quote:

Originally posted by offgrid:
Being the anti 308, I would pass. That's a light rifle, 223 will be much more fun to learn on, cheaper to feed. Yes, the R700 5R would fit on the KRG chassis.

offgrid as an anti three-oh-hate???? I never would have imagined that. Never in a million years.

OP -- I have a 308, which is my first precision rifle. Have a little over 5,000 rounds down the tube. I figure the barrel could die at any moment, or it could go on for a couple thousand more rounds. Time will tell, and I have a new replacement barrel in the basement.

I shoot my 308 mainly over the winter, as a training rifle. It is quite accurate, using a number of factory ammo options. There's no doubt the 308 works. But the caliber is getting long in the tooth, especially for target shooting. To wit:
- Controlling recoil is a challenge. In today's steel-target-based matches the shooter is expected to watch his own shot impacts, then make corrections for the next shot. This isn't easy to do with a 308. Now some people will state the 308 is a soft shooting cartridge. Bullshit. Such statements are made by people who have never seen their own bullet impact on/near a close target from a compromised shooting position. And they haven't shot 100+ rounds of 308 per day in competition, for a few days in a row.

- In the spring, when I transition from 308 to 6.5 Creedmoor, the resulting reduction in recoil heavily contributes to my increase accuracy -- especially on follow up shots. My 6.5 Creedmoor is actually now approaching "grampa" status -- most high-end steel match shooters use reduced-capacity 6mm calibers, which offer even less recoil.

- 308 bullets are more susceptible to wind drift. The newer high-BC bullets are heavy for their bore size. The 308 doesn't have enough powder capacity to push a heavy bullet at reasonable speeds. Therefore, a 308 actually flies pretty close to the same as a 223 with a modern high-ish BC bullet. The wind call advantages of quality 6mm and 6.5mm bullets over 308 bullets is amazing.

- For a 308 to be competitive in matches, smaller bore calibers must be eliminated. A 308 is competitive in a 308 class. Period. Well, a 308 will be competitive in a 338 Federal class.....

You will enjoy a 223 rifle more than a 308. You will shoot the 223 more. You will learn the fundamentals of marksmanship faster with a 223.

I'm not against a 308, but I will not recommend it as a first precision rifle for a shooter who is new to the game.

FWIW, if Hornady/Federal/Prime/whomever ever starts selling reduced-load 6mm match-grade ammo at a reasonable price, my 308 will soon go the way of the dodo. Come on guys -- can we say 6 Dasher, 6 BR, 6 BRA -- huh? Any time now, guys!

quote:

You will enjoy a 223 rifle more than a 308. You will shoot the 223 more. You will learn the fundamentals of marksmanship faster with a 223.

Thanks Fritz. This is the bottom line. The price is right for the 308 but sounds like it's functionally contraindicated. I'll stick with buying a 223. Also like that I can stick w/ ammo common to AR.

Buy a Howa Barrelled Action from Brownells and a Boyds stock.

Or, synthetic stock from whomever may make one for the Howa, I think McMillan made one... but may be incorrect.

Howa is well made for the purpose.

If that's too basic, I would go CZ, then Tikka.
Tikka 595 series can be had at good prices on the secondary market.

Well not sure if you like the look of a Ruger Mini-14, but there is a NOS stainless one on GB that's a "bolt action" configuration, was made for the UK where Semi auto is not legal. You need to check if legal in your state.

Take a look, the auctions ends sometime today. According to one of the descriptions only 45 of these export versions were sold here..a bit of a collector maybe.

Don't think we're supposed to put live auction links on here...just type in "Ruger Mini-14 Bolt Action" for the search they have two of them.

I'm not a Ruger guy, but I think you can put on a rail replacement on the heat shield but not 100% sure...Nope they come with integral scope bases, no can do rail.

quote:

Originally posted by BillyBonesNY:
Buy a Howa Barrelled Action from Brownells and a Boyds stock.

Or, synthetic stock from whomever may make one for the Howa, I think McMillan made one... but may be incorrect.

Howa is well made for the purpose.

If that's too basic, I would go CZ, then Tikka.
Tikka 595 series can be had at good prices on the secondary market.

Howa seems like an interesting approach. I'm not familiar with rifle brands. What are the merits of Howa vs Ruger Precision or the Tikka T3x?

I would get the Tikka T3x Varmint in .223. The factory heavy barrel Tikka models consistently demonstrate excellent out of the box accuracy. In stock at Eurooptic for $898:

https://www.eurooptic.com/JRTX...-barrel-MPN-JRT.aspx


Add a Tikka performance rail for $59:

https://tikkaperformance.com/o...es/Tikka-T3-T3x-Rail


Bolt on the scope of your choice using Seekins rings and you are all set to shoot cloverleafs with factory match ammo.

The factory adjustable trigger is excellent and will get down to 2-lbs. If you want it lighter then install the $10 Yodave trigger spring and now you have an incredibly crisp 1-lb (or less) trigger. I've never replaced the trigger in any of my Tikka or Sako rifles, the triggers are perfect with just the Yodave trigger spring:

https://www.yodaveproducts.com..._trigger_spring.html


If you want better stock ergonomics then drop it into the KRG Bravo Chassis for $369:

https://kineticresearchgroup.c...oduct/bravo-chassis/


Here's my T3 Varmint .308 in a KRG X-Ray chassis, it's an amazing shooter.

I think for your stated range parameters I'd find a used 700 or 70 hunter's rifle that already has a good Leopold on it and go from there. "upgrade" later. Am sorry about the goings on in that state of yours.