Newb advice needed - Long distance gun and hunting rifle

[pyrotechnic]

There is a thread a couple posts below yours on the CTR

[wilson1911]

I would look at the 6.5 creedmoor.
Actions are all over the place, but a Remington will grant you more upgrades later down the road.
stocks are a different story, one mans gold is anothers bain.
get something you do not have to reload for yet, that will come in time after you decide if its for you or not.
do not worry about barrel length atm, you have too many other things to learn. Just make sure its around 20-24 and run with it. Your going to shoot it out anyway.

A safe bet would be the 308 on a rem action, if that's what you decide, get a used one. After you shoot a while, you will see what is right for YOU, not the rest of us. Be sure to shoot all your friends guns !
A better decision would be 6.5 creed, I am saying this because I just got mine. Talk about a laser beam !!! and it's good out to 1200 easy. Mine recoils only a little more than an AR.

Just consider this.....your first gun will be a throw away gun. What you decide you like may be entirely different than you bought the first time. A rem 700 action can always be re-barreled into something else. My best advise is spend $500 on a gun and get a $1000 scope, a vortex pst is great for a beginner. Then go shoot the barrel out.

When you come back here you will have learned lots. I go to Dallas about once a month. I can PM you and let you shoot my creed sometime of you would like.

[Pappabear]

Another vote for rem700 5R in 308. I have one and love it. Get the threaded barrel and you can put a brake on it. Later you could buy a lightweight hunting gun when money permits. But you could hunt with the 5R.

As money permits:
Timney trigger
Bedding job

[ace4059]

Op,
You need to ask yourself a few questions. I know you said you want a long range rifle and a hunting rifle but there are several things to consider first.
What do you consider long range? What distances are you wanting to shoot? What groupings are you wanting? Paper punching for the smallest groups or pinging metal gongs?
Next, do you reload? Have you looked at the price of larger caliber ammo? Can you afford to shoot a few boxes a week? Can you handle the recoil?

I have a few large magnums and I very rarely shoot them. I now only use them for hunting because of the cost of ammo and I just hate shooting a box of ammo due to the recoil. My two go to calibers for target and hunting are .223 and .308. They are inexpensive to reload, they group well and I can shoot them at distance. I shoot my .223 to 600 yrds regularly at metal targets. Furtherest I've shot it was out to 800 yrds. I shoot the 308 out to 1000 yrds.

I have lighter guns for hunting and the target guns are heavier. I would hate to be carrying the targets guns around all day hunting with them. For hunting I would choose the 308 and for target I would choose the 223. I know you want one gun to do both and without your answers to the above question I would just recommend a 308. My bolt 223's are my favorite guns to shoot because I can afford to shoot 50+ rds each range trip and can go to the range with them twice a week without the bruising on my shoulder from the 300 wsm.

I was a believer in savages. I loved the accuracy out of the box. They were more accurate the the 700's I had and didn't require work to make them 1 hole accurate unlike the 700's. My 700's will now shoot as accurate as my savages but they cost me 2x to 3x as much due to all the work I've had done. But I hate to say it, but I will not recommend a savage to anyone nor buy another savage due their CS and the way I was treated when I purchased a 308 5r that was prethreaded. The threads were not concentric to the bore causing baffle strikes and there cs would not re thread the barrel under warranty. I was told I "voided the warranty" by attaching a muzzle break and suppressor myself. They said I should have mailed the gun and aac 51t in and had them attach it to be covered by the warranty. They said there barrel was not built to have a suppressor on them and I asked then why sell a prethreaded barrel. I had to have it rethreaded for about $100. Hints me recommending the Remington's from here on out.

[A2s rule]

The suggestions so far have been right on.....but don't overlook the 260 rem. A little harder to find a rifle chambered in it and factory ammo is nowhere near what 308 is but can still be found. But once you get into long range shooting, the next step is reloading and 6.5mm bullets are abundant and the 260 case is just a necked down 308.
I only say this because 6.5mm bullets will whoop up on a 308 once you get out there in range. Its also a great deer round.
But the 308 is probably the best choice for your start up and can do just about anything you want it to. For hunting you don't want to shoot at game any further than the capabilities of your bullet. If it won't open up at under 2000 fps than you need to figure at what range that is and not shoot deer past it.
Every bullet is different. As far as target shooting, some people get to a mile on targets with the 308 so its very capable.
If you're going to customize it as you go then the Rem700 and 2nd would be Savage.
For straight out of the box do nothing to it, then Savage for sure. (I personally love winchester M70's..but not too much for customizing)

[MBtech]

Where I could use some advice is I am looking for something that I could upgrade as I go rather than spending a bunch on a custom rig right off the bat. Is that even possible with bolt guns? I would say my budget without optics is around $1500 (the lower the better obviously) and I haven't really seen a custom build anywhere near this low but there are plenty of decent hunting rifles for well under this amount. I am willing to sacrifice some weight for performance since the only time I would be lugging it around is on the dream elk hunt since most of my deer hunting would be on 100 acres.

http://www.remington.com/products/fi...al-aac-sd.aspx

Ready to hunt right out of the box, under $700, get a heck of a nice scope with that $1500 budget. Harris bi pod, a sling and go hunt.
Upgrade to your liking, stock, chassis, bedding, trigger, action muzzle brake, suppressor etc...on and on...

That's just the way I went on a similar plan and budget. Still no other upgrades on mine, but I love the rifle as is to take hunting.

[Servo]

Some thing worth else worth looking at would be a FN/Winchester Model 70 SPR. An often under appreciated choice.

[masan]

Another vote for the model 700 in .308, it will offer lots of room to grow as you learn. My .02 cents would concern ammunition, how are you going to feed this gun? Factory ammunition has its limits, and if you truly want to be able to shoot at range you will be putting a lot of rounds down your barrel(s). I do not know if you load or not, so my input would be to make one of your first investments after getting your gun/glass (good glass is a must) is to set yourself up to hand load. You can experiment to find what your gun likes best in terms of compenents and will likely save yourself $ on ammo which you can then put back into the gun further down the road.

[skywalkrNCSU]

I reload so ammo isn't an issue for me. I am thinking the Remington is going to likely be my best bet as I will be able to afford the gun and some decent glass, otherwise I will have to put off the scope for a while and use one of my basic ones. Another option I am thinking about on the higher end is a Kimberly tactical. My brother in-law has one and it is an absolute tac driver. Would be a bit more pricey obviously but wouldn't need much done to enhance it either.

[skywalkrNCSU]

Ended up getting a Remington 700 SPS Tac AAC-SD today. Going to put a Vortex PST 4-16 on it and get to shooting. I found a range about an hour away that teaches long range precision courses so I hope to get some real instruction. There is a range closer (only 100 yards) that I can use to dial in some handloads. Thanks everyone for the help, I am sure I will be back with plenty of questions.