700 ADL OR AR15 set up for 300-600 yards?

[BFit70]

looking for some opinions. I built an AR (using mostly PSA parts) a couple of years ago with ambitions of making it a gun that could shoot consistently at 300-600 yards. its not anything special but i figured i could build it and work it up as i went. its a standard 16" barrel, free float hand guard, rock river 2 stage trigger and i just put a vortex crossfire 2 6-18x scope on it. i started this build just thinking id make an AR and make it shoot well out to 600 yards. well ive been doing research and i know theres a little more to it than just slapping a high powered scope and a bipod on it.

so heres my dilemma, ive found a remington 700 ADL in 7mm mag for sale for $411. i have a little over 400 saved up right now. i was going to use that to buy a magpul prs stock for the AR and use what was left over for ammo maybe. would it be beneficial to start this over again with a the 700 and use the optic that i have, mind you that i only just zeroed the AR last week with this scope so i dont feel like ive been building it for 2 years.

[gghbi]

I have a 700 BDL in 243 that I have used for chuck hunting out to a paced off 340 yards (with bipod) so I would be tempted to go in that direction. As you noted there is a bit more you need to do with the AR, so it is up to you to decide. Keep the AR as a fun gun, put the bipod and scope on the 700 and see what ti can do.

That sounds like a fair or better price for the 700, and if you change your mind, you can always sell or trade the 700 for other AR goodies.

[BFit70]

Yea that's what I'm thinking, the 700 comes with a 3-9x scope, so I can still put that on the AR if I want. I guess my main question is if I put $400 into the AR, would it be a much more accurate gun than the 700 ADL out of the box?

[wrangler1120]

It could be. My brother in law bought a Rem 700 in .243 and it was shooting 4-5 MOA groups with factory ammo. It wasn't until we reloaded for it that the group size came down. The AR he built shoots 1.5 MOA groups with factory rounds.

[aubie515]

I'll assume you do not reload, so buying a 7mm will cost more for factory ammo. You are also going to have a lot more recoil on the 7mm vs 223/5.56 in the AR15.

This is the day and age of the AR15 and prices are at all time lows...that being said AR15s are so plentiful that you could build up a proper rifle and 600 yards is in the realm of the 223/5.56.

If you upgrade the AR15...I'd say skip the PRS stock and get a very good barrel. Think WOA or CLE (Compass Lake Engineering)...Larue barrels are running $225, which is a great price for a quality barrel.

I don't know what your intended use is beside being able to make hits at 600 yards...both calibers/rifles you mentioned will do so...the 7mm will thump your shoulder and the target, but at the cost of recoil and higher priced ammunition. The 223/5.56 will get you to 600 yards and beyond, but it won't have a lot of MV.

[Marcus99]

If I was shooting 300-600 yards .223/5.56 would not be my choice of caliber. I would also not be shooting a 16" barrel. Just sayin...

[Twoboxer]

Honestly, I'd recommend you read aubie515's post again . . . there's a LOT of important stuff in there. The only thing I'd add is there's certainly no guarantee a new 700 ADL will score 1 moa out of the box.

[CMP703006]

Personally if you aren't hunting with it or planning on doing extensive modifications I'd pass on the 700 and buy upgrades for the AR. First would be a quality 18"+ barrel of medium or heavier weight, this will allow longer strings of fire without overheating. The .223 can be a great trainer out to 600 as it will teach you a lot about external ballistics. I would use Match ammo for past 300yds if your shooting at smaller targets however decent 55gr should be good for full sized silhouettes.

Next I'd save up for a good quality optic, as much as I love Vortex (over half my modern scopes are Vortex) the crossfire line is not what you want if your going to be dialing repeatedly to engage targets out to 600+Yds. I would look more at the Viper line or look at the Nikon P-223 scopes which have the 600yd BDC.

For my AR I have a Rock River Arms Varmint A4 with a Geissle trigger, with the stock 24" Bull barrel it shoots into the .3's with handloads. I've even taken it to 1000 with startling consistency that surprised the hell out of me. My dad and brother also both have RRA rifles with 16" barrels and they've shot to 600 yards without any issues using federal 55gr black box ammo. They shoot the standard ammo around 1.5 MOA but match ammo goes below 1 MOA.

[BFit70]

So I ended up picking up a Thompson Center venture in 7mm mag. Found one for $380, did some research and decided this was the direction I wanted to go. This will end up being a bench rest/prone gun. Ill put the vortex crossfire on it and start trying to reach it out as far as I can. I appreciate all the input and if anyone has any pointers for me reaching out to 600 and possibly further, I'm all ears.

CMP, when you talk about the crossfire line no being what you want for 600+, are you taking about it not tracking true?

[CMP703006]

So I ended up picking up a Thompson Center venture in 7mm mag. Found one for $380, did some research and decided this was the direction I wanted to go. This will end up being a bench rest/prone gun. Ill put the vortex crossfire on it and start trying to reach it out as far as I can. I appreciate all the input and if anyone has any pointers for me reaching out to 600 and possibly further, I'm all ears.

CMP, when you talk about the crossfire line no being what you want for 600+, are you taking about it not tracking true?

It's a combination of things, capped turrets, 1" tube, low elevation travel, lower quality glass, limited reticle options and tracking issues. The crossfire line was designed for budget conscious hunters who only need their optics to perform for the kill shot on a deer within 200 yards. Same as the Nikon Buckmaster, Leupold vx-1 and similar scopes. The demands on them are low because they are meant to be sighted in and left alone, not cranked up and down over and over to adjust for range. I'm not bashing them, they are a good scope for the hunting role but trying to use it as a long range precision optic is like putting lipstick on a pig.

When I evaluated their optics line back in 2013 the PST was the only scope that fit the all the criteria I was looking for in a long range scope. Now there are several other less expensive models With similar features such as the Viper HS and HS-T. Now that you have the 7mm you theoretically could shoot to a 1000 yds with the right ammo depending on the rifles performance. That requires a more advanced scope to squeeze the capabilities out of a rifle. A quality scope can make a decent rifle seem great while a cheap optics could make a precision rifle seem like garbage.

I started long range shooting with a Winchester Model 70 in .300 Win Mag back in 2011, in that time that rifle has worn 4 different scopes. I started with a Nikon buckmaster with mil-dots, moved up to a Monarch with Mil-dots then based on my experiences and a lot of research I went with the Vortex PST which was on the rifle for several years. Now that I've got a Mausingfield set up as my long range rifle I gave my PST to my brother for his Ruger Precision Rifle and replaced it with a Cabela's Instinct 4.5-22x scope which is a Vortex scope made for Cabela's. I can't comment on how well it works as it's on my list of rifles to reload for this summer.

If you are really interested in long range shooting I would try it with the equipment you have for a little while then decide what equipment you need. A big part of good long range shooting is being comfortable with your equipment, what words for me may not work for you. I like FFP scopes with Christmas tree reticles while my buddy likes SFP with a simple three hash mark BDC. It's all about finding what you like best.