This is the story of my $500 Precison Rifle.
It begins a bunch of years ago when I walked in to a LGS to chat with the friendly gunsmith. I noticed a plastic bin containing the pieces of a disassembled rifle. When I asked about this sad looking pile of parts, the story I got was that the owner had somehow managed to get a round stuck in the chamber so badly that the Smith had to completely disassemble the thing to get the round out. It was a Savage so that included removing the bbl from the action.
As a result of the stuck round, the owner was now afraid to shoot the rifle again. I was told that the thing was literally brand new and had only about 25 rds through it. Upon close inspection it was clear there was nothing wrong with the bbl or chamber.
I told the Smith that I'd buy the thing for $500. A few weeks later my offer was accepted and I was the owner of a nearly new Savage Precision Carbine in 308 Win ... or at least the pieces of one.
With the help of the Smith we reassembled the rifle, setting up the headspace properly in the process. I ordered a Sightron SIII 16x mil dot scope to complete the package.
The only 30 cal components I happened to have lying around were Nosler 125gr Ballistic Tips and Varget so I made up a few test loads. Right from the beginning the rifle produced consistent 5/8" 5-shot groups. Job done.
At one time I considered bedding the stock but the weird Accustock system didn't lend itself to that treatment and the rifle was accurate as it was so I left the thing as it came from the factory. I haven't even touched the trigger because it was so good out of the box.
Where this story gets interesting is when we took it long range shooting. Conventional wisdom says a short 20" barrel and lightweight bullets are no good for extended ranges. However I think this rifle has proved that to be wrong.
This rifle and the 125gr Ballstic Tips are more than capable of ringing a 1/2 sized IPSC sillouhette at 700 yds and we even put hits onto a 16" square gong at 800 yds. The best shots of the day were on a 6" gong at 700 yds. My wife picked up the rifle and plugged that tiny plate right in the centre with her first shot.
Last season, just for fun I switched to 208 Amax bullets just to see how far the Precision Carbine could go. Wind permitting it is possible to make reloable hits on the 1/2 sized IPSC sillouhette at 1050 yds. The longest shot I connected was on a couch sized rock at 1200 yds. I have scoped out a 1400 yd shooting location but need to find a suitable target.
The lesson of the $500 precision rifle is that while a spendy custom rifle in a gigantic magnum cartridge may be nice, it is not needed in order to shoot long distances.
It begins a bunch of years ago when I walked in to a LGS to chat with the friendly gunsmith. I noticed a plastic bin containing the pieces of a disassembled rifle. When I asked about this sad looking pile of parts, the story I got was that the owner had somehow managed to get a round stuck in the chamber so badly that the Smith had to completely disassemble the thing to get the round out. It was a Savage so that included removing the bbl from the action.
As a result of the stuck round, the owner was now afraid to shoot the rifle again. I was told that the thing was literally brand new and had only about 25 rds through it. Upon close inspection it was clear there was nothing wrong with the bbl or chamber.
I told the Smith that I'd buy the thing for $500. A few weeks later my offer was accepted and I was the owner of a nearly new Savage Precision Carbine in 308 Win ... or at least the pieces of one.
With the help of the Smith we reassembled the rifle, setting up the headspace properly in the process. I ordered a Sightron SIII 16x mil dot scope to complete the package.
The only 30 cal components I happened to have lying around were Nosler 125gr Ballistic Tips and Varget so I made up a few test loads. Right from the beginning the rifle produced consistent 5/8" 5-shot groups. Job done.
At one time I considered bedding the stock but the weird Accustock system didn't lend itself to that treatment and the rifle was accurate as it was so I left the thing as it came from the factory. I haven't even touched the trigger because it was so good out of the box.
Where this story gets interesting is when we took it long range shooting. Conventional wisdom says a short 20" barrel and lightweight bullets are no good for extended ranges. However I think this rifle has proved that to be wrong.
This rifle and the 125gr Ballstic Tips are more than capable of ringing a 1/2 sized IPSC sillouhette at 700 yds and we even put hits onto a 16" square gong at 800 yds. The best shots of the day were on a 6" gong at 700 yds. My wife picked up the rifle and plugged that tiny plate right in the centre with her first shot.
Last season, just for fun I switched to 208 Amax bullets just to see how far the Precision Carbine could go. Wind permitting it is possible to make reloable hits on the 1/2 sized IPSC sillouhette at 1050 yds. The longest shot I connected was on a couch sized rock at 1200 yds. I have scoped out a 1400 yd shooting location but need to find a suitable target.
The lesson of the $500 precision rifle is that while a spendy custom rifle in a gigantic magnum cartridge may be nice, it is not needed in order to shoot long distances.
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