I have decided I'm going to get into a little bit of long range shooting when I get back home. I'm trying to decide which rifle I think will work for me the best for my money as I am limited on how much I can spend. I'm trying to choose between the Savage 10 FCP-K and Tikka T3 Scout CTR. I think both would be great to start with but from what i have been reading I should at least have a 24" barrel for 308 win. to get into long range shooting. Wanted to see what yall's thoughts were. I still have a little while before I will be back home so I still plan on researching some more and exploring my options.
Getting into Long Range shooting
- Thread starter davis21b
- Start date
You don't need a 24 inch barrel for a 308. 22 would be plenty and will work find.
The exception is if you intend to use iron sights, the longer sight radius would make for better shooting, but thats the sight radius not the 308 round.
I shot a heck of a lot of 1000 yard matches, the best score I ever fired was out of a 22 inch M1A.
The exception is if you intend to use iron sights, the longer sight radius would make for better shooting, but thats the sight radius not the 308 round.
I shot a heck of a lot of 1000 yard matches, the best score I ever fired was out of a 22 inch M1A.
rezmedic54
New member
Savage
I like them have 6 as of now. Three .308's , 1 .223 , and 1 .338 Win Mag. All are great shooters.
I like them have 6 as of now. Three .308's , 1 .223 , and 1 .338 Win Mag. All are great shooters.
smoakingun
New member
the rings need to be only high enough to keep the objective from contacting the rifle
Before laying gdown any cash, I would go to a match and see what is being shot. Same with the scope. While I have not handeled your choice of scope, I do know I like a target dot vross hair.
The other thing I would do is Lisen to Kraigwy.
You don't know how many times over the years I've seen a new shooter who got some advise from someone not in the game anf ended up with a rifle that was not going to make it. For instance, one guy contacted a local manf of AR rifles and asked their opinion. He ended up with a AR with a 1 in 10 twist. That twist might work for light bullets but it dang sure will not shoot the heavy bullets used across the course with High Power. He came to a match expecting gto shoot his rifle at 600 yards for slow fire prone. If there was no wind, he might have done ok with a light bullet. But this range doesn't know a calm day.
The other thing I would do is Lisen to Kraigwy.
You don't know how many times over the years I've seen a new shooter who got some advise from someone not in the game anf ended up with a rifle that was not going to make it. For instance, one guy contacted a local manf of AR rifles and asked their opinion. He ended up with a AR with a 1 in 10 twist. That twist might work for light bullets but it dang sure will not shoot the heavy bullets used across the course with High Power. He came to a match expecting gto shoot his rifle at 600 yards for slow fire prone. If there was no wind, he might have done ok with a light bullet. But this range doesn't know a calm day.
The Savage 10FCP is a very popular choice for long range- and has a heavy contour barrel. The AccuStock is a great factory stock- and you'll also have plenty of choices for upgrades.
I'm not very familiar with the Tikka line (other than they are quality rifles, for sure)- but I'll throw this out there...
We tend to send a lot of rounds downrange when we go shooting- typically in the neighborhood of 100 for each of us. More rounds, = more practice, right?
This volume of shooting over a few hours time (especially considering "cold" time on the line) heats up our barrels, which is why we-and most other- long range shooters go with a varmint, or bull contour because the barrel harmonics tend to remain more consistent that with a factory contour barrel.
Factory contour barrels are generally preferred for hunting. Lighter, easier to lug around, and it's the cold bore shot that matters.
From what I see, it looks like the T-3 Lite has a factory contour, and the Varmint has a heavy barrel- which would be my preference for the range.
I'm not very familiar with the Tikka line (other than they are quality rifles, for sure)- but I'll throw this out there...
We tend to send a lot of rounds downrange when we go shooting- typically in the neighborhood of 100 for each of us. More rounds, = more practice, right?
This volume of shooting over a few hours time (especially considering "cold" time on the line) heats up our barrels, which is why we-and most other- long range shooters go with a varmint, or bull contour because the barrel harmonics tend to remain more consistent that with a factory contour barrel.
Factory contour barrels are generally preferred for hunting. Lighter, easier to lug around, and it's the cold bore shot that matters.
From what I see, it looks like the T-3 Lite has a factory contour, and the Varmint has a heavy barrel- which would be my preference for the range.
Have a look at the Tikka T3 Varmint or Tac both come with a heavy varmint profile (Heavy) barrel in 24". I have a T3 Stainless Varmint in .260 I have use for long range shooting and it does really well. Another good thing the Tikka's have is a really good accurany guarantee 1" (sub MOA) 3 shot groups with any hunting ammo (not Match Grade like most others) at 100 meters (110 yards) all the Tikka's carry this guarantee but if you have a Varmint or Tac model the guarantee is with 5 shots so you know if you buy a Tikka it's really going to shoot. The triggers on the Tikka are user adjustable and are as good as any aftermarket one you can buy. I also think the Synthetic stock on the Tikka's are really good and are fibre-reinforced (not blow molded) so they don't flex at the foregrip and are really solid.
If your just starting out .308 is the way to go. Brass is cheap, loading is easy, ammo is "cheaper" if you have to buy match ammo. 175gr SMKs are plentiful and cheap. Again it's super easy to load for. So much data on the .308.
Remington, savage, tikka it's hard to go wrong with any of those. If you want to further modify your rifle you might want to go savage or remington, i'm not positive on how many aftermarket stocks are out there for tikka. That being said you can send the action to McM and have it molded to which ever of their stock you want. AI just came out with the AICS for Savage also so that might give you some consideration if your wanting to change stock along the way.
What Optic are you considering? Optics are just as important in the rifle. If you can't stomach paying some of the prices for the extreme high end FFP optics, there are good budget SFP and FFP scopes that do great. Vortex's Viper PST series are great right around 900$ for 4-16x44mm FFP, zero stop, 1/10mil adjustments, Mil reticle, and illumination. SWFA SS are also good, as well as leupolds new VX-R patrol 3-9x40mm. I own the patrol and it's very nice for 600$, no zero stop though
.
Here are some articles on LR shooting by Zak Smith a member here and on the hide. Read them they're a great start, feel free to PM him also he's very responsive and helpful. He gave me a lot of great insight 3 or so years ago when i joined and became interested in LR shooting.
http://demigodllc.com/
Practical Long Range Shooting-Part 1: The Rifle & Gear
Practical Long Range Shooting-Part 2: Optics
Practical Long Range Shooting-Part 3: Shooting
Here's another article by Zak, more discussion about optics.
The State of Optics for practical long range shooting
Remington, savage, tikka it's hard to go wrong with any of those. If you want to further modify your rifle you might want to go savage or remington, i'm not positive on how many aftermarket stocks are out there for tikka. That being said you can send the action to McM and have it molded to which ever of their stock you want. AI just came out with the AICS for Savage also so that might give you some consideration if your wanting to change stock along the way.
What Optic are you considering? Optics are just as important in the rifle. If you can't stomach paying some of the prices for the extreme high end FFP optics, there are good budget SFP and FFP scopes that do great. Vortex's Viper PST series are great right around 900$ for 4-16x44mm FFP, zero stop, 1/10mil adjustments, Mil reticle, and illumination. SWFA SS are also good, as well as leupolds new VX-R patrol 3-9x40mm. I own the patrol and it's very nice for 600$, no zero stop though
.Here are some articles on LR shooting by Zak Smith a member here and on the hide. Read them they're a great start, feel free to PM him also he's very responsive and helpful. He gave me a lot of great insight 3 or so years ago when i joined and became interested in LR shooting.
http://demigodllc.com/
Practical Long Range Shooting-Part 1: The Rifle & Gear
Practical Long Range Shooting-Part 2: Optics
Practical Long Range Shooting-Part 3: Shooting
Here's another article by Zak, more discussion about optics.
The State of Optics for practical long range shooting
For the Tikka T3 you can get a number of aftermarket longrange, tactical, varmint, hunting stocks. Manners, Bell and Carson, Wild Dog, Roedale Precision, PSE Composites, Robertson Composites, Gunworx, PDC Custom, Kinetic Research Group, MPI Stocks, Staffs Synthetic Stocks, Helmick Arms (as well as probably a couple of others I am forgeting) all make stocks for the Tikka T3.