College Budget Rifle

flirtinwithdisaster

flirtinwithdisaster

Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Apr 14, 2013
518
60
PA
#1
Hi all!

Well I am a "newer" member as I have referenced this site numerous times but just recently began posting. I also recently picked up an R700 AAC-SD model and am very happy with it. I have lots of ideas on how I would like to remake this rifle but since money is kind of tight with paying for school, this of course will be happening over a few months and hopefully "mostly" done in time for spring! I was able to pick up an SWFA SS 10x42 Side Focus with rings, caps, and a bunch of extras for a good price on eBay through one of SWFA's eBay only sale (still going on if you're interested).

My next upgrade I would like is a new stock. For some reason I have fallen in love with the M40A3 and M40A5 style. Yes, yes, yes I know that I won't have a true M40A3 or A5 but I don't mind having a look alike. (I'll buy a real one when my lottery tickets finally start to hit :cool:) I have been torn between 3 stocks.

1. Bell and Carlson A3 with a Karsten added. About $300 when all said and done.
2. Manners T4 with a Karsten added. About $535-$600 when all said and done.
3. McMillan. Lots of $$$ from what I've been looking at.

Right now I'm leaning more toward the Manners T4.

Any wisdom, advice, ideas, pictures, random rambling about the old days, and of course donations are all welcome! Thanks! :)
 
#9
Thanks all for the advice!

Just FYI ArmyJerry I work two jobs in the summer and I work when college is session to pay for my education. I believe myself to be a productive member of society :p
 
#12
I love manners stocks, have one on order as we speak but the problem is with the T4 you will be looking at probably closer to 7-750 by the time you put bells and whistles on it.

Someone else stated buy once cry once. You will come to learn this to be true lol.

However for a first gun I would say go with the B&C and use the money you save on ammo (when you can find it) and practice. A gun is only as good as the person pulling the trigger, therefore there's not much point in have a high dollar gun you can't shoot!
(Not saying your incapable)

Best of luck and prepare to be addicted.


Sierracharlie out....
 
#14
My advice is college budget and long range shooting is mutually exclusive. Having something thats looks cool doesn't really do much when u cant afford to shoot it or develop your skills.
 
#15
Cobracutter said:
My advice is college budget and long range shooting is mutually exclusive. Having something thats looks cool doesn't really do much when u cant afford to shoot it or develop your skills.
Click to expand...

Plenty of guys on here are attending college and shooting precision/LR rifle, including me. You do give up having a social life if you're working enough to afford it, though. But you're right, if you can't afford ammo, you have a very expensive wall-hanger.

That said, a T4A is worth the price if you can afford it, but the B&C won't hold you back at all. The A3 (that's the one with the hook, right?) is probably my favorite B&C.
 
#16
Temp9 said:
Plenty of guys on here are attending college and shooting precision/LR rifle, including me. You do give up having a social life if you're working enough to afford it, though. But you're right, if you can't afford ammo, you have a very expensive wall-hanger.
Click to expand...

+1

I go to school, work a lot, and shoot a .223 sps tactical reamed to .223 AI.

As far as what to add, I would look at a great trigger before anything else.
 
#17
I will mirror what others have said to a further extent and suggest you not buy any stock. I'm a college student as well (gearing up for grad school so my time is only getting more limited) and your money will be much better spent on good quality ammo and range time. There is no substitute for range time. If you are a new shooter, the online training is much more worth its while than a stock is for improving your shooting, and a trigger would be the first real upgrade to a rifle I would consider. I was in the same boat and ended up with a Mcree chassis as I could not get a PSS stock to fit me. It works well, but now looking back I would have rather had a Manners T4A, which is something I only found out as I tried more stocks and saw what I needed and what worked. Things I thought would work well didn't, and things I didn't realize were important became apparent. I've also experienced poor quality with B&C on a friend's stock that had a bedding block that had holes for the action screws so off axis with the bore he had jammed them into the hole and had threaded the block in the process. The inlet for the floorplate was so poor that the plate could yaw by ~20 degrees. I ended up opening the the action screw holes with a drill press and bedding the floorplate as he really wanted the stock, but it was just not worth it. Also keep in mind the Manners and McMillan will needed to be bedded and unless you're pretty comfortable with epoxy you will prob want to leave that to a gunsmith, which will run $2-300 on top of the price of the stock.
 
#18
I'm new to the precision rifle game but the first thing I got rid of on my rifle was the stock. I installed a B&C A3 or A2, it's the one with the hooked stock, since I figured that when I rested my rifle on the bipod it would cause the flimsy factory stock to come in contact with my barrel and being that I was a new precision shooter I didn't want to look at a target and try to figure out whether it was me that caused the groups to open up or the stock. I would say get the stock and hold off on buying a DBM and spend the money you were going to spend on DBM on ammo.

Here's my AAC-SD

 
#19
That was kind of my thinking pelirgo. I wouldn't worry about a dbm now anyway. I have a Harris bipod on my AR SAM-R I built with my father I can use so the only other thing I want to add at this point is a karsten check rest.
 
#20
I started with an SPS tactical with a 10x Super Sniper in undergrad. Now I'm in professional school (pharmacy) with the same gun in an AICS topped with an HDMR. First thing I did was change the stock and I don't regret it!
 
#21
Im sitting in the same position as you. I wanted the Manners but I decided that my money is better off put into ammo and trigger time. Then I can either upgrade my rifle or build a new one when my skill starts pushing the rifles limits. I ended up with the B&C Medalist and Im pleased, sure its not as nice as the Manners I was looking at but it gives me a good place to start.

 
#22
flyfisher117 said:
Im sitting in the same position as you. I wanted the Manners but I decided that my money is better off put into ammo and trigger time. Then I can either upgrade my rifle or build a new one when my skill starts pushing the rifles limits. I ended up with the B&C Medalist and Im pleased, sure its not as nice as the Manners I was looking at but it gives me a good place to start.

Click to expand...

Nice looking rifle and gorgeous background! I was dead set on an B&C M40 (esp after watching the 8541 tactical videos) before I even had my rifle purchased after looking through the hide. Then I found the A3 with the hook and I use my off hand a lot so I'd like to give that a try I think.
 
#24
flirtinwithdisaster said:
Nice looking rifle and gorgeous background! I was dead set on an B&C M40 (esp after watching the 8541 tactical videos) before I even had my rifle purchased after looking through the hide. Then I found the A3 with the hook and I use my off hand a lot so I'd like to give that a try I think.
Click to expand...

Thanks, shes nothing special but she gets the job done. These rocks are by far my favorite place to shoot. I can safely set targets up from 100- thousands of yards away and I always have a nice view if my shooting sucks.

I will admit, I wanted the A3 I just didnt know how much I would like it so I went with a more traditional style. But I slide my sling adjuster and make it tighter, then use it as a hook and it seems to work but not as nicely as a hooked stock would be.
 
#26
phillipjr said:
This might be a little off the subject and not to hijack the OP thread but do B&C stocks need to be beaded?
Click to expand...

Well as you may have picked up from reading this thread I myself do not own one...yet...but from my extensive research and reading other posts it seems that they don't HAVE to, but they can be. While this might not help you out specifically I have read many reviews that claim they are great right out of the box and don't need to be bedded (because they have an aluminum bedding block running almost the full stock length). Then on the other end some claim that after bedding them they had improved their accuracy a noticeable amount.

Feel free anyone with more experience to jump in and correct me if I'm wrong or misunderstood something. Most of my info is coming from what I've read on several other threads and websites.

If you search around the hide a little more I think they're are several threads explaining this in more detail and many that outline the process to bed it as well. Hope this helped a little :)
 
#27
flyfisher117 said:
Thanks, shes nothing special but she gets the job done. These rocks are by far my favorite place to shoot. I can safely set targets up from 100- thousands of yards away and I always have a nice view if my shooting sucks.

I will admit, I wanted the A3 I just didnt know how much I would like it so I went with a more traditional style. But I slide my sling adjuster and make it tighter, then use it as a hook and it seems to work but not as nicely as a hooked stock would be.
Click to expand...

I wish I had a place like that...I do get out to some rolling mountains but that's only once maybe twice a year, and Northern PA doesn't look quite as beautiful as where you're at haha
 
#29
flirtinwithdisaster said:
Well as you may have picked up from reading this thread I myself do not own one...yet...but from my extensive research and reading other posts it seems that they don't HAVE to, but they can be. While this might not help you out specifically I have read many reviews that claim they are great right out of the box and don't need to be bedded (because they have an aluminum bedding block running almost the full stock length). Then on the other end some claim that after bedding them they had improved their accuracy a noticeable amount.

Feel free anyone with more experience to jump in and correct me if I'm wrong or misunderstood something. Most of my info is coming from what I've read on several other threads and websites.

If you search around the hide a little more I think they're are several threads explaining this in more detail and many that outline the process to bed it as well. Hope this helped a little :)
Click to expand...

I dont own one either but I am looking to buy one as well. Im sure anything with a full aluminum bedding block will be better than the Hogue overmold stock. I have looked in to bedding a stock and there are some people who have very good instructions. I might bed it anyway when i do get one, what can it hurt?
 
#30
phillipjr said:
I dont own one either but I am looking to buy one as well. Im sure anything with a full aluminum bedding block will be better than the Hogue overmold stock. I have looked in to bedding a stock and there are some people who have very good instructions. I might bed it anyway when i do get one, what can it hurt?
Click to expand...

That's what I was thinking. I'll do some shooting without it bedded then I'll bed it just for the hell of it. I'm always looking for little ways to improve or play with my rifles.
 
#31
YMMV. I see no point in me bedding my rifle with handloads I'm shooting well below MOA at 100 yards. Can't quite comment on further cause I'm still learning. Some guys do get great results bedding though.
 
#32
Just another college student here.

Current specs:
Reminton 700 5R 308 with 24" barrel
Badger 20 MOA base
Badger bolt knob
Timney 517 trigger
Harris 6-9" BRM-S w/ Pod-Loc

I have plans to install a Karsten cheek rest and APA Lil' Bastard brake. At one time I considered the SS 10x42M until I had to shoot a deer at 50 yards with a POS 6-24x50 CenterPoint. All I could see in my scope was brown. At the moment I don't have a scope, but I have plans to purchase a Bushnell 3-12x44 w/G2DMR reticle.

image_zps3b8cc934.jpg

image_zps125b16c0.jpg

image_zps8086678d.jpg
 
Last edited:
#33
College student here too, guess I'll share mine too

Manners t5a
Stiller tac 30 aw
Benchmarkbarrel
Jewell trigger
Csr 4 port break
Sightron siii


Saving up money to get some better glass
 
#37
Well got everything together and made it to the range last week before school kicked in so here's some pics.
uploadfromtaptalk1377611518988.jpg
uploadfromtaptalk1377611553300.jpg
uploadfromtaptalk1377611576214.jpg
uploadfromtaptalk1377611597436.jpg

Nothing special group wise to right home about. I shot some PPU and Rem 180gr hunting loads which is all I had laying around at the moment.

I was able to pull off this group with the Rem rounds. Not bad in my opinion minus the 5th round that was the flyer. With out that the group was just over a .6 I believe (don't jump on me I could be remembering wrong :p)
uploadfromtaptalk1377611914609.jpg

Happy shooting!
 
#40
Gunrunner100 said:
Lots of great info on this post... I have to go back and see what things I need to correct on my rifle. Starting with a new stock. I may never be a great competitive shooter, but I'd still like to be out there shooting!
Click to expand...

So far I'm a big fan of my Bell and Carlson. Worth the money IMHO and the savings can be well spent elsewhere. They Also seem to have a decent resale value if/when you decide to upgrade.
 
#41
Fund the Roth IRA that you should already have set up, then buy a used B&C stock (I've seen them go for ~$200).

Pay yourself first, then play.
 
#42
hey bud, i'm also in school. my build is in my signature. it is a build that took me a good hard summer of working my ass off. as for stocks, did you think about looking into chassis? something like the mcree or rock solid? they can be had at about the same price as the manners t4.
 
#43
Shanerbanner10 said:
hey bud, i'm also in school. my build is in my signature. it is a build that took me a good hard summer of working my ass off. as for stocks, did you think about looking into chassis? something like the mcree or rock solid? they can be had at about the same price as the manners t4.
Click to expand...

I hear ya on the good hard summer working, although I did get a very nice natural tan haha. I looked into a lot of different options and I settled/decided on the B&C light tactical. So far the only regret I have is not being able to shoot more!
 
#44
I think a starter rifle with a few upgrades along the way is the best way to start. you can usually recoup most of your costs if done correctly.

my first rifle was a SPS-V with a 5R takeoff stock and a SS10x. had a 5R milspec for a short time, but sold it quickly for a profit. next was a AAC-SD which I really liked but had a Millett 4-16x on it and then a savage 10-fcp-SR with another SS10x on it.

Now I have a basic R700 ADL in 30-06 but its a base for a custom build after dealing with 3 different barrel lengths, barrel twists, different scopes, etc...
 
#45
As long as the stock is ergonomically correct for your personal needs, I'd let it go with maybe a bedding job, preferably by yourself as a learning exercise. Read up on the process, then give it your best shot.

See if the trigger can be adjusted to around 2-3lb pull weight, a safe sear engagement, and a smooth letoff. If not, live with the best you can achieve and put a replacement trigger on the wish list for later action. When working on triggers, they must be safe first, all else comes second.

When you can scare up $300 or so for the barrel, and whatever additional a replacement job costs, get a quality barrel installed. Real accuracy begins with a good barrel.

Optics are about getting the rifle working first, then upgrading as funds permit.

And remember what I said about a basic, reliable .22lr trainer.

Greg
 
#46
Wow us college kids are all slumming it with our Remington 700s! I got an AICS stock myself which I love. The 5R stock was not the most comfortable.

I just got into UNC grad school earlier this month. Since I'm paying out-of-state tuition rates, I'll be out $95k once it is said and done. Goodbye gun fund, hello soul crushing debt for the next couple of years. :(

ojdvdc.jpg
 
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#47
I just learned to make my own guns when I was in college, fcg, bolt, receiver, everything. It's way cheaper, you know, if you don't count the lathe, mill, thousands of dollars in tooling, metal stock. Carbon fiber, and those minor things. Then again, I told my wife that I would make a ton of money working from home once I got them. What a sucker! I can't believe she actually thought I was going to make something for someone other than myself!
 
#48
This is my Jr in High School - Sr in College (now) build, like all the college guys in this thread: Remington 700
700 SPSV
B&C Stock Bedded
PTG Bottom Metal
Generic BiPod
Leupold mk4 16x
Timney Trigger at 2 pounds
It really likes 155 SMKs and Amaxs over IMR 8208XBR

 
#49
xcDave15 said:
This is my Jr in High School - Sr in College (now) build, like all the college guys in this thread: Remington 700
700 SPSV
B&C Stock Bedded
PTG Bottom Metal
Generic BiPod
Leupold mk4 16x
Timney Trigger at 2 pounds
It really likes 155 SMKs and Amaxs over IMR 8208XBR

Click to expand...

Very nice! Did you inlet the bottom metal and or bed it yourself?
 
#50
I did both the inlet and bedding jobs myself...its a combination of being kind of tightfisted and a sense of pride. I do all my own gun work, and I'm very happy with the results.

The two things that improved accuracy the most were the trigger and the stock (especially after bedding)
 
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