Need advice, 200yd. target rifle

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If you're looking for something to get into cheaply and maybe customize later, look at the Stevens 200. Mine would shoot 3/4" groups at 110 yards (range at my parents' ranch was the farthest I shot it) pretty much all day long with Black Hills 68gr BTHP match ammo. Under $300 for the rifle, $300 again for glass and $50-75 for nice rings and mounts, and you have an excellent platform to build a great custom rifle. Later add a large bolt handle if you want, better stock, aftermarket trigger, and eventually a barrel, and you will have a great LR shooter that is built just like you want it. Savage rifles are not known for their frills, especially the Stevens line. They are known for accuracy.
 
You could do a lot worse than an H&R single shot for this kind of shooting--they have a couple of 22" bull barrel rifles in .223, .243, .308 and of course lots of other barrel and caliber combinations.

For stocks, they have everything from a plain or laminated wood stock to normal or pistol-grip plastic stock, depending on the model.

For real fun, there's the .45-70 Buffalo Classic with a 32" barrel and target peep sights. That will get everybody's attention on the range, guaranteed. [Boom......clang!] ;-)
 
I would part from the general opinion here. I think 30-06 is a good choice since it would bang bulls eys on 200 yds and beyond if later you do want to up the target. Whereas smaller calibers would not go as far as this. Only other rifle that comes to mind which is great for targets is Dragunov 54R scoped. Now that will serve you for a long time for variety of ranges.
 
I guess that's why our military qualifies out to 500yds with the 5.56/.223

I'm going to say a free floated, bull barrel AR15. I bought a Rock River A4 with a Leupold scope and would get sub MOA with it, easily. With the glass and rifle, you're probably looking at $1000.

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200 yards is pretty short range, almost any centerfire will do that. And as a longer range target cartridge, the 30-06 was eclipsed about 30 years ago. I shoot a 1-7 twist 223 Savage at 500m all the time, it's really no big deal. I would feel confident out to 800, just a twist of the elevation knob. And it doesn't beat you up like a 30-06. Fantastic ballistics in a 243 with 115g DTACs too. The ideal cartridge, if a 223 is too small for you, would be the 260.
 
I agree on the .223 -- cheap ammo, and if you handload, the components won't be all that expensive, either.

I like my .22 Hornet, too -- with the 35 grain Hornady V-max and a case full of Hodgdon's Li'l Gun, it leaves the muzzle at a tad over 3,000 fps. Zeroed for 150 yards, it's a smidgen over 1" at mid-range and only down a bit over 3.5" at 200 yards. A very nice cartridge for crows, foxes, coyotes and so on here in the Ozarks.
 
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