Need a beginner .308 rifle. opinions please.

[Shoottothrill]

Hey guys I have a buddy who wants to start shooting long range .308 with me and is looking at a Remington SPS tactical for the rifle. Scope he is looking at is a Vortex Viper PST 6-24x50 mrad FFP. I thought it sounded like a nice beginner setup.

Is there a better one?

Budget for the whole ball of wax $2,000.00 Thanks for your help Sniper Hide.

 

[DustyJacket]

Re: Need a beginner .308 rifle. opinions please.

Keep an eye on the classified threas.

(Ignore mine.. I am not shipping. Had incidents my last 2 shipments. Nothing serious to be. But my FFL is hanging out there a tad.)

 

[DCR]

Re: Need a beginner .308 rifle. opinions please.

Tac on a new stoc. The factory stock is very flexible. Might need to replace the trigger (depending on how the xmark trigger is). The sps will get you going. That's how i'm learning.

 

[quimico2]

Re: Need a beginner .308 rifle. opinions please.

May be consider another rifle like the CZ 550 Varmint Kevlar.

Q2

 

[roggom]

Re: Need a beginner .308 rifle. opinions please.

I have an SPS-V and finally got it to were I want it. If I had to do it all again, I would have gotten a Tikka T3 Varmint. Great twist rate, excellent trigger, smooth action. Only prob is you have to find one in the secondary market, as Berretta stopped importing them. The Tikka Tac is nice as well, but $1500 and some change.

 

[oldfatguy]

Re: Need a beginner .308 rifle. opinions please.

Remmy SPS-T is a very good rifle to start with. Lots of upgrades available. You can look at others, but Remmy is a sort of standard, and the SPS-T is a good one. I have a SPS-T (B&C stock), 5R, and LTR. Very happy with all three.

Might want to consider going with the "P" version or 5r Milspec for a better stock, but the SPS will get you started.


OFG

 

[DubGunner]

Re: Need a beginner .308 rifle. opinions please.

I will have a savage fcp-k available here in a few Weeks as well. Certainly gotta suggest that you keep savage on your short list.

 

[RFtinkerer]

Re: Need a beginner .308 rifle. opinions please.

There's a Savage 10 with Choate tactical stock at Cabelas, $750. With the Vortex Viper, rail, rings, you'll still be under $2000. I use that combo and got 0.5 inch groups at 100 easily. Pretty good shooting out to 800 with the right loads (SW match, FGMM match). I now prefer the Hornady Superformance 178 match, just cause it has more oomph to beat the wind, but not QUITE as accurate close range. It's what I use to 1000, though.

 

[rbdub474]

Re: Need a beginner .308 rifle. opinions please.

I had a Savage 10PC. It was a very accurate rifle out of the box, and the Accutrigger is nice also. It was an easy 3/4MOA gun.

 

[beenjammin]

Re: Need a beginner .308 rifle. opinions please.

I agree the sps hogue stock is not all that great, but it will be fine to start with. Vortex is a great scope.

 

[BravoSector1]

Re: Need a beginner .308 rifle. opinions please.

Savage 10FCP.

You can score the Savage 10FCP-K for aroute $700 with the fluted, threaded, 5R barrel at $700...with the accustock. This stock...stock...is amazing people at shooting ranges far and wide.

I think the Remy 700 tactical is "fine" but I'd go for the AAC version with the 1/10 twist for heavy pills. The stock, well, it's crap. I'm sorry...it is. You'll need to restock it for a good bed.

I continue my search for an out-of-the-box Remington but it's been many years...and still no slitz. Savage will get you going in the right direction with their barrels, twist rate, stock and trigger. Use quality ammution...get a solid optic on a mount and rings (SWFA Super Sniper 10x for $300)

I've WASTED a lot of funds on rifles...trying to find the right combo. If I did it again today, it would be...

Savage 10FCP in a McMillan stock: all over gunborker for $1K
Badger 20MOA rail and rings: Both, $300
SWFA Super Sniper 10x with side para: $400
100-200 rounds of the same lot Federal Gold Medal Match: $110-$220

I've got a Vortex Viper PST 6-24x50 FFP on a Savage 10FCP in a JP Enterprises Chassis...and I love it.

Don't forget quality ammo...factory FGMM is fine...and go shoot.

If you've dead set on the Remy...and that's fine...get a decent rail and rings for your optic. You can always restock at a later time.

My rant...

 

[jv8246]

Re: Need a beginner .308 rifle. opinions please.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: 78steeler</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Hey guys I have a buddy who wants to start shooting long range .308 with me and is looking at a Remington SPS tactical for the rifle. Scope he is looking at is a Vortex Viper PST 6-24x50 mrad FFP. I thought it sounded like a nice beginner setup.

Is there a better one?

Budget for the whole ball of wax $2,000.00 Thanks for your help Sniper Hide. </div></div>

I think that's a fine starter set. I hemmed and hawed over PST vs NF NXS, and got the NF. But for 2k, I don't think you'll be sorry.

 

[Cologgi]

Re: Need a beginner .308 rifle. opinions please.

That will be a fine setup, the difference between that and a Surgeon with an S&B are small compared to the difference in price. I say this owning a Surgeon Scalpel and 5-25 PMII S&B along with a GAP and a 5-25 S&B. The differences will not start showing up till you go past 500 yards.

 

[fieldnstreamer]

Re: Need a beginner .308 rifle. opinions please.

I personally like the Savage better than the Remmy for out of the box accuracy. It seems to me like you have to put more work into a 700 to get it to where the Savage is out of the box. The accutrigger is very nice also, And I got myself a Mark 4 Leupold LR/T 8.5-25x50 for the long stuff. gun+scope is about 2k. If you want to add a McMillan stock or a CDI box mag attachment you are looking at about another 700ish then you'd have a sweet setup....oh +100 for Harris swivel bipod

 

[snipertime]

Re: Need a beginner .308 rifle. opinions please.

Take a plain Jane 700sps. Throw a hs precision stock on it. Get the lugs lapped. Bed the base, use badger base and rings. Throw on a ss10x mil/mil and have your smith chop you at 20"

1500 Max, spend the rest on reloading equiptment

 

[RudyN]

Re: Need a beginner .308 rifle. opinions please.

I have a Remington 700SPS in .308 coming to my FFL this coming Tuesday and reading this and other threads has given me some great ideads on what to do with it. It is nice to know that there are some very knowledgeable people on this board.

 

[DeleteMe]

Re: Need a beginner .308 rifle. opinions please.

Look at my post about my .308 bolt gun, not sure if you would be interested at all but PM me for more information and such if you are interested. This gun would give you a very good starting platform without having to worry about stock change and bases and such, Just an option...
http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=3486300#Post3486300

 

[p3ripperfw]

Re: Need a beginner .308 rifle. opinions please.

Im in the same boat...Already ordered the Viper pst 6x24 ffp and debating on the weapon its going on. Really leaning toward the 700 AAC-SD in a manners stock, badger bottom metal dbm, with atlas bipod but havent thrown the money down on the gun yet...

 

[geraldsd]

Re: Need a beginner .308 rifle. opinions please.

I am going to try a Howa 1500. It comes with a DBM. It also has their version of a "good" trigger. There are a lot of different aftermarket stocks available for it as well. I found one at Jerry's for 359.00. I think that the action bears a look and I want to try something different. The Remington 700 (I have two) and the Savage (I have one) are both good rifles. I want to try the Howa just to do it.

 

[rideHPD]

Re: Need a beginner .308 rifle. opinions please.

Rem is a great platform to start with, it's what I did with, but you'd probably get more out of a Savage. You have a little more room to play with a 700, but as far as out-of-the box performance, you really can't beat Savage. I've seen them beat out 5Rs shooting handloads with factory ammo. Looking back, it might have been a better choice, albeit I do love my Remington. But get good base and rings, don't cheap too hard, it'll be the one thing you wish you hadn't the egw and tps are pretty good I hear and won't set you back $300. The SS and vortex are great beginner scopes. Starting with expensive scopes out of the gate isn't a great idea IMO, as you may come to find you may like a different feature that you could've chose otherwise down the line.

 

[Rlb40x]

Re: Need a beginner .308 rifle. opinions please.

I vote Remington sps. I bought one last fall and put it in an acis stock with leupold 6x20 and with a quickly put together hand load it shot 1/2 to 5/8 pretty constantly as long as I do my part, it was better than expected.i could hold 4 to 5 inch groupes at 750yds, I'm sure a better driver could keep it tighter.And the 700 is like the small block Chevy of rifles, all kinds of aftermarket parts available. I also have a vortex 6x20 the viper 30mm $400 range, and put it on my bushmaster 50bmg and so far it's holding zero after 300 rds, not sure how it tracks because I haven't dialed the turrets much for different ranges. Good luck with whatever you decied.