Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Wanted: Sniper rifle <1000 bucks

I keep forgetting things, bear with me.

I bought a Weatherby Vangard 300 Weatherby a few years ago. (It wears Weatherby's custom aluminum bedded stock, not the rubbermaid stock that comes on the rifle) I hunt with it some but it I mostly shoot distant rocks with it. The trigger is good and accuracy outstanding with some bullets especially heavy bullets.

I loaded up some 190/200gr Boattails from Hornady and Sierra (non MAtch) over a moderate charge of Rel 22 for around 2800fps. They shoot sub 1/2MOA when I do my part. The less than max loads are not too punishing for the first box or so. They do get a bit obnoxious for extended shooting sessions. I have been shooting this rifle a lot as my "for now" sniper rifle. I have lots of confidence in it but want a lighter recoiling rifle for more shooting. I have put nearly 600 rounds through the Weatherby and I don't want to wear it out. It is a good hunting rifle.

I am also concidering another Vangard with custom stock in 308 Win as a matching rifle. I know the Howa Action is not American Made but I have owned five rifles on this action and they shoot good enough to make me take notice.

CM

you could very well roll your own 6.5x284 also.
$300 action
$500 at pacnor
$200 hs/remmy stock and bipod
looking for glass, priceless.
woofer

CM:

If I were you, I think I'd call"BS" on your trucker friend's story. I find that one more than a little hard to believe. An A-Bolt coming out of the Quantico Armory?!?!? I don't think so. Never saw it in my Marine Corps.

Anyway, back to your rifle...

You could have the most successfully used sniper rifle in history for your $1,500: the Mosin-Nagant. Here's one of a few at GunsAmerica.com: http://www.gunsamerica.com/guns/976523519.htm

Good luck,
RSY

There's a reason the Mosin-Nagant is not seen in todays benchrest/tactical shooting world.

Well, I hear BS every day. It is difficult to decide truth from error when one is learning. It could very well have been a BS story about the A bolt.

In my book buy Small Arms of the World by Smith and Smith, it shows a 1942 model 1903 A4 Springfield w/ 10X Unertl scope. I would scrounge big bucks together if I could to get one. I think it is one of the neatest rifles I've seen.

I really want an American Made rifle (hense my hesitation to build one on a Weatherby Vangard action). In the wake of our endevors around the world in the name of Freedom, I just would like to build up a good American Made Sniper Rifle.

Thx, for your comments and advice.

CM

The .308 is a fine round for learning the long range ropes. It's easy on the shoulder and pocketbook. It will shoot accurately to the yardages you mentioned as long as you use some "slippery" bullets. Ifn' I was in your shoes I'd gather a slightly used Rem 700 PSS or VS put a Lupy Mark IV 3.5x10x40 Tactical on top using Warne Maxima rings and a Farrell 20 minute base. I can like the 26" PSS over the 20" LTR when it comes to shooting past 600yds.

The above set-up would come in under the price you quoted and do everything you want.

X-VERMINATOR

Savage 10FP LE2B just under $1000 in a McMillian stock. As the stock drops, the price drops.

www.savagearms.com

LE2Bs sell for around $800.

http://www.impactguns.com/store/savage_10fple2b.html

....another vote for the Remington 700 LTR in .308. Mine is set up with a Warne Tactical base, Leupold PRW rings and Leupold 3.5-10x40 Long Range M3. Federal Match runs .4 MOA @2600 fps. Handload of 46 gr./WW748/Federal case/CCI Benchrest primer/2.790 LOA/165 Hornady SST/2710 fps is shooting .35 MOA. Bought the rifle and scope used...whole thing was $1300.00.
The short barrel is so much better balanced than the 26" tubes....
Bob

True enough. But numbers do not lie; and quantity does, indeed, have a quality all its own.

Having said that, my "recommendation" was somewhat tongue-in-cheek. I only cited it because it truly is amazing how people could do so much with a system that we, today, largely hold in contempt and consider inferior.

Today, you're best bet from a factory is probably the Winchester Stealth in .308 Win. It represents serious quality and bang for your buck. They MSRP for $800, so could likely be had for significantly less at retail. That leaves the rest of your $1,500 for a decent piece of glass and, perhaps, a bipod.

As for the glass, don't go bonkers with objective lens size and magnification. They folks that actually do this for a living rarely utilize anything over 10x or bigger than 40mm.

RSY

I just saw this question. My feeling is, I think it's telling that the 2005 Remington catalog shows them beginning to chamber rifles in .300 WSM. To me, that's a big "Adios" to their own SAUMs. But you did say you reload, so if you did fall in love with one you could definitely get by.

Also, I see in your first post that you're very interested in the .25-06. FYI, I recently saw that Winchester is offering their Stealth II in .25 WSSM. I'm not familiar with the ballistics, but it may be something you'd want to check out.

RSY

I'm with RSY here. There are so many Bullshitters out there it can be pretty confusing though. The only thing I've noticed about the difference is that the real ones tend to not talk to much about it.......


I'm no sniper of any sort but do a bit of long range competition and have collected more "sniper" type rifles than I want to let my wife know about. Remingtons are probably the Conventional Wisdom choice. They usually shoot pretty well and hold their value. I currently have a 308 Sendero in an AI stock and a LTR 308 in a Folding AI stock.
But for starting out I might just opt for one of the Savage Tacticals or even one of the Ruger HB's with the 2 stage trigger. I had a Savage Tactical that shot as well as my Sendero and better than my LTR for a good bit less money. The new ones with the Accu-Trigger are even better. Most of the Savages shoot extremely well. I had a Ruger Stainless HB that had my favorite factory trigger in a American Built rifle. I really like Ruger's 2-Stage target trigger, I hate every other Ruger trigger - the 2-stage is as good as their normal triggers are bad. My Ruger shot 3/4" or sometimes better at 200yds and I shot a bunch of 500 Meter silhouette with it. It was my favorite Ruger ever and sometimes you can find them for under $600, I shouldn't have sold it for less than that.
I'm a dyed in the Wool Euro-Scope fan but for what you want I would reccommend you look into the new Leupold MK IV PR 4.5-14 with the side focus. SWFA has them for $699 but I bought mine for less than that. The 4.5-14 has the new brighter index-matched glass, target knobs, side focus and a Mil-Dot reticle. I think it's a lot of scope for the money (It's on my AI-LTR).
Your caliber choice should be a 308 Winchester. Others will work but there is so much good inexpensive ammo and components out there it will be far the easiest to feed. There is also loads of good training/trajectory/ballistics available for the 308 and so you will find it much easier to really "learn it" compared to other chamberings.
Good luck, a really accurate heavy-barreled 308 is one of the funnest guns to shoot and play with. Enjoy it...............DJ



pssst......Don't tell my wife.... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Combineman,

Bought my Rem 700P for $700 bucks. Shop around and find the deals. The 700P is about the best bang for the buck in a sniper type rifle. Mine is sub moa and sometimes when I'm doing everything right, sub .5 moa.

I went and had it bedded in a McMillan A5 and lost a smidge in accuracy. I think it's due to my getting used to the A5. Dept also switched to tactial instead of gold medal and lost a little there too.

Go the remington's website and take a peek. There are several different calibers to choose from.


Mac

Try www.snipercountry.com for a lot of information about equipment, loads, practice regimens and lots more. The Duty Roster Archive is loaded with endless hours of reading. Many of the folks who participate in that site are police or military snipers, while others are ordinary folks who simply like precision shooting. Many of those folks are active in F-class rifle competition. Good luck with your project!

Thx to all for your advice and comments.

I might add one more question concerning the LTR .308: Why does remington use the 1:12 twist than the standard 1:10? Does it have something to do with barrel life? Is it something to do with bullet drift caused by fast RPM's at long range? Does the rifle still stabilize heavy 168gr or heavier bullets or are 150's better suited?

I looked at the Savage tactical 308 package and they run around 1600bucks. Some posts above thought I could get into a LTR Remington package for around 1100-1200bucks.

I am going to make some phone calls on some prices.

Again, thx to all.

CM

i dont want to hijack the thread. just thought i would mention
guns america. ltr in 223. vias, stone ground trigger, bedded with a burris BD scope in 8-32 (SF). $1250. seemed like a decent deal.
woofer

my 1/12 .308 shoots fine with 190gr Matchkings, but thats probably about as heavy as possible. I think 1/12 is the optimum twist for the 168gr Matchking.