Long range rifle

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hymnatr

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Hello Everyone,

I am looking to get a long range rifle. I was thinking about the 338 lapua. What brands can you guys recommend?

I know savage makes one (particularly the 110 BA) and have heard some good things about it.

Remington also has their 700, haven't heard anything on it.

Would love a barrett but don't want to spend $4k on just the gun.

As far as a scope I looked at the Nightforce pr2. Haven't looked at any others.
 
You'd be surprised how far you can shoot little guns (223 Rem, 243 Win) or you could pick up a used Savage in 308 and spend the wad on optics and reloading gear.
 
600-1000 learn on a 308 and then you can move on to a better caliber, if you can hone you skills on a 308 in the wind you can move on to a better caliber. Get a 338 out of your head u don't even need to concider it
 
esheato said:
You'd be surprised how far you can shoot little guns (223 Rem, 243 Win) or you could pick up a used Savage in 308 and spend the wad on optics and reloading gear.
Click to expand...
I actually have a savage 308. Maybe I should look into better optics then. I haven't pulled off more then a 320 yard shot with it.

Lets get to the second question then...what optics should it be? What do you guys think of the nightforce pr2?
 
I agree that a .338 Lapua is on the top end of a steep learning curve. I have no idea what your experience or skill level is, but if you aren't already competent in long-range shooting, this is skipping a few steps. I tell people who want a long-range .308, they need to be able to make small holes at 100 yards with a .22. A .338 is an expensive and painful way to learn. You do what you want man, but I would walk people up through .22 and .308. (Or .260 Rem if you reload.) Then look at exotic cartridges. Otherwise it's way too much gun.
 
hymnatr: Just curious, but do you reload? Because the cheapest .338 Lapua ammo is $60/box. At that price, you may as well just go for something in .50 BMG which costs about the same with surplus or bulk ammo. The ammo alone will eat up $5K really quickly.

I'm going to side with the guys on the .308 right now. It retains enough energy at 800 yards to kill something if needed. (I do not however recommend attempting this!)


If you want to go with the .338 LM anyway, I have to recommend the Savage .338 BA. Savage makes good weapons and as I recall a lot of features were included with the rifle for relatively not that much money.
 
I would look at one of the 7mm mags. Less recoil and better ballistics than the .300 mags. Better ballistics than the 6.5mm choices at the cost of a slight increase in recoil. A brake or suppressor will take care of that. Top that off with affordable to shoot compared to the .300s and especially the .338 and on par with the 6.5mm's.

No rifle or cartridge is going to act as a complete substitute for practice and experience, which is where "cheap to shoot" comes into play. Reading the wind is critical at long range and the only way to get good is to practice. An average shooter with excellent wind reading skills will typically outshoot an excellent shooter with average wind reading skills. Rifle ballistics can reduce the effects of misreading the wind; however, this is an area of finite possibilities and quickly diminishing returns.
 
Ranger30-06 said:
hymnatr: Just curious, but do you reload? Because the cheapest .338 Lapua ammo is $60/box. At that price, you may as well just go for something in .50 BMG which costs about the same with surplus or bulk ammo. The ammo alone will eat up $5K really quickly.

I'm going to side with the guys on the .308 right now. It retains enough energy at 800 yards to kill something if needed. (I do not however recommend attempting this!)


If you want to go with the .338 LM anyway, I have to recommend the Savage .338 BA. Savage makes good weapons and as I recall a lot of features were included with the rifle for relatively not that much money.
Click to expand...
I do reload and realize that the 338 is expensive to shoot. I reload for almost every type of ammo I have (9mm, 40, 44, 45, 45LC, 454, 223, and 308) only thing I don't reload yet is my 50Beo.
 
The 7mm RM isn't a high dollar round to shoot, or hand load if considering doing so. I have a couple of them, one has a Leupold VX-III 3.5x10 on a 700 SPS, and it will deliver consistent long range recreation if you can handle the recoil.

I also shoot the .270 win. in a 700 with Leupold glass, and it to will do very well.

A lot of guys also go with the .308, but in my personal opinion it just doesn't produce enough velocity for 500-100 yds. without some real high dollar glass that will provide enough MOA adjustment range. 2700 - 2800 fps just isn't as long range capable to me, in my opinion, as is 3200-3400 fps from the .270 win and 7mm RM.
 
You can compensate all you want for skill with a barrel burner, if you want to learn to shoot long range learn on a 308. It is more than capable of doing what your wantin to do.
As far as scopes go nightforce is a great choice, along with vortex razor, USO...ect I would steer away from leupold, there are better value for the money. Whatever scope you choose get a retical that matches your adjustments.
 
The .270 is handicapped by the poor bullets available to it; they shed that extra velocity quickly and exhibit excessive wind drift as a result. The 7mm's have no such limitation.

The .308's relatively poor velocity makes it a poor performer in the wind. Bullet drop can be fairly easily compensated for (provided a good load with consistent velocity) but wind is significantly confounding. If you look at a target from a good long range shooter, the horizontal dispersion of the group is usually much larger than the vertical dispersion.
 
Maybe a Sako TRG 42 in 338 LM and a Nightforce 5.5x22 with the reticle of your choice. Should be in the $4-$5000 range when base, rings, brass, reloading dies etc. are figured in.

The TRG has a excellent track record.


Really depends on your personal wants and needs and only you can decide that.

For me, I have a 50bmg, 338 Lapua, a plethora of 30 cals, 7mm, 6.5's, 223's. My latest is a 243 build that is just about finished. I get bored easily.:D
 
If you already have a savage 308, buy a good stock, 20moa base, good rings, and a good scope. Spend the rest on loading ammo.
 
ESHEATO makes a lot of sense. A 243 will outshoot a 308 at 1000 yards as will a 30-06. I prefer the 30-06 simply because depending on wind conditions I can go with 150 gr on calm days or go with 175 smk sierra or heavier bullets to 220 on very windy days.
 
Ah, Lapua...

A man who's got a few $K to burn, eh? ;)

I personally think the Savage is your gun, if you are sold on .338 Lapua (for whatever reason--hey, it's your gun, your collection!) and don't want to go to $5K.

(If you're not set on Lapua: I think a .30 mag will do anything I need at 1000 yards. If you don't mind custom rifle prices, I can recommend...:evil:)

Scope? Not sure you get more bang for your buck than Nightforce. But recommendation might change depending on the distance at which you're actually going to use it, and whether you might consider a fixed power scope.
 
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