Savage 12FV- Budget long range bench rifle?

awesomealvin said:
Price of Brass and Bullets mainly. Planning on buying 500 round bulk boxes of 308 to practice then reload the spent brass. Affordable bulk 6.5 CM still not available from what I can find online, hopefully price would go down in the next couple years.

Also don't want to burn out a 6.5 CM barrel before I'm good enough to take advantage of the 6.5 CM's ballistics. Barrel life of a 6.5 CM only around 1500-2000 rounds compared to 5000+ for 308 from my research.
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6.5 bullets are slightly cheaper and brass is about the same price when it comes to reloading. You also won't be able to shoot out a 6.5 barrel before being able to take advantage of it's ballistics.
 
rkm456 said:
6.5 bullets are slightly cheaper and brass is about the same price when it comes to reloading. You also won't be able to shoot out a 6.5 barrel before being able to take advantage of it's ballistics.
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If you don't mind me asking, where do you source the cheap 6.5CM brass and bullets? Looking at Cabela's and Budget Shooters Supply, 308 bullets around ($0.30 to $0.45 each) compared to 6.5 CM ($0.50+ each). As for the brass, 308 would be practically free for me since I'm reloading factory bulk brass. Bulk 6.5CM has not hit the market yet from what I know.

I'm not looking for accuracy nirvana, just enough to make hits to 800-1000m.

* As for glass, I got my eye on the Vortex Diamondback 6-24x50 FFP.

Thanks.
 
awesomealvin said:
Price of Brass and Bullets mainly. Planning on buying 500 round bulk boxes of 308 to practice then reload the spent brass. Affordable bulk 6.5 CM still not available from what I can find online, hopefully price would go down in the next couple years.

Also don't want to burn out a 6.5 CM barrel before I'm good enough to take advantage of the 6.5 CM's ballistics. Barrel life of a 6.5 CM only around 1500-2000 rounds compared to 5000+ for 308 from my research.
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With published loads, and not doing rapid fire strings, i would think 3500 would be best accuracy, and then gradually taper off as you chase the lands. Which is still phenomenal barrel life really.
 
awesomealvin said:
If you don't mind me asking, where do you source the cheap 6.5CM brass and bullets? Looking at Cabela's and Budget Shooters Supply, 308 bullets around ($0.30 to $0.45 each) compared to 6.5 CM ($0.50+ each). As for the brass, 308 would be practically free for me since I'm reloading factory bulk brass. Bulk 6.5CM has not hit the market yet from what I know.
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To make sure all things would be equal I just randomly chose a bullet that Cabela's offers in 6.5 and .308 (Sierra Gamechanger) A box of 6.5's comes in at $23.79 and .308's come in at $33.99. Hornady brass in both calibers comes in at the same price.

The idea that brass from fired rounds is free is a little bit of a fallacy because you're paying for the brass in the initial purchase of the loaded ammo. You also might not be thrilled with the results that come with using inexpensive brass, obviously your mileage will vary.
 
While not terribly experienced in loading the 65 yet, I will say this. The Small Primer brass is the hot ticket according to folks who are serious about the caliber. That leaves 2 choices. Starline and Lapua.

There is a vid, and forum where 1 pc of lapua brass was reloaded 20 times with standard loadings , then 2 times with well over book loads, and the primer pocket was still tight and barely needed trimming.

So far my Lapua brass has not required trimming!!! i have cut a small chamfer in the neck for the bullets to seat easier (I am using bushed dies) and to that end i can highly recommend the Laplander brass.

Expensive to be sure, but you don't buy a Koenigsegg and expect it to run on 89 octane either.
 
The 308 will suit you just fine as will the Savage .
Savage builds a great rifle even though many try and refute that , but if you take a look at the big picture it’s a win/win, especially if one wants to change barrels , etc
accuracty to 1K on all my Savage rifles had been outstanding with irons and sling or optics.
Cat
 
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