Fisher-Price My first rifle

[ricky_awesome]

I purchased a Remington 700 SPS tacticool at the Valley Forge Gun show last weekend. (.308)

i need some help picking glass, rings and a bipod. any suggestions? this rifle will mostly be used for plinking or target shooting as i've never been hunting. (if anyone wants to show me the ways of the hunt i'd love to learn)

The guy who sold me the rifle recommended a Leupold Mark 4. They look pretty legit so I'm seriously considering that. Also once I pick a scope, where can i take it to get it put on my rifle? looks like i leapt before i looked.

thanks for any help in advance.

[Xringshooter]

Any gunsmith can mount and boresight any scope you decide to put on it. That is routine for them.

Leupold makes good optics, did he quote you a price on the Mark 4? Which Model (they make like 40 different versions of the Mark 4). The Mark 4 seems to be a bit of over kill (IMO) for a plinking gun. The Leupold VX series are very good optics to look into also.

The bipod, go with a Harris. Rings and mounts, match them up with your scope.

[24/7dude]

Congrats on your first rifle! I think you will be very happy with it. I have a Remmy 700 SPS in .30-06 and it's one heck of a gun. As for scopes, I have a Leopold VX II 3-9x40mm on mine and it works perfectly. Don't know about the Mark 4 but I would say that you'd be happy with any Leopold. I wouldn't go over 10x. If you plan on hunting in the woods, you are most likely not going to even see the deer if it's far out like 200-300 yards. Most shots are taken at around 60 yards, so even a fixed 3 or 4x will do fine. Leopold makes good stuff. You are also going to need rings and mounts. I have weaver rings on mine. Leopold makes their own but the weaver rings are stronger and cheaper. The Leopold rings would do fine but IMO they are too glossy for the SPS and more for high quality wood stock rifles to make them look pretty. The Weaver rings are more rugged looking and since you got a synthetic stock they will match up fine.

Other than that I just have a sling on mine. Don't really have a need for a bi-pod. I've been debating on a Harris Bi-pod (the HBR for bench shooting). I have only heard good things about them: http://www.harrisbipods.com/

As for hunting, you can "research" for a spot, where you see deer tracks, before the season opens, then head out EARLY in the morning, sit, wait, and be very quiet. That's how I role!

Good luck, have fun shooting, and be safe!

[QuakertownRich]

Fisher-Price rifle? I thought I had that when I bought a Legacy 2201 single shot 22 by Daisy®. If I didn't already know it was a single shot, I would probably start trying to pump up the forestock to take a shot.
Actually, it is a very decent 22 rifle for the price=$140.

This one isn't mine, just a pic off gunbroker. Mine came with scope(cheap) and the finish is closer to new.

[ricky_awesome]

xringshooter - The nice people at Backwoods Outfitters quoted me a price of $850 for the Leupold MK4 stock #52218. They said they'd also install it for me for free. I'm in Philadelphia so I'm not too keen on the drive out to Columbia,PA but i guess a roadtrip would be fun. I will ask them about mounts and rings but they seem pretty good with prices.

24/7 - yea, i wasn't planning on getting glossy rings but I will look into those weaver rings you mentioned. Time to do some hunting "research" lol.


QuakertownRich - I just meant that it's my first rifle. $140 for that sounds cool. must be fun to shoot.

[keystoneman 85]

I'd go with Waver rings and a Nikon ProStaff 3X9X40 BDC Recticle scope. Slap on a set of Stoney Point rapid pivot bipods and your all set.

[Xringshooter]

Could you give us a complete description of the rifle (exact make , model, etc.) Looking at the Remington site, the 700 SPS can be had for about $650 and goes higher, depending on exact model. To me, my opinion only, putting an $850 scope on a plinker is a tad bit of overkill. Not saying it shouldn't be done, it's your money, but do you really need that much scope, or is someone trying to sell you something you don't need because you are a novice? I just hate seeing someone buy something that they don't really need or can use to its fullest capacity. You can get a very, very good scope for that gun for less than $400.

[ricky_awesome]

Originally Posted by Xringshooter

Could you give us a complete description of the rifle (exact make , model, etc.) Looking at the Remington site, the 700 SPS can be had for about $650 and goes higher, depending on exact model. To me, my opinion only, putting an $850 scope on a plinker is a tad bit of overkill. Not saying it shouldn't be done, it's your money, but do you really need that much scope, or is someone trying to sell you something you don't need because you are a novice? I just hate seeing someone buy something that they don't really need or can use to its fullest capacity. You can get a very, very good scope for that gun for less than $400.

http://www.snipercentral.com/spstactical.htm

That's my rifle.

I hear ya on the scope overkill though. If I were to buy a better rifle in the future could I just keep the awesome scope for the new rifle? I'm doing some research into hunting now as well so I'd this might be a dual use rifle/scope. Thanks for all your help

[Xringshooter]

You can always move a scope from one rifle to another, not hard to do. Big, high magnification scopes are very good and useful when you are going after game out around 250+ yards. Very rarely will you be doing that if you are hunting in PA, not saying that you will NEVER shoot those distances while hunting, but it would be a rarity. And unless you belong to a gun club with a long range rifle range, you will probably be target shooting at 200 yds or less.

I have a Sako 75 in .280 Remington set up with a Leupold VXII 4-12x50 for hunts out west. I searched for a while and got the scope (new) for less than $400. This is sitting on a very nice rifle and is all I should ever need.

My advise, worth whatever you deem it to be worth, since this is a first rifle, is to get something functional (that does not necessarily mean cheap), just don't spend an arm and a leg (what if you end up not happy with it?). A decent 3-9x40 scope (Leupold, Nikon, etc) can be had for a couple of hundred (or less). Have it mounted, sighted in and have fun. After you have shot it a while and decide how you are going to use it, then you can start thinking about upgrades, etc.

Happy shooting, you have a good rifle to work with.

[ricky_awesome]

xringshoooter, thanks so much for your input! i really appreciate that and i'll put up a pic once the rifle is finished.