Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting most accurate rife

Look to up grade some of my rifes. So what would be the most accurate rife out of the box for less then $1300?

I guess that depends. What cartridge, first of all. mtmuley

Do you want that price to include the scope?

Yes, what cartridge and for what uses?

Savage, Sako.

That's a bit of a loaded question, if you'll pardon the expression. There are lots of wonderfully accurate rifles for that price and less. And within particular types/brands, you can always find individual rifles that will shine in comparison to identical models. Beyond that, you can experiment with various types of factory ammo to find the most accurate load for a given rifle and, of course, work up stunningly accurate loads by handloading.

The questions is... what level of accuracy are you looking for "out of the box?"

Scope would be not include in the $1300. I don't want to get in a cartridge debate. I think of along the line of the Sendero,Wby Mark 5?,the Wby Van sub moa also the Browning or any gun makers.

Sako rifles are shooters & Remington has the Rem 700 5R.

You can get a good one from any manufacture if you are lucky, but if you want to hedge your bet then buy a Tikka or Savage.

Buy one that guarantees less than one MOA. There are a few out there like Weatherby, Winchester, Kimber and I think Tika. Just a thought. Chief

Savage.

bea175 speaks the truth.

Dave

Ditto on Bea's post too.
Put Remmy as a third choice-Yea, I'm prejudiced

If it a long range shooter than think Sendero, you get a good package , new Rem trigger, bedding block in the stock etc, and they can be very very accurate, way out there

From my experience Cooper is the way to go. You should be able to get into a new one for about that money. Call 1st Stop at Rapid City SD and ask for Mark. Every Cooper that I have shoots in the 2's or 3's.

I've purchased many rifles through the years and the best out of the box shooter was a 12F 30 inch SS 6.5x284 Norma mag, Accutrigger Savage. That's in the price range that you state, but didn't elaborate on for what hunting or target? At 15 pds bit heavy for hunting and a single shot. Shooting pop cans at 460 yds with about 70% hits. Of all the rifles that I have this is the best one but I don't use it for hunting. Can hit basketball size targets at 1/2 mile with 338/378 but this thing outshoots my Accumark hands down.

1300 would have me looking hard.... couple hundred for a beat up donor action, more hundreds for an MC stock. 500 or so to rebarrel....

No way if I"m in that ballpark of money that I'd buy a factory one anyway.

But you do state out of the box. Savage has a good record lately... If you go along the lines of the guaranteed wtbys and such, realize it may be only ONE load that does it.... and if you go something like sendero, realize you'll have to tweak the trigger some, possibly replace it though replacement springs usually do well with some adjustment, and that the bedding block in them should be bedded anyway as they actually often hinder accuracy rather than help it.

I"ve yet to see a Sako that wouldn't shoot, heard of some Tikkas that wouldn't but have never seen one.

Most every Rem heavy tubed gun I've seen shoots well but might take some work, and actually I"ve never seen a 700 that I couldn't make shoot moa or less with some work.

A Marlin XL in 270 with the barrel free floated and the action glass bedded. Set the trigger to 1.5 lb and spend all the $ you save on a fine scope and the best binocs made. This barrel was not even begun to be broken in, had just been cleaned and I had a crap Burris 3-9 30mm TAC on it at the time.

Nice rifle -Marlin you say. That's some fine shooting also by the way.

1 Sako, or 2 Tikka's.

i know it isn't as popular as some of the others, but look seriously at a cz550. i have never seen one that wasn't a shooter. i am not real nuts about the set trigger, but it can't hurt your shooting. the upsides are controlled round feeding, dovetailed scope mount, the ability to get a 9.3x62 chambering, and absolute reliability. the downsides are heft, ugly wood, and a backwards safety. you would come in way under your 1600.00 budget and could afford a zeiss conquest 3-9 and have money left over for a laser rangefinder. -keith

The most accurate out of the box gun I have ever seen was a remington M700sps in 308. This rifle has honestly never had anything done to it still has the typical remington 8lb trigger and still shoots under 1/2moa everytime without question. Now I would never go and say something like remingtons are the most accurate rifles out of the box but I do know you would be hard pressed to find one that shoots better. YMMV

Savage.

Then, would depend on what you are looking for in terms of barrel length, cartridge, length of shots, portability, etc.

Too many variables including YOUR preferences. Long or short action? Standard or mag or ultra mag or belted mag? Something to carry in the woods or shoot from a ridgetop? Max range that you plan to ever have to shoot? Standard or bull barrel?

Mine personally is a Rem 700 VLS in .308. Medium weight 26" barrel. Factory laminate stock floated, bedded & trigger tuned to 1 3/4#. Leupold 4.5-14 x 40 mil dot/target turrets. Medium range as far as total weight & easy on the shoulder. It'll shoot 1/4 MOA and has killed more than one groundhog at the 600+ mark. Put together about 7 or 8 years ago & it fit in the $1300 range at that time for scope & all. Did all the other work myself so I can't say what the 'smithing would have cost.

cooper has the greatest guarentee of accuracy. my 257roy was a great thing hitter, but dissapointing group shooter. sako and savage are consitently great shooters. I hope my new sako gets here soon! (dang slow PO)

Bowedark,

It seems some of the post are a little long so will participate in a long one.

My buddy purchased a 26" barrel Remington .223. He wanted me to work up a good load. The best I could do was 3/4" for five shots. I sent to him and he duplicated my efforts. He called and asked what I would do. "Sell it and buy a Savage." So he did.

Again I was to work up a load for him. Since I did the shoot and clean for the first fifty rounds with mine, I was going to do the same with his. When I got to the range, I realized I forgot the cleaning rod. (I know none of my .com friends have never done anything like that.) There was no way I was not going to fire at least three shots before leaving. I did. Using the load I developed for my own Savage, I fired the three: Would you Savage boys be surprised at 3/8"? I don't shoot and clean anymore.

I called him with the info. "Meet me in Klamath Falls!"

A few hours later we were shaking hands. He stepped off 110 long steps, put up a target and fired off the hood of his car. The first five he fired made a group of 4/10". We then proceeded to kill some rock chucks the Lord had graciously porvided for our entertainment.

In an over-counter hunting rifle the new SC M70's have been shooting impressively.Hurts to say they are shooting as well as my Krieger-barreled sporters.

For tuning they have required absolutely nothing but mounting a scope.

It would be tough to beat this 1 shot group with a Model 70 257 Roberts.

Conditions:
Wind; Slight breeze
Light; Daylight
Rest; Bench
Scope; 3-9 Zeiss

Man Shrap, I always knew that you were a heck of a offhand shooter...

Dober

Some pre 64 M70's go for less than $1300 unless they are in some rare cartridge.

At least with a pre 64 70 you will have something to be proud of and will be easier to sell.

shrapnel,

That group matches the best I ever did. 1/16" with my .375-.416 Rem out of K14 Klienguenther. The velocity with 265 grain G.S.Custom H.V. was 3,055, 3,050, 3,055. I fired another and the group opened up to 5/16" and another and it made a five shot group of 1/2".

But then, it did 3/8" a lot with Sierra 300 grainers.

1300? HAVE ONE BUILT?NO BRAINIER, BUY A USED RIFLE THAT HAS AN ACCEPTABLE STOCK FOR YOUR TASTE.$400 , BUY A BARREL $400. pAY A SMITH $400 TO BLUE PRINT , CHAMBER, CROWN AND INSTALL, BED. DONE.

I have had a few Savages and they all shoot... I just sent one of my Savages off to Stockade Guns for a remake... so it will be my reworked Savage action new barrel and some other goodies.. I am just barely out of the price range you are talking and I am sure it will shoot...

I just saw an add for a new Marlin, and the highlights were all straight out of a savage ad. Pillar bedded, new trigger (that looks like an Accutrigger), barrel nut for precise headspace, etc. It's a formula that has worked for Savage.

The Rem Sendero Stainless are unreal accurate when bedded. The Rem 700 Stainless when put in a good laminated or fiberglass stock will shoot better than most people can shoot.

Every savage that I have owned had the roughest barrels you could imagine, they shot well, but I sure used up a lot of dollars in cleaning solvents.

Yeah I found the fouling high also, not sure why? You figure it's the SS barrel? I look down it and it looks real shiny in reference to the Savage 12F 6.5x284 norma mag c/w 30 inch 1 inch bar. I figured my primers weren't hot enough. ???? If we lap the barrel does it produce less fouling?

378Canuck,
Every firearm I have firelapped has been easier to clean. Some have improved accuracy. My .454 increased a few feet per second in velocity. None seemed to be negitively affected.

Fire lapping came into it's own in the 80's. I fire lapped a few barrels, and ruined a few barrels.

An understanding of how a barrel is drilled and rifled is in order.

The hole is deep hole drilled first. In custom barrels, the hole is lapped to get rid of the drill marks, then a button is either pulled or pushed through, then final lapped. If the hole is not lapped prior to the button being pulled/pushed through, the tool marks can never be removed.

There is also Cut rifle'd barrels and hammer forged barrels.

As Ringman said, firelapping will improve cleaning, but you realize that it was a real bitch to get the barrel clean to begin with.

With fire lapping, you will increase the amount of freebore or bullet jump, thus possibly decreasing the amount of servicable shooting you will get out of the barrel, which depends on the level of accuracy that you are expecting out of your rifle.

You should consider yourself in one hell of a mess before you ever consider firelapping.

Just two comments on this thread:

ohiohunter--It has been many years since the CZ 550 had the "backwards safety."

keith (and others)--Ultra Bore Coat is much more reliable than fire-lapping and, in my experience, a much more effective treatment for a rough bore.

Tubbs Final Finish certainly made one of my rifles easier to clean. It didn't hurt accuracy either. May have to try the Ultra Bore Coat. I'm all for anything that makes cleaning easier. On a side note, I just tried Wipeout and so far I'm impressed. Very easy, no smell, and it really seems to have done a nice job.

I'll try that MD. Thanks for tip. You know ever since I purchased a Rem 742 and happened to be cleaning rifles that night and figured what the hell I'll run a patch through just for fun. Anyway after we had a look at the cleaning patch and noted it was really black and had what seemed like tiny filings, ever since I always clean my new rifles to make sure and you wouldn't believe how dirty they are.

The Remington Varmint rifles are very accurate and affordable....And yes Savage is doing very well to now!

cooper rifle add a couple hundred and you have a fine shooting rifle.

+6 on the tikka

TIKKA

Remington 5r

I would have to give the nod to CZ or Savage for the most accurate rifles out of the box nowdays! CZ's have the set trigger on some models and Savage has that very accurate trigger and it works great.

Now of course the caliber you choose will have some bearing on accuracy as well but these two brands of rifles have been very accurate for me right out of the box. They are less than half the money you mentioned in your post.

In the past, I woulda voted for Tikka as well, but a couple weeks ago I got a new Browning X-bolt. Within the first 12 shots, I was able to shoot a 3 shot ragged hole at 100 yards.
X-bolt

3 consecutive groups at 100 yards:



Most satisfying. It was always a beautiful rifle, but would tease me with 3 in one hole, then toss the next one 2 inches away. Lots of work on loads, techniques, and tuning. It was built in 1977, and I literally worked on it, off & on for 20 years to get it shooting that well.

That series was after fire lapping. That photo was shot several years ago, before I ever heard of Ultra Bore Coat. I might try UBC in the future, should I need it again.

My Browning B78 .25-06 will actually outshoot this Ruger, but that's another story.

Speaking of accuracy what would a auto loader Browning in 300mag or 338 look like. Which would you choose? I really like the new model with the camo. What kind of groups would be the norm?

I'd try one of these: http://www.fieldandstream.com/articles/gear/hunting/2009/08/best-new-rifle-2009-er-shaw-mark-vii


270

I would add Howa's to the list as well.

This from my Howa .308win with the standard barrel. The red dots used to aim at are 1/2" diameter...



Another group with factory Lapau ammo. This rifle also places the first shot from a cold clean barrel "into the group" which is a great confidence giver on a hunting rifle

I will chime in with my vote for Tikka and Savages. I don't even bother to look at Remingtons anymore, except as donor actions for custom guns. It is much easier (and significantly cheaper)to just buy a Tikka or Savage, do some load development and call it good.

Man you sure know how to shoot. That's some pretty impressive stuff and nice presentation.

Thanks, but I'm still very much at the stage where some days are better than others...

As to the presentation, I found that I wasn't really keeping decent records of my reloading and my lack of organisation was starting to cause problems.

So I decided to use the system shown above. Bascially I stick a couple of those red aiming points on some plain A4 paper and shoot my groups. I number each dot, and then record the data pertaining to it in a small rough notebook.

Back home, I overlay each target with a 5x3" busicard template and cut it out so I have room to transfer the info from the notebook to the side of it..These 5x3" targets are then stored in a filing box meant for 5x3" index cards..

Sometimes you have to be a bit creative when you overlay the template on target so as to get enough room for all the info..



The other thing I've started to do religiously at the range is record the first shot from a cold clean barrel. With the two rifles I've started doing this with, both shoot that first shot into their normal zero group..

Regards,

Peter

any one you shoot good and keep your shots in the bull eye

In my collection, it's a Savage Model 10 Predator Hunter in 22-250.

I owned two remington ADL's. The first was a 270win and was pretty accurate. the second was a 30-06 and was very inaccurate. I owned 4 ruger mrkII and hawkeyes. all have been very accurate. Average group was 1" at 100 yards and all could do 1/2" at 100 yards with the right load. the Ruger 338 win I had could do 1/2" at 200 yards with a particular load.
the One CZ I owned would do 1" or under with most loads.
I owned a Savage 30-06 that I couldn't get under 2", but I think it's because the savage didn't fit me right and hurt to shoot more than my 375 ruger. it could've been accurate. I've never tryed weatherby, tika, sako, winchester, or higher end remingtons, but I always hear about sako being very accurate.

Marlin XS 7 in .308. I put a thin cardboard shim under the front part of the action to cause the barrel to be free floated, adjusted the trigger to perfect, real easy and quick, swabbed the bore a couple of times and it was ready to shoot. Loaded some 165 corelocts with a bit less than book max with some BLC2 and headed for the range. I had a twenty year younger friend do the shooting and here is what happened on the fifth, sixth, and seventh rounds. Barrel , I would say, is "broken in."

O the price. On sale at Cabellas for $259.99. Scope was an old Burris that had just an old, heavy reticule. I put a different scope on it and will do some more shooting in the next day or two.

Still don't know what your long term plans are as far as cartridge and use but if you can find a LTD-V Marlin 45-70 it will scare you. The most accurate out of the box rifle I have ever seen. Here are a couple of groups from it.
Groups from my V

Dont like to shoot the bullseye as it becomes a lousy aim point when its shot out with bullet holes...

savage 112 in 7mm rem mag

I'll echo a couple of posts on the Marlin XS/XL. With advice and assistance from a couple of old hands in the shooting game I bedded the action and fully floated the barrel on my .308 and with Federal Gold Medal Match ammo my shooting partner can put three rounds inside five inches at 500 yards. It stays sub MOA or right at up to 500 yards. Even I can shoot it close to MOA up to 500 yards.

It won't shoot the kind of .5 inch or less groups at 100 yards that some of these guys are posting, and it does start to open up past 500 yards. But I'd say that's still pretty impressive for a 22" sporter barrel running $300. Every one I've seen or read about is far more accurate than a pencil barrel has a right to be. For $1300 you could by two of them and still put a decent scope on 'em. laugh

Out of the Box No Doubt Remington

Not by a long shot, in my experience. I would rank them no better than fourth, behind Sako, Tikka, and Savage.

Surely you jest..

Gotta go with Sako and for the money Tikka number 2.

Kimber... grin....

I agree with Bowedark. IMO the rifles he listed have a consistency that most off the shelf and many custom rifles do not.

Tack

bcjr has the correct answer with out a doubt. the donor "used rifle" should be a remington 700 or sako or tikka; but it could be a model 70 or weatherby and possibly others.

First of all thank for info. Will i replace the 7mm with the Vanduard Sub Moa 7mm bolt on a Burris 4.5x14x42 ballistic plex (photo)


The test target is what sold me.


Shot on paper at 100yds move 200yds 4 shot 1st shot low 6 click up 3 more shot 5/16 to 5/8" over all (Photo)


Then move out to 400yds 3 more shot 7/8 to 1 1/2" (Photo)


The trigger has some creep, new trigger on the way. The sock is touching the barrel will work on that.

Is this a shooter? Thank Again

I"d have tuned that trigger before dropping cash on a replacement...

Looks like it shoots decent though.

Much less than 1300.

Hands down correct answer for 1300 area is still custom... anything less, is less.... I had a Rem 700... traded a 224 tube for a 308 tube even up, IE 300 in the tube. Had it printed and set up.... 400 bucks, and an Mc A5... 500 or less...

First shots out of it at 100 were .202 inches for 3 shots. With an unproven reload... and the first shots at 725 yards landed 5 in a group around 7-8 inches basically as rougly measured, while having to hold off for elevation...

Ain't many rifles going to shoot that snug right out of the box.
The rare one may.

7 Rem. mag has always been my favorite for long range-killed deer at over 500 yds. and one was the most accurate I ever had in my rack- I like it better than the Weatherby 7 mag.-brass is not as high and it uses 10gr. less powder

7 mags have an issue as you pass 600yards... at least they just do wild things on paper at 1000 generally.. the only round I've seen perform reliably at 1000 in 7mm was teh wsm. all the other 7 mags just don't cut it.

Though the 284 and 7/08 are ok by far. Something about the larger cases.

That is NOT the case going to larger cased .308 rounds.

The most accurate,never to see a gunsmith, rifle i have owned was a Rem. 700 Sendero 7mm STW with factory brake. It has shot six consecutive groups of less than 1/2" with the best at .191". I sold it to buy a new Win. SC Model 70 Super Grade .270 Win.which won't shoot two 1" groups in a row.

I'm throwing in with Rost495 on this one. Even though you said factory rifle, for $1300 or so you can get a real shooter by doing just what rost495 suggested. I know this because I've done it many times. Always use a quality smith who'll back up his work. Then read J.B's piece on how to load good, straight ammo and be happy.