Long Range Rifle on a Budget

[Bonestock gt]

I am a complete newbie, and my goal is to shoot 1000 yards for less than $1000 invested in my rifle system. I just got it together and I have not been to the range yet. I welcome any advice and I have been reading and studying while waiting to get all the pieces together. So my system is as follows.

Rifle: Thompson Center Compass in 6.5 Creedmoor
Optic: Athlon Argos BTR 6x24x50 Mil/Mil bought from Cameraland with Snipers Hide discount
Base: Egw 20 Moa
Rings: Badger Ordnance medium bought off Snipers Hide
Muzzle Brake: MPA 6.5 Bought off Snipers Hide
Bipod: Harris BRM-S with locking lever added
Cheek Rest: Mathews Fabrication
Trigger Spring: Ernie the Gunsmith Winchester Model 70
Total: $928

 

[stello1001]

Looks good. First step if you don't reload is to go out and buy a few different boxes of factory loaded ammo. Shoot some groups with it and find out what she groups tighter with. I would try Prime 130, Hornady Eld-M 140, Hornady black 140 BTHP, and maybe FGMM as a start.
Good luck and have fun.

 

[Bonestock gt]

Thanks. So far I have the FGMM Berger 130 , and Winchester 140 Match.

 

[Evintos]

I recommend a scope mounted level/anti cant device.

 

[Bonestock gt]

I recommend a scope mounted level/anti cant device.

I would like to get recommendations for brands and what are the best value levels.
Thanks Chad.

 

[Evintos]

The only one I have experience is a Vortex bubble level. They're relatively affordable and functional but not fancy. I don't think a fancy one is neccessary. Below is a link from a site sponsor.

http://www.sportoptics.com/vortex-30mm-bubble-level-bl30.aspx

 

[JeffLebowski]

Make sure you’re set up for reloading.

 

[infantrydude]

Hoptic has nice inexpensive levels too

 

[Bonestock gt]

Thanks for the info.

 

[man32ahan]

Shot a Compass last weekend in 243. They shoot under MOA as promised straight out of the box. My dad bought it from me because he was amazed how well it shot.

 

[Bonestock gt]

Cool. I'm hoping to get to shoot it this weekend, to get my zero and check my scope tracking.

 

[USPatriot556]

Looks very nice, those T/C sure look good for the money. Keep us updated on how the range session goes. I'm pretty curious about the Athlon tracking too.

 

[Bonestock gt]

I think so as well. They are much nicer looking than the other rifles in the same price range. I am hoping for the best with the Argos.

 

[Bigdude]

The stock looks inexpensive...like it is gonna snap in half. Other than that I think it is a fine build under the financial constraints. I am not familiar with T/C rifles, does it have a detachable magazine?

 

[DrainTheSwamp]

I think so as well. They are much nicer looking than the other rifles in the same price range. I am hoping for the best with the Argos.

I had an argos sold it just recently, I only tried it out to see if I’d like prs matches.

Decent little scope, the glass was the most impressive part to me. I put it side by side my buddies gen2 razor and we couldn’t tell a difference in glass. But that’s just our opinion.

Running the turrets is similar to digging around in a pile of mushy dog sh!t (never put my hand in poo to support that claim, I promise)

Tall target test revealed a click value of .93 mil. Not a deal breaker for me just had to put that into my calculator, other than that it tracked good enough for me out to 1400 yrds

Reticle was decent but the center was just a bit thick for my liking. Covered up small targets

Also you should have received washers to construct a “zero stop,” if not they ll will send you some for free and their are easy to install

I did take it coyote hunting when it was -20°F, froze up something on the magnification ring, when it thawed, the magnification ring was disconnected and would turn but not zoom in or out. Athlon fixed it and sent it back to me in perfect working condition. Amazing customer service.

I’d say I’d get another one but after operating and getting comfortable behind an atacr there’s no way I’d buy one again. Their Cronus is a different story though, lot of value packed into that one

 

[Bonestock gt]

The stock looks inexpensive...like it is gonna snap in half. Other than that I think it is a fine build under the financial constraints. I am not familiar with T/C rifles, does it have a detachable magazine?

I like the stock better than the Ruger American or the Savage Axis. Yes it does have a detachable mag.

 

[Bonestock gt]

I had an argos sold it just recently, I only tried it out to see if I’d like prs matches.

Decent little scope, the glass was the most impressive part to me. I put it side by side my buddies gen2 razor and we couldn’t tell a difference in glass. But that’s just our opinion.

Running the turrets is similar to digging around in a pile of mushy dog sh!t (never put my hand in poo to support that claim, I promise)

Tall target test revealed a click value of .93 mil. Not a deal breaker for me just had to put that into my calculator, other than that it tracked good enough for me out to 1400 yrds

Reticle was decent but the center was just a bit thick for my liking. Covered up small targets

Also you should have received washers to construct a “zero stop,” if not they ll will send you some for free and their are easy to install

I did take it coyote hunting when it was -20°F, froze up something on the magnification ring, when it thawed, the magnification ring was disconnected and would turn but not zoom in or out. Athlon fixed it and sent it back to me in perfect working condition. Amazing customer service.
I’d say I’d get another one but after operating and getting comfortable behind an atacr there’s no way I’d buy one again. Their Cronus is a different story though, lot of value packed into that one

Thanks for the info. I did receive the plastic washers. I had watched older videos about diy zero stops, so I thought it was funny that they include them with the scope now.

 

[DrainTheSwamp]

In no way am I trying to bash athlon either just to be clear. I learned a lot behind the Argos and I made it work. The success I had with the scope brought me to love prs.

As an entry level scope for that price point it’s all I could recommend. It was just time for me to try something else as I got more involved and got experience behind other optics

You ll be happy with it.

 

[TommyTwoGuns]

I had an argos sold it just recently

SNIP

Running the turrets is similar to digging around in a pile of mushy dog sh!t (never put my hand in poo to support that claim, I promise)

SNIP

Saw a vid on youtube that claimed you should remove the turret cap and clean out the thick grease, same for the turret, and use a better lube. Claimed it would fix the mushy dog sheet issue and the clicks became much more solid and were clearly more audible. Since it was on youtube it must be true. But I am wondering if anyone else can confirm this.

 

[DrainTheSwamp]

I did that on mine as well, but I couldn’t tell that it made any difference. A buddy of mine had a newer Argos BTR and the clicks on his felt much better and stiffer than mine ever did, they must have changed something or perhaps his just felt better for some odd reason

 

[archistrong]

I tried the grease clean-out trick. Seemed to work well on the 6-24x50 Argos BTR, didn't do much for the 8-34X56 Argos BTR.

I have access to a large warehouse and setup a range of scopes in a heavy fixture to measure tracking. Mounted a large sheet of gridded / numbered paper at 100yds and found that the 6-24 Argos BTR (my example at least) to have near perfect tracking (.99mil for both windage and elevation) except when you got out to the very far reaches of travel (usually happens when turret is near the bottom of travel). Reticle hashes were accurate and while a tad heavy, they were certainly usable and there was more range of adjustment (20mil vs an advertised 18mil) than advertised.

The 8-34 Argos was a different story. The tracking was off enough to cause problems past 700-800yds (.91mil for both windage and elevation), reticle hashes were not accurate (off by more than .1mil at 1mil, got increasingly worse) and there was less travel than advertised.