time to start this

[dakotasin]

i'm new to the board, and have been reading long enough...time to start doing this long range business.

i enjoy popping varmints (prairie dogs especially) at long distances. problem is, once i get beyond 550 yards, my hit to miss ratio becomes miserable. ok, so my sporter-weight rifles aren't cutting it anymore... for valentine's day, i ordered a 700 vls (wife doesn't really know - i told her, but she thought i was kidding...i tried to make her believe, but..) chambered to 308. i figure w/ some time and work, this should get me up close to the 1000 yard mark (i realize it is less expensive in the long run to buy a complete rifle, but it requires an initial investment that is way beyond me... i figure i can grow w/ the vls as my checkbook recovers).

which brings me to my first question...i've read on here that some people advocate bedding the scope base. i can understand the theory of why, but i want to know how?

oh, on my vls, i also picked up some warne rings...been looking for a badger ordnance 20 moa 1-piece base, but can't find it anywhere. somebody point me in the right direction?? thanks.

[Ian M]

Welcome, you will find lots of info here. There are lots of .308 Win. shooters in this crowd.
The primary source is www.badgerordnance.com, or from Marty's neighbour and buddy George Gardner at www.gaprecision.net.
You might get lucky and find a used one occasionally on the Emporium at Sniper County or in the similar section of Snipershide.
Badgers are also available from Brownells and/or Premier Reticle I believe. They are just plain dandy. The Warnes will work very nicely on Badger bases.

Good luck as you enter the world of LR with the mighty .308 Win. Buy some Varget and lots of 168 and 175 grain match bullets and give-it. Our standard load is from 44.5-46.0 grains depending on the bullet and rifle. We have best luck with Winchester standard rifle primers, Winchester (or BHA Match) brass - other guys might have other favorites. We load to an overall length of 2.830" since we want the ammo to feed through magazines, you can go longer if you single-feed.

If you need some drop tables I would be pleased to help you out, I believe some of that info is archived. One great fact about shooting the .308 Win. at long range is that the windage dope has long been figured out. Big challenge is applying it with skill and knowledge, and that takes a lot of shooting.

[dakotasin]

thanks for the info and the welcome. i am looking forward to learning a lot, shooting a lot and maybe one day making it over 1000 yards...

dakotasin--
Unless you are dead set on the Badger, there are several other options out there there are in the same quality range without the $$$. Get a Sinclair Int'l. catalog and check out the Ken Farrell bases. They are rock solid, well built(steel) and come with Torx screws. They have 20 MOA built in, come in one or two piece configurations and are less than $40. They have a groove built into the bottom and come with instructions for bedding the base to your action. They will work great with the Warne rings--I have this setup on my .223 VS.