Re: New Rifle Options
It really depends on what you are looking for. If you want a precision long range rifle, it will need to have some weight to it. I am not familiar with all of Rem.'s options, but they have a couple that are set up for just this very thing. Most opt for a 308, but if you are wanting more bang, nothing wrong with the 7mag. Good bullet selection, and not bad recoil. Lots of available data and dope for the 308, and if you don't handload, you can even shoot Fed. GMM in it and be damn accurate with it. If you handload, most any cartridge will do.
If you are looking for off-the-shelf, Rem., Savage, and even Howa will give you a good start. If you want the Rem., look around a lot and ask a lot of questions before you do anything. The last thing you want, is to buy from the first "tactical-ninja" salesman you talk to.
Read here a LOT. There is a lot of great info here. You will get a good idea of what you know, but more important, you will find out what you don't know. No sense in going in with money when you don't know jack. The motto here is,"buy once, cry once". You don't want to get something you don't need, or find out what you thought you needed isn't doing the job.
Of course, money is the deciding factor. I am of the mind that with enough money and time, one can do anything. Too bad both are limited. Buy as much quality as you can, and putting more into the glass than the rifle is not a bad thing. If your optics are not working, you can pull out all your hair before you realize the real problem. The options (after-market stock, etc.) is up to you and what feels good to you.
For starting out, you will need to learn the rifle and how to shoot it, so the options for upgrades are not as important as spending the money on ammo to shoot. Time behind the trigger and using the data you collect are the most important thing first.
Most of your questions have probably been aksed here before, so do your homework, lest you suffer the slings and arrows of the locals who at times seem hell-bent on flaming anything that might have been addressed within the last 20 years or so.
Have fun, I know I am hooked! I have been weaned from the "trying to wring the last bit of accuracy from my factory 270-06" thing, to shooting a stick that will give me no excuse for not putting the bullet right where I want it. It only took about 25 years, but like I said, "money and time"!
