Help designing Marks / Comp Rifle.

[TallDalas]

So... The wife and I are seriously debating making marksmanship shooting and even possibly competition shooting a hobby. Yeah yeah... we're not big on hunting. Sorry. I don't mind dropping the occasional wild hog from my mothers place or using my 22 to clean turtles out of the pond but I'm not a big hunter per-se.
Anyways.
I've only EVER used my family weapons.
Remington 22 LR my grandfather bought in 1937 is my turtle / bird / snake gun.
My fathers 30-06 and my grandfathers 30-30 are my pig killers.
However I've never bought a rifle myself.
Suddenly the wife enjoys shooting what we have so much that she wants to make it into a hobby and I can't really disagree with her on any reason to or not to do it.
I love shooting and I consider myself a fair marksman.
What I'm looking for is this.
Something that will travel with great accuracy up to and including 1000 Yards.

First Question: Caliber. We've looked at the 223 due to having light rounds and high velocity but maybe it's too light for those distances in any wind.
The 7MM has sprung to mind but if we're doing that large of a round might as well go to the 30-06 but the wife is concerned with the recoil being an issue over time and also causing more maintenance.

Second Question: Rifle Make / Model. We both are wanting a 26" barrel but may settle for a 24". We've pretty much settled on the Rem 700 SPS Varmint due to it's ability to find it used somewhat easily, low cost, numerous easily obtained accessories and high resale value if we ever drop the hobby.

So... "Experts"... Talk to me here. What are some pro's and con's I / We aren't considering?

Thanks all in advance.

 

[liltank]

Well for starters, welcome to LRH. I am going to direct you to accurateshooter.com and 6mmbr.com (sister sight). These are some great sights to find good information on bench, F class, and F/TR class rifles and shooting. I think that instead of a 223 (especially for 1000yd) I would suggest calibers in 6mm. I really like the 6XC with 115grn bullets, 6mmbr would be a great round for ranges out to 800. 6.5mm will also fit this bill nicely in the Creedmore, 260 Remington, 6.5x47 Lapua and 6.5x284. All these are proving to be really good rounds to 1000 and beyond.

As far as rifles are concerned, there are some good factory made competition rifles made by Savage. But if you want to go balls to the wall with your equipment, then custom guns are a great way to go for target shooting. I am a Savage guy and they make a really good target action. The trigger can be set by you from 6oz-1.5#. For good target accuracy you'll want the trigger in the 10-12oz. range.

In the Savage rifles you can check these out. Also you want to look at specifically what class of competition you want to shoot. This will determine caliber, weight of gun, and styles of stocks you choose to use. Here are some of Savages offerings:
Savage Arms Firearms > 12 LRPV Dual Port

Savage Arms Firearms > 12 Palma

Savage Arms Firearms > 12 Long Range Precision (Good old .243 is quite the competitor now days)
Savage Arms Firearms > 12 F/TR F/TR your limited to .223 and .308 only in calibers
Savage Arms Firearms > 12 F Class F class I believe is open to just about any caliber you want (don't hold me to that).
Savage Arms Firearms > 12 Bench Rest

The last 3 I put up all have stocks that are better designed for riding in a rear bag and a front rest with a wide forearm for stability. If you look into heavy gun bench shooting the gun is unlimited in weight and can be any caliber you want.

Hope this gets you started. Welcome to the addiction.

Tank

 

[TallDalas]

Thanks tank, I have been really looking at the Savage lines quite closely.
I found the 78507 - Savage Model 11FXP3 Package Series Bolt Action Rifle .308 Winchester 22" Barrel 4 Rounds 3-9x40mm Scope Black Synthetic Stock Blued Barrel and I think for a beginner system it's probably my best "Bang for the buck" (Pun intended).
From there I can assess what does or does not work for me and make a more educated purchase from there in about 6 months to a year.

By the time I buy a specific marksman rifle, add a scope, rails, rings, etc. I'm going to be looking over $1000 easy. I could get a kit like this and basically learn what I can from it and pass it along for someone else to 'learn on'

I'm looking at it like how I tell friends to buy motorcycles. Buy you a cheap beat up *** first. make all your stupid mistakes on it (dropping it in the garage, letting kickstand melt into hot blacktop, etc. etc.) and when you learned then hand it off to the next NOOB and get you something to take care of.
Is that a good mentality to have?

 

[liltank]

If you want the true feel of a target rifle, then I would suggest the 12FV. If inexpensive is what you are looking for. Here is a package I put together for another guy that might be of some consideration. It will offer all you need and some customization as well.

(from another thread by me)
Here are some thoughts. You can pick up a Savage hunting action from factory for $375-$400 (w/accutrigger). Sin arms prefit barrels $275 (Savage Barrels) $180-$235 Stockade money saver stocks (unfinished, but doesn't require a lot of finish work), EGW base $40 (Savage Round Back Picatinny Rail Scope Mount: Evolution Gun Works Inc.), Weaver Tactical rings $30 a pair(Weaver Six Hole Tactical 30mm Rings), $25 SSS recoil lug (Savage Competition Recoil Lug), $400 Vortex Viper 6.5-20x44 (Vortex 6.5-20x44 Viper 30mm Rifle Scope I personally own this scope and love it!).

Total- $1325 w/ low price options
Total- $1405 w/ the upper pricing on action and stockade stock

You can figure another $100-200 for a muzzle break should you decide to put one on. These would be complete guns. I don't think you will be disappointed. The reason I suggested Sin-arms barrels is due to using Lothar Walther barrels.

 

[Kevin Thomas]

TallDalas,

Actually, the very first thing that you need to do is decide what sort of competition you want to get involved in. They're all different, and most require some very different equipment. F class is probably the easiest to get into, in that it can be done with what is essentially a hunting rifle. Silhouette, particularly in the Hunter (light) Rifle class is another. Both of these will allow you to get involved fairly inexpensively, even under the $1,000 mark you'd mentioned. On the same game, you can get into some major expense in either of these once you start getting into "purpose built" guns for the game. As far as High Power Across the Course (HP-XC), you can get into this fairly inexpensively in the Service Rifle category. Any of several National Match ARs on the market are essentially ready to go to the range for under $900 or so. Add a spotting scope, a shooting jacket, mat and stool and you're in business. In the NRA Match Rifle category, you can easily blow $1,000 on your front and rear sights alone, and still not have a rifle to attach them to. Some very big differences here. I'd urge you to go to some matches in your area and actually see the types of competitions that are out there. One of them may jump out at you and strike your interest. Don't just buy a rifle and set it up how you "think" it should be, since there's both rules governing equipment for most types of matches, as well as practical reasons why we choose the sorts of equipment we do. A little time spent on the range with some competitors will give you a much better idea of where you're headed here, and that's time well spent.

 

[Akiona]

+1

Rule #1
HAVE FUN!!!!