budget sniper rifle

Look at the Savages, for that price range.

For $700 with budget sniping in mind, like hentown said, Savage is a great choice, also you could probably get a Remington 700 SPS Varmint or Tactical for that money. A .223 would do the job to 300 and would be your cheapest per shot, .308 would buck the wind a hair better, but in most cases would just lead to a higher per shot cost.

Whats accurate to you for a 300 yard group.

Go buy a savage/stevens 200 , add a sav-1 rifle basix trigger and pick the Nikon prostaff 4-12 add basic weaver rings and base and enough money left over for a boyd's classic stock and bottom metal. . With the right ammo its very accurate with 1/2"moa probable.

How many rounds are you looking for 1MOA accuracy? Is a three shot group good, or are you looking at a competition where you would want 20 shots in that same group without the barrel heating up and opening up the group?

Basically, is this for hunting, plinking or competition?

Why do you want a sniper rifle? This OP has made a few posts and threads that jump out at me as red flags.

hunting - ruger american in 30-06
has a lightweight barrel so heats up to fast for competition BUT, still sighting mine in as of now i can get fisrt 2-3 shots in a 2 in group at 250 yards give or take. and it has an awsome recoil pad. i dont remember what brand scope but it was about 180$ and the gun was 230? total cost was under 600

Good choice. What caliber are you going with?

Just for future reference the term "sniper rifle" is used by the guys in the business of keeping you free. How about I am looking for a rifle for short to medium range paper punching. It will get you a lot more responses and less criticism.
Most of the Savage line of target rifles will produce moa or sub moa accuracy out to 800yds with a good shooter behind it.

Remington makes fine rifles for sure but I think Savage can beat their price to quality ratio. And there's CZ and the Weatherby Vanguard series is excellent. There's also Howa, Tikka, Browning, Mossberg, and a lot of others I'm probably overlooking. It's really hard to go wrong with a rifle at that price. It's basically about price for quality.

I like Savage rifles and I like CZ rifles. Both seem to do very well for the money. And a 300 yard, 3" group isn't that hard if you can do your part.I shoot 3" groups at 500 yards with my Savage. But it's a more expensive rifle than your budget allows for. Still there are very accurate Savage rifles around. I tend to buy a brand once I find out they are a good brand. I'm not knocking other rifles. I just like Savage and CZ because I know both work very well. I've seen other rifles do very well also though.

There are also entry level AR's at that price point and lever action rifles too. For punching paper I'd go with a bolt action though. You can get great accuracy from a AR but it will cost you.

BTW sniper rifles are for killing people. They are actually rifles used by people known as snipers who kill people. I certainly hope you aren't planning on that. You can find info like what I posted all over the net so I'm not giving away any state secrets. But often anyone asking about a "sniper" rifle will be told to change their terminology or more on. This board is not about killing people from 1000 yards away or even 300 yards away.

Also don't overlook good glass for your rifle. The ratio I've always went by or tried to is to spend the same on a scope as you do on the rifle you're putting the scope on. I've done that with many of my rifles but not all. There's a point where I get diminishing returns spending more money on a scope. I have no place to shoot 1000 yards so getting a scope capable of working well at that distance is overkill for me. And don't forget the availability of ammo. Some calibers definitely have more ammo available now. And you either have to learn to load your own cartridges or you will need to learn what off the shelf ammo works best in your rifle. The more choices you have the better.

The last time I went sniping, I didn't use a rifle. All my dad gave me was a paper bag.

Snipes are slippy arent they.....id say savage all the way for those monies.

Savage is a good rifle.
Remington 700 is one of the preferred rifles for long range stuff.
There's a website that will show you how to set up your own budget "Tactical Rifle"
Google "Budget Tactical Rifle Build" and you'll find what you need to start.

Remington 700 SPS Tactical in .308
.308 is minimum for most long range shooters
TPS Rings
Weaver 20MOA base at least. TPS is better. Leupold Mark4 is awesome.

Scope of your choice, SWFA is great for starter scope.

Eventually you'll want to switch out stocks, check with stockystocks.com
They also sell drop magazine kits that will need inletting on some kits but there's the Wyatt's kit that just drops in.
Unless you're reloading, Federal Gold Medal 168 or 175 grain Match is awesome stuff.
Same stuff I shoot and came highly recommended by the SWAT guys at P.D. where I work.
Buy the rifle new if you can, but many of the parts you can buy used really cheap at some of the sniper/long range shooter's sites.

You guys realize, of course, that there really are Snipes?

Remington 700 short action rifle with M24/M40 Contour Krieger barrel bought on Gunbroker, built by a Mr. Henderson who did work for Houston PD $1100.

Changed out the stock and added the rest.
HS Precision M24 stock $500.
Leupold Mark 4 rings $95
SWFA MRAD scope $325
Weaver Base $45
Harris Bipod $45

The final toll was a lot more than $700, but even before I added everything the rifle was an awesome stick.

Calling the rifle a sniper gun has already been covered so I will leave it alone.

300 yards is not long distance any longer, it's not even medium distance. Most hunters even with minimal abilities can successfully hunt out to 300 yards. Years ago 1000 yards was the pinnacle of long distance shooting, these days 1 mile is the new 1000 yards. With the advancements in rifle production and barrel fabrication over the past 20 years 1 MOA rifles are the normal even from entry level bolt rifles. Actually, if an entry level hunting rifle can't shoot 1 MOA these days the rifle usually fails in the market.

All that said, the above suggestions for buying a Savage rifle are good suggestions. Add to that their excellent AccuTrigger and you have an inexpensive solution that will surely do 3" @300 yards if you do your part.

Suggestions under $700 (without glass) and I'm a 30-06 fan
Savage Model 14/114 or Model 16/116 (maybe the Model 111 if you can find a sale)
The Howa 1500, my 2 main bolt action hunting rifles are Howa 1500's in 30-06 and .223.
The Ruger American is getting a lot of good press, it's worth a look.
The Thompson Center Venture is a very accurate rifle and for some reason overlooked.
The Mossberg ATR is a fairly new bolt action rifle that is getting very good reviews.
Of course the Remington 700 is a proven platform and can be found under $700 if you look around.
The Winchester Model 70 is also an outstanding choice but these days it's out of your budget range as are Tikka, Sako and most Vanguard rifles.

I guess what I'm getting at, like I said above, there are many good low price rifles out there today that will do everything you want to do and maybe even more...

hentown said:

You guys realize, of course, that there really are Snipes?

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Yes. I just never bagged one.

hentown said:

You guys realize, of course, that there really are Snipes?

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Absolutely, but they're something you probably want to hunt with a shotgun instead of a rifle. I've downed a few over the years, even a double (with plenty of luck) once. Their flight looks like a fighter plane making evasive maneuvers on fast forward and spotting one on the ground is extremely difficult. And that's from a seasoned grouse hunter's perspective...

the 700 sps is a fine place to start. easily customizable by many, so that it may grow with you as your skills and interest increase.

low budget start that is a tack driver....Stevens 200 in .308.....if such a weapon was needed for that job, this would be a weapon that does it in the lowest price range with the best results.

It's true that many contests have been won by 700 based rifles but I've heard there is some animosity toward Savage rifles from gunsmiths who have spent their who lives mastering the Remington rifles. I have no idea if that's actually true or not. I do know that the club I'm about to join is dominated by people shooting Savages on a 600 yard range. That's what the range master told me anyway.

The last time I went sniping, I didn't use a rifle. All my dad gave me was a paper bag.

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When the church men sent their sons on a snipe hunt we actually had someone catch a snipe. Unfortunately it got away before they could get it back to camp though.

I do know that snipes are real. I've seen exactly one in my entire life. I pulled right up on top of it on the farm. We weren't too far from a pond and a river. I got half way out of the truck then saw it. I couldn't get my camera out before it took off. I chased it through the woods for 15 minutes and never did get a good photo or any photo at all. I bet I sound like that kid who caught one and accidentally let it go, don't I?

Wilson's snipe (the only one native to the US)