Best Long Range Target Rifle...?

[magicofmt]

Just bought a Savage Predator in 223 with factory mounted scope and shot it yesterday with 10 diff recipies found on this site and SavageShooters. 2nd recipe was 3 holes in perfect cover leaf and only half the little bullet hole showing on each. WOW I was impressed. Savage does it again. Facory scope was boresighted and it was 4 inch hign a 1 inch right at 100 yds

[Ksmirk]

You said you had a Savage in Mod 12 223 right? I just got back from the range earlier and was shooting out to 300 with very good results whooting the 75gr A-Max! yea I know they are not supposed to work in a 1-9 twist barrel but they worked great in mine and the little brothers! so I would say you have you target rifle, now if your looking for a good reason to BUY another rifle then by all means forget what I posted above and go get you a new rifle!

I'm waiting on my scope to get in but my 243 and the 105 A-Max has been doing pretty good, it has a 1-8 twist barrel haven't got to shoot it past 100 yet but when the scope shows up it'll be time to go see what it can do. Later,

Kirk

[blygy]

The 204 definately isn't a great choice for 600 yards.. I have hit coyotes @ 450 with mine but it was a very calm day.

I was shooting with two buddies on a breezy day.. They were shooting a 7mm Rem and a 300 Win.. I had 1-1.5" of wind drift @ 100 yards .. they had none that we could discern.

I like the quote " a big fast bullet beats a small fast bullets every time."

Just my experience.

[.280fan]

I would agree with the several folks that have advocated working-over your current gun rather than buy a new one. I'm in the same situation as you. I have a rifle and I'm not satisfied with the accuracy. I looked at what it would cost to buy a new rifle against custom gunsmith work. They were about the same. So, rather than buy another rifle, I've invested in a premium stock and will have the gun rebarrelled, square the action, lugs lapped, and the action bedded. If my trigger had not already been worked-over I would be doing that as well. This way I get a 'new' custom rifle and should outperform any rifle out-of-the box even with factory ammo.

Your Savage is a great platform to start with. By re-working the gun the only thing you need to do is choose the caliber. I would also agree with the other folks here that for 600 yards you would want something heavier than a 204.

Let us know what you decide.