School me on long range 308 rifle/optic

I ran my first LR Rem 700 in 308 out to 1000 meters using a B&L 8-32 scope, a 20 moa mount and Burris adjustable offset rings. Worked quite well. Was zeroed at 200, and had enough come ups to reach 1000. With today's scopes and a great deal more horizontal adjustment, it should be fairly easy to do that. I found 175 and 178 gr bullets worked better at those ranges. 190 gr Speer match bullets worked great, but they are very hard to find. I've since had or put together 3 other 308's, and while they prefer different brands of bullets, the weight range is similar. Fwiw. - dan
 
maynard said:
Before spending any money to plunge into the long range shooting game, contact your Provincial Rifle Association. Maybe go out to one of their range days and just have a look around and ask some questions. 300 yards/m is considered short range, 500-600 is mid-range and 800, 900 and 1000 are considered long range. Oh, and some guys and ladies do this with iron sighted rifles, no scope, no rest.
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This^^^, long range shooting disciplines are different and tend to be very equipment specific so it would be good to find out in the beginning where your interest lies before buying too much .
 
$750 to $1500 is the minimum I would recomend for a scope. High end optics start at $3k and go to 5k and beyond!

For .308 at 300 yards or less, you are in great shape at that budget. Your priorities should be:

1. Glass quality: the most important, enduring quality. What good is magnification if you cant make out the detail. A big blur isnt more helpful than a small blur. :)
2. Reticle: for shooting at random unknown distances, a mildot based reticle is essential. (Tactical/prs style) For known distances a BDC reticle will suffice. A great choice are the christmas tree style reticles like vortex EBR that let you aim and adjust follow up shots for windage and elevation without dialing in. (Most underated innovation in optics and is more important than quality turrets.)
3. Focal plane: for reticle ranging at unknown distances you will want a first fcal plane scope. If you are shooting at a range with known fixed distances, you may prefer second focal plane optics where the reticle stays tiny even at high magnification.
4. Magnification: at 300 yrds or less 10x or 20x is appropriate. Skilled shooters can beat you with a fixed 3x, but high magnification will help make movement of your handling more apparent and is a good training aid.
3. Turrets: at 300 yrd or less, wind is not a factor and dialing elevation is not necessary with a mildot reticle. I love good quality turrets, and shoot mostly on a S&B PMII. It is a tactile experience that I deeply enjoy, but is not strictly needed. If you get turrets they must be high quality and repeatable.
 
Used to shoot cast bullets bench and offhand to 200 regularly, sometimes to 300 for fun. 6.5-20x40 SFP worked plenty well enough for that, had a Leupold with 1/4moa clicks and the target knobs on it, std plex reticle, just held off for wind and it worked fine. Also have a Nikon that has 1/8clicks I used on that gun, same scope other than that. That is as much as you need for 200 yds, even a bit of overkill there, as I often ran it at 12x.
 
I'll defend Savage's honour here and say the Savage 10s are quite good for their price. The dude who wins all the PRS matches in my area has a Savage 10TR in .308 that he loves, and no accessories other than a lace-on cheek riser, a 20 MOA rail, and an entry-level Harris bipod. Of course he has a $3500 Steiner scope on it, and a secret reloading recipe for 185gr Bergers.

As for optics, everyone has different opinions on that, but I will say if you ever choose to shoot unknown distances, a first focal plane scope is really helpful to measure target size at any magnification. Sometimes you don't want to look at your target at max magnification to measure it out. Mils vs MOA is really a matter of preference. Don't get a ballistic drop reticle unless you are planning to put down a high volume of fire into a narrow area like a designated marksman with a semi auto, which doesn't sound to be the case. As mentioned earlier, the "Christmas tree" looking reticles like Horus (expensive) or similar competitors versions are great, you don't have to touch your turrets.

Don't get a plain crosshair reticle under any circumstances, it's really limiting your options for shooting styles.

I would suggest a decent scope for the money with the reticle you want would be the Primary Arms Silver series 3-18x with the Athena reticle. But might not be enough magnification for you.
 
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