What Rifle to buy for Benchrest shooting

My 2 cents....

I certainly don't know what to recommend...but I do know that 1K won't get it....not even close....that might cover your optics...but probably not...

I'd recommend buying a Rem 700 action...putting it away for a rainy day.....you and your gunsmith are gonna be good buddies...and He's gonna be richer for it...but you'll have a lot of fun

then go watch a few matches...see what its all about...save some funds and then go for it when you are ready....that's kinda what I'm doing...I need to get my fat butt down to the next F-class match July 24 and see what's up

Savage makes some very nice rifles but they are all gonna need some "tweaking"

The benchrest game is vastly different than F-class....

F-class sounds a lot more "laid-back" to me than benchrest...I'm not interested in adding to my stress level......

Good Luck with what you decide to do...

Think we got some folks on here that really know their stuff so I'd stay tuned...I'm trying to soak it all in myself

I have a 308 build "in process" but its goona be in F class F/TR which is 308 and 223 only...I gotta learn to shoot 600 yard targets before I can imagine what the BR folks do,its still hard for me to get my mind around it.....one step at a time

For what you are describing I'd jump on that SPS at $650...man there are many things a smith can do to improve it later on down the line.

A rechamber/rebarrel job aint all that much $ if you decided you wanted a different caliber later on...

a 20 inch barrel might be a tad short...but what do I know?...The US military is about to go to shorter barrels on their sniper rifles because of the need to use them in more of an urban setting..

Savage makes great actions and rifles as well...its a toss up...I'd take either

as far as scope..I'll assume you have side focus or parallax adj in that 4-16x50....I have several...they are fine at 100-200...but they just don't have enough internal adjustment in em to get you on at greater distances...They just aint made for it...

and soon you will desire greater magnification...say up to 22X...I'm not sure if beyond 22 buys you much in F Class

I was happy as can be... till I shot a NF 5.5 - 22 x 50

Of course it aint fair to compare a $1800 NF to a $400 Nikon hunting scope

Don't forget them rings and bases....20 MOA bases are in order at greater than normal hunting distance

I'm gonna give a Bushnell Tactical Elite 4200 6 - 24 x 50 a try ...I've shot a friends and I liked it...its a price performer

check em out at
http://www.libertyoptics.com/index1.html

I'll shut up now :lol3: