Best Budget .308 Rifle??

[hghlndr85]

im looking for a budget 308 just for range use and long range drills. im thinking of a savage model 10? i know walmart by me has it for like 400
any ideas or thoughts?

[ICANHITHIMMAN]

Weatherby vanguard, savage, howa or tikka take your pick. I would go tikka.

[anthony1]

If you do go for a cheap savage you could also get a stevens 200, same as savage 10 just 100$ cheaper. Dicks sporting goods had a rem700 varmint sale for around 400 after rebate.

[markm]

Any factory rifle is a gamble. What length bbl are you thinking? What ammo are you wanting to shoot?

[eternal24k]

Tikka or Rem 700 LTR

[rob_s]

Any factory rifle is a gamble.

Can we quantify this? I've heard benchrest guys say similar for YEARS but never gotten a handle on what that means. Gamble how? won't run? Won't group? What kinds of problems are we talking about if won't run? What kind of deviation in accuracy are we talking about?

[markm]

Can we quantify this?
Gamble how? won't run? Won't group?

Won't group. Our smith said about 1/1000 factory barrels will be as good as a Krieger.

He showed us all kinds of factory barrel messes in his buckets of take off bbls..... tight spots in barrels that create excessive heat and errosion... over bored bbls that simply will NEVER shoot well, etc.

We got to guage good and bad bbls for a hands on, no subjectivity lesson.

[ICANHITHIMMAN]

Can we quantify this? I've heard benchrest guys say similar for YEARS but never gotten a handle on what that means. Gamble how? won't run? Won't group? What kinds of problems are we talking about if won't run? What kind of deviation in accuracy are we talking about?

Rob I would say most factory rifles are like American cars or Colt pistols you buy it knowing you going to have to have some work done. This is true in most of the new Rems.
My rifle smith has a 250$ accuracy package he does on factory rifle that put the tolerences where they should have been from the factory. It typicaly turn's a rifle that will shoot a 3" group at 200M in to a rilfe that will hold under and inch.
I have never seen any of the other rifles I mentioned not shoot if the shooter did there part. The QC of the guns other than rem is very good. I had a gun built on a 20 plus year old Howa action and my smith said the action threeds were .012 out of round thats it. The only reason most guys build on a rem action is after market support and lack of knowlege of the other brands.

[rob_s]

Won't group. Our smith said about 1/1000 factory barrels will be as good as a Krieger.

He showed us all kinds of factory barrel messes in his buckets of take off bbls..... tight spots in barrels that create excessive heat and errosion... over bored bbls that simply will NEVER shoot well, etc.

We got to guage good and bad bbls for a hands on, no subjectivity lesson.

this is not a quantification, it's an extension of what has been said before.

My rifle smith has a 250$ accuracy package he does on factory rifle that put the tolerences where they should have been from the factory. It typicaly turn's a rifle that will shoot a 3" group at 200M in to a rilfe that will hold under and inch.

THIS is quantifying. thank you.

What I'd like to know is how often that's the case. Is the 3" factory gun the norm, or is it the extreme? If it's the extreme, what IS the norm? and *can* a factory gun do 1"?

[markm]

The only reason most guys build on a rem action is after market support and lack of knowlege of the other brands.

Yeah... as relatively new precision shooters, we looked at tikka, savage, and Remington. Both tikka and savage make an accurate barrel.... but valid or not... we had concerns about the durability of those two.

We shoot a lot of rounds through these guns every weekend. The 700's aftermarket support is indeed nice. The bottom line was... after trying to sort through all the internet input, I had to jump in somewhere... So a Rem 700 it was.

But going back to the OP's question.... "Best Budget .308 rifle"? He might luck out and get a 1/2 MOA gun for $500, or he may end up with a 3" gun. A bad barrel is a risk when buying a factory gun, and it's possible to get a gun that can not be made to shoot MOA or better.