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Long Range Rifle Shooting on a budget ...

It's always good to hear first hand which Rifles are good 'Budget Builds'
A friend of mine is going to do one of the Savage Rifles for a .280 and I've thought about if I ever decide to do a 6.5 Creedmoor I would probably do it with one of the Ruger Rifles. It's nice to have some good choices.
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We have a new shooter on our provincial fourm.

He's not going to buy used since he dosen't know what to look for,,, so one of our fellow shooters has offered up his rifles for the young fellow to go out and shoot at his private range... This is where things will take off for this new comer.

He dosen't have to buy a rifle off this shooter,,, but he's offering a few fully dialed in units with optics for $850 to $900 Cnd funds,,, about $650 ish and change in Usd cash.

The benefits for the new fellow is a chance to try a swack of different units,,, and see how to set up off the bench or prone off the bypods... He's lucky to have a competitive shooters show him the ropes right off the batt...

Something he will remember for his shooting adventures,,, he'll get a chance to shoot frugal units,,, mid priced and the upper quality rifles,,, all of us know that the pricey units are the go to units,,, that's not saying that a frugal unit wouldn't work either,,, the task for him is finding one that fits,,, and doesn't blow him out of his socks if he decided to plink with it at the range.

6.5 something,,, 7mm-08,,, 308,,, 30/06,,, 270 and the others in the middle mix...

Koodoos to our fellow shooter friend to help get him up to speed,,, I offer this same thing at our range,,, nothing like reviving pointers for those in need or enjoy learning something new that improves their odds.

Ha,,,.after reading this thread I took it apon my self to put a drop shot on a wolf at 92 MOA,,, the boolit landed 4 ft-low at the 1435 meter mark. LOL.

Funny how 100 meters makes it possible to miss,,, like my team leader said,,, """ hopefully I miss alot of long shoot targets,,, that way I'm given the option to learn what not to do.""" Ha

I call it schooling my self before the F Class stuff gets underway.

I hope I'm in the line up of those that struggle like my self... That way we don't have to explain the brain farts when our boolitz miss the 6 ft target down range. LOL
Thanks for that great post Don, I really enjoyed reading it, I've been enjoying introducing the Sport of Target Shooting to my two oldest Grandchildren.
 
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Your welcome Austin,,, I would think of this thread as a refresher idea when we first started off in our own younger years.

In 1979 the North was going through some tuff times,,, a copy-cat Parker Hale """Midland""" 30/06 would set you back $200 + bucks,,,, that's alot coin when there was nill for jobs.

A $100 Bushnell scope was a pretty pricey thing when it came to paying rent,,, buying food,,, or raising a family.

Our parents didn't mess around when they knew the value of a dollar ,,, $20 was alot of money back then in those tuff years ,,, its no wounder we see some of these old rifle packages out there today.

Most hunters would go after a rifle they could afford,,, they'd use the iron sights until they could fork out the funds for a fixed power Weaver or Bushnell,,, they were the go to optics since Leopold didn't have anything in the budget range of tuff times. Red Field was another pricey optic along with a few others.

Tasco never took off up here,,, but they did manage to sell alot of scopes to the 22 rimfire shooters.


Yuppers,,, there are lots of ways to go about things now days,,,.lots of used optics and endless supplies of used rifles that fit the budget,,, most new shooters in our area buy new since they want the warranty and hassle free thing getting started. Who can blame them from getting things sorted from the get go.
 
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Same for me,,, I was born and raised on the family farm,,, lots of gopher and beaver hunting with a single shot 22 rimfire,,, then graduated to my grandad's 30-30,,, my first time big game rifle for the heavy weights was a British Lee Enfield 303 ,,, I used it for 4 years before I had enough money saved up to buy a brand new Midland 30/06,,, it took up a few more years before I bought a 4 power Weaver scope,,, every thing before that was iron sights.

I didnt know it at the time,,, but this was the begining of an adventure that would take me into the vast expanses of buying and selling of lots of firearms,,, lots of old time diamonds with a selection of of hunting rifles and hand guns,,, I call it the house full of to much,,, Ha.

I always had my 3 main big game shooters and my 2 hunting partners stayed with their 1 gun ideas,,, it was all they needed,,, purhaps this was the first glimpse into the """Less is More""" thing...

My collect Sloooooowly thinned down over the years,,, a few years after that I pretty much give up on rifle hunting and took up my main passion for hunting,,, archery,,, it was the best thing that ever happened,,, big game hunting up close and personal,,, there ain't no going back to long distance stuff after this learning curve,,, even when I returned to the rifle stuff.

I picked a budget rifle when I got back into the sport,,, but I'm set in my ways,,, so I changed things up since my situation in life allowed for this,,, if this wasn't the case,,, I'd still be using the frugal unit since it was a good hunting and plinking rifle.

If the chips in life delt me a different hand,,,.I'd probably still be using the old iron sight 303 British since they have a track record of of lasting for ever.
 
In all honesty i have expensive rifles that are setup for LR shooting and while they have their merits you dont need to spend a fortune to get started. I did a LR rifle on a budget to prove to my buddy I could do it pretty cheap. I bought a savage 12fv in 223 and put a vortex viper 6.5-20 on it and it shot well out to 600.

Then i did the same thing with a 6.5 creed and that shot well to half mile. All in after getting sales from cabelas and buying the scope used i was in it for under $550. These rifles were not perfect by any means but were budget minded and shot well. All of this coming for a guy that doesnt care for savage rifles all that much.
 
Same for me, I could buy a bottom basement package with a $60 chunk of glass and go after the V ring at distance.

The trick is tuning them up,,, """the all."""
Find the water-line load.
Get it planted.
Dial in the ballistics,,, read the winds & play the elevation MOA...

I'll keep my eyes open up here for the clearance sale that I can flip later.

$300 to $350 Cnd funds with glass would be a good run for the money. LOL.

Nice thing about today's plastic stocks is there easy to fill them with lead wheel weights to get them planted... All rifles shoot good once we turn them into """Land Canons""".
 
Yuppers,,, the search is on to see if I can find the lowest budget 308 with a tinfoil scope in 3x9 fogged in lenn'es. Ha.

I have 5 to choose from up here in the North.

Ruger A-can,,, Remmy 783,,, Savage Axe,,, Mossberg 4x4,,, the new frugal Mausers,,, Thompson Center,,, all of them are basement rifles for those that choose to start off easy...

My Remmy collection will stay intact since there dialed in and paided for,,, but it would be nice to see first hand if anyone of the above are able to pull off the loooooong shot...

It will be a spring threw summer time project for us up here,,, I'm sure a few of our shooting folks will jump on board with this to find out if these units can perform like they say they can.

Always good times no matter what adventures lay ahead.
 
Doesn't the 783 have a barrel nut? I've heard they are fairly modular and can be self-modded and barrel swapped at home like a Savage... Might be worth looking into.
 
I just put this Rifle together today, I wanted to see what I can do with this Mossberg Patriot 7mm Rem. Mag. that was on clearance for $275. With an on Sale Scope for $100
Grabbed a couple of boxes of Factory Ammo. and hopefully head out to the Range on Monday.
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