Remington/Browning/Tikka Long Range winner?

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Broken_Arrow

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I'm looking at getting into long range shooting, up to 1000 yards. I have been looking at a 7MM Rem Mag for the calibre. From what I've read and been told by other shooters it flys a little flatter than the 300WM and I don't need the extra hitting power at 1000 yards for paper. The longest shots I can imagine taking, after lots of practice, at an animal would be no farther than 500 ish yards.

I'm trying to decide on which brand of rifle to purchase. I was looking at a Remington 700 but I've heard good and bad things. I've also looked at a Browning X-Bolt and Tikka T3. A friend of mine uses the Tikka in 300 WM and loves it. They're all in my rough price range and I'm thinkin of a Sightron SIII 10-50x60 scope based on optics recommendations in another forum, that as well fits my budget. What opinions do you have on these brands in 7MM Rem Mag for 500-1000 yard shooting. Thanks.
 
It all depends on what you're hunting and what your preferences are. All three manufacturers make excellent hunting rifles.

Remington would be the cheapest of the three (that does not mean that the quality is at all low though) their 700 series is very rugged all around rifle, accurate out of the box, just watch out for that Hogue stock they put on some of their variants, it may feel nice but it's a bit flimsy (ie. touches barrel under barrel's own weight). Some people claim they have issues with their safety mechanism, I've never had an issue and my .308 has had at least 1k rounds put through it.

Browning X-bolt is a great platform, very accurate, smooth action, maybe a little less rugged than others but if you're not banging it around in the woods you'll be fine. The White Gold is probably the best in the X-Bolt series, friend of mine has this rifle and it shoots sub-moa as long as you let that match barrel cool between shots. Expensive though compared to the Remington's and Tikka's.

Tikka's are a little bit pricier than Remington, little bit cheaper than Browning. They are manufactured in Finland by Sako so right off the bat they are a precision shooter and a quality rifle. I personally don't have much experience with their rifles but everything I hear is good, smooth action, light, and accurate out of the box.

I personally prefer Remington 700's for several reasons. They are a tried and proven action (preferred by snipers as far back as Vietnam and still preferred in today's military's). Despite MSNBC's fervent attempts to drag their name through the mud, they are perfectly safe, easy to use, easy to clean rifles. Much cheaper to buy than most actions on the market, but again, the quality is still excellent. Extremely easy to modify. Different style stocks are widely available, no proprietary mounting system for scope rings just a drilled and tapped receiver that will accept most mounting systems, unlike Ruger, Tikka, Browning, which ship their own rings with the rifle kind of dictating the tube size of the scope you buy for them. Although to be fair most of them drill and tap the receiver to accept a rail system as well, I highly recommend everyone purchase at least a 20moa picatinny rail and a good set of appropriate size/height rings (I love Leupold's Mark 4 rings). As I said, I've put over 1k rounds through my .308 and have had zero problems with it's function, still dead accurate, action is nice and smooth, just gets better with more time :).
 
Thanks for the post, lotta good info to consider. I had looked at a Remington 700 because if the police and military have used em for like 60 years they must not be all bad :p. I had heard recently some poeple were having some issues with accuracy and the action but that may have been an isolated rifle or batch. He's a decent rifle shooter so it's not entirely the operator. It's hard to go off one man's opinion though. I have seen MSNBC's report and wasn't really buying what they were selling. I take any firearms news on major sources with a grain of salt. Call me a nut but I don't trust modern media that much haha.

I liked the action on the Browning and I've always heard they're very accurate rifles. Not to mention the comfort out of the box with a Browning is excellent.

The Tikka I haven't heard a whole lot about but I have shot it in 300WM and it's very accurate.
 
"...depends on what you're hunting..." It is not ethical to take a 1,000 yard shot at any game with any cartridge. 500 is reasonable, if you can hit the kill zone of whatever you're hunting, every time, at that distance and know the ballistics of your cartridge completely. Very few have enough remaining engergy.
"...for paper..." A great deal depends on what kind of shooting you want to do. Not all matches allow magnums of any kind. In those that do the rifles are highly modified. Usually very heavy barrels, sights, triggers etc. Hunting rifles they ain't. So you need to decide on the type of shooting and your budget first.
"...preferred by snipers..." Snipers shoot whatever they're issued. They get no choice. Not in VN and not now. And the rifles are and were not stock factory rifles.
"...have seen MSNBC's report..." Ignore anything you see there. MSNBC is radically anti-firearm ownership.
 
Just so you are aware, not sure what the drop is at 1000y with a 7mm, but the 32x or 24x sightrons have more internal adjustment.

Ethics come into hunting long range. Most don't think enough about it. (ie, thread about the three shot moose kill)

Learn the gun and ballistics and make a honest opinion about your skill. Very few can do 1000y hunt without perfect conditions. 500y as you said is much more realistic, but I see tons of hunts who can't hit 2'x3' boards at 300yards. Yet they claim to have "touching" groups.
 
I highly doubt you'll ever a buy a 1,000 yard rifle off the shelf of your favourite sporting Goods store....at least in the three options listed. Despite what people think, 1,000 yard rifles don't grow on trees. 1,000 yard rifles are sub .5MOA shooters at worst. You might get lucky but you might have to buy a lot of rifles to get lucky. Sure you can just go buy a 500 yard rifle but the odds of just going and buying a 1,000 yard rifle are pretty slim.
 
Of those examples the remingtons have the easiest path for upgrading of the bunch and they do sell versions (5R, CDL and Sendaro spring to mind) that are much nicer than the base models.
 
At 1000 yards I will be shooting at paper. If I stretch it out to hunt at 500 I won't miss because I don't take a shot that I'm not sure I can hit with a clean kill. Plus I'm not complteley useless and I can stalk my prey. So if you'd please lets keep on track a bit here and not venture into ethics. Sorry if that comes off rude, I just don't wanna get lost in debate and off topic.

Out of those 3 rifles which has the best accuracy at longer ranges. A friend of mine custom makes barrels for firearms manufacturers and does smithing so I can upgrade as I see fit. I'm just curious which is the best starting platform.
 
Out of the three you posted in your thread I would pick the Tikka. I am a huge Sako fan, and have owned a few Tikkas. Tikkas are basically Sako's little sister, they have Sako barrels, and are good quality rifles. Tikka's have one of the smoothest actions out there. Not taking away from the Remington or Browning, just my preference. One thing to consider, if you are looking down the road to upgrade barrels or whatever, Remingtons will be your easiest to customize. The Tikka may limit you a bit when it comes to customizing, and may be more expensive to customize.

Edit** Just checked out Tikka's website to see if the 7mm RM is available in the Varmint or Super Varmint layouts. It is, this may be a great starting platform that would be very good "out of the box"
 
If it's just a starting platform you are looking for then the Remington is the most easily customized but I do know of some Tikka customs that that I'd definitely choose over a Remi. I'd say of the three out of the box, your odds of getting a real shooter are greatest with the Tikka.
 
It is hard to argue that Tikka (Sako) makes a great rifle, that would be my pick out of the three options you have listed. I personally like Savage, IMO they have the best $/accuracy rate of any manufacturer.
 
I would, from my experience, stay away from the heavy calibers in a Tikka. Their design, i.e., recoil lug, is pretty flimsy and will wear in no time. IMHO they are not made for heavy recoiling calibers
 
Of the three that you are considering, each has its merits and/or model differences.

For Remington I would stick with the 700 in either Sendero or police (no cheap crap)
For Tikka you can't really go wrong with the varmint in SS or blued
As for Browning, I only have one (an old BBR) and can't speak to the new stuff.

Personally I would go with the Tikka in a varmint stainless, with the Remington Sendero in a close second.
 
Because I am curious, can we ask why you left out Savage from this? Not to make this in to a remington versus savage etc. and I'm not trying to hijack the thread I'm just curious is all. If you prefer you can even PM me your response so as to not start anything on this thread.
 
No worries. If you meant why I left them out from my initial post it's simply because Savage never even came to mind. I own a Savage Edge in 22-250 which I can shoot very well at up to about 100 yards (I have a fairly small scope so I don't push it out any higher, and in NB you can always get to within 100yds haha). I have seen a lot of variations in the smaller Savage models and when I was growing up they were considered a well performing but cheaper rifle. From what I've seen that opinion has changed. Aside from that parts aren't as readily available here as what I've seen from Remington. I also haven't come across any Savages in 7MM anywhere around.
 
AH, my bad I skim through this stuff at work sometimes so I don't really read entire posts. For 7mm Rem Mag, I would definately say Remington. Your options are much more vast and I do agree, savage parts are expensive and hard to come by, although as more people start to purchase them the market will open up, I have read a lot of stuff about stock makers accomodating the spacing for the 4.4 action screws space. The first rifle before I even knew how to shoot was a 7mm rem mag but I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn (and I'm not exagerating) the thing was terrible. That being said though, I was and still kinda am a new shooter. Spend the money on what will make you happy and that you know you can get a decent return on if it doesn't. My vote would def be for remington though, you will have an entire internets worth of parts and accessories at your disposal.
 
Broken_Arrow said:
I'm looking at getting into long range shooting, up to 1000 yards. I have been looking at a 7MM Rem Mag for the calibre. From what I've read and been told by other shooters it flys a little flatter than the 300WM and I don't need the extra hitting power at 1000 yards for paper. The longest shots I can imagine taking, after lots of practice, at an animal would be no farther than 500 ish yards.

I'm trying to decide on which brand of rifle to purchase. I was looking at a Remington 700 but I've heard good and bad things. I've also looked at a Browning X-Bolt and Tikka T3. A friend of mine uses the Tikka in 300 WM and loves it. They're all in my rough price range and I'm thinkin of a Sightron SIII 10-50x60 scope based on optics recommendations in another forum, that as well fits my budget. What opinions do you have on these brands in 7MM Rem Mag for 500-1000 yard shooting. Thanks.
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First of all, I am kind of a rifle snob so I can't in good conscience recommend any of those brands for my own reasons. Now with long range shooting people always want to shoot further and further once you get in to it, why limit yourself to a 7mm mag when it also has to knock down game? as you learn the longer distances you are going to want to shoot animals at longer range, especially if you go out of your way to hunt areas where you are likely to see animals at distance?

I would suggest going with a 338 Lapua as it has longer range ability for both paper and animals right out of the box, not saying the 7mm is bad, just limiting if you want more later. When I decided to go long range, I already had 7mm mags in the safe of different makes, but to get it up to par for long range I would have had to put a muzzle brake, bipod/upgrade, etc to make it a contender and then I would still be limited so I went straight to the lapua and am glad I did.

As for the scope, I would go with up to a 30x or so max, a 6-24 is what is on my 338 and 50 and gets me out to 2000yds plus with the right rail. the higher mag scopes usually have less eye relief which is not good IMO for anything but heavy benchrest rifles that don't move/recoil. They also usually have less adjustment like already posted. There is other issues as well

I am by no means some long range guru, so take my opinions and experience with a grain of salt.
 
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Brian46 said:
why limit yourself to a 7mm mag when it also has to knock down game? as you learn the longer distances you are going to want to shoot animals at longer range, especially if you go out of your way to hunt areas where you are likely to see animals at distance?
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Well I can't see myself wanting to take a game shot at over 500 yards. Not based on ability but I'm a fair chase hunter. I like to track and stalk. That's more fun to me.

As far as a .338 I had considered it awhile ago but I don't need the extra cost in ammo or power when a 7MM or even .308 will hit 1000 yards. That's not to say I won't buy one in a few years down the road. My collection is always expanding, I'm up to rifle 9 now haha.
 
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