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73K views 20 replies 20 participants last post by  Gunner5313 
#1 ·
I have been looking and researching and talking with people about bolt action high powered rifles. And Ive come to the conclusion that when i find the right one I would perfer a .308. A couple days ago I found this, it is the
Mossberg 308, 100 ATR Night Train Special Purpose Bolt-Action Rifle Package.
It looks to be a pretty sweet rifle. Even comes with a decent 4-16x50mm variable scope and folding bi-pod. All of this for under $500.00
Now my question is has anyone ever shot one or owned one. Any reviews on it you guys and gal might have?
 

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#2 ·
Info I found is it comes with a barska scope which means you will need to buy another scope first thing. So the package starts loosing its value. The low end Mossberg rifle isn't that great to begin with. I found the basic mossberg 100ATR new for under 300 you don't get much rifle for that kind of money.

I looked into a lets say budget rifle for my wife. I looked at the Mossberg, remington, savage in this price range, meh. The Stevens 200 was what I went with. Better off to buy a rifle then a scope most packages unless you spend some cash are going to be marginal scopes.
 
#3 ·
My local D!cks Sporting Goods store has Remington 700's with Heavy 26 inch barrels, Coyote Brown composite stocks in 308 and 22-250 retailing for 449.99 and I would choose that over a Mossberg ATR 8 days a week! Now I wouldnt mind getting a Mossberg MVP in 5.56 that uses AR mags...have seen some great reviews on this particular fire arm and think it has some potential as a good rifle although the 650.00 suggested retail is a bit stiffer than I would want to pay, but I am a real tightwad sometimes.
 
#4 ·
be careful of packages like this.

Tackleberry has it right, if the package is cheap, you may be getting yourself into trouble with a marginal scope. Treat them as separate things, and research both. (I've seen packages with great scopes on them, so there's no hard rule here)

the night train isn't a bad rifle. I've only fired it maybe 30 rounds, but it hit the target just fine. IIRC the wind was really high that day. So i don't think i did any real precision testing of it. But I have no bad memories of it.

There are plenty of decent rifles out there in your price point. Look around, and see what you like.
 
#5 ·
In the case of the Night Train you will get what you pay for. I read a report on one in a gun magazine and while they avoided saying anything bad about it, its accuracy was less than impressive. The model you describe is a cheap rifle with a cheap scope and cheap bipod. Since you would most likely end up ditching the scope and bipod shortly after the purchase, there is probably little savings to be had in that package. Better off buying a $500 rifle in the first place. I would look at getting a Marlin XS7, Remington 700, Winchester 70, or Savage 10 and finding a good scope and bipod after buying the rifle.
 
#6 ·
Savage Axis is a good rifle for the money. Weatherby Vanguards are discontinued, so you can find one for cheap probably.

I'd rather have iron sight on that rifle than that scope and ring package. The rings are probably junk too. That scope looks pretty high up from that picture. For better long range work, you need a good fit of the gun to your face. you'll need to put something on the stock to raise it up, probably about 1/2" of material.

Burris fullfield II 3-9x40mm scope roughly $150.
Leupold twist-lock rings and base or even better burris signature base and rings 50-75 bucks.

$225 for a scope and ring package that you won't regret buying

4-16x scope is really pushing optics there. Good lenses are only good in a certain portion of the glass, trying to make that pacvkage work in those ranges, something is going to give. Low light repsonse is definitely one. Resolution quality too, the ability to discern between 2 small objects next to each other. Basically you loose detail. That is just too much scope for hunting or utility use. The more I use scopes, the less magnfication I like with them. I want to see whats around me, rather than see real close what happening. Aim for the right area on something it goes down. Don't need to see it that close. Usually, looking too close makes the shot placement not as good, atleast for me it does.

I wouldn't even get that package and put the scope on a rimfire.

Don't discredit .30-06. Same relatively affordable ammo prices along with .30-30 and .308. However, .30-06 does the job a touch better too.

I reload, so I look for the gun model I want, then find a real good deal on whatever caliber I can work with. .243, .260 remington, 6.5x55 mauser, 7mm mauser, 7mm08, 300 win mag, 25-06, .270 win, 280 remington. All do the same basic job on whitetails, black bear, coyotes, for the most part elk, and any 2 legged varmit. If you got some big brown bears like some parts of the lower 48 do, like the big national forests. .30-06 would be the littest thing I would take with me, 180gr bullet. I'd much rather take a 35 whelen, 338 federal, or 45-70, 44 marlin, or 450 marlin for closer range work. I'd take them for elk, whitetails, mules, antelope, or blacktail deer. When field dressing the animal, a big bear can smell that for miles downwind and come struting in at pretty much jogging speed to that smell.
 
#7 ·
My Night Train II works GREAT!

I think I may have lucked out here...I know a good gun when I fire one and I happen to have a friend who picked me up a Night train II mossburg 308 for this year's deer season. He likes his venison and I like to shoot - kinda works out because he can't hit the broad side of a barn with a cannon full of grape shot from 2 feet away!
I took the rifle out to the range and sighted it in for 1ooyds. Didn't take long at all after bore sighting it. (easy with this rifle the bolt works well). It fired like Thor's hammer and blasted a neat 4 shot pattern that overlapped in the area of a quarter. (25 cent peice US) Didn't have too bad a recoil, and after putting about a hundred rounds through it took it home, cleaned it, went back the next week and first shot was a dead center bull. Isn't that what you want in a firearm! Yeah I like it, and would recommend it after the luck I have had with mine, however it is the ONLY one I have ever shot so I may have just had some luck. Time will tell but I do believe mossberg is really trying to do something right here.:)
Now the scope is a bit different than advertised, and I do believe that it is REALLY hard to beat the Bushnell DOA 600, Haven't tried it on the mossburg yet because the one on there now is working just fine, it is a Leapers varible power scope with an illuminated cross hair (don't use the lights though I find that to be distracting for me but others may like it).
 
#11 ·
I have been doing a lot of research on the low end 308's past couple months. the Ruger American seems to have had the best all round reports. Played with it and a Savage and The Rem 770 (can't believe Rem made such junk I'm a 700 junkie) The American was the smoothest action of all the ones I checked.
 
#10 ·
I have shot, owned and worked on a ton of rifles this year alone. For my money the Savage rifle company makes the best rifle out there right now for the money...
 
#12 ·
I own both the Savage and the ATR. I have also had MANY experiences at the local range with other Savage Axis rifles.

I have found that the Savage, in any caliber, is more accurate than the Mossberg when using factory ammo. The Axis will give 1 1/2" @ 100 routinuely even equipped with the crappy scopes that come with their packages. I have not seen a BAD Axis. With handloads mine does inside an inch.

The ATR, when fed the exact handload it likes, is absoutely scary accurate. Mine will do 3/8" @ 100yds but will only do that using one single load combo. With Factory ammo it blows a 4" pattern.

Were I buying with the intent of having a psudo-sniper rig it would be an Axis in whatever caliber is available.
 
#14 ·
The NightTrain name has always reminded me of its companions Maddog 20/20 and Thunderbird. They are cheap but get the job done. The Mossberg is a fine gun it is competition for the lower end guns across the market don't get fooled because it come with a scope. It is a affordable gun and will to a affordable gun price job, so with that in mind enjoy your Mossberg? The Remy 710 and 700s and Ruger americans and Stevens are at that price point too.
 
#18 ·

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Shot straight enough for me at 100 yards (that's as far as my rifle range is lol). I only ever bought Federal or Winchester .308 haven't had the rifle in a long time only bought the cheap stuff and only put 40 rounds through the thing. Story behind the penny was it was before I even herd of "moa" and groupings (& Ethernet and forums) told my friend while at the range I could hit a penny with this thing. So we taped it up at 100 yards, 1 shot, 1 penny!

Sold it and bought it in less than a month, 1 range trip for sight in, 1 hunting day drip. I was considered a mall ninja with that set up from my friends..lol sold it to get an actual precision shooting rifle, on a budget ha.

so I up graded to a rem 700

then sold it after 300 rounds through it.. Precision shooting is fun but at a 100 yard range it gets old fast. Where I live I can hunt any time but finding a nice flat stretch that has a good back drop not over looking other logging roads etc was a pain.

Bit of a firearm whore and jump around a lot...

P.S. sorry for hunting an American penny!
 
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