How much for a long range rifle, who makes the best for the money??

[Walleyewarrior]

I am in need of some info, I am looking for a long range setup, but i need to know who can provide such a setup and at what cost? John Burns of hunting the West talks about a .284 i believe, did he build it himself, what action, barrel etc is the best. Anyone with any ideas let me know.
Thanks in advance..

[Shawn Carlock]

WW,
I believe Burns builds his own stuff, most I have seen were Rem 700 based ,McMillan stocked, Leupold's modified by premier reticle etc. Those are by sight observations not confirmed. There are several people that are very capable LR gunsmith's myself included, Kirby Allen also posts here does some very fine work, Chris Mathews comes highly recommended. If I was making a recommendation to a customer with a request like yours I would suggest a Remington 700 platform (they are the small block Chevy of the gun world), there are several setups that meet or exceed the performance of the rifle Burns used in his videos. The best thing to do is to set down spend a few minutes on the phone with an LR smith and figure out exactly was your wants and needs are, then get a package that best bridges the $/performance/caliber/weight/optics/and technique you want to use. You will of course find many opinions of what is the best barrel or stock, etc. I have my own preferences for those items and base it on having built many LR rifles not just hearing that a particulr product is the best. Everyone will have their opinions. Just be sure who ever you choose has previous LR rifle experience and gives you confidence when you talk with them.

Shawn

[BountyHunter]

A good LR setup can be done for as little as $1200 to as much as $4000

Define the game (size) and then decide if you want to go custom or modify factory.

What weight limitations? etc

Find a good LR smith in your local or one whose reputation you trust and then talk to him about what you want it to do and what he recommends for your price budget.

As for calibers for deer and elk, look at 7 WSM or 30 WSM. Hard to go wrong.

Low end cost, uy a good heavy barrel Savage, change trigger, recrown, tapered base and decent Leu, IOR, Burris scope and Leica 1200 range finder.

In NE as far as gunsmiths, Bruce Baer in PA, John Myer in VA are a couple more to consider that specialize in LR benchrest and hunting rifles that are second to none.

BH