Re: What rifle to start with
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Chris in Texas</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: roggom</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
You must ask yourself what you truly intend on doing with your rifle.
Paper, steel , competition, hunting or even school.
If all you were doing was shooting prone at steel, then there is no reason not to have a heavy rifle (heavy bbl, chassis, glass, dbm etc)
It is another thing if you want your rifle to serve dual duty,(hunt and target), as humping an 18lb rifle in to the mountains will get old very fast.
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Idealy, I would like a dual duty rifle. Hunting, and shooting paper!
On the topic of the Rem 700. The 5R is a bit more than an SPS, in terms of cost. So, am I getting real value for the cost difference? Would I be better off buying the SPS and replacing a few things? </div></div>
The 5R is milspec stainless with HS Preceision stock and 1:11.2 twist rate.
You can certainly enter with an SPS-varmint or SPS-tactical at a much lower cost. As a matter of fact if you scour your local gun shops, you may find the SPS-Varmint with the LTR barrel 20" with 1:10 twist.
You asked for a rifle in the $1K range, so I suggested the 5R and LTR. With the SPS rifles you can change out to a variety of aluminum bedded stocks for an addition $200 and Timney trigger for $125, or you can shoot it as is.
You will get a barrage of suggestions, just do some extensive research and see what folks are shooting, their results, what you like and what you want.
As you may have noticed there is a bit of a Rem / Sav rivalry, both make excellent rifles, in the end is what you want. You can look to the military and LE and see which bolt action rifles they use(M40, M24, XM2010), or maybe F class. In the end it should be a rifle you are proud to set up on the line.
Personally I have (2) 308's both SPS. My tac is set up for hunting, 20" 1:12 bbl, LTR HS precision takeoff stock, Weaver 3-10x40, Timney, and versa-pod. It weighs exactly 10 lbs and will push 168's and 175's with authority and accuracy.
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