I'm finally ready to get in to mid range shooting after never really going much further than 100 yards. Feedback and any suggestions would be awesome.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Application:</span> punching holes in paper and ringing steel at 100-600 yards. At first I will be shooting mainly at 100 yards until a new semi-local range is finished/opens. My local club is fairly pistol-centric and the 2 rifle ranges only go to ~100 yards. The new range, about to begin construction, is about an hour away and will have ranges from 100-1000 yards. There is also a local 300 yard range I may be able to use in the meantime. At some point in the future, after I'm competent and its time to re-barrel, I may want to try pushing .223 a little further with the super heavy bullets and a 1:7 or so twist barrel, but that's a ways off.
<span style="font-weight: bold">The platform</span>: A Stage 1 SPS Tactical in .223 from Scout Supply Company (1:9 twist). The only difference is mine will be 19.5in rather than 18in. The trigger is also going to be polished up and tuned down to minimal over-travel with a little bit of pre-travel (personal preference). Normally I would do basic trigger work myself, but for $30 its worth it to me to have a decent trigger right out of the box. Notable features of the rifle are the set back and re-cut .223 wylde chamber, trued action+bolt face and lugs, and a threaded barrel. I decided on .223 for a few reasons: I'm new to intermediate range shooting, I don't hunt, factory ammo isn't cost prohibitive, reloading is very very affordable, light recoil, great barrel life, and good enough effective range especially with heavier bullets.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Stock</span>: I'm going to shoot it in the crappy OEM Hogue stock for a bit. I'll have a look at it when it shows up, but if it shoots well I probably won't bother bedding the action unless I can find a good way to stiffen up the forward stock; its just going to depend on where the actual flex point is (these stocks are known to flex under pressure and contact the barrel).
<span style="font-weight: bold">Optics</span>: I'm leaning towards the Midway exclusive Vortex Viper HS Tactical 5-15x. I am going to be shooting at 100 yards some until the longer semi-local range is completed, and will probably continue to do so when I don't feel like making the hour drive to a longer range (my local club is pretty pistol-centric and the rifle ranges are only 100 yards). This is the absolute max I want to spend on optics for now. I also considered an SWFA SS HD 16x, but am leaning towards the Vortex. Any suggestions are welcome, but I do want a little more than 10x magnification.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Scope Base:</span> Not really sure on this one, I could use some suggestions. I would like to spend no more than $50-100. My gut is a 10moa base is a decent choice since I will do some shorter range shooting with it at first. Logic tells me a 20MOA base would be OK for a 100 yard zero given the 75MOA elevation travel of the Viper HS Tactical, but I could use some wisdom.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Rings:</span> No idea. Whats a solid 30mm set for $75ish or less.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Ammo:</span> For the first month or two I'm going to shoot factory ammo. I've got about a 150 rounds of decent factory loaded ammo ranging from 60gr to 77gr to try out (Remmington Trajetech HPBT Sierra Matchking 77 grain, Remmington UltraMatch 75gr, Barnes TSX 62gr, something I cant remember that's 66gr, and a couple boxes of cheaper 55-60gr to mess around with. The 7Xgr stuff is probably a bit much for the 1:9 barrel. I do currently reload 9mm and am planning to tool up for .223 by sometime in the spring.
Any feedback or suggestions would be great. I'm pretty new to a lot of this.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Application:</span> punching holes in paper and ringing steel at 100-600 yards. At first I will be shooting mainly at 100 yards until a new semi-local range is finished/opens. My local club is fairly pistol-centric and the 2 rifle ranges only go to ~100 yards. The new range, about to begin construction, is about an hour away and will have ranges from 100-1000 yards. There is also a local 300 yard range I may be able to use in the meantime. At some point in the future, after I'm competent and its time to re-barrel, I may want to try pushing .223 a little further with the super heavy bullets and a 1:7 or so twist barrel, but that's a ways off.
<span style="font-weight: bold">The platform</span>: A Stage 1 SPS Tactical in .223 from Scout Supply Company (1:9 twist). The only difference is mine will be 19.5in rather than 18in. The trigger is also going to be polished up and tuned down to minimal over-travel with a little bit of pre-travel (personal preference). Normally I would do basic trigger work myself, but for $30 its worth it to me to have a decent trigger right out of the box. Notable features of the rifle are the set back and re-cut .223 wylde chamber, trued action+bolt face and lugs, and a threaded barrel. I decided on .223 for a few reasons: I'm new to intermediate range shooting, I don't hunt, factory ammo isn't cost prohibitive, reloading is very very affordable, light recoil, great barrel life, and good enough effective range especially with heavier bullets.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Stock</span>: I'm going to shoot it in the crappy OEM Hogue stock for a bit. I'll have a look at it when it shows up, but if it shoots well I probably won't bother bedding the action unless I can find a good way to stiffen up the forward stock; its just going to depend on where the actual flex point is (these stocks are known to flex under pressure and contact the barrel).
<span style="font-weight: bold">Optics</span>: I'm leaning towards the Midway exclusive Vortex Viper HS Tactical 5-15x. I am going to be shooting at 100 yards some until the longer semi-local range is completed, and will probably continue to do so when I don't feel like making the hour drive to a longer range (my local club is pretty pistol-centric and the rifle ranges are only 100 yards). This is the absolute max I want to spend on optics for now. I also considered an SWFA SS HD 16x, but am leaning towards the Vortex. Any suggestions are welcome, but I do want a little more than 10x magnification.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Scope Base:</span> Not really sure on this one, I could use some suggestions. I would like to spend no more than $50-100. My gut is a 10moa base is a decent choice since I will do some shorter range shooting with it at first. Logic tells me a 20MOA base would be OK for a 100 yard zero given the 75MOA elevation travel of the Viper HS Tactical, but I could use some wisdom.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Rings:</span> No idea. Whats a solid 30mm set for $75ish or less.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Ammo:</span> For the first month or two I'm going to shoot factory ammo. I've got about a 150 rounds of decent factory loaded ammo ranging from 60gr to 77gr to try out (Remmington Trajetech HPBT Sierra Matchking 77 grain, Remmington UltraMatch 75gr, Barnes TSX 62gr, something I cant remember that's 66gr, and a couple boxes of cheaper 55-60gr to mess around with. The 7Xgr stuff is probably a bit much for the 1:9 barrel. I do currently reload 9mm and am planning to tool up for .223 by sometime in the spring.
Any feedback or suggestions would be great. I'm pretty new to a lot of this.