Thinking of getting into the 338 Lapua Game,What Rifle Sako, Remington or Other

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bubba300

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As the title says thinking of going for the Sako 85 Longe Range or Rem 700,lets here your thoughts on both or maybe something different.(Brother has the savage and it has not impressed me but he really hasn't played to much with it)Have about $3500 to play with .I have NF scope already so don't need glass.I want it to be new and could go a little more but not much.
I have played out to 1400 yards with my 6.5 - 06 and 280 AI and thinking of going further(1 mile) with the 338.
I know it is gonna cost more to shoot the 338 mag but I really not going to get to crazy into it , just gonna try it out first.
Any info would be appreiciated
 
sako trg 42---or up to the top with accuracy international--got sako in both 308 and 338--better than me and i can shoot 308--5 rounds into 1.2 inches at 300 sometimes better--cheers
 
merlin1 said:
sako trg 42---or up to the top with accuracy international--got sako in both 308 and 338--better than me and i can shoot 308--5 rounds into 1.2 inches at 300 sometimes better--cheers
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clarification--must be asleep-lol--1.2 after my .308 coefficient is removed--thus in real terms 1.5 inches---before someone jumped on me--cheers
 
If you are dabbling go factory for resale. Very difficult to argue with a used Sako TRG. Like jet boats, a custom isn't a good first one because you aren't sure what you want yet, but it's unlikely anyone else will want exactly the same as you after you are done with it. I would consider paying 85% of new for a pristine Sako. Maybe 60% used custom.
 
I wouldn't worry about resale, buy what you feel is right, you want to rifle to shoot or to sell?

I will also endorse going custom or semi custom, as you can obtain the same and better results then the high priced rifles ready to shoot.

For $3500.00 you will be able to build/get built a rifle that will shoot as good as ones two or thre times the money.Be smart, price everything, ask around and before you know it you will have one hell of a rifle to play with.

Get a Savage with the HS precision stock, re-barrel, custom rail, maybe trigger and new brake and you will be well under your budget.

I took a non shooter(Savage) and got a pre-fit McGowen from Mystic Precision, well, no way I could ever shoot how it does and didn't break the bank.
 
Tinkering (building a rifle or a hot rod) on your own is one thing if you have the skills. Paying a pro to assemble your vision don't come cheap. A Savage with quality tactical stock, aftermarket barrel, aftermarket trigger etc will rapidly hit $3k. We aren't talking about the great deals on used parts someone used to "build" a rifle a couple of years ago. Source the parts at today's prices and do the math, including wait time. It is still your money into something that's still a Savage with "go faster" parts. My brother did this with a 700. $4k into a rifle worth $2k at best. I've done similar projects in other hobby fields. Ended up spending the same to get a one off that is not as flexible or predictable as a factory setup. YMMV.
 
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I have to agree from experience that you will take a bigger hit trying to sell a custom precision rifle than a factory one. Timberwolf, TRG42, AI AWM are used by various militaries and that is part of the want for many people looking at these long range precision rifles. If you are not sure you will want to keep your new rifle, safer to go with a factory rig. Very few people spend thousands of dollars and NOT get exactly what they want.
 
Having gone with both factory and full custom in 338, my vote would be for a quality factory rifle, likely used. My first was a Weatherby TRR in 338 lapua and I loved that rifle. When I decided to upgrade I sold the rifle without taking a huge hit. The 338 improved I had built to replace it was great but when I had to liquidate to buy a house I lost thousands. Most used ones on the EE have relatively low round counts. For a guy getting his feet wet this would be the most cost effective.
 
Or buy a custom on the EE and maybe line up a new bbl, and voila. Somebody else eats the resale, and you get a .338.

I was reading though and the .300 Norma mag with bergers 240 grs is very competitive with the .338. Bbl life is crappie though, I'd guess 1,000 to 2,000 rounds, depending on how close your strings are together
 
My opinion is bypass the Lapua all together. 300 Norma Magnum will be the next hot thing. Rightfully so.
I had a very brief chat with one of the guys from Insite Arms at the Meaford Long range shoot and we both agreed that the Lapua is not inherently accurate. I have lots of experience with the Lapua, Yes they can be very accurate. However I have seen more of them that hover around 1MOA + than 0.5 MOA realistically.
Lots of cherry picked groups of 1 hole Lapua groups, not too many 5x5 targets out there.
I believe it is US SOCOM that just adopted the 300 Norma as their new long range caliber. Look at the ballistic charts, there is good reason for it. Shooting 230 Bergers from a 300 Norma is the way to go IMO. I believe they picked up the Applied Ballistics factory ammo as well, pretty sure Lytz said he has seen more 1st round hits at a mile with the 300 Norma than any other caliber. (I skimmed the article today on my phone, didn't give it a good read yet)
At least as good as a Lapua ballistically, and it'll do it for less component cost and less recoil
Barrel life might be a bit less, but a 500$ barrel is literally peanuts compared to the amount of $$ you'll spend shooting it out, in either caliber.
 
CanuckR said:
My opinion is bypass the Lapua all together. 300 Norma Magnum will be the next hot thing. Rightfully so.
I had a very brief chat with one of the guys from Insite Arms at the Meaford Long range shoot and we both agreed that the Lapua is not inherently accurate. I have lots of experience with the Lapua, Yes they can be very accurate. However I have seen more of them that hover around 1MOA + than 0.5 MOA realistically.
Lots of cherry picked groups of 1 hole Lapua groups, not too many 5x5 targets out there.
I believe it is US SOCOM that just adopted the 300 Norma as their new long range caliber. Look at the ballistic charts, there is good reason for it. Shooting 230 Bergers from a 300 Norma is the way to go IMO. I believe they picked up the Applied Ballistics factory ammo as well, pretty sure Lytz said he has seen more 1st round hits at a mile with the 300 Norma than any other caliber. (I skimmed the article today on my phone, didn't give it a good read yet)
At least as good as a Lapua ballistically, and it'll do it for less component cost and less recoil
Barrel life might be a bit less, but a 500$ barrel is literally peanuts compared to the amount of $$ you'll spend shooting it out, in either caliber.
Click to expand...

....eh?!

Please explain yourself, chico.
 
6MT said:
....eh?!

Please explain yourself, chico.
Click to expand...

I was talking to one of the guys from Insite at the MLRSC, we were talking about the 300 Norma that was on the prize table, he mentioned that it was shooting in the .2's. I made a comment about wishing the Lapua was easy to make shoot that well. He agreed with me that the Norma seemed easier to make shoot than the Lapua. I then mentioned that in my experience most of the Lapuas I have seen and had the joys of shooting were closer to 1 MOA guns than they were .5 MOA guns. He agreed with my ramblings. Mentioned how it seemed like the Norma just wanted to shoot tiny groups.
That was the end of the conversation.
If you feel like I have put words in somebody's mouth let me know and I will adjust the post. Not my intentions.
Also the name isn't chico..... Andy
 
Hmm, news to me. I wouldn't be as fast to believe that. I just wanted clarification, that's all. That statement would be in stark contrast to the beliefs of a lot of militaries around the world. But, opinions are like you know what....everyone has one.

The 'chico" reference was sarcasm.
 
Yeah. I should have figured the chico comment was sarcasm. My mistake.
However not to derail this thread too much. The military's definition of accuracy and our definition of accuracy are 2 very very different animals.
For instance, the grouping capacity test on our military's sniper course is about 2 MOA. That's it. Most of the guys can shoot far better than that. If you look at the hit rates and target sizes that were spec'd out for the CF's 338 project. They are pretty big targets. The army doesn't need 0.5 moa guns, (realistically not too many of us do either, but we all love to have them)
The fact that SOCOM has decided to avoid the 338 Lapua, even after so many other countries have adopted it, to me speaks loudly.
I am not saying the Lapua is a pile of crap, I am not comparing it to a 308. However I will 100% say that IMO and from my experience it is NOT the holy grail of big bore calibers, or long range shooting.

And we all know what they say about military intelligence........
 
Back on topic - if you are really set on .338 Lapua then the PGW Timberwolf is, off the shelf, hard to beat; well made, accurate, good (Canadian) support and excellent service. If you are not certain that you really want to commit then buy something like the Savage 110BA to see if you like it and that way you have limited your cost outlay and can re-sell fairly easily.
 
I think the bolt face is the same for the .338 LM and the .300 NM. So, by choosing one you are not cut from either. But, if the bolt face is different, then yeah, you gotta pick.

Same as is said on other threads, upscale factory keeps you from losing your shirt on a resell. Whipping up a factory semi-custom can see less on resale, however, you are usually spending quite a bit less so maybe it's a wash?
 
CanuckR said:
Yeah. I should have figured the chico comment was sarcasm. My mistake.
However not to derail this thread too much. The military's definition of accuracy and our definition of accuracy are 2 very very different animals.
For instance, the grouping capacity test on our military's sniper course is about 2 MOA. That's it. Most of the guys can shoot far better than that. If you look at the hit rates and target sizes that were spec'd out for the CF's 338 project. They are pretty big targets. The army doesn't need 0.5 moa guns, (realistically not too many of us do either, but we all love to have them)
The fact that SOCOM has decided to avoid the 338 Lapua, even after so many other countries have adopted it, to me speaks loudly.
I am not saying the Lapua is a pile of crap, I am not comparing it to a 308. However I will 100% say that IMO and from my experience it is NOT the holy grail of big bore calibers, or long range shooting.

And we all know what they say about military intelligence........
Click to expand...

I'm about 18" from armpit to armpit.

Correct me, but I think that when the Timberwolf won the CF contest, the goal was "a chest sized target at 1000M 80% of the time"....so 1.8MOA..... Unless it was a sniper contest for ants!!!!!!
 
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