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Help me decide on a new gun/scope combo.

J

jtorbin88

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I've been looking around, I think I'm down to remington 700 vs savage 10 series guns.
This gun will be used primarily for hunting and 200-600 yard target shooting once I get that good.
This will be my first year hunting.
I've been geared towards a .308 seeing as its pretty versatile for both purposes.
The scopes I've been looking at are Leopold and Nikon.

My budget at this time is up to 1800$ but down the road I will have a large amount of money in the next few months to upgrade accordingly so at this point I'm looking to keep it as cheap as possible maybe even a hunting specific rifle then getting something for tack driving. Any input greatly appreciated I'm very open to caliber ranges/ rifles but would prefer to not use some fancy round that costs 2$ each lol.

If I can keep this cheap enough I can buy my AR an eotech lol.
 
If you plan to upgrade then just get a base model R700 in .308 since all you really need is the receiver. Or you could do a build from scratch. You can get a better quality receiver for the same money that you would pay for a complete rifle. Then spend the rest of the money on a new barrel, chassis system and trigger. Then send all the parts out to be trued/accurized.

You can get a nice custom barrel in the $300-400 range. A used chassis for around $800 sometimes less if you find a good deal. Or you could go with a nice free-float stock for less money. Also if you haven't been to snipershide, go there it will be your new best friend. The Hide classifieds always has pretty much any upgrade you could want.

As for the scope I can't help you there as I have never really owned any legitimately "good" glass.
 
I'm thinking I want to stick with something cheap for hunting, then building the high end rifle for just tack driving once I progress through the distances. Also, any advice on .308 factory ammo that's good for deer hunting would be great.
 
In that case get this... http://www.remington.com/en/products/firearms/centerfire/model-783/model-783.aspx It is about $100 cheaper than the base model R700 varmint and has some of the features found on the better R700 and Savages. It would be perfect for hunting. All the reviews I have seen on it have been great.

Then when you want the tack driver do the other stuff I said. lol

I'll leave it to the reloaders to chime in on the ammo. I don't have much hunting experience. My ammo knowledge is limited to match grade target ammo.
 
Oh, another thought is. Since you mentioned wanting to build an AR. Build on in .300 BLK. It is 30 cal. so it fires the same projectile as a .308, 30-06, 30-30 etc.. You can hunt with it in most states that allow rifle hunting. I do thing there are a few places that don't let you hunt with an AR type rifle but not too many.

Also since it uses all of the same parts as a standard AR in 5.56/.223, the only part that is different is the barrel, all you would need to get is an upper in 5.56/.223, or just a 5.56/.223 barrel if you feel like swapping it back and forth yourself. That way you kill 2 birds with one stone, so to speak
 
Yeah my AR has been built for 6 months and the .300 is a awful round for distances. It's trajectory drops drastically past 100 yards and its too slow.
 
Scopes · Leupold

I have one for my .308 Remington 700 and it's well made. I'm sure they make a decent 600 yard scope for the price you're talking about.

Edit: Nevermind, I think you want a gun and scope for under 2 grand. Check out the Savage rifles.
 
Cheap for hunting, the ruger american is VERY hard to beat. Sub-moa for under 360....it's no beauty queen, but you won't cry if it's banged up in the woods. Capability of the rifle is all relative these days. American vs Savage Carbine vs Remmy 700....grouping is essentially the same. All sub -moa, all have great triggers, but the price difference is night and day. I fail to see the advantage of the 700 anymore. Maybe 10+ years ago, but the game has changed. The days of the $1500+ customs that you would NEED for crazy tight grouping is over. You can get something sub 500 out of the box that is a tack driver, requires no gunsmithing....slap on some glass and go.

Not knocking the 700. They are gorgeous. But, if he's on a budget....there are other options that have the same shooting capabilities of the high end brands.
 
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I'm hitting up a couple gun stores tonight to check out everything people recommend. Any ideas on what gun stores actually sell decent scopes?
 
jtorbin88 said:
I'm hitting up a couple gun stores tonight to check out everything people recommend. Any ideas on what gun stores actually sell decent scopes?
Click to expand...

Honestly, store prices on glass are marked up substantially and selection pretty limited. You'll be better off going online
 
Wrench75 said:
Oh, another thought is. Since you mentioned wanting to build an AR. Build on in .300 BLK. It is 30 cal. so it fires the same projectile as a .308, 30-06, 30-30 etc.. You can hunt with it in most states that allow rifle hunting. I do thing there are a few places that don't let you hunt with an AR type rifle but not too many.

Also since it uses all of the same parts as a standard AR in 5.56/.223, the only part that is different is the barrel, all you would need to get is an upper in 5.56/.223, or just a 5.56/.223 barrel if you feel like swapping it back and forth yourself. That way you kill 2 birds with one stone, so to speak
Click to expand...

While you are right about the .30 pill being spit out, the energy of the .300 AAC in no way compares to the .308 or 30-06.

- - - Updated - - -

jtorbin88 said:
Ok any specific cheaper scope that's got good clarity and magnification? Like 400$ range?
Click to expand...

The Nikon Monarch's are pretty good and run in the $400 range depending on the particular one.

- - - Updated - - -

jtorbin88 said:
Yeah my AR has been built for 6 months and the .300 is a awful round for distances. It's trajectory drops drastically past 100 yards and its too slow.
Click to expand...

Swap it to a 6.8 SPC upper. That should get you out to 300 yards with decent speed and energy using 95 grain TTSX. If you want more energy in an AR platform for longer range shooting, you are likely going to have to build a LR-308 or AR-10 one.
 
+1 on the Ruger American. What's not to love. Perfect for having a well made bolt action that you won't mind getting scuffed up. I'm sure the stock is cheap to replace if you wanted to anyway. Monarch is good, yep. Good advice in this thread for sure.
 
Baystatesuks said:
While you are right about the .30 pill being spit out, the energy of the .300 AAC in no way compares to the .308 or 30-06.

- - - Updated - - -



The Nikon Monarch's are pretty good and run in the $400 range depending on the particular one.

- - - Updated - - -



Swap it to a 6.8 SPC upper. That should get you out to 300 yards with decent speed and energy using 95 grain TTSX.
Click to expand...

I have a 5.56 upper not .300 just to clarify my prior post. And don't really want to hunt with an AR.
 
ColdDayInHell said:
Opticsplanet
Click to expand...

This. I bought my Aimpoint, Eotech Magnifier and Trijicon Accupoint optics from them, not to mention rails, rings, etc. Google for a 10% off coupon online to add on to your order before checkout. I have a 3-9x Trijicon Accupoint. Great scope for around $700. Would probably spring for the 10x next time around. Nice thing is it's a mil-dot with illuminated reticle, but no batteries... just tritium and fiber optics.

As far as rifles go, I had a Savage 10 FCP-K in .308 and loved it. You can probably pick one up new for about $800 and just add glass and you have a great shooting rifle with an amazing trigger. Nothing wrong with the Remington 700, just preferred the features of the Savage for the money and I wasn't going to spend thousands turning a 700 Police into a custom .308 platform.
 
adadGunsAmmo_VarmintRifles - Dick's Sporting Goods

I know, I know, it's Dicks. But you can get a 22 inch heavey barreled savage with detachable bo mag in .308 for under 7 hundred, or a heavy barreled (26") REM 700 (ADL, with internal mag) with scope mount for under 600 (throw the scope as far as you can. It's J U N K) . Both highly upgradable guns (the REM a little more so), although I think the savage will shoot much better then the average guy will be able to.
As far as scopes go, Vortex is a safe bet (Razor or the cheaper viper series). I hear the supersniper scopes from SWFA are a retty good entry level value as well, but I believe they are fixed magnification.
Rings? Burris or badger. Don't be cheap when it comes to rings.
 
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I've taken 500 meter shots at man sized targets with a 3.85x magnification. I don't know about deer, but 2 legged critters you can drop at that distance.
 
Magnification isn't everything. Only the high end scopes will actually let you use the high manifications in a way that makes sense for hunters. If you want to hunt, you want a crisp image, and a high objective diameter, so the scope can takle as much light in as possible, in dusk and dawn. If that means sacrificing magnification, it'll be worth it to a lot of experienced deerslayers.
 
Savage all the way


All you need are the right tools and not to be a complete moron, you can do most of your own work. Remington's QC is meh these days somtimes you get greats guns somtimes good guns somtimes crap guns. hey do have a shit ton of aftermarket stuff for them. But then again so does savage. So it's really a toss up, me personally....... savage.

if you plan on upgrading the gun id stay away from the Ruger. its a good gun just not that much in the way for accessories. And they kinda just copied savage with the barrel nut idea.
 

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