Re: How did you decide on your equipment???
I just recently bought an SPS-T AAC-SD (Rem 700 action, 20" barrel, 1:10 twist, 308 win.) I'm going to mount a Viper PST 6-24X-50mm FFP MRAD reticle on it using some seekin's rings and probably a seekin's rail.
First I selected a purpose: 90% LR target shooting skill development, 5% Game hunting, 5% non-game hunting.
Next I selected a caliber. I went with a 308 winchester. I want something that can shoot a long ways (well over 600 yards). I also wanted something I could hunt with. The 308 has both the distance to go to 1K and more than enough diameter to be a CP2/CP3 hunting round. Now there are all kinds of rounds in this range, 270 WIN, 30-06, 7mm, 300WSM, etc. I ended up with the 308 Win because it's ballistics are very well known. The reloading is very well known. The Federal Gold metal match is ~20-23$ a box. So I can shoot it without it hurting my wallet too much.
The next was to select an action. I chose the Remington 700 simply because it's so widely known and the aftermarket is so large. I thought about the savage, but for whatever reason I got my heart set on a remington.
Next I looked around at the different configurations. I chose the SPS-T AAC:SD because it had the higher twist rate, shorter barrel, decent stock, and low cost.
I would like in the future to play around with some 185 and 195 gr bullets, simply because it sounds fun. However the 1:10 should still shoot 175s very well.
The stock is a nice upgrade over the cheap plastic on the SPS_ varmint. The stock on <span style="font-style: italic">this</span> gun doesn't flex to touch the barrel. It's also very comfortable and the trigger guard to palm rest is short enough my wife can still feel comfortable on the rifle. Yes, I said my wife. She shoots with me and the more comfortable she is on my guns the more toys I get. She also can't complain how much I spend on toys when she's playing with them too. If you're wife doesn't shoot with you, you should really give it a try. I'll probably upgrade it in the future, but for now it'll do.
Barrel length was the third reason for buying this gun. After a lot of reading, I found barrel length has VERY little effect on velocity. As such, I chose the 20" lenght for the less cumbersom rifle. There's also some evidence to suggest slightly better accuracy.
The final is cost. With the remington 700 you almost have a product matrix of products. They all have the same action. You can change the material(i.e. stainless steel) and finish. Then you have the barrel, you've got length, twist rate, taper, and rifling. The last thing is the stock/bottom metal. I bought the SPS-T AAC:SD because it had the barrel length and twist rate I wanted. I could have gone either way on the stainless. It also had an upgraded stock, but it didn't add much to the cost of the gun, unlike say a 700LTR. I paid 630+tax for it.
The next decision was the scope. It was just as hard as the rifle. In the end I decided I didn't want to be limited by my scope so I splurged. I wanted FFP and mil/mil with tactical turrets and something between 16x and 24x because I'm a magnification whore. That lead me to the Viper PST 6-24X-50mm FFP Mrad reticle.
I decided on seekins rings to mount them with on what will be a 20MOA seekins base. I've been wafling between the seekins and the EGW base, finally settling on the seekins. The EGW would probably be just fine, but I've got it stuck in my heart (not my head, there's no logic in it) that it is some how inferior to the seekins. I'm going to spend 1600 between the rifle, scope, and rings it's not time to start quivering over the 60$ difference between the EGW base and the seekins.
I'll post a build log when I get it all put together. But it'll be a little while after I put it together though, right now the only thing I'm thinking about is taking it out and shooting it. Have to wait for the scope though.
