ndking1126
New member
I'm pretty sure I know what I want to do, but open to everyone's opinion. The end goal is to have an accurate long range rifle.
History: I bought a Stevens 200 in .223 to build up (replace barrel, stock, trigger, etc.) Thanks to financial situations, it hasn't been finished nearly as quickly as i had hoped. I've got trigger and stock, but no barrel or tools. A while back I decided I would get serious about long range shooting and decided to deviate from my orignal plan. The obvious choice for me was.260AI. I decided I would finally get into handloading because of lack of .260 off the shelf and the "AI" part
. I haven't baught the barrel, tools, go/no go gauges, reloading equipment yet.
Present: If you add up the amount of money I still have to put out of pocket, it's about $750 (including reloading equipment). As much as I love the 6.5mm and its ballistics, It hit me for about the same price I could buy a second rifle and have still have the .223.
Specifically I was thinking about a 12FV in .308 based on price and reputation. I would take my aftermarket stock and put it on the 12FV. Then take the stock from the 12FV and put it on my .223 to replace the craptastic one it came with. And since .308 is plentiful, I certainly should should be able to find rounds off the shelf my rifle would like. The downside of course is inferior ballistics to the .260, more recoil, and no reloading equipment (yet).
My use would be general long range use.. lots of paper punching and hopefully an occasional trip to the forest for shooting metal targets. No hunting since I have a .30-06. I'm not worried about weight for my long range rifle. I want to keep my .223 so in addition to my .22, my wife and people who have never shot before have something to shoot if/when they go. Regardless of how I proceed, my budget includes money for a Vortex PST with 20MOA base and rings.
History: I bought a Stevens 200 in .223 to build up (replace barrel, stock, trigger, etc.) Thanks to financial situations, it hasn't been finished nearly as quickly as i had hoped. I've got trigger and stock, but no barrel or tools. A while back I decided I would get serious about long range shooting and decided to deviate from my orignal plan. The obvious choice for me was.260AI. I decided I would finally get into handloading because of lack of .260 off the shelf and the "AI" part
. I haven't baught the barrel, tools, go/no go gauges, reloading equipment yet.Present: If you add up the amount of money I still have to put out of pocket, it's about $750 (including reloading equipment). As much as I love the 6.5mm and its ballistics, It hit me for about the same price I could buy a second rifle and have still have the .223.
Specifically I was thinking about a 12FV in .308 based on price and reputation. I would take my aftermarket stock and put it on the 12FV. Then take the stock from the 12FV and put it on my .223 to replace the craptastic one it came with. And since .308 is plentiful, I certainly should should be able to find rounds off the shelf my rifle would like. The downside of course is inferior ballistics to the .260, more recoil, and no reloading equipment (yet).
My use would be general long range use.. lots of paper punching and hopefully an occasional trip to the forest for shooting metal targets. No hunting since I have a .30-06. I'm not worried about weight for my long range rifle. I want to keep my .223 so in addition to my .22, my wife and people who have never shot before have something to shoot if/when they go. Regardless of how I proceed, my budget includes money for a Vortex PST with 20MOA base and rings.
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