Barrel or optics

[Bm22]

Hello
This is my first post here but i have been lurking for months. I just started my first LR build in December when i bought a new stock Remington 700 adl in .308 for cheap, under $300, i have a friend. Then a couple weeks ago i bought a choate tactical stock, DBM bottom metal and EGW 20 moa base. I plan to bed the action to the stock.

My question is should i upgrade the barrel without firing it or buy a scope. I have a friend that will sell me a vortex HS LR 6-24x50 for $500, i have good friends. I will only have funds to do one or the other at this time, it will be aug or sept or later before i think of upgrading the other.

I would like to get a quality bull barrel eventually so i would like to buy the optics first and shot the skinny adl barrel and work on my reloading then buy a better barrel later then buy a shileen or krieger 5r barrel now and top it with a wally world bushnell scope and shoot that for the next 6-8 months.

What kind of accuracy can i expect from the adl barrel at say 400 yards with good reloads?

Thanks for the help

Brandon

 

[DirtyRod]

Why upgrade the barrel before you know how well it shoots? Did he indicate how many rounds have been through it or if its loosing accuracy? Unless you already know you have the skill to shoot better than the factory barrel or the barrel has been shot out I'd get glass. Most factory 700 barrels should shoot around an inch @ 100 yards which is better than most new rifle shooters can hold especially at distance. With hand loads it should do better so unless he's got 1000s through it, it's loosing accuracy, or you know you can shoot better I'd invest in a good scope.

It might be worth asking if you can borrow a scope to see how it shoots and then make the decision.

 

[seanh]

The only problem I've ever had with Rem's is they couldn't hold up to sustained fire but I could always find a load that would work with the rifle for a few shots. The first thing I'd do is to get the best glass you can afford. Not knowing much about that particular line of Vortex I couldn't give you an opinion on it but Vortex does make fine scopes so I'd bet you'd be OK.

I'd be questioning the difference in the HR line and the PST line vs what you want out of a scope. 500 for that scope isn't bad from what I can tell but I've seen PST's for a couple hundred more...might be worth looking into.

 

[JGorski]

What kinda shooting will this rifle be used for? Target, hunting?

 

[JGorski]

With the right loads you could see >4MOA out to 400yds.

 

[19Scout77]

With the right loads you could see >4MOA out to 400yds.

Sweet 16" groups or bigger. Dude...you really need to shoot more, learn something, and POST LESS.

 

[coryj]

Sweet 16" groups or bigger. Dude...you really need to shoot more, learn something, and POST LESS.

That's too funny.

Here JGorski, I fixed what you were trying to say (I think)

With the right loads you could see < MOA out to 400 yards (MOA at 400 yards being 4")

 

[MosesTheTank]

Go with the good glass.

 

[jwp6114]

Sweet 16" groups or bigger. Dude...you really need to shoot more, learn something, and POST LESS.

Funny shit, wonder if it was a typo,

 

[Huskerhunter]

Get the glass first. You'll re-use it no matter what. And if you're new to the reloading game you can learn a lot from that ADL barrel. Also, you can always re-sell the scope. A wally world scope on a great bbl. is NOT the way to go.

 

[Bm22]

Thanks for the replies guys, i think i am going with the scope, the rifle is brand new out of the box. Never been fired. I dont know what the barrel will shoot.

I dont plan to shoot competitions, but i want to shoot targets as far as i can, i have access to shoot 800 yards at the house, and i want to shoot deer and hogs in texas, also at the house. I am new to reloading, i dont know if it was luck or not but i have reloaded some sub MOA loads for my AR i built this year.

 

[seanh]

What you may find is that the loads that prove to be the most accurate may not be able to be load into the magazine due to the over all length. Typically factory rifles will have loner throats and when loaed close to the lands, the round ends up being too long. Bullets such as the Sierra Match King aren't as sensitive to this length change and should be considered when working up a load. For your gun, I'd look at the 168/175grn

 

[fdkay]

There is no need to bed the rifle in that stock. It has a full length aluminum bedding block.
You "may" see an improvement, but nothing you would notice at this point.
You can shoot the rifle with a factory barrel, you can't shoot it very well without optics.

 

[JB02]

that sounds like the perfect donor action platform to me!

 

[JeffP40]

Glass. No brainer, especially for that price.

 

[STR]

One more for glass first. Reloading/hand loading second, and barrel/custom build last if you're still interested in precision shooting after the first two.

 

[Barney88PDC]

Barrels come and go. Great glass is forever.