My first post & a basic question.......

[Creedmoor shooter]

Haha. I don't want to make any enemies over personal experiences and preferences. To each their own.

No enemies made here. Whatever someone has confidence in is what works best. It just happens ive had bad experiences. Whether they where flukes or not idk but after 3 of them i just cant in a clear conscience buy one unless for a custom build. I wish i never sold my ADL because i could have made it into a nice custom. But that was before i knew any better.

 

[lever-hed]

I like those Savage .260's, very cool; also the BVSS is a nice rig too, can't go wrong with the Precision Carbine too.. can go with a Rem700 police, or even a used benchrest.. whatever you choose, it won't be your only gun for reaching out/starting out, also, forgot, you will need a good optics too, it aint cheap for reading targets at 1000 either.. good luck!

 

[Deleted member 48126]

What about the savage hog rifle in 308? Any one have experience with that? It is cheap (400-500 i think) and looks pretty solid with its 20in heavy barrel. It also has the accutrigger.

 

[benchracer]

I am a long time shooter, but that does not mean I know it all.
I know a lot, but.......there is still a LOT to learn!!!!!!!

Out local gun club has a 600 yard range, and they are hoping to extend it to 1000 yards. I want to be able to play at these ranges......effectively.

I have shot 600 yards with iron sighted military rifles like the 1903 Springfield and the M1 Garand. I can hit and score fair at best. My 53 year old eyes and older, hard used body can't do the job as well as they used to be.

I want to purchase a bolt action rifle in a caliber suited for these 600 and 1000 yard ranges.

My wants are as follows..........

1. I am NOT going to purchase or build a custom gun. I will NOT be spending $1000 on a gun. I want an off-the-rack gun like a Remington 700 or a Tikka, Winchester, Savage, etc. I am looking for suggestions, and the lower the cost, the better.

2. I want a fairly easy caliber to work with. I can handle the recoil of a 300 Winchester Magnum, but much prefer milder recoiling calibers.
.308 and 30-06 are no problem. I don't want to spend large amounts of money
on near impossible to get brass.
New calibers like 6.5 Grendel and 26 Nosler intrigue me.
The old 300 H&H also intrigues me.
I want something somewhat affordable.
I do NOT want to spend a lot of time fussing over every aspect of loading ammo.
I can trim, I can weight, I can measure powder, etc.
In short.......I want something easy to work with, but maybe more modern than
the 30-06 or .308..............or an older caliber like the 300 H&H.
(I love older guns and calibers too)

I welcome all comment........even the critical ones.....and I expect some from
all I wrote here. That is OK.

First off, WELCOME TO LRH! I am not sure where, exactly, you are doing your shooting. I have shot 600 yard F-Class at ENGC in Louisville, NE. I hope to attend another match or two while I am home this spring. Based on your post, I am not sure if you intend to simply shoot out to 1000 yards or if you intend to shoot F-Class or some other rifle discipline. I will share with you some of my observations from the little bit of F-Class experience I have gained so far.

Where rifle choice is concerned, go with whatever flavor suits your fancy and your budget. A friend of mine dominated F-T/R matches at ENGC last year with a Remington SPS varmint rifle that he had bedded in a competition type laminated stock. I don't recall if he had any trigger work done or not. Mostly, he spent his time developing a consistent load for his rifle and practiced a bit in the off season. He doesn't do anything special with his handloads, just basic loading technique.

If you stay in F-T/R class, you can be competitive with an off-the-shelf rifle. F-T/R limits you to .223 or .308, however. Remington and Savage both make rifles that are popular for this sort of thing. In the past, the Savage rifles performed well and had a significant price advantage. In the last couple of years, though, Savage prices have gone up a lot, making things pretty even from a price standpoint.

Where caliber choice is concerned, if you plan to shoot in competition, your caliber choice will be dictated by the rules constraints of your chosen discipline. In F-Class, for example, if you want to shoot something besides .223 or .308, that will put you in F-Open class, where you will be shooting against more highly skilled shooters with high dollar everything. An off-the-shelf rifle isn't going to cut it in F-Open.

Whether your rifle will be used for competition or not, a 6.5mm or 7mm will provide the optimum combination of velocity, bc, recoil, and barrel life for 1000 yards. The rub, though, is that most off-the-shelf rifles chambered for a 6.5 or 7mm tend to be set up for hunting and chambered for cartridges that are likewise primarily hunting cartridges. The best options in the 6.5/7mm class tend to be cartridges generally not found in production rifles and/or not easily found in heavy barrel production rifles.

I strongly recommend that you consider buying and re-barreling an off-the-shelf rifle if you do not intend to shoot F-T/R class. This will give you more choices and increase the likelihood that you will come up with something that gives you the performance you want.

If you insist on an out-of-the-box rifle, your choices of suitable cartridges (other than .308 and .223) will mostly consist of .260 Remington, 6.5 Creedmoor, or 6.5-284. The best long range offerings from Savage, Ruger, and Remington are normally in the $1000 to $1200 range. You may be able to find what you are looking for in lower priced models from Remington and Savage, depending on what specific features you are after. It looks like the new Remington 700 Long Range may expand your options considerably over the chamberings I have mentioned. For an off-the-shelf rifle, the best advice I can offer is to go look at what is out there, decide on the models, chamberings, and budget that you would consider, then keep an eye out for a good deal on what you are looking for.

 

[Duane Waterson]

I recently bought a tikka t3 lite in 300wsm. I upgraded the recoil pad to a limb saver and also swapped the aluminum recoil lug out for a steel one.... have been working on a load using 180 grain nosler accubond very impressive accuracy! Great factory trigger on mine. I purchased mine because I don't always want to carry my long, heavy and loud (muzzle brake) .338 rum. Or lapua mag. What my input is on this is tikka is a great shooting factory gun, but they are "lite" as for sitting down at a range and taking shot after shot it may start to take a toll on you, at least in heavier calibers. I handle recoil well and have shot as many as 24 shots at one sitting doing load development giving it cooling time between shots. And it didn't bother me. A friend of mine shot it and thought recoil was stout.... great hunting gun. May be a few better as far as a bench gun if recoil may be an issue.

 

[mtmuley]

The OP needs to find a good used Sendero in 7mm Remington magnum. Should be able to for under a grand if he looks hard enough, and apply the savings to a quality scope. Tons of bullets with the BCs required for long range available, fairly easy to load for and in a Sendero, manageable recoil. The Savage/Remington arguement was interesting. I have been reading about Savages chambered in .300 RUM coming apart. I refuse to get behind one in any chambering. mtmuley

 

[JOHNNIE WALKER]

I dont have a savage hog rifle, but I do have a predator max 1 in 260. Since I started reloading for this rifle I have fell in love with it. I really like my other savages, but this is really nice. The 308 in a wonderful round but a 6.5mm bullet on the 308 case just makes it so much more interesting. As I stated earlier, the 6.5mm bullets really are amazing.
When I was considering which rifle to add to my collection, I seriously considered a 308, as well as several other rounds, but when I finally narrowed down it was between the 260 and the 6.5X284. Sometimes I wish I would of went with the 6.5X284, but to late now. Since your wanting to shoot out to a 1000, I would try to get the highest BC bullet you can moving as fast as you can, with an amount of recoil you can manage, as well as afford to shoot. I'm sure you have several ideas, and are having a hard time deciding. We have all been there. Please make sure you let us know what you decide.

 

[Michael Eichele]

Welcome.

The shooter is important yes but it really is a complete system. If there is any weak link, the chain breaks.

Smaller calibers can be less fussy and certainly offer less recoil and longer barrel life. Longer life = more trigger time.

IMHO, this has 260, 708, 308 written all over it. The 260 will kick you the least, and have the least barrel life. The 308 will hit you a bit harder but have more life. Despite what is popular belief, the three all have equal windage potential (wind is going to be the biggest nemesis).

So, windage being equal, you have to decide if its going to be the least recoil or the longest bore life, or the middle ground. If you ever decide to incorporate this rig as a long range hunting rig, it's a clear choice for me. Larger will deliver more downrange energy. But I'm not you and you may not be needing this to pull double duty as a hunting rifle. So, if not, recoil or life is the big question.

 

[roninflag]

Fellas, relax! It's not the gun, or the caliber, it's the shooter.

OP- Get whatever brand rifle that YOU have most confidence in, in whatever caliber you like. The more time you spend pulling the trigger, relates to how consistent you can shoot tighter groups. No substitute for trigger time.

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This is opposite of my experience. Having a capable rilfe/barrel/trigger/scope/ammo is very important. go to an F-class match, see what wins , see what works. not many model 94's there.

 

[Jcub]

This is opposite of my experience. Having a capable rilfe/barrel/trigger/scope/ammo is very important. go to an F-class match, see what wins , see what works. not many model 94's there.

We are talking FACTORY bolt rifles, not complete custom rifles or lever actions for that matter.



Try reading the entire thread.

 

[roninflag]

We are talking factory BOLT rifles, not complete custom rifles or lever actions for that matter.



Try reading the entire thread.

The OP mentioned 600 and 1000 yard ranges for targets. i have shot in competition at these ranges. the marksman shooting these ranges shoot what works. the factory sporter rifles do not fair well even with a good marksman. My experience is if you come to the shooting line with something that does not work...... it is similar, but not exactly the same as a ford focus vs a dodge charger. just my experience.

 

[roninflag]

the winchest laredo and the remington sendero and remingotn40x are factory rifles but not sporters. i have seen them do well.

 

[Jcub]

1. I am NOT going to purchase or build a custom gun. I will NOT be spending $1000 on a gun. I want an off-the-rack gun like a Remington 700 or a Tikka, Winchester, Savage, etc. I am looking for suggestions, and the lower the cost, the better.

When it comes to a rifle of this quality, it's going to be more about the person pulling the trigger.

The OP mentioned 600 and 1000 yard ranges for targets. i have shot in competition at these ranges..

Am I suppose to be impressed that you shoot competitions at 600 and 1000 yards?

I shot at people at those distances in Afghanistan, let me tell you, I wasn't shooting a top of the line bolt action rifle either. Most the time it wasn't even a bolt action, and every time it wasn't with hand-loads.


So I'll say it again, with what he's trying to accomplish, it's going to be more about his ability than his rifle's.

 

[Creedmoor shooter]

When it comes to a rifle of this quality, it's going to be more about the person pulling the trigger.





Am I suppose to be impressed that you shoot competitions at 600 and 1000 yards?

I shot at people at those distances in Afghanistan, let me tell you, I wasn't shooting a top of the line bolt action rifle either. Most the time it wasn't even a bolt action, and every time it wasn't with hand-loads.


So I'll say it again, with what he's trying to accomplish, it's going to be more about his ability than his rifle's.

But a shooters ability will not matter if his equipment isnt up to par. A shooter needs to have capable equipment. A gun that groups 2in @ 100 yards is not a 1000 yard rifle. No matter what kind of skills you have. I think you need to find the happy medium.....