Out of box accuracy

Weatheryby by Howa or Howa, both available with varmint weight barrels or Ruger m77 target II.

I have a Ruger m77 hawkeye "predator FTW" in 6.5 Creedmoor, it has a medium weight (heavy sporter?) barrel and turns crazy small groups typically around 1/2 moa +-.

BTW the Ruger comes with a pretty good trigger out of the box. Two stage, mine breaks at just over 2 1/4 lbs.
 
I think its worth continuing the discussion now the OP is made a decision.

Savage: My 308 Heavy Barrel is not the least bit crude, very nice clean barrel. Acu-trigger is close to Timny class. Bolt is jeweled and works fine (all for $380). Stock, not so much, ok. Add in a good stock, you are into a long range shooter for $600 (no optic)


You have to pay extra for a Remington to get a decent trigger as well as higher up front costs. I don't think the Remington action is as smooth as the Savage (at least the 12 BV)

You can add in the extremely easy barrel change and high availably of pre chambered and threaded barrels for the Savage. You shoot a lot (and I do) you are gong to eat up a barrel and then its not only barrel cost, its the chamber and thread work at a gunsmith who hopefully does it right. Something goes wrong is it the barrel or the machine work?

If you want better action as noted the F class Savage and or in single shot versions is stiffer yet. They are extremely competitive atop F class, for our shooting, we won't see the difference.

Your biggest cost is the optics, for that type of work a Nightforce or that type with the Dot reticles looks to be outstanding. 42 power though I have the lower cost 32x. That's going to cost $1200+, which means the lower price of the action setup allows you to keep it under 2k.
 
The OP did not specify a cartridge choice and seems open to action type.
I have a Colt AR HBAR that was a sub MOA shooter right out of the box with the factory irons . It still is. I have not priced the rifle in years so do not know if it falls within his budget.
Pete
 
I found it odd that good suggestion well under 1100 were offered and rejected.

You still need good optics, I would prefer to spend a combined as little as possible and good optics do cost.

The Savages are very good value and offer easy and low cost upgrade path.
 
FYI, shooting with my brother yesterday, he is not happy with the R 700 with its excessively deep throat, has to load way long COAL to get it to shoot.

I continue to think the Savage is better way to do, even if you do what I am and take the barrel off, you can get the barrel you want in any contour.

You can sell the old barrel, 50 or 100 as others do want them.

A well setup R may be better but that seems to be an operative word.

Bart B told us the Winchester 70 is actually the best action as its the most solid.

I am willing to bet a paycheck I will never be able to tell.

I continue to like the Savage (if purchase right setup, if you want the Acu or target trigger you have to get it OEM, you cant put it on afterwards but you can swap around between the two) as the acu trigger on the Varmint adjusts down to 1.5 lbs (lower than I can deal with right now) and you can convert it to a Target trigger (you might have to waiver to Savage or get through a gunsmith, still finding out)

Floating bolt head that eliminated the out of true issue and it seems to be a great project frame to work with.

I got a 111 BTH as the basis for mine, will see how it goes from there.

With tools (one time cost) I have less than $850 into it and can change it to anything and any barrel I want (and go full into the target trigger as well).

Change bolt heads and you can convert to short action and single load small case head rounds.
 
RC20 said:
FYI, shooting with my brother yesterday, he is not happy with the R 700 with its excessively deep throat, has to load way long COAL to get it to shoot.

I continue to think the Savage is better way to do, even if you do what I am and take the barrel off, you can get the barrel you want in any contour.

You can sell the old barrel, 50 or 100 as others do want them.

A well setup R may be better but that seems to be an operative word.

Bart B told us the Winchester 70 is actually the best action as its the most solid.

I am willing to bet a paycheck I will never be able to tell.

I continue to like the Savage (if purchase right setup, if you want the Acu or target trigger you have to get it OEM, you cant put it on afterwards but you can swap around between the two) as the acu trigger on the Varmint adjusts down to 1.5 lbs (lower than I can deal with right now) and you can convert it to a Target trigger (you might have to waiver to Savage or get through a gunsmith, still finding out)

Floating bolt head that eliminated the out of true issue and it seems to be a great project frame to work with.

I got a 111 BTH as the basis for mine, will see how it goes from there.

With tools (one time cost) I have less than $850 into it and can change it to anything and any barrel I want (and go full into the target trigger as well).
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Really your brothers 700 had issues with accuracy because of the throat? I know .308 Remmys do have a long throat and is a talked about thing, but I haven't heard much of there being accuracy issues because of it. Unless his was cut excessively long beyond spec. Throat on my 5r .308 seems to be about 1/10 past 2.800 COAL on average, I don't know exactly this from using Hornady OAL to measure on my bullets i'd have to cast it to know exactly. My 5r doesn't seem to care about jump so I just load to max OAL, and get good accuracy even with standard OAL factory ammo etc.

For better or worse that is one downside to .308 700s is the longer leades. While it is positive in keeping pressures down and can shoot many types of ammo and long bullets jump is a bit long.

Is his a .308? The magnums although I haven't heard as much also might have a long leade. Longer mag boxes though also for flexibility. Other 700s seem to have normal leades, I have one in .223 and 25-06 and the leades aren't very long at all
 
Brief range report: Savage model 12FV in 308. This is/was a Cabela's special. I added a Cabela's 8-32 scope (30mm tube) that was on closeout. Total out the door was under $750. Had a chance to shoot at a friend's 200 yd range. Two consecutive 5 shot groups @ 1", so that's .5 MOA using Federal Match w/ 168 gn. SMK. I can't ask for better than that, as I am not an expert shooter. Starting to work up a load to see if I can improve on the initial results. Next up for the rifle is a better stock. The low $ plastic stock doesn't allow me to get a solid and comfortable cheek weld so I'll be looking for something with an adjustable comb.
 
Ruger Precision Rifle is the best choice, if you can find one, for range/target shooting. Nothing else comes close to what it offers at their price point. I have shot all three calibers, plus some custom barreled ones and they just impress. The key feature is that you can rebarrel at home with an AR15 barrel nut wrench and a set of gauges.

Tikka T3, Weatherby, Savage, also good options. Remington SPS will need a new stock, and you might get a decent shooter, but the gamble is certainly higher. When you add a stock, the Remington is more $.

I am a huge .243Win fan, and more so in the last year. I have taken about a dozen .243Wins to the range for T&E in the last year with factory ammo. The Tikka T3 printed the smallest group (3 shots into 0.06") I have ever shot with factory ammo. The 10 shot group was 0.31". The only one I did not shoot under 1 MOA with was the Remington 700.
 
Again the post was budget shooter. Best.

Really your brothers 700 had issues with accuracy because of the throat? I know .308 Remmys do have a long throat and is a talked about thing, but I haven't heard much of there being accuracy issues because of it. Unless his was cut excessively long beyond spec. Throat on my 5r .308 seems to be about 1/10 past 2.800 COAL on average, I don't know exactly this from using Hornady OAL to measure on my bullets i'd have to cast it to know exactly. My 5r doesn't seem to care about jump so I just load to max OAL, and get good accuracy even with standard OAL factory ammo etc.

For better or worse that is one downside to .308 700s is the longer leades. While it is positive in keeping pressures down and can shoot many types of ammo and long bullets jump is a bit long.

Is his a .308? The magnums although I haven't heard as much also might have a long leade. Longer mag boxes though also for flexibility. Other 700s seem to have normal leades, I have one in .223 and 25-06 and the leades aren't very long at all
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Lange


30-06 and the throat depth seems to be a lot more from our conversations .
 
Brief range report: Savage model 12FV in 308. This is/was a Cabela's special. I added a Cabela's 8-32 scope (30mm tube) that was on closeout. Total out the door was under $750. Had a chance to shoot at a friend's 200 yd range. Two consecutive 5 shot groups @ 1", so that's .5 MOA using Federal Match w/ 168 gn. SMK. I can't ask for better than that, as I am not an expert shooter. Starting to work up a load to see if I can improve on the initial results. Next up for the rifle is a better stock. The low $ plastic stock doesn't allow me to get a solid and comfortable cheek weld so I'll be looking for something with an adjustable comb.
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I may have to try the Federal in mine, it was working to being reliable 5/8 and things things went off the rail, same hand loads. Doing a bit of playing and will see.

Package is great, sometimes just don't get what you hope. I cleaned the chamber this week and huge amount of good in it.

$64 is it clean up or me, other possibles or back to Savage.

Not awful, 1 inch more or less with better but not the half and sub half I was getting fairly often before either.
 
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