I had a Rem 700 all set-up with a bipod and magpul stock/detachable mag kit, etc. but it wasn't my favorite. AICS mags were super expensive comparatively, it wasn't threaded, etc. Anyway - I found someone else who wanted it more than I did.

But now I'm looking at rifles, for good, fun, prone or bench-type shooting again, and found a decent deal on an RPR in 308.

I read a couple reviews, and did a search here - where i looked over the long-range shooters thread we have, and I haven't seen anything terribly bad about the RPRs.

What's the general consensus on these rifles? still fairly positive? Are there other rifles I should look at, too?

I probably won't shoot any further than 500 yards, ever. I think I want to go bolt action over semi-auto, but I'm not 100% sold. If I do want to go into longer-range shooting in the future, then I need something now that will help me learn this stuff, because I'm realizing I am a complete novice in that long-range-shooters thread!

thanks!

I like the Ruger Percision rifle and had one for a while. It comes with a lot of flexibility right out of the box. I have just ordered something that I think I will like much better. Remington now makes a Magpul 700 edition. It has the 22 inch barrel with 1/10 rifling that is threaded and comes in the Magpul hunter stock. It has the good bolt lift knob and 5R rifling. Through the end of this month, Remington is offering $150 mail in rebate. That puts the rifle under $700 if you buy it at the right price. Check that out.

Henryrifle

If you haven’t given up on bolt action rifles, I strongly recommend looking at the Tikka T3x CTR.

I have the original T3 “Tactical” rifle that is my primary serious purposes precision rifle and I’m very happy with it. The CTR is very similar to the original Tactical except that the CTR improved a few features, IMO. The CTR does use Sako TRG-22 magazines that are pretty pricy, but you probably don’t need a duffle bag of them, either.

If I was looking at a new prs style rifle, this is what I would look at. <http://www.eurooptic.com/Tikka-T3x-TAC-A1-65-Creedmoor-24-.aspx>. It's a new Tikka T3X TAC in 6.5 Creedmore.

If you like 308, you will probably like the RPR. I have one in 6.5 CM and like it quite a bit.

RMD

quote:

Originally posted by mas4363:
It's a new Tikka T3X TAC in 6.5 Creedmore.

I saw that as well on the EuroOptic site, but didn’t look very long because I knew I’d be drooling on myself. Although I’ve had my Tikka for many, many satisfying shooting sessions, I wish I could do it all over with that rifle.

Definitely look at the 6mm creedmoor

quote:

Originally posted by ruger357:
Definitely look at the 6mm creedmoor

The biggest downside of it is the cost. And im already stocked on 308. I just dont see myself shooting far enough to necessitate the extra cost. If i get good enough at long range then I may revisit the caliber, though.

quote:

Originally posted by PorterN:

quote:

Originally posted by ruger357:
Definitely look at the 6mm creedmoor

The biggest downside of it is the cost. And im already stocked on 308. I just dont see myself shooting far enough to necessitate the extra cost. If i get good enough at long range then I may revisit the caliber, though.

308 isn't the most efficient long distance chambering, but it does work. I have some 4,200 rounds down the original barrel of my 308 rifle and it still shoots well.

Barrels are consumables in high-volume precision shooting, but each shooter has his own opinion on what's acceptable. I retired my 6.5 Creedmoor rifle's original barrel at 3,200 rounds. The barrel was still shooting well, however I was concerned that its accuracy could go wonky in the middle of a match. Maybe it could have gone 3500 to 4000 rounds, or maybe it could have died at 3300.

The hotter 6mm chamberings (.243, 6 Creedmoor, 6x47 Lapua) might last 2,000 rounds before accuracy goes south. Maybe after 1200 to 1500 rounds throat erosion becomes an issue -- bullets must be loaded longer to maintain accuracy. Not a good thing for someone buying factory ammo.

If you stay with 308, buy quality ammo so you can gauge your progress. Very good match-grade options exist through Federal, Hornady, Black Hills, Fiocchi, and CorBon.

quote:

Originally posted by fritz:
308 isn't the most efficient long distance chambering, but it does work. I have some 4,200 rounds down the original barrel of my 308 rifle and it still shoots.

Slight thread drift but in befere you know who has a fussy over the above.

Back on topic. The RPR is a really good all in one starter kit. 308 is a know quantity with no real surprises and plenty of factory support. Unless you have a burning desire for something different it's a good choice for a precision rifle.

Well alrighty, then.

I have a 308. And a new Bartlein 308 barrel in the basement for when the current barrel goes toast. And at least 3,000 rounds of Federal and Hornady match ammo, to assist making this next barrel into a purdy tomato stake.

I compete with the 6.5 Creedmoor and train with the 308 because:
- 308 was my first rifle, before I knew better and before 6.5 Creedmoor was on the market.
- I have to manage recoil better with the 308, making it a little easier to deal with recoil in the effed-up positions of PRS competitions.
- 308 ammo can be found for less than 6.5.
- If I can correctly call the wind with a 308, I have a good 30-40% more leeway with a 6.5.

308 is long in the tooth. Compared to a 6.5 it has more recoil, noticeably more drop, noticeably worse wind drift. Its bullets go subsonic hundreds of yards sooner than those of a 6.5. Some of 308's bullets don't play well with subsonic transition -- for instance the popular SMK 168. For someone just starting out, with no existing ties to any cartridge, I totally recommend one of the 6.5 chamberings. For someone with a stash of 308 ammo/components, then staying with 308 is fine. At least for awhile. Down the road when a current barrel is toast, the 308's bolt face will still work for 6mm through 7mm short action cartridges.

My 308 will be around for awhile. But once a company offers 6mm Dasher ammo at a reasonable price, my 308 days are numbered.

I don't know the purpose for this rifle, but I would also counsel OP against a 308.

Everyone complains about ammo cost and barrel life by moving to a 6.5 chambering. As fritz just pointed out, he pulled one at 3200 rounds, and it was still shooting. If you're not competing with the rifle, then there's no reason to pull it early. Shoot every last round of life out of it. Now, the question is, if you're not competing with it, and you don't reload, how much are you really going to shoot it? I had a 308 that I thought I shot a lot. It was my first rifle. I didn't compete with it, and so I didn't practice (read: train) with it. In 3 years I put like 2500 rounds on it. When I started competing, I put that many rounds on my match gun in ONE year.

For most recreational shooters out there, 3-4k rounds is a lifetime worth of shooting.

6.5CM ammo can be had for nearly the same price as 308 now that it has grown to be so popular.

I would stay away from any of the 6mm stuff though, unless you either don't plan to shoot more than 1-200 rounds a year recreationally, or, unless you know exactly why you want a 6mm. Barrel life on those can legitimately be a concern.

That said, I'm working on a 6 Creedmoor barrel right now for my match gun. I already have 300 pieces of lapua 6.5cm brass here that I'm going to neck down and turn, and I already ordered a barrel and have a smith lined up. The plan is to send 110s at about 3075. I figure the barrel will be good for about 2k rounds, as fritz mentioned.

I'm also not really a fan of the rpr, but for someone who doesn't already have a background in competition shooting and won't be placing silly demands on the rifle, I think it is a pretty good all-in-one package that the recreational guys can get a lot of mileage from.

I'm looking hard at the Bergara chassis rifle in 6.5 CM. Really would like to shot one first, but man that action is butter smooth.

The latest edition of the RPR is note worthy with the changes made. Solid shooters for the money, I just don't care for the stock much. These days my shooting is less rifle and more USPSA. Kinda need to change that, long guns are my first love. A sweet shooting .308 for the non competitor is very satisfying way to get trigger time.

In the FWIW category, I'm at a rifle match and I spoke with the 'smith who changed out my 6.5 Creedmoor barrel a few weeks ago. He bore scoped the old barrel after pulling it. In his opinion the barrel was seriously toast -- lots of fire cracking in the throat, said it looked like alligator skin. The lands were so worn that the bullet jumped a long ways. He was surprised that the barrel still shot well at 100 yards, let alone at longer distances.

The 'smith stated that I was wise to call it quits with that barrel, as it could have taken a serious accuracy and muzzle velocity dump at any time. Bottom line -- 3,200 rounds with that Bartlein 6.5 barrel was pretty much end of life. It's my understanding the some other 6.5 owners in my neck of the woods retire their match barrels at around 3,000 rounds.

It would be interesting if this 'smith would bore scope my 308 barrel at its current 4,200 rounds for a comparison.

I love my precision rifle in 6.5 creed... the gun is far more accurate than I am so I probably don't get its full potential out of it, but it's a nice gun straight out of the box.

I recently saw they started making the precision rifle in 5.56mm which seems silly to me, but I think .308 precision rifle would be a nice rifle if you plan on 500ish yards

Amazing how someone asks about a specific gun in a specific caliber, and the majority of the posts are about why he made the wrong caliber choice or why some other gun is better, instead of answering the original question.

While the top shooters probably wont choose them, the RPR data points that I have seen suggests it is a slightly sub-MOA gun with match ammo.


If you found a deal on a 308, snatch it up. When the barrel is worn out you can spin on a 6.5 or 6 Creedmoor.

quote:

Originally posted by Dwill104:
Amazing how someone asks about a specific gun in a specific caliber, and the majority of the posts are about why he made the wrong caliber choice or why some other gun is better, instead of answering the original question.

You are not wrong in your assessment.

While I know a little bit about .308 for long range, I have no real experience with the RPR and the only one I ever saw shooting, and only at 1000yards was chambered in 6.5 CM. So I did not participate in this thread as I have nothing to say to the OP questions.

I own a Gen II RPR in .308. I don't compete; just shoot for fun at steel plates. With my hand loads of 220gr Sierra Match Kings (awful heavy bullet for the .308, but I have thousands of pulls on hand) and a low end Vortex 6.5-20x scope, it does 5/8" 100yd 5 shots groups all day long. At 300yd (the farthest my range goes to), the groups average 2.75". To me, with my cataracts, that is great! Trigger pull came from the factory in the 2 lb range. Flawless functioning. It'll even use M14 mags, but I normally use 10rd Magpul mags for bench shooting.

At the current rate of throat wear, I estimate its bbl life for me to be 7,380 rounds until the throat has advanced 1" from new. I don't let the bbl get real hot. In case I run out of 220gr SMK pulls, I worked up a load for the 168gr SMK that shoots just as accurate. 175gr SMK's were a touch less accurate than the 168's, both are pulled bullets.

I liked the RPR .308 so much that I bought the RPR in 5.56. Same 2 lb trigger pull. Flawless functioning and just as accurate with 77gr SMK pulls. It did not like 75gr Hornady bullets. I shot one 300yd 3 shot group of an incredible 3/4". Estimated bbl life until throat has worn 1" is 17,125 rounds. Again, I don't let the bbl get real hot, but keep a fan blowing on it on the bench, just like I do with the .308. Its muzzle brake came crooked from the factory, but was easily moved to the correct position. Uses AI style mags at $39 each from Ruger. Register your Ruger and you get a 20% off code...use that to buy extra mags if you want. Comes with 2 10rd mags. It will not use AR type 5.56 mags.

I shoot the .308 with an Ark30 suppressor. Tests showed adding the suppressor reduced the groups about a quarter inch at 100yd. Haven't yet shot the 5.56 with a suppressor.

quote:

Originally posted by Dwill104:
Amazing how someone asks about a specific gun in a specific caliber, and the majority of the posts are about why he made the wrong caliber choice or why some other gun is better, instead of answering the original question.

I would normally agree with you, but did you read the entire original post?

quote:

Originally posted by PorterN:
Are there other rifles I should look at, too?
...
I think I want to go bolt action over semi-auto, but I'm not 100% sold.