best inexpensive hunting/target/range rifle?

[ReconLdr]

If you can find a Remington 700 SPS model with a heavy barrel you might find everything you are looking for right out of the box.

I have an Remi 700 SPS Tactical in .308, I love it. I am shooting 3-5 round groups that touch at 100 yds, about 1-1.25" at 200 and 1.75-2.25" at 300 with an out of the box rifle and a cheaper scope.

I have seen SPS Varmints sell for $450 with a scope mounted. Newer versions of these rifles come with the X-Mark trigger, which is adjustable. I have heard some complaints about this trigger but I happen to love mine.

My total investment by MSRP: (not what I paid)

Remi 700 SPS Tactical - $681.00
A1 Optics 6-24x50 - $276.00
20 MOA Picatinny Rail - $120.00
Rock Mount bi pod - $39.95
Krylon sand brown, foliage green - $8.26

Total investment - $1125.21 shoots well under 1 MOA to 300 yds (have not shot longer than that with it yet)

I have shot the Savage 10 which was really awesome but it was highly modified, and do not know what the total investment is nor the prices when he started his build. If I had to guess he has more than $2K invested in parts and labor...

Hope this helps you...

[Warpt762x39]

I really like my Savage 10 FP in .308 Win. It's a pre-accu trigger model, but groups under 1MOA right out of the box. No trigger job needed on this one.

They still sell those without the Accutrigger but it's under the Stevens name. I've seen the Stevens Model 200 go out the door without optics for around $400. Plus everything I have read says they are plenty accurate right out of the box. It is a Savage after all. They come with a composite stock and if I remember right it is a midweight barrel.



I almost bought one about a year ago just for range work in .308. Found one at Bass Pro Shop for $369. I wouldn't rule them out.

[1990dtgl98]

So the general consensus is to stay away from the Mossbergs, as well as some of the lesser known brands, and stick with the tried and true 2: Remmy and Savage.

Seems that the Savage would be a bit cheaper. The only downfall I could tell on them is that the stocks, well, suck. However, I heard good things about the new accu-stock.

Therefore, I think I will focus mainly on a Savage 10FCP, but won't rule out a Remington, even though they do cost a bit more. Now it will all depend on how they feel to me when I go up to Cabelas.

I may not purchase there, depending on the price I can get elsewhere, but they seem like the best place to check out different models just due to the sheer number of guns there.

[Warpt762x39]

So the general consensus is to stay away from the Mossbergs, as well as some of the lesser known brands, and stick with the tried and true 2: Remmy and Savage.

Seems that the Savage would be a bit cheaper. The only downfall I could tell on them is that the stocks, well, suck. However, I heard good things about the new accu-stock.

Therefore, I think I will focus mainly on a Savage 10FCP, but won't rule out a Remington, even though they do cost a bit more. Now it will all depend on how they feel to me when I go up to Cabelas.

I may not purchase there, depending on the price I can get elsewhere, but they seem like the best place to check out different models just due to the sheer number of guns there.

Remember that the stock can easily and usually be replaced for not too much cash. It's the barreled action that anyone really needs to worry about.

[Tomcat088]

If you can find a Remington 700 SPS model with a heavy barrel you might find everything you are looking for right out of the box.

I have an Remi 700 SPS Tactical in .308, I love it. I am shooting 3-5 round groups that touch at 100 yds, about 1-1.25" at 200 and 1.75-2.25" at 300 with an out of the box rifle and a cheaper scope.

I have seen SPS Varmints sell for $450 with a scope mounted. Newer versions of these rifles come with the X-Mark trigger, which is adjustable. I have heard some complaints about this trigger but I happen to love mine.

My total investment by MSRP: (not what I paid)

Remi 700 SPS Tactical - $681.00
A1 Optics 6-24x50 - $276.00
20 MOA Picatinny Rail - $120.00
Rock Mount bi pod - $39.95
Krylon sand brown, foliage green - $8.26

Total investment - $1125.21 shoots well under 1 MOA to 300 yds (have not shot longer than that with it yet)

I have shot the Savage 10 which was really awesome but it was highly modified, and do not know what the total investment is nor the prices when he started his build. If I had to guess he has more than $2K invested in parts and labor...

Hope this helps you...

I agree that it's a good approach, but it's almost twice what the OP has said they want to spend on a rifle. He said that he wants to stay in the $500-600 range, so it's not gonna work. As far as the accutriggers, some are ok, most aren't great. From my friend's experiences and what I have read, after they get some rounds down range, they start to act up. They will start to have inconsistent pull weights, one shot may break at 3.5 #'s, and the next may break at over 5 #'s. It's just kind of weird how they start to do it. Even with like finger nail polish on the screws so that they're not moving around or changing, many of them still tend to do this. I haven't seen anybody that has figured out "why" they do it, just that they do. It's not that expensive to change them when this becomes a problem. You can get lots of quality triggers for around the $80-125 mark, IF yours starts to do it and you need any help in installing a new one, let me know.

Savage base prices are usually MUCH cheaper than Remingtons. Many times the heavy barrel savage is $200 or more, cheaper than the comparable Remington 700 version. I am all about the Remington 700 platform, that is what my rifle is built on. Either way, I can tell you that many box Savages shoot as good or better than out of the box Remington 700's. Saving $200 on the rifle is almost half of his budget, and something that can go towards optics. In terms of investments on savage's, maybe the rifle you shot did have that much invested in it. Either way, it's MUCH cheaper to rebarrel a savage with a match grade barrel, than it is a Remington 700. You can buy drop in barrels for Savage rifles, and you headspace it with the barrel nut and a tool. You can purchase a drop in match barrel, that all you have to do is screw it on for the price of a BLANK for a Remington 700. Then on the Remington 700 what it costs to thread, chamber, crown, and headspace it; it costs MUCH more to customize Remington. Anyway, just thought I'd throw that out there.

P.S. 1990dtgl98, 8.5 pounds without optics is NOT a heavy rifle. There aren't many Remington 700 sporter rifles that weigh less than 8.5 pounds. If you want something that is lighter than that, you're looking at getting something made out of a titanium receiver, or heavily fluted. They're not rifles that are anywhere close to the price you are talking about. 8.5 pounds is pretty standard in terms of weight. You should also remember that weight helps tame the recoil of a rifle. Rifles that weigh less than 8 pounds that are chambered in even .308, will give you a pretty good whooping after a box of ammo.

[1990dtgl98]

Remember that the stock can easily and usually be replaced for not too much cash. It's the barreled action that anyone really needs to worry about.

Thanks, I'll read into that a bit more

I agree that it's a good approach, but it's almost twice what the OP has said they want to spend on a rifle. He said that he wants to stay in the $500-600 range, so it's not gonna work. As far as the accutriggers, some are ok, most aren't great. From my friend's experiences and what I have read, after they get some rounds down range, they start to act up. They will start to have inconsistent pull weights, one shot may break at 3.5 #'s, and the next may break at over 5 #'s. It's just kind of weird how they start to do it. Even with like finger nail polish on the screws so that they're not moving around or changing, many of them still tend to do this. I haven't seen anybody that has figured out "why" they do it, just that they do. It's not that expensive to change them when this becomes a problem. You can get lots of quality triggers for around the $80-125 mark, IF yours starts to do it and you need any help in installing a new one, let me know.

Savage base prices are usually MUCH cheaper than Remingtons. Many times the heavy barrel savage is $200 or more, cheaper than the comparable Remington 700 version. I am all about the Remington 700 platform, that is what my rifle is built on. Either way, I can tell you that many box Savages shoot as good or better than out of the box Remington 700's. Saving $200 on the rifle is almost half of his budget, and something that can go towards optics. In terms of investments on savage's, maybe the rifle you shot did have that much invested in it. Either way, it's MUCH cheaper to rebarrel a savage with a match grade barrel, than it is a Remington 700. You can buy drop in barrels for Savage rifles, and you headspace it with the barrel nut and a tool. You can purchase a drop in match barrel, that all you have to do is screw it on for the price of a BLANK for a Remington 700. Then on the Remington 700 what it costs to thread, chamber, crown, and headspace it; it costs MUCH more to customize Remington. Anyway, just thought I'd throw that out there.

P.S. 1990dtgl98, 8.5 pounds without optics is NOT a heavy rifle. There aren't many Remington 700 sporter rifles that weigh less than 8.5 pounds. If you want something that is lighter than that, you're looking at getting something made out of a titanium receiver, or heavily fluted. They're not rifles that are anywhere close to the price you are talking about. 8.5 pounds is pretty standard in terms of weight. You should also remember that weight helps tame the recoil of a rifle. Rifles that weigh less than 8 pounds that are chambered in even .308, will give you a pretty good whooping after a box of ammo.

Great post! Thanks!

Yes, for now, I won't be modifying it. I want to stay in the 500-600 dollar range, and invest about another 300 or so for good (decent) rings/glass.

Down the road, I will eventually invest in better components to increase my accuracy as my shooting ability also improves. Thinking along the lines of that, I would assume, like you said, a Savage or Remington is going to have the most diverse and available parts. It's something I didn't think about before, and something else that pushes me toward the more common two.

How about the Marlin XL7 and XS7? Worth considering also, or stick to looking at a used 700/ new 10FCP?

[Tomcat088]

Great post! Thanks!

Yes, for now, I won't be modifying it. I want to stay in the 500-600 dollar range, and invest about another 300 or so for good (decent) rings/glass.

Down the road, I will eventually invest in better components to increase my accuracy as my shooting ability also improves. Thinking along the lines of that, I would assume, like you said, a Savage or Remington is going to have the most diverse and available parts. It's something I didn't think about before, and something else that pushes me toward the more common two.

How about the Marlin XL7 and XS7? Worth considering also, or stick to looking at a used 700/ new 10FCP?

The thing that you should realize is that most people aren't up to par with "outshooting" a savage. Most people like to think that they can shoot better than a rifle that shoots .5 moa, but the reality is that most people WON'T outshoot their rifle. It'll be a while and thousands of rounds before you will consistently outshoot that rifle. Most of us that customize rifles just want something that has some extras, and we're spoiling ourselves. Does it increase the accuracy? Sure it does some, but you really start to get to a point of dying returns. Where you pay hundreds and hundreds of dollars for just a bit more reliability and maybe a bit more accuracy. I'd say that the savage will shoot just fine until you can save up and upgrade it, it won't be a big issue. Remingtons by FAR have the most available aftermarket parts, although there are getting to be more and more for the Savage. I think that you have the right idea in terms of expectations for accuracy, and what you need to spend on a scope to get into the game and not have equipment be a hindrance.

Ok, now my comments about the Marlin, lol. I've been pretty impressed with the Marlin XL7 actually. It really takes just about ALL of the good features of tried and trued rifles and puts them together. It has the bolt head, ejector, etc of a savage. It also has the barrel nut of a savage, which is neat because although some people find it ugly, it allows an average person to change the barrel on their rifle. It has a trigger that is fully adjustable and basically a know off accu-trigger from the savage. I actually like the trigger on the Marlin better than the Savage for 1 reason. On a savage, if you don't pull back the metal "shroud" but you just pull the trigger; the trigger will click (but not fire). This actually decocks the firing pin, if you pull the shroud and the trigger, the rifle won't fire; you actually have to lift the bolt and recock the firing pin. On the Marlin it feels exactly like a Savage trigger, but if you pull the trigger WITHOUT the shroud, it won't move or decock the firing pin. I think this fixes the minor flaw that was in the savage accutrigger, so I like it better. The marlin has the safety of the Remington 700, which I actually prefer (even if it's not as "safe"), over the Model 70 (on the shround) 3 position safety. It has the bolt release of the Model 70, which is convenient and easy to use. It then has the clean lines of a Weatherby on the shroud. The stock is also surprisingly pillar bedded. After looking at the "footprint" and taking some measurements, it actually appears to be a Model 70 footprint.

Overall, the feel of the rifle and even the looks of it is a bit "cheap". BUT, it has A LOT of damn good features, and the finish is actually better than I've seen on many savage rifles. These rifles have gone up in price, but even now they aren't a bad buy for the money. The safety feels a bit flimsy to me, and the bolt isn't quite as smooth as some rifles, but it actually feels about like most savages. I think the bolt handle is ugly as sin, it's kind of a perversion of different handles kind of mixed together. I'm actually interested in what these rifles would do if they made something a bit "higher end" and put a bit more effort into these rifles. They really do combine the best of 3 worlds (Winchester 70, Remmy 700, and Savage 10), and put them into one package. The rifle is VERY light, and as far as I know only comes in 3 packages. The barrels are thing and I am guessing would heat up pretty fast, and they also have contact points on the barrel. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, in the old days LOTS of rifles weren't free floated, but most people today prefer a free floated barrel; it's just a preference thing. I haven't had the pelasure of shooting one yet, just held and dry fired them. Either way if I was going to buy a DIRT cheap rifle, I'd probably buy a marlin over most others. The stock is pretty cheap, but it is pillar bedded, which is more than you can say about MOST stocks that come on bargain rifles. The bluing is actually pretty nice for a cheap rifle. The drawback to this is that even with a model 70 footprint, you're not gonna find many stocks for them. You'll basically be confined to a Choat Super Sniper, a boyd's laminate, or a McMillan (way too expensive for your budget right now). Maybe later they will do something more with them, but if you're looking to buy a rifle that you can upgrade later without alot of headache; you might as well buy a Savage or Remmy so that you only buy once, instead of buying a rifle and later have to buy another rifle to customize.

Now in terms of whether you should buy a used Remington 700, or Savage 10 FCP, I'll say this. First of all, sorry to burst your bubble, but you are NOT going to find a Savage 10 FCP in the price range that you want, not even used. They have a McMillan stock, which we're talking about $600 for the stock, plus wait time if you try to buy seperate. When you throw on those kind of numbers to a normal Savage, you're still seeing them at prices above what you want to pay. Not only this, even if you went with the FCP, you're going to want to make change on it to make it more reliable and make the investment not in vain. McMillan stocks are NOT pillar bedded, which means that when you're screwing down the screws, you're only screwing them into fiberglass. You can actually crack stocks if you over torque them in an all carbon fiber stock. This means that you would probably want to pay a gunsmith to at the very least pillar bed your stock, because you don't want to ruin a $600 stock by messing up a $100-125 pillar bedding job. So then you're looking to pay at least another $100-125 on top of the price of that rifle. Then it still won't quite sit perfectly and consistently in the stock every time, so most people would prefer to glass bed or "skim" bed the action into the McMillan, so that the recoil lug isn't just slamming into the fiberglass. So you're looking at even more money. Basically, what it comes down to is that you could spend $200 on a Bell & Carlson stock for the Savage, and it has a full length bedding block. The bedding block is actually slightly better than just a pillar job, and it's at under a third of what the McMillan costs. You could then do it yourself or pay just a little extra to have the stock glass bedded and be more consistent than the McMillan in terms of how the action lays in the stock. You will have a stock that is every bit as durable (or more) than the McMillan; it has a slightly different fit and finish, and doesn't have the McMillan name on it, but it's every bit as effective, accurate and reliable.

This post is obviously gonna piss some people off who like the McMillan stocks. There's absolutely nothing wrong with them, but you can get similar quality for MUCH less money. It's just one of those things that you can order a stock to whatever colors you want, in a particular weight or balance that you want, and in a shape that you want. They're full custom stocks, they're works of art and completely functional, BUT they don't fit into most people's needs or budgets. That's something that you need to consider. I personally would rather spend the $400 difference in stocks on ammunition or reloading supplies. Either way, you won't find a Savage 10 FCP in your price range, BUT if you do, but it up FAST. You will still be able to find other Savage model 10's, 110's (long action), or Model 12's that will be in your price range. Model 10, 110, and 12 is the action type, there are lots of other letters after those model numbers that designate features, which changes the price. Either way as long as you have the model 10, then you have the "heart" of the system, and you will be able to change it up and accurize it later if you wish.

Sorry for the long post, but I hope it helps clarify some of what you are looking at and the long term picture at well. If you have any other questions please feel free to ask, and myself and others here will be happy to help.

[WVneighbor]

I'll plug the Savage as well. The following was done with federal premium ammo, the $14 for 20 rnds from wal-mart, at 100 yds from a bench with a Savage 110GXP3.

It was a package deal, rifle, scope (Simmons 3x9) and sling. I got it from Gander Mtn in Winchester, VA for under $700 out the door. That included $45 worth of ammo, a nice soft case, a cleaning kit and a couple packs of targets. I want to say the rifle/scope package was $630 or there abouts, maybe a little less.

5 rounds inside the diameter of a quarter from a gun with no mods, in fact if I remember correctly this was done in one of my first range trips with it, an admittedly cheap scope and el-cheapo ammo. This wasn't a one time incident either, it consistently grouped like this, as long as I did my part.

[Pukindog]

My iumput is a CZ 550. Fair price. Nice walnut stocks, decent blue jobs, above average fit and finish, fine accuracy out of the box, and best of all, a single set trigger that is fully adjustable for travel, creep, and weight of pull. This trigger can not be touched by a Savage or Remington (or any other production rifle in its class).

Jeff

[Ophidian]

Seconding the CZ550 idea. I just got the fullstock version in 6.5x55 and can hardly wait to get it to the range. It is a beautiful gun and the 6.5 cartridge is amazingly powerful despite the lack of recoil.

If you aren't married to a caliber at this point, look into 6.5 swede.

E: Also, the CZs come with really good rings already. So thats one less thing you have to buy.

You can get new CZ550s here for cheap:
http://segunco.com

I got mine there and they have some of the best customer service I have ever dealt with and they were incredibly helpful the whole way through the process. Also their prices are pretty competitive and they actually have a lot of guns in stock (it was almost impossible to find my full stock CZ550 in 6.5x55 till I stumbled across this website).