Extremely new newbie!

[Birdoprey]

Greetings!

First off i want to express my gratitude to this site and its members. There is a wealth of knowledge and experience on here. In fact, its quite overwhelming!

Saying i'm new to Long Range shooting does not really tell the whole story. I've not owned a gun of any kind in over 24 years(and those were 22's that i inherited). I have gone hunting with a borrowed rifle(270) once in my life and managed to drop a doe at around 125yards. Thats been close to 20 yrs ago...
In the past few years, i've become more and more interested in trying my hand at shooting targets up to 1000yds. I have no desire to hunt, just the challenge of shooting decent groups with my son.
Things being how they are, i have to do this as cheap as possible. In a effort to minimize $$$ wasted on things not necessary or having the wrong combination of parts, i've spent countless hours on this site(as well as others). Remember the overwhelming part? lol
After much searching i decided that i wanted something in the .300 Win Mag. I wanted something as custom as possible but also as cheap as possible(i know custom and cheap are not normally in the same sentence). Last week i pulled the trigger and purchased a Savage 111 Long Range Hunter from a member here. It has a 27" heavy Benchmark barrel with brake. The action and barrel have been nitraded. Has had the "accurizing" treatment done by Savagegunsmithing.com(includes bedding). My hope is this rifle will be capable of 1/2 MOA groups if i can do my part? The rifle should be here tomorrow(i can't wait!).
Now i have to save up for other things like scope, spotting scope, case, cleaning kit, bipod/stand, etc. This is where i could really use some insight from those with experience. Since i'm totally new to this, i have no idea what i would want in a scope. There are so many options. Most articles i've read are more geared to tracking game(many times in low light conditions). I'm just going to be shooting paper, in mostly good conditions. I do think i want something variable. I plan to start at 100 yards and work my way out. I will not be able to afford much if any trial and error, especially with the cost of some scopes. Given my plans to shoot paper, and the rig i have, what would you suggest?
What would be a good cleaning kit for the rifle i have? I'll be honest, i've not done any research on whats available.
I feel i'll end up learning to reload to help keep costs down and hopefully help with accuracy. To start off, i'll have to shoot factory ammo. Here again are hosts of options! Where would you with experience start?

Any thoughts, advice, warnings, etc will be most appreciated!

-Mark

 

[jpd676]

Welcome. Your rifle should get you to 1000 and reloading is key to accuracy. For the budget minded, a Harris S series bi pod would be good. If you are shooting from a bench the 6-9 works well. SWFA sells a super sniper line that is of very good quality, especially for the money. The fixed 10X ($300) was on my first long range set up and I could reach 1000 yards on a 300 mag with no problem. They also sell variable power scopes. The Sightron SIII series is also a solid scope. There are many ways to clean a rifle; an OTIS cleaning kit is a good way to go. If you post your budget for a scope you will probably get more opinions. I haven't shot factory ammo in a while so I can't recommend one to try. I would go with heavy for caliber bullets and do research to find bullets with high BC (ballistic coefficient).

 

[gusd]

Here are my thoughts on a scope. To start with to give any recommendations we on this site will need more info from you. I will try my best with what I think are a few important questions I am sure there will be more questions from others on this site.
1. Budget
2. First Focal plane or Second Focal plane. Will you be ranging with the reticle?
3. Reticle. Do you think you will be dialing for wind and quick follow up shots or holding over?
And my best piece of advise don't get to hung up on the opinions for everything you "need" to go out and shoot long range.
It can be done and you can have fun doing it with just about any rifle set up. By no means do you need a $5000 rifle with a $3000 scope on it!!!!
There are lots of $500 set ups that will get you out there having fun!!

 

[roninflag]

Bird- I would get a 36 leup or a 6.5-20.

 

[Birdoprey]

Welcome. Your rifle should get you to 1000 and reloading is key to accuracy. For the budget minded, a Harris S series bi pod would be good. If you are shooting from a bench the 6-9 works well. SWFA sells a super sniper line that is of very good quality, especially for the money. The fixed 10X ($300) was on my first long range set up and I could reach 1000 yards on a 300 mag with no problem. They also sell variable power scopes. The Sightron SIII series is also a solid scope. There are many ways to clean a rifle; an OTIS cleaning kit is a good way to go. If you post your budget for a scope you will probably get more opinions. I haven't shot factory ammo in a while so I can't recommend one to try. I would go with heavy for caliber bullets and do research to find bullets with high BC (ballistic coefficient).

Thanks for the reply and info. I don't really have a budget, but will have to save for longer to be able to purchase something more expensive. Realistically, i would like to keep it around $500 but will go higher for something that would be better for what i'm doing.

 

[Birdoprey]

Here are my thoughts on a scope. To start with to give any recommendations we on this site will need more info from you. I will try my best with what I think are a few important questions I am sure there will be more questions from others on this site.
1. Budget
2. First Focal plane or Second Focal plane. Will you be ranging with the reticle?
3. Reticle. Do you think you will be dialing for wind and quick follow up shots or holding over?
And my best piece of advise don't get to hung up on the opinions for everything you "need" to go out and shoot long range.
It can be done and you can have fun doing it with just about any rifle set up. By no means do you need a $5000 rifle with a $3000 scope on it!!!!
There are lots of $500 set ups that will get you out there having fun!!

1) Would like to get something decent for around $500, but willing to spend more for a better "fit" for what i'm doing
2) Like i mentioned, this is new to me. I have read up on FFP and SFP, but i'm not sure which would be best for shooting paper at long range. Was hoping someone with experience shooting paper would chime in with what they have found to work best.
3) Again, i'm not sure. I should have plenty of time and don't see me having to make quick follow up shots.

Your last advice is what i'm trying to follow. I've read many examples where others have had very accurate setups with out a huge cash outlay.

 

[Birdoprey]

Bird- I would get a 36 leup or a 6.5-20.

Thank you sir. I'll take a look at it!

 

[gusd]

I agree a Leupold 6.5-20 would be a good fit for what you are doing. I do not think you would want or need a FFP or any fancy reticle. The TMOA reticle on a leupold I would think would be a good choice.
Like I said before there are lots of good lower priced choices especially on used scopes and the nice part is most have lifetime transferable warranty's

 

[Birdoprey]

Thanks again for the reply.

Are we talking any Leopold 6.5x20? I see VX series, Mark 4's and a couple of others.

 

[gusd]

Ya the leupold VX III 6.5-20 are nice scopes in fact I just sold one on here a couple weeks ago for $575

 

[Birdoprey]

Ya the leupold VX III 6.5-20 are nice scopes in fact I just sold one on here a couple weeks ago for $575

Story of my life! A day late and a dollar short...! lol

 

[Predator 22]

First off welcome to the forum! The recommendation on scopes in the posts are great choices, you might look at the vortex line as well, no need for ffp. Harris bipod's are great another option is a front rest and a rear bag. I've been using a cheap calldwell front rest for a few years now and really like it. Don't buy a cleaning "kit" it has stuff that you don't need. Buy a good coated rod like the ones from Dewey and the jags and brushes for your specific caliber. Another must is a good bore guide. For solvents I like wipe-out and carb-out but there are several other products that work good. Save your brass and get a reloading setup asap, or better yet find a buddy close by that reloads and use his equipment. Kind of hard to justify the cost of reloading for only one gun.
Good luck and above all else have fun.

 

[Birdoprey]

First off welcome to the forum! The recommendation on scopes in the posts are great choices, you might look at the vortex line as well, no need for ffp. Harris bipod's are great another option is a front rest and a rear bag. I've been using a cheap calldwell front rest for a few years now and really like it. Don't buy a cleaning "kit" it has stuff that you don't need. Buy a good coated rod like the ones from Dewey and the jags and brushes for your specific caliber. Another must is a good bore guide. For solvents I like wipe-out and carb-out but there are several other products that work good. Save your brass and get a reloading setup asap, or better yet find a buddy close by that reloads and use his equipment. Kind of hard to justify the cost of reloading for only one gun.
Good luck and above all else have fun.

Thanks for the welcome! I'm really excited to get out and shoot, just gotta wait till i can get a few more things. Which Vortex scopes would you recommend? I've been looking at the Leupolds but have yet to get the $$$ saved to be in their territory.
Thanks for your thoughts on the cleaning kits. Had not thought about that. I'll probably be hunting a reloading setup to do myself as i don't know of anyone that reloads("know" enough to trust that is).

 

[Predator 22]

I like the hs-t, hs-lr, and pst models. Most of my scopes are in the 4-16 or better magnification. If you look in the classifieds here you can find some good deals and they have a transferable warranty.