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314K views 382 replies 172 participants last post by  lb0190 
#1 ·
What would you consider as the best sniper rifle.

Use hunting and SHTF

No large bore like 50 cal. (put your monet towards ammo)

Priced right that does not break the bank

US made, but if it is a good deal for the money go for it

Ammo easy to buy and you can reload

Max range 1000 yards (hunting rifle main use)

Maybe something that you could buy and build it up as you go

May be Rem 700?

What caliber?
 
#152 ·
My own personal rifle like this is a Remington PSS Varmint, with the X trigger in .308WCF. It came with a cheaper 4x12 unknown brand scope. prolly a simmons or tasco. The Mounts were the first to go, i got Burris steel mounts and rings. Topped it off with a Burris 4.5x14 ballistiplex scope. Cannot beat good glass and steel mounts. My own personal preference.
 
#3 ·
I've seen threads like this before.

1) calibner the .308/30.06, .270 are very good also .300WM and 7mm Mag.
2) A bolt action
3) One rife to do both, hunt & snipe, how about one for each function
in the same caliber with the sniper worked on barrel and bolt.
4) When you question cost, how much is your life worth ??
5) 1000 rounds to practice.
6) any other questions pm
 
#202 ·
This was talked about before? :D
You forgot, practice with it a lot so you become proficient with it. Websites, videos and magazines exist to sell people stuff, gadgets, gear, etc. I'd venture to speculate that if people spent 1/8th the time shooting that they do on the internet finding out what gun/load to use, they'd be some pretty good shots with their "scoped deer rifle".....
 
#4 ·
This was my choice, works great. Been shooting a friend of mine rifle and it is a tack driver out to 400 meters. :thumb: Shooting Hornaday Tap 168 gr.

http://www.budsgunshop.com/catalog/product_info.php/cPath/62/products_id/78352

Just ordered mine and can't wait for it to get here. You have all of the options you require and it is $400 to $600 less than some other rifles of the same type. This rifle got a Best Buy rating from Gub Test magazine.

HH54r
 
#6 ·
Hold on there. If you could be hitting 1000 yard, youd know how to answer the question.

Let's step back to 300 yards. The average joe has some real issues hitting 300 yards well in the field situation.

Savage rifles are excellent for the money. Weatherby vanguards are very affordable. Remington 700 is good. Tikka T3 are great for the money.

Calibers...... You want something with a low recoil for the quickest results. Many target shooters at 300-500 really like .243. But, these are paper guys. 250-300 is pushing the energy levels for deer hunting.

.308, but no ultralight rifles. However, bull barrels do not guarantee more accuracy. However, with heavier recoil calibers, they help smooth things out.

.270 winchester is a necked down .30-06. Very common, likely the best whitetail deer specific cartridge.

.260 remington. Not a huge bullet selection, but a very capable long range low recoil round.

.243 remington. Great little target gun. but, it is limited on deer.

.223. Best option If you don't reload. It can work for deer, but you need a 1:9 or so twist rifle and use 62gr or better bullets. Roughly the same advice for 22-250. This cartidge has a good bit of speed on the .223. The capacity versus bore diameter is rediculous. Definitely a funny looking cartridge. Actually, this caliber used to be a very common police sniper round. I think the US Army used this caliber as well.

Keep in mind, with topics like these. There is much better shooting practice than long range bench shooting.
 
#62 ·
Great comments, Sailing Hudson. I have been a fan of, and have hunted white tails with the .270 since I was 12 and I have never lost my affinity for the round since...

I was always thrilled with Jack O'Connor's tales of this cartridge. I definitely think that it is underpraised. In the hands of a competent rifleman, in a good rifle with a sighted in scope, it's tough to beat out to 400 yards...
 
#8 ·
In this day and age I would say what ever you can afford to shoot beyond rimfire. Training will more then make up for a lack of velocity or weight provided you shoot it all the time.

I would just use my AR15 that I always do.

I had Savage tacticals in 300win mag, and 308 , both shot better then I could. Glass is always my highest cost, the gun may be 400 but the optic was 1000
 
#11 ·
Hold on there. If you could be hitting 1000 yard, youd know how to answer the question.
Not to beat you up, but yeah that part of a previous comment makes a lot of sense and holds a lot of water. I am going to assume your a fair shooter at the moment with some rifle experience and aspire to reach that target range with some practice.

Use hunting and SHTF
If you get a gun that rings the gong at 1000 yards you will likely find that it doesnt make the best hunting rifle although you can indeed hunt with a "sniper" rifle. If you get a good hunting boltaction you will likely find it making things pretty tough for you out to 1000 yards. To my way of thinking you need to comprimise a little bit here or get two different guns.

No large bore like 50 cal. (put your monet towards ammo)
Good idea. There are other rounds that are a little better for anti personnel and unless you are looking for a gun that can be used for anti material, a 50 cal leaves a lot to be desired in my experience. In Iraq and 'Stan, these guns kicked up a pretty impressive dust signature and you had best be shooting and scooting or very well protected! You will likely find yourself drawing fire and mortor rounds/RPG's only have to land close.

US made, but if it is a good deal for the money go for it
I really wouldnt let that be too much of a mitigating factor. Id be all about who can provide the hardware I need, and worry about that factor much later down my desicion making process. Scoring a hit and putting warheads on foreheads or filling the freezer is more important than what country it was made in.

Ammo easy to buy and you can reload
I really wanted a .338 Laupa, but really, do I wanna pay 4.00 bucks plus a round or use a shovel to fill the cases with powder? Anything thats not easy and convienant and reasonably cheap, and your not going to practice as much as you should, and your shooting abilities are going to suffer to a degree. I like the .308, 30-06, 300 Win Mag and 7mm Rem mag for under 800 yard work. These are all very common and popular hunting chamberings and most are fairly common for tactical rifles in an anti personnel role. Any thing beyond these and your looking at something thats more specialized, read that as "expensive" and will generate more recoil than most shooters can comfortably handle unless you like the abuse or have a 13 lbs plus rifle. I have a couple of rifles in more punishing calibers than that but I cant say that I really enjoy shooting them that much despite the fact that I can reach way out there with them. Ill stick to something a bit milder instead of wilder.

Max range 1000 yards (hunting rifle main use)
If the main use is hunting you really got no business shooting beyond 400-500 yards unless your all that and a bag of chips. For hunting I doubt most here need to reach beyond 300 and most probably drop thier game under 200. You really owe it to the game your hunting to make it a quick humane kill and not just a fatal shot. But then again maybe my ethics are uneccessarily higher than some others. When shooting game I want to recover it, when shooting a human (Iraq/Stan Vet) I just want to neutralize them. Whether that takes a few seconds or a couple of hours to be fatal I dont care as long as they are no longer shooting back or able to direct in comming fire.

Maybe something that you could buy and build it up as you go
A lot of merit to this thought. Not everyone has long arms and deep pockets. But many of us can afford to but a quality actioned rifle and upgrade it as fun dollars become available and ultimately make it the rifle we wanted and needed. I started with a Remington 700 VLS in .308 Winchester and tweaked and modified it from there until it was the gun that filled the bill. Luckily it was a phenominal rifle right out of the box and required only minimum work. Will you be able to score a rifle that good or better out of the box, prehaps, but if not you can fix it. In the long run this is often a bit more costly than just buying what you want to begin with.

May be Rem 700?
Excellent platform for the average Joe and hard to go too far wrong with for about 90% of the people out there who are spending thier money and not some agencys money. I am somewhat partial to the Rem 700, but Savage aint no chump either from a potential stand point. I also like the Weatherbys as well and chances are if I build anymore guns they will most likely be on the Vangard or Mk V actions. These are solid action designs with a reputation. I also believe they are once again made in America too. The biggest thing I like about them is the bolts have relief holes drilled in them so if there is a case seperation or blown primer, gases are vented out the action through them and not all back in your face/eye or through the magazine floor of the action. While they do make replacement parts like glass eyes and artifical limbs, they really dont work as good as the OEM ones God gave you...

What caliber?
You make a case for a couple of dozen different chamberings as many can be quiet effective at hunting or "sniping". I like and prefer the 30 cal, 7mm and 6.5 calibers due to the great bullet selection for hunting and "long range target shooting". I like the fact that most are pretty easy on the shoulder at the bench and fairly reasonable to reload for. This is not to imply that a 257 Weatherby or a 340 weatherby can fill the bill in fine form and fashion. Just keep it in perspective, what works for me or someone else may not work as well for you.
 
#13 ·
if your going to try and learn to shoot out to 1000 yrds you better spend $500-$800 on the weapon, $800-$2000 on the scope, and about $3000-$5000 on ammo for practice cause your gonna need ALOT of practice.

you really need get out of fantasy land to come down to earth and realize YOUR NOT A SNIPER !! :eek:,unless you plan on takeing some official sniper training courses then forget it,and i dont mean a local appleseed training course either.earning the title SNIPER is a skill that you cant learn on your own even if you spent $10,000 on a weapon it MUST be learned/earned. just the same as buying a uniform doesnt make you a soldier/marine.yes you can buy a weapon that can put down your target at 1000yrds but the question is are YOU capable of hitting that target at that range?without training ...HIGHLY doughtful,most improbable, you would have just as much chance of hitting your target if you closed your eyes and use the power of the force. :thumb:

bring it down to more realistic ranges like 400-600 yrds.that will be a challange for any adverage joe :thumb: which types of weapons and calibers have already been mentioned that you should look at
 
#22 ·
bull! being a an army vet myself and having had the priveledge to fire more rifles and calibers than I can count, my weatherby vanguard in 7mm Rem Mag is my baby...each caliber that is popular has a purpose, that's why it becomes popular...experienced shooters who have had the chance to fire hundreds of each caliber (even though they form preferences) will agree that in the right hands, any caliber is effective. More to the point, no rifle is a "sniper" rifle per say, it's the person behind the weapon that makes it a Snipers Rifle, unless you plan to seek the training and invest the time and money at the range, you will probably never own anything close to a Snipers Rifle. That being said, if you are serious about making that investment, you will learn along the way what weapon it is you are looking for to meet your needs.
 
#24 ·
Apple seed is a great place to start as they teach all the basics .
 
#25 ·
Savage's are great and extremely accurate and less money than most of the competition, I'm a 308 guy but a 260 is also a very good choice. 1000yds is a pipedream, I live in friggin KS and there are very few places that I can see 1000yds clearly let alone hit something at that kind of distance. Realistically a 500yd type fo rifle is plenty of range with power left to kill whatever you plan on shooting at, not everyone is sniperbob...
 
#26 ·
I have a Savage model 10 BAS .308 10 round mag with Leopold Mark 4 scope..The accuset trigger was set at 3 lbs..With Super Match ammo on a Harris bipod it is shooting incredibly accurate..So far my longest shots have been at a lil under 300 yards...Tests and reviews say it is good for 1000 meters..This summer i am going to find out...I purchased this rifle when it came out last year and plan on always keeping this one....:thumb:
 
#28 ·
Well, like I always say in these "What is the best..." threads, there is no best. What's best for me might not work as well for you.

There are a lot of options in precision rifles though. The ubiquitous Remington 700 is always a solid choice. A little trigger work and some good optics and you're set. For less money, Savage makes tackdrivers that only need a scope. You can even build one on a Mauser action. They make ever part you could ever want for a Mauser.

As for caliber, well, you're back in personal preference again. I prefer the .308, but there are a lot of other options out there too. As long as you can keep the bullet supersonic as far as you need to shoot, it doesn't much matter which one you choose. As a bullet goes subsonic, it goes through a transsonic shudder and your groups begin to open up afterwards.
 
#29 ·
I had coworker who used to live in Iowa. Very easy place to shoot 1000 yards. During hunting season, all the deer would hide in this small patch of forest because the cover from the crops was mowed down. The place would be crawling with deer all with-in 100 yard shots too.

Deer seek cover, especially when whitetail bucks are traveling alone. Only during the peak of the rut the bucks do something stupid and walk out in the open. In the northeast, rifle season starts right after the peak rut.

In other words, most hunting is done well below 300 yards.
 
#31 ·
Before going out and buying a crap set up for $2,000 -- and it will be since a good setup the scope is that much and more, start going to some local BR (benchrest) meets and see what rigs they are shooting at 1,000 yds and in the F-Class events...Just the rigs not the calibres...They might even let you shoot a couple of shots...

Why not the calibres because the extremely popular 1K round, the 6.5x284 (which I shoot) is very, no make that extremely, accurate but lacks the energy for an effective kill at that range...

The military rates the .308 as a 800 yds gun, the .300 Win Mag as a 1,000 yd gun and the .338 Lapua (which I shoot) as a 1,200 yd gun...Yes, they have routinely made kills passed that distance but that is what they are deemed effective to...
 
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