost more though.

The reality is that accuracy/precision costs money and a lot of time. Do not expect to buy a M700/Ruger RPR/Tikka etc. and be able to go out there and "shoot sub MOA all day long" that is garbage and people need a reality check.
 
Really? Don't BS this guy. Tikkas are good guns but if guys were really shooting that well there would be pictures of it all over the internet.

The Bushy 10X is a good scope for about $200 - the price it was about 5 years ago - I think they are like $300 to $350 now. There are better value scopes out there IMO, they will cost more though.

The reality is that accuracy/precision costs money and a lot of time. Do not expect to buy a M700/Ruger RPR/Tikka etc. and be able to go out there and "shoot sub MOA all day long" that is garbage and people need a reality check.

I beg to differ!

The stock Tikka Tactical in 300WM I have is a < 0.4 moa rifle at 1048 yards, that's a 4" 5 shot group, under ideal conditions.

Another is a rebarreled T3, #5 Benchmark in 6 Dasher, this rifle is in the 5's but a recent bedding job puts in the 4's.

Again , another is a rebarreled T3, #6 Benchmark in 6 Dasher, this rifle is braked, McMillan A3-5 stock, it needs work as the last time out only printed a 9" 5 shot groupmat 1048yds.

The last one is a Tikka Varmint in 223, it will put 10 inside an inch at 100m and slam an MOA chunk of steel at 500m all day long as long as you are 'on' the wind.

Impeccable handloads of BR quality surely helps as does bench technique and the ability to read the wind.

I have not had a Tikka , Sako or for that matter a Savage that would not put 5 in an inch at 100m.

Last year, and the year before that and the year before that, one competitor with a rebarreled Tikka in 6 Dasher never had a group larger than 1 moa, many groups in the 5" territory and one 3 shot group at 1.75", this at 1048 yards.

Accuracy and precision takes effort, time and education. The OP can be competitive, if that's what he's after , with a <$2k set up.

That is THE reality.
 
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