Long Range Shooting Rifle Options

Jeebus. Just when I think I know a little about this game I read a post like this and realize I don’t know shit.

 

I'm a Tikka guy(and kibda anti-700), so I'm of no use others than I don't know if there's a bad custom action, really.

 

Trust me, a year ago it was all greek to me. But since I started to research things, you get a better understanding of what is going on. learned a lot but still lots that I'm clueless about. Just got two Brian Litz books to read about ballistics, figured that'll put me to sleep pretty quickly. lol.

I looked at the Tikka Tac A1 last year as a good rifle to get into it but may as well just jump in with both feet. leaning towards a Defiance as it's somewhat the "standard" for many shooters and hard to go wrong with it.

 

What kind of cleaning supplies do you guys recommend? I've been looking into one piece carbon rods, but a buddy of mine recommended a bore snake. Anyone with experience with those?

 

i use a 3 piece rod with jags i bought at big 5 sporting goods. it breaks down small enough to go in my range bag and everything gan get tossed in the truck without fear of breaking anything. carbon rod? lordy. just mail me some money ill find a way to waste it for you.

bore snake is useful for an initial pass through, get some major stuff out of the barrel but it doesnt clean like a brass bruss on the end of a rod will. brash brush with some cleaning chemical (thats a 5 page thread already about which cleaning solvent/oil to use) and then little cloth triangles to final clean the barrel.

 

What ever happened to that Ruger Precision Rifle? Was it junk or is it still a good entry level way to get into this hobby?

 

I haven't shot it yet. Still gotta get some glass for it. Probably look for a holiday sale.

 

I've got an Impact that I really like, I know a few guys running them, Lone Peak is another that has become popular with our club, one of our shooters is sponsored by them. Defiance has been a staple for a long time as well. Hard to go wrong with any of them.

 

Good info on the bore snake.

The one piece carbon rod is to prevent any joint from scratching the bore I guess? I've also read that coated rods tend to pick up particles and run those along your bore as well. I know nothing about this, so take it all with a grain of salt.

 

Still a good way to get into long range shooting. I couldn't get comfortable on it and I like the tikka action better but the Rugers are a good buy.

 

As I've done a lot of research getting into it, the Ruger is still a solid choice for entry level ($800-1200). Many of the creedmoor calibers are solid shooters, sometimes the 308 seems to be a bit of hit or miss when it comes to accuracy. Next level is the Tikka crowd with a T3X Tac A1- smooth action, very accurate and plenty of upgrade. $1500-2000 depending if you buy the Tac or a regular rifle and then put it in a chassis (KGR Bravo for the price is nice). Then you get into custom actions based on Remington 700 footprint. $2000-6000.

 

Im very happy that I bought a Tac and not a Precision. The Ruger is fine if you don't want to do any real upgrades. You're kinda stuck with a prefit barrel because of the way the barrel nut secures the hand guard and the bolt seems way overly complicated compared to any other bolt gun.
Besides, Tikka!

 

Depending on what you want to do with it, the MPA rifle and chassis built for the PRS prod class is a great price for a complete rifle. Curtis action, mpa chassis, trigger tec trigger. You can't build it that cheap by yourself.
https://masterpiecearms.com/shop/mpa-ba-pmr-competition-rifle/

 

It's hard to go wrong with any of those. I'll second what Newsshooter said, the Lone Peak is great in fact I think it's the smoothest action I've ever cycled. The Bighorn TL3 is another great one.

Were you waiting on a JH rifle? I built my own before Josh announced he was making the JH. I was one of the first to order the ARC Nucleus, I have ser. no 6, put it in a Bravo, and bought a prefit barrel from Josh. So it's the same rifle and I like it a lot. The Nucleus is a very nice action. I'm going to change from the Bravo to the new MPA matrix chassis and put a different action in the Bravo. The Bravo is awesome but it's too light for PRS match use.

 

I shot the MPA PRS rifle and the BadRock while at the Precision Rifle expo a few weeks ago. Both were very nice rigs. MPA had just announced the Matrix and they had one at the expo. I got to play with it but didn't get to shoot it.

Yes I was one of the unlucky few that tied up a deposit on a JH last november and still have yet to see the rifle. I'd be happy with the rifle if I could get it (or a firm ETA) but at this point I can get a deal on some other parts and figured I'd just build (or buy) the parts and then get a barrel from PVA for whatever I decide to get. They have said they would put the deposit towards anything they sell.

I've heard that some of the 3 lug actions have a bit of an issue with the bolt running smoothly if you put pressure on the magazine?

 

I haven't shot the Curtis actions but I know they're being run in PRS matches so they should run well most of the time. Any action can have an issue with pressure on the mag, the feed lips get pushed up into the path of the bolt causing some binding. Sometimes it can be fixed with a bit of work on the bottom metal spacing. Other times it's just a matter of the amount of pressure. A little and it works fine, a lot and it won't.
A buddy got one of the JH rifles, he hasn't shot it yet but it was over a year before he got it. I told him to expect closer to 18 months based on the number of orders and history of the builder. I'd look at a Bighorn actions too if you think you might want to change caliber since you can change the bolt head instead of the whole bolt like a savage. Unless you just want to build keep an eye out on Snipers Hide, I got my MPA/Impact/triggerTech/Hawkhill for 2300. It only had about 300 rounds though it. I was looking at putting together that exact build, even the chassis color was what I wanted as well but I couldn't have bought the parts at that price.

 

I’m slowly going to build for next year

Bighorn origin/ defiance tenacity - any input would be great
18” 6.5 proof or whatever the smith suggests on a steel barrel- will decide eventually- will just depend on $$$
Thunderbeast ultra 7- buying one in December because this will take the longest.
Manners stock
NF NX8 2-20

 

Question for the experts:

Friend of mine bought a Rem 700 chambered in .308, an MPA chassis, and a Geissele trigger and immediately dropped it off at a local gunsmith to have everything fitted up. This past weekend we took it out, zeroed the optic as best we could and starting just putting rounds on paper at 100 yards. Between 3 of us, we were all holding about 4 moa groups with generic FMJ ammo. Now none of us are pro shots or anything but this is still way outside what we are all capable of. Our AR pistols were holding way better groups at the same distance and my .308 easily stays around 1.5 moa with the exact same ammo if I do my part. Checked the scope, everything seems fine although we do still need to try a different one to be sure. But it is a Vortex scope (albeit a lower end model) and all of us have used Vortex on other guns and never had any issues. Any other ideas what our issue could be? Incorrect head spacing from the smith maybe? Or are the factory barrels just that bad? I have a hard time believing that one of the most popular bolt guns on the planet is less accurate from the factory than a run of the mill AR. But I also have very limited experience.

 

Did you check scope mounts? I have had a few sets loosen up over the years.

 

yep