Budget .308?

[gunrunner505]

The Savage ins't a bad choice for the right customer. orkan, here, has had the action seize up in extreme cold weather on a hunt.... we pick on the Savage here a bit, but it can be a fit for someone who doesn't really run their gear hard.

Barrel burnout is generally about 5k for 308 from what I've heard from everyone. And it's not brand specific.... that's plus or minus depending on rate of fire, ammo, etc. I've yet to burn out a bolt gun barrel.

We shoot a lot of 300 WM. It's a fun round to shoot long range with. .308 is fun too. But 300 shaves of a good bit of come up. 8 mils verses 13 mils at 1050 yards for us, for example.

I can't tell you what to do as far as your rifles. Really depends on your shooting preferences.

Mark, do you think the 1 in 12 twist on the SPS is a little on the slow side? Will it stabilize 175 grain bullets or will you have to limit yourself to 168 grains?

I find myself in a similar situation as the OP.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk

[TehLlama]

The Savage ins't a bad choice for the right customer. orkan, here, has had the action seize up in extreme cold weather on a hunt.... we pick on the Savage here a bit, but it can be a fit for someone who doesn't really run their gear hard.

Barrel burnout is generally about 5k for 308 from what I've heard from everyone. And it's not brand specific.... that's plus or minus depending on rate of fire, ammo, etc. I've yet to burn out a bolt gun barrel.

We shoot a lot of 300 WM. It's a fun round to shoot long range with. .308 is fun too. But 300 shaves of a good bit of come up. 8 mils verses 13 mils at 1050 yards for us, for example.

I can't tell you what to do as far as your rifles. Really depends on your shooting preferences.

There is a budget range where the Savage is unbeatable - just because it's better than a stock Rem700 in enough areas, and well priced, but they aren't platforms worth upgrading a ton. Within 300m, the Savage is absolutely worth discussing, since that would be king of the budget precision .308 range... but I know very few people who get into that and don't wind up aspiring to to more, it's always a question of is that where the disposable funds lets off - if it's a Savage, some decent glass, and then only affording ammunition, then you probably won't beat that performance for the price. If later on the budget can be bigger, or if ruggedness is a factor, then it's less than ideal.

[markm]

Mark, do you think the 1 in 12 twist on the SPS is a little on the slow side? Will it stabilize 175 grain bullets or will you have to limit yourself to 168 grains?

Absolutely not. I've shot 220 grain Sierra hunting bullets in my 1/12 just to try. At subsonic, they were not very stabile, shot yawing holes at 100 yards and were like 8 MOA.

But I loaded some up to full power and they shot MOA!!!

175s are perfect. I've shot them out to 1400 yards. 168s are almost never fired in my SPS. They suck at transonic and fan out BADLY at 900 or more yards.

[gunrunner505]

Absolutely not. I've shot 220 grain Sierra hunting bullets in my 1/12 just to try. At subsonic, they were not very stabile, shot yawing holes at 100 yards and were like 8 MOA.

But I loaded some up to full power and they shot MOA!!!

175s are perfect. I've shot them out to 1400 yards. 168s are almost never fired in my SPS. They suck at transonic and fan out BADLY at 900 or more yards.

Good info. Thank you. I think I just found my rifle. Got a picture of yours you can show off?

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk

[markm]

Older pic.... It has and AAC mount now, and different glass.

Mods are: Timney 517 trigger, Karsten Cheek Riser, Warne 20 MOA base, TPS steel rings, H-S precision stock skim bedded.

[Failure2Stop]

Older pic.... It has and AAC mount now, and different glass.

Mods are: Timney 517 trigger, Karsten Cheek Riser, Warne 20 MOA base, TPS steel rings, H-S precision stock skim bedded.

I cannot believe that you used the word "mods" to describe work done.

[markm]

Friggin MODS!!!

As far as the SPS Tacticals though.... It's worth considering going with the 5R too if you're buying a H/S prec stock anyway.

The SPS really gets you a Hammer forged barrel and an Action. You can shoot it as is for a while, but eventually everything else has to go.

Oh yeah... mine did not come threaded. Had that done too. Christ! There's not cheap way to do this. You're 1500 bucks in the hole no matter how you slice this.

[TurretGunner]

Cheating out on a build will get you nothing but problems. The only cheap option worth considering is howa or a tikka. Rem and savage are junk. A whole industry is built around fixing the massively flawed 700 action and piss poor quality and materials.

[markm]

Rem and savage are junk.

We've only had one problematic Rem. Bad barrel on a 5R 300 WM that was bought used. I suppose there's more of a risk of a bad barrel in a Factory Rem 700 than say... buying a BCM AR for example.. but I'd buy another Rem 700 in a minute.

[gunrunner505]

Friggin MODS!!!

As far as the SPS Tacticals though.... It's worth considering going with the 5R too if you're buying a H/S prec stock anyway.

The SPS really gets you a Hammer forged barrel and an Action. You can shoot it as is for a while, but eventually everything else has to go.

Oh yeah... mine did not come threaded. Had that done too. Christ! There's not cheap way to do this. You're 1500 bucks in the hole no matter how you slice this.

I've considered the 5R as well. Outside the different rifling on the 5R, is there that much advantage to the 24 inch barrel? Not a big fan of the stainless either. That would be painted right off....

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk