F T/R Competition Sway me...Savage FTR or build an FTR from a R700 LA

bdubb

bdubb

...
Full Member
Minuteman
Oct 28, 2009
418
30
TX
#1
I've been mulling over what to do for a couple years now, with a Remington 700 .25-06 Sendero I never shoot anymore. This past year I have also been considering trying out an F-class match at my local club but despite my several rifle options that I already own, none of them really fit well into either the F/TR or Open classes.

I don't want to go all out on a rifle for F-Class until I know for sure I'll stay involved with it and continue to make the monthly 1000y matches. So this in my opinion puts me with a rifle budget of about $1,100 which is roughly what I should be able to pick up a Savage F/TR rifle. I've read plenty about the Savage and it sounds like a great starting point which would work well with the 155gr class of bullet options, or have the throat worked to allow for the 185's or 200's.

However with a factory R700 long action which I wouldn't mind getting worked on I am wondering if it would be a better value to make it into a .308 long action that has a freebore to allow the use of the Berger 185's or 200 Hybrids. I haven't priced it all out yet, but I would likely stick with the existing B&C stock and have it bedded, have the action trued, and go with a 30" barrel.


What are some of your opinions or experiences with the Savage F/TR versus a trued r700 action?
 
#2
I have no experience with either a Savage FTR or a trued r700 action.

Some years back, I was shooting F-TR with an AR-15 that I had had rebarelled by Krieger with one of their 26 inch barrel. I did a lot of other enhancements to that AR with a stock, trigger upgrade, 36X scope, Sinclair bipod, etc. I worked on my ammo with 80gr JLK bullets and actually reached HM classification at mid-range. That rifle can shoot.

At 1000 yards however, I could not get past Sharpshooter and even with a 3rd place finish at TSRA LR in 2008 with that rifle, I had plateaued. When the conditions were nice, the rifle could shoot quite well at 1000 yards but the wind simply tossed the 80gr JLK around and at Bayou Rifles, we have a lot of wind, especially from the North, South, East and West. :)

I had an old Ruger M77V that I had bought back in the early 80s so I decided to get it rebarreled and bedded. I bought a 30 inch Broughton in 11.25 twist and got it fitted and chambered by one of our shooters who does some gunsmithing. I finagled a scope mount thing for it and mounted a Weaver 36X on the thing. I used the Sinclair bipod from the AR. I had replaced the factory trigger with a Timney some years before that and the stock was now a Boyds, which I had finished myself and it showed.

I developed a load for it, again with JLK bullets and I went shooting. In time I reached Expert and continued to have a good time. I did have to complete my handloading makeover that I had started when I was shooting with my AR-15 but with the .308.

Using the Ruger as a donor rifle (the only thing Ruger left was the action and the bolt,) brought me to the point where I could confidently decide to go all out on a custom rig, and it did not cost me a lot of money. I wanted to see if I could be decent in F-TR without committing a lot of money on a rifle that would be useless for anything else. Rebarreling your 700 and getting it bedded would be relatively inexpensive and easier to get a scope mounted for LR than the Ruger.

I know of a lot of people who bought the Savage FTR and are very happy with it. I considered it when I decided to replace my Ruger-based F-TR rifle, but I elected to go for a full custom rifle instead. It was a lot more expensive than the Savage FTR. The FTR is a great rifle and arguably the best rifle to get as an out-of-the-box item, for F-TR competition. No one else makes a rifle that is ready to go shoot F-TR at 1000 yards and be competitive if you feed it proper ammo and can aim it right; all it needs is a scope and a bipod.

Bottom line? It's up to you, of course. Either way will work just fine.
 
#3
I would say if you can swing it get a custom, the Savage is hit or miss? On mine I could not get rid of the flyers until the rifle was bedded. I could not get real competitive until I replaced the factory tube? So all in all I have about $2200 in a rifle that is just OK. Now I have seen lots of posts from guys whose Savage FTR was good to go (for them) out of the box?

Diego
 
#4
If it were me (admitted Savage nut) I would go with the Savage and if you did not get a "shooter" then replace the barrel. There are some superb aftermarket Savage Prefits from McGowen, Shilen and Criterion that cost less than $300. You can get $150 for your stock barrel on savageshooters.com. You also don't need to settle for the FTR either. My current long range rifle is based on a Model 116 stainless reciever with a McGowen .260 barrel, target accutrigger and laminate tactical stock. I built it myself but I have less than $900 into minus optic. It's a superb shooter...better than me!
 
#5
Thank you all.

Denys, the handful of times I've used the long distance range there I have noticed the swirling winds. For that reason I was thinking of something that can handle the heavier .308 bullet options. At this time I think it is more likely that I'll build up something from my existing Remington 700 action and try to make it out there with it by this Fall.
 
#6
bdubb, either one of your alternatives is workable. This one might be a little more challenging because you actually have to make decisions and do things rather than just buying a complete rifle, but it will be less expensive and produce a good rifle.

My first step would be to get a barrel, or at least get on a list for a barrel. I ordered 2 barrels from Krieger for my rifle in January and I hope to have them in time for Christmas.

Decide on a twist, contour and finished length and order right away from wherever you want to order. My Broughton was and is an awesome barrel, lots of people buy from Brux. Shilen is definitely someone you can contact and they're in Texas.

If you need gunsmiths, I can point you to a couple, one is local to me in Spring, another is south of Houston and another is in the Dallas area. I'm happy to give you the contacts for all three.
 
#7
Danco411 said:
... You also don't need to settle for the FTR either....
Click to expand...

Considering that to date I have never had any desire to shoot F-Open I would not call it "settling", in fact I believe that most shooters who have done both consider F-TR the more difficult discipline.


To the OP, I would not build an FTR rig on a long action, totally not needed, in fact adds weight that is also not needed.
 
#10
Buy a savage target action, good barrel fit either with a precision nut or shouldered, put it in a good stock and go to town. That's what I did and even though I haven't shot f class yet, it shoots better than any rifle I've ever shot.
 
#12
Denys' info is all good. You might call Pete Pieper in Hempstead. He has done some work for me, and I am very impressed with the results. He has a website, something like Precision Barrels, but you can Google him by name, and the website will show up. Price, promptness, and quality of what he's done for me are outstanding, and several times he has looked over the entire firearm, and fixed something I didn't even know was messed up. That's the kind of work you can't find very often! I've come in tied for first and in third place at F/TR matches with my two rifles, both times at 540 yards. A bedded Bell & Carlson stock with a 30" tube and Remington trued action will be competitive anywhere. You will want a fine trigger, and I can also vouch for Pete Pieper's trigger work. He did a couple of fine installations of Jewell match triggers for me.
Jim
 
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#14
I take it that Herman Graves is no longer with us.... He did a lot of work on XTC guns back in the 80's for shooters @ Bayou.... I myself am hoping to get my old Mod 70 XCT rig out and make some 300 yard match's when I get off this project in north cen TX... or get my McMillan PALMA gun back from my buddy over in LA.....
 
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