building a good scoped rifle

[evildogooder]

Getting older sucks!

Its time to build a decent utility rifle. Iron sights are just getting harder to see at long ranges.

Ive shot out to 1k with my Sharps and nagant so im not new to long range shooting. Im just new to scopes. The only one i have is for my wife's .22.

My goal is to have a mild recoiling mid range utility rifle. I'm not interested in tacticool crap. nor am i a sniper wanna be. Big .50's and .338's are fun to shoot and i love them but I'm just don't have any use for one. I'm not into the magnum cartridges.

My ultimate goal is a rifle i can sit down and plink with all day long, yet is big enough to tackle deer at decent ranges. .223\5.56 are decent but just not my cup of tea. I was thinking more like 243, 6.5mm or similar. I want a working rifle something I'm not afraid to get scratched it dinged.

1 what's a good Long eye relief scope? I hate choking up on the stock just to see through the scope. I'm not talking thousand dollar scopes maybe $200-$400

2 what's a good wood stocked moa rifle. I was thinking Winchester or savage. Remington is having way too many qc problems lately for me to buy one.$300-$600

Thank you for the advise

 

[Awsomepossum]

300-380$ used savage model 11 or such from a pawn shop, and spent 400$ for a good scope. 243 or 308

 

[jmr40]

Wood stocked hunting rifle. Winchester, Ruger , Kimber. Savage budget rifles in the cheap plastic stock are a decent buy and I can live with ugly on a budget gun. Their walnut stocked guns are in the same price range as Winchester and more expensive than Ruger. They are still an ugly rifle with a decent stick of wood wrapped around them.

Leupold scopes have more forgiving eye relief than any other. You can spend more, but a $300 VX-2 is as much scope as you'll ever need. One of the $250 VX-1's are a bargain. Three years ago Leupold upgraded all of the VX scopes. A current VX-1 is essentially a 3 year old VX-2. Current VX-2's are essentially a 3 year old VX-3.

A 243 with good bullets is as good as it gets for deer sized game, nothing any bigger needed. If you want bigger 7-08 or 308 would be my choice. More factory options in 243 or 308 ammo. In your price range Ruger Hawkeye is the only real option and they are closer to $650

There are no new walnut stocked rifle options in that range. Maybe used.

 

[evildogooder]

Wood stocked hunting rifle. Winchester, Ruger , Kimber. Savage budget rifles in the cheap plastic stock are a decent buy and I can live with ugly on a budget gun. Their walnut stocked guns are in the same price range as Winchester and more expensive than Ruger. They are still an ugly rifle with a decent stick of wood wrapped around them.

Leupold scopes have more forgiving eye relief than any other. You can spend more, but a $300 VX-2 is as much scope as you'll ever need. One of the $250 VX-1's are a bargain. Three years ago Leupold upgraded all of the VX scopes. A current VX-1 is essentially a 3 year old VX-2. Current VX-2's are essentially a 3 year old VX-3.

A 243 with good bullets is as good as it gets for deer sized game, nothing any bigger needed. If you want bigger 7-08 or 308 would be my choice. More factory options in 243 or 308 ammo. In your price range Ruger Hawkeye is the only real option and they are closer to $650

There are no new walnut stocked rifle options in that range. Maybe used.

Thanks for the info. Quite frankly i don't have much experience with bolt action rifles. I shoot single shot or lever action. Besides My nagant and my dads marlin .22 i think I've only shot maybe two bolt actions with maybe a box of shells used.

I'm not set on having wood i just prefer how it looks and feels. I had an axis for a whole week lol shot like a dream but the wrist flex sealed the deal on it hitting the road. Is there a plastic stock that actually feels nice?

 

[whatever]

CZ 527 in 7.62x39?
Cheap plinker? Check.
Good for deer-sized game? Check (within reasonable distances)
Mild recoil? Check.

As soon as room in my safe opens up I'm getting one.

 

[sappyg]

Thanks for the info. Quite frankly i don't have much experience with bolt action rifles. I shoot single shot or lever action. Besides My nagant and my dads marlin .22 i think I've only shot maybe two bolt actions with maybe a box of shells used.

I'm not set on having wood i just prefer how it looks and feels. I had an axis for a whole week lol shot like a dream but the wrist flex sealed the deal on it hitting the road. Is there a plastic stock that actually feels nice?

Before I read the OP's second post I was going to mention a Savage Axis. On a utility rifle I just don't care whether it has a wood stock or not.
Can't beat Leupold's VX1. Eye relief is amazing. I've got a 3x9 on a long/ standard action 30-06 & a 2x7 on a 243. They are excellent. Nikon makes a good utility scope in the ProStaff line. Glass quality is on par with Leupold but slightly heavier overall. I must have a long neck because I'm not bothered so much with eye relief. In fact, I need to consciously hold my head back while using the leupolds.
Caliber choice? 243 is worth a hard look. It's crazy accurate with just about any ammo available and there's lots to choose from. It's the ultimate jack of all trades and does very well as a general purpose cartridge IMO.

 

[Karamoja]

I've become very fond of my 243 but if I were going to have just one "practical" cartridge (mild recoil, decent ballistics, lethal on big game at the practical range limit of 300 yards) it would be a 7mm-08. Ballistics are very similar to the 6.5x55mm that I love but the 7mm-08 has the advantage of more readily available factory ammo should that be a consideration.

My 270 is one of the new Winchester 70 Featherweights. Wonderful rifle, nice crisp trigger. If you want a pretty wooden stocked rifle that would be the way to go. Accuracy is "only" about 1 MOA after working up some handloads.... nothing to complain about but I get better out of my other rifles.

My 6.5x55mm is a Tikka T3 Hunter. Same rifle as the popular Tikka T3 Lite but in a wooden stock. Very nice trigger. Wonderfully accurate. The synthetic stocks on the Tikka Lites are "okay" but I'd have to do something about that hollow sound in the butt if I owned one.

I have two Savage rifles in synthetic stocks and am very happy with them. They are Model 16s with Savage's "accustock," which is a synthetic stock with an aluminium bedding block. Very sturdy with no flexing. The Savage Model 16s run about a pound heavier than they need to be, IMO, but are otherwise a nice choice.

If I were buying another wooden stocked rifle today it would be the Winchester 70 or the Tikka Hunter. If I were buying another synthetic stocked rifle it would probably be another Savage 16 but I might consider a Tikka Lite.

All my centerfire hunting rifles wear Burris Fullfield II 3-9x scopes with their version of a BDC reticles. They are a very good value, IMO, but one of these days I'll start upgrading to Leupold VX-2 models.

The Savage accustock: