New and have no idea what to buy

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PBNJ

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Hey guys I have searched as best as I can, maybe I am not choosing the correct words in the search bar. I have even checked snipershide and have really been looking into long range shooting for quite some time but to be honest with you....i have NO idea what to do!! I was contemplating a 308 700 police to get but my problem is that I do not want to buy my first rifle learn with it and then buy a better rifle down the road. I dont want to waste the money to be honest. I would rather buy a good rig now and learn off of it and go from there.

I now do not know what to get, I want a gun that I can work on some long range as my skills go up. I dont think I will go past a 1000, atleast not with a rifle with a 308 but thats what I want in caliber (so I can reload and actually afford to shoot).

Can anyone suggest anything? I saw the Mdt Tac21 but that is a complete new world that I have no idea about (if I have it do I just have to get the stock, grip, trigger, action and barrel? the f...) would that be a cheaper route for a higher quality rifle? is custom the way to go? I do not want to spend more than the 700P range to be honest because I know the scope will go for more than the rifle would. My other question is about what scope do I buy that I could use for something like this. I want to be able to do 200-300 yards but also be able to do long distance if I wanted. Same issue. Any advice will help, I am a city boy and have no idea how the rifle world works.

Thanks for the help.
 
I'm on my phone so this will be short and quick.

Any 700 will shoot better then you can. By the time your skill has surpassed that of the rifle the barrel will be shot out and it will be time to rebarrel any way. Going to custom route is great IF you know what you want and how every thing works. If you don't you will be spending a lot of money for no gain over what a factory rifle will do for you.

No rifle will shoot to its full potential with out hand loading and tuning to your specific rifle

As far as scopes - buy the absolute best you can!!! I can't stress this enough good scopes make a world of difference plus hold their value if you decide the long range game isn't for you.

If your close to vic shoot me a pm and I'd be happy to meet up with you and go over things in detail and help any way I can
 
1. What's your experience with guns in general?

2. The info is definitely out there, I know because I've been reading it for the past few years. The question your looking for the answer to is the most asked on any gun forum. The answer is never the same. At this point my advice is to absorb all the info you can, a year ago I didn't even know what a twist rate is, Im definitely no expert but I've come a long way and most of it is due to websites like this. FAQ threads are a great place to start.

3. Buying a basic rifle is not a waste of money, they hold their value quite well in the used market.
 
Thank you very much for the offer but I couldn't be a bother to someone like that. However, you did help me quite a bit and killed the idea of a custom rifle. Guess it will be the 700 police. My question with the scope was more specifically to the zoom rate of each one. I dont get the 6.5x20x50 etc etc. I have no idea what those measurements mean. And I will be reloading. I learned about that through my searching thats for sure.

ultimate_monkey said:
I'm on my phone so this will be short and quick.

Any 700 will shoot better then you can. By the time your skill has surpassed that of the rifle the barrel will be shot out and it will be time to rebarrel any way. Going to custom route is great IF you know what you want and how every thing works. If you don't you will be spending a lot of money for no gain over what a factory rifle will do for you.

No rifle will shoot to its full potential with out hand loading and tuning to your specific rifle

As far as scopes - buy the absolute best you can!!! I can't stress this enough good scopes make a world of difference plus hold their value if you decide the long range game isn't for you.

If your close to vic shoot me a pm and I'd be happy to meet up with you and go over things in detail and help any way I can
Click to expand...
 
If you are new, any $500 rifle with a GOOD scope will shoot better than you can. Shelling out a lot of money on a custom rig that may or may not fit your shooting style may turn you off. Rem 700, Savage, Weatherby Vanguard are all good places to start, spend as much or more on the scope and put the savings into actual range time and extra ammo. IF you manage to legitimately shoot out the barrel of one in .308 (for a properly broken-in barrel, expect 10,000 rounds or more with proper care), then rebarrel or sell and put it towards an upgrade. This is not 'a waste of money', I guarantee it will save you money in the long run.

For scopes, Leupold, Zeiss, Minox won't steer you wrong, on a budget the new Redfields (made by Leupold), Weaver Kaspar series and Bushnell Elite series (which can get up over $1000) are decent also. If the numbers on scope powers have you confused and since you are starting out but want to shoot long range, 4-12x40 or 4-12x50 is a good start. What the numbers mean is that the scope has a variable magnification range of 4x at the low end and 12x at the high end. The last number is the size of the objective lens on the scope in millimeters.

And don't turn down someone willing to provide personal instruction; that will also save you money and frustration.
 
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ultimate_monkey said:
I'm on my phone so this will be short and quick.

Any 700 will shoot better then you can. By the time your skill has surpassed that of the rifle the barrel will be shot out and it will be time to rebarrel any way. Going to custom route is great IF you know what you want and how every thing works. If you don't you will be spending a lot of money for no gain over what a factory rifle will do for you.

No rifle will shoot to its full potential with out hand loading and tuning to your specific rifle

As far as scopes - buy the absolute best you can!!! I can't stress this enough good scopes make a world of difference plus hold their value if you decide the long range game isn't for you.

If your close to vic shoot me a pm and I'd be happy to meet up with you and go over things in detail and help any way I can
Click to expand...

x2 Custom rifles are awesome after you burn stock barrel and deciding to upgrade to march grade. shoot lots with stock rifle and get used to having too much fun, after burning the barrel, than you could change the stock, barrel, trigger. specially with rem700 lines, your option is endless with cheap or very expensive parts.
 
Some scopes have multiple settings that allow you to view targets at different magnifications. For example, a scope might allow you to view targets from 3x to 9x your normal vision. That means if you set your scope to 3x magnification, any object you view through the scope will appear three times larger than if you looked at it without the use of the scope. These scopes have a feature called a power ring. Turning the power ring changes the magnification setting on the scope
Let's say you're looking at a 5-12x42 scope. What do these numbers mean? The first two numbers tell you the magnification settings for that particular scope. In this example, the scope has a range of 5x to 12x magnification, meaning the image you see through the ocular lens will be at least five times larger than it would appear to your naked eye. This also means the scope you're looking at is a variable scope, meaning you can change the magnification settings. Some scopes are fixed scopes -- you can't adjust the magnification setting.

The number 42 refers to the size of the objective lens: 42 millimeters. The size of the lens will tell you how much light it will be able to transmit to the ocular lens. In general, larger objective lenses can transmit more light.


First Focal, as you zoom or decrease your power on the scope, your retical does the same. FFP is esp nice to have if you have a retical that you use for hold overs or measuring, mildot, TMR...ect...

Second focal plane, as you increase or decrease your power on hour scope, your retical stays the same. Scopes in SFP, need to be set on max power (usually) to use the ret for hold over/measuring. All the SPF scopes I've played with are marked at a power setting to use the ret accurately.

Then there is tube size which are commonly 1" and 30 mm, larger the tube means more elevation,
 
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If you don't know anything about guns, start out with a .22 and work your way up. Or find someone who has guns and ask them if you can go to the range with them. You could even start out at an SKS and work up. Atleast with a .22 you can learn from it by cleaning and maintaining.
 
I bought a centerfire first. Then sold it and bought a 22 when I realized the amount of practice I could put in with it n ended up getting a centerfire later.

My vote-

1. Savage mark 2 .22lr . Cheap, accurate gun for cheap practice.

2. rem 700, savage, weatherby vanguard.....

Protip- to save cash throw a picatinny rail on both guns and swap the scope from gun to gun. But when youre new to guns you prolly wanna centerfire despite folks wisdom- I know I didnt listen :)
 
PBNJ said:
Thank you very much for the offer but I couldn't be a bother to someone like that. However, you did help me quite a bit and killed the idea of a custom rifle. Guess it will be the 700 police. My question with the scope was more specifically to the zoom rate of each one. I dont get the 6.5x20x50 etc etc. I have no idea what those measurements mean. And I will be reloading. I learned about that through my searching thats for sure.
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ya hanging around talking about guns with another gunnut, yup real good waay to bother me ha! i didnt mean to "kill" the idea of any thing! my point was that, a custom rifle costs more off the bat, and will take a year plus to get by the time all the parts are sourced unless your lucky! the 700s are very upgradable as Kimmer said, and the 700action is the basis of oh 80% + of all custom actions. so down the road are very easy to customize to help put things into perspective here is a quick break down of my current in progress build

action - 1500
bottom metal - 300
barrel -500
trigger - 250
stock - 1000
so im at 3500 $ and i dont even have a shoot-able rifle, that price doesn't include the gun smithing to put it together or the scope (in my case a Schmidt and bender for 4g) iv also been waiting 14months and counting to see parts.

the offer still stands! shoot me a PM for any thing i can help with, or down the road for help getting set up with reloading
 
PBNJ, take Ultimate Monkey up on his offer. His experience is worth thousands to you and he is offering to share it freely. Do yourself a favour and don't deprive a teacher from teaching. Some are born to teach others born to learn. Really. it is the best thing you can do.
 
Yep. Lots of great advice here.

I'd like to offer my 2 cents.

Grab a remington or savage with a heavy or varmint profile barrel, a sweet-ass scope, bipod and ammo and start shooting. After a while you'll be able to anwser your own questions.

Surfing thr forums helps a lot too.

A 22lr is a good idea too but I would get one along with your center fire rather than instead.
 
Savage 93r17 you can stretch them to 200 yards if you put the right glass on it, accurate, cheep to buy, cheep to shoot and its got an acutrigger and there is no need to upgrade cause its a killer gun right outta the box.
 
Ultimate Monkey made the best offer you could hope to get. I will add a couple of comments - spend as much as you can afford on good glass. Consider my 'value buy' as a Sightron Siii 8-32x56 - I no longer own any Sighron but tell everyone that for around the $1K mark they cannot be bettered. Now, re the rifle, a very good option would be the Remington R5; better than average chance of getting a very good barrel; the stock is fine and the action is excellent. I would consider .223 for cheapness of reloading and mild recoil but the downside is that .223 is a wee bit more finicy to load for than .308.

Remember - please don't scrimp on glass !
 
N1SH1E said:
Savage 93r17 you can stretch them to 200 yards if you put the right glass on it, accurate, cheep to buy, cheep to shoot and its got an acutrigger and there is no need to upgrade cause its a killer gun right outta the box.
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sorry i have to disagree, a 17hm is expensive to shoot for a rim fire, yes they are fun, but they get blowen around very easily by the wind, and for the cost of 100 rounds of hmr, you can get 500 of 22lr. if the OP gets into reloading like he said he plans to do, he can load quality .223 ammo for a hair more then it costs to buy good 17hmr ammo
 
N1SH1E said:
Savage 93r17 you can stretch them to 200 yards if you put the right glass on it, accurate, cheep to buy, cheep to shoot and its got an acutrigger and there is no need to upgrade cause its a killer gun right outta the box.
Click to expand...

Seems to me the OP wants to move in a different direction than the 17HMR. 223 in a Tikka Varmint might be a good starter rifle and caliber, or a Remington SPS perhaps, less money arguably just as accurate, adjustable trigger. Or if you really have a lot of cash dive right in and get an HS Precision HTR, FS
 
Any heavy barrel Remington 700 will do for a beginner and will accept any level of up grades when the barrel is shot out you have a good action for a custom build ... Look for a mil spec 5r or a 700p , try to stay way from any of the factory plastic stocks or you will be hunting for a replacement as I am they are not hard to find but exapencive , for a scope look for a target turret scope with side parallax and a long range reticle do some reading and find out what you want , a bushnell elite tactical or a vortex viper pst will cost about 1000$ and will do everything that a scope twice the price will do, also spend extra on the scope base and rings get a quality pice
 
Savage mkII TRR in 22LR - I shoot the FV with a tacpro comb if on a tighter budget.
Canted base - EGW works nicely
mid grade match ammo - SK Rifle Match works for me, Eley and RWS are other great options that barrel may prefer.

Sightron SIII 6-24X50 or 8-32X56 - Best value on the market today and will serve you well even if competition is your goal.
rings to suit - burris Sig Zee are my fave

Bed, test for the ammo it prefers, Go shoot......

for the investment and savings, you will be learning about shooting (50yds), then you can learn lots by going out to 300yds.

100yds = 300m
200yds = 500m
300yds = 1000yds with a 308 and mid weight bullets

If you want to learn LR shooting, then get out first to learn how to shoot. A rimfire is never a bad investment, a great teaching tool and lets you learn all the basics of gun handling, gun control, condition doping WITHOUT the need to learn about rifle tuning, loading, etc.

A 308 is hard for a beginner as the recoil is high and it takes skill/experience to control it - things you lack at this time. how can you load for something you do not know how to shoot?

For the first centerfire, 223 with a 9 or 8 twist is ideal. Tikka or Savage.

Enough said. If you are serious about learning more about LR shooting, you need to start at the ground floor. There is no 1 size fits all, grow into it scenerio. This is a multi step process that will take years to figure out.

Books I can recommend - Bryan Litz - both of them. Wind reading by Nancy Tompkins, all the reloading manuals you can get your hands on. I have plenty more info on my website but more advanced then where you are right now.

Jerry
 
Mystic Precision said:
Savage mkII TRR in 22LR - I shoot the FV with a tacpro comb if on a tighter budget.
Canted base - EGW works nicely
mid grade match ammo - SK Rifle Match works for me, Eley and RWS are other great options that barrel may prefer.

Sightron SIII 6-24X50 or 8-32X56 - Best value on the market today and will serve you well even if competition is your goal.
rings to suit - burris Sig Zee are my fave

Bed, test for the ammo it prefers, Go shoot......

for the investment and savings, you will be learning about shooting (50yds), then you can learn lots by going out to 300yds.

100yds = 300m
200yds = 500m
300yds = 1000yds with a 308 and mid weight bullets

If you want to learn LR shooting, then get out first to learn how to shoot. A rimfire is never a bad investment, a great teaching tool and lets you learn all the basics of gun handling, gun control, condition doping WITHOUT the need to learn about rifle tuning, loading, etc.

A 308 is hard for a beginner as the recoil is high and it takes skill/experience to control it - things you lack at this time. how can you load for something you do not know how to shoot?

For the first centerfire, 223 with a 9 or 8 twist is ideal. Tikka or Savage.

Enough said. If you are serious about learning more about LR shooting, you need to start at the ground floor. There is no 1 size fits all, grow into it scenerio. This is a multi step process that will take years to figure out.

Books I can recommend - Bryan Litz - both of them. Wind reading by Nancy Tompkins, all the reloading manuals you can get your hands on. I have plenty more info on my website but more advanced then where you are right now.

Jerry
Click to expand...

You really dislike Remington don't you Jerry? =)

I'm going to look into the savage .22LR as a cheap (and fun) alternative to blowing off 100 rounds of .308 to try and learn wind.
 
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