nicknitro71
New member
I am a self-taught gunsmith having worked on guns for the past 20 years. I own 12 handguns all somewhat modified by me, mostly trigger jobs and general accurizing. I have some experience with rifles having built a sub MOA M14 when I was in the service. I also bedded and accurize a M1 Garant (.30-06), and recently I built for a friend a Winchester 70 .243 sniping system that shoots 1/4" MOA @ 100 yards.
I do not own any rifle, I am not a hunter, and my only experience with shooting rifles was in the service and in basic sniping school where we shot M14s, M21s, M24s, and Barretts .50. I consider myself a good shot and I can place 1/2" MOA @ 100 yards, given a good rifle.
I am also an avid reloader.
It's time for me to build my first rifle and I have decided to go with a .300 Winchester Magnum to be used mostly for medium to long-distance target shooting and possibly occasional hunting in Alaska.
I've been to a few shops browsing around and I have narrowed down my list to the following rifles all in .300WM and stainless:
Remington 700, Ruger M77, Howa 1500, Savage 116, and Tikka 3; they are all in the same price range only 40 bucks difference between the most expensive to the least expensive.
The Remington has a long history and it was the rifle I used in the service. The trigger can be fully adjusted, the after-market is huge, but there are a few things I don't care for, namely the c-clamp extractor and honestly the overall quality does not meet my expectations.
The Ruger to me seems the beefiest looking (plus I'm a general Ruger sucker), I like the Mouser style bolt, the trigger is crappy but I know I can fix that and some report accuracy issues. Some report issues about bedding because of the angled front screw and also some report that free-floating the barrel does not do the trick (kind of hard to believe!)
The Howa and Tikka seem like good rifles overall but I have zero experience with such brands.
The Savage feels a bit cheap but many speak highly of its accuracy; I do not really care for the accutrigger but I guess could live with it.
I have no issue swapping the stock, bedding, free-floating the barrel, performing a trigger job, etc, whatever it takes to get me a very accurate rifle.
I am looking for honest opinions keeping the brand war out of the equation.
I do not own any rifle, I am not a hunter, and my only experience with shooting rifles was in the service and in basic sniping school where we shot M14s, M21s, M24s, and Barretts .50. I consider myself a good shot and I can place 1/2" MOA @ 100 yards, given a good rifle.
I am also an avid reloader.
It's time for me to build my first rifle and I have decided to go with a .300 Winchester Magnum to be used mostly for medium to long-distance target shooting and possibly occasional hunting in Alaska.
I've been to a few shops browsing around and I have narrowed down my list to the following rifles all in .300WM and stainless:
Remington 700, Ruger M77, Howa 1500, Savage 116, and Tikka 3; they are all in the same price range only 40 bucks difference between the most expensive to the least expensive.
The Remington has a long history and it was the rifle I used in the service. The trigger can be fully adjusted, the after-market is huge, but there are a few things I don't care for, namely the c-clamp extractor and honestly the overall quality does not meet my expectations.
The Ruger to me seems the beefiest looking (plus I'm a general Ruger sucker), I like the Mouser style bolt, the trigger is crappy but I know I can fix that and some report accuracy issues. Some report issues about bedding because of the angled front screw and also some report that free-floating the barrel does not do the trick (kind of hard to believe!)
The Howa and Tikka seem like good rifles overall but I have zero experience with such brands.
The Savage feels a bit cheap but many speak highly of its accuracy; I do not really care for the accutrigger but I guess could live with it.
I have no issue swapping the stock, bedding, free-floating the barrel, performing a trigger job, etc, whatever it takes to get me a very accurate rifle.
I am looking for honest opinions keeping the brand war out of the equation.