.308 Entry level "tactical" rifle

[bombadillo]

I've been looking on the sniper's hide entry tactical rifles, and considered it, but what would you think about the Remington 700 VTR with the 5r rifling 22" Triangular barreled, with the oversized bolt knob and all the same features for a little less money. Here are the specs of the 700 SPS tactical from snipers hide:
Package Includes:

1. Remington 700 Heavy Barreled Action, 26" barrel length
2. .308 (1:12"), .243 (1:9.125"), .22-250(1:14"), .223(1:12"), 300 Win Mag (1:10")
3. Bell & Carlson Light Tactical Medalist Synthetic Stock (Mk1), full aluminum bedding block, free floating barrel
4. Bell & Carlson Vertical Grip Tactical Stock (Mk2), full aluminum bedding block, free floating barrel (No charge option)
5. Legacy International 1 Piece Picatinny Rail (EGW) - 20 or 15 MOA Depending on scope selection
6. Burris XTR Tactical Rings
7. Bushnell Elite 3200 10x40mm Tactical Scope with mildot reticle
8. Harris Bipod, solid mount, 9-13"
9. Plano double rifle hard gun case
10. Everything assembled and rifle zeroed at 100 yards
11. $1150 total cost for standard colors ($1175 non-member price)
12. $30 Shipping to the Lower 48 states, additional to AK & HI
13. About a 3 month wait, mainly for the custom ordered stock, could be shorter, could be longer as well.




I could essentially build the same thing minus the stock and choose the scope myself or find a used Leupold. The only thing I would want to do is upgrade the stock to a medalist MKII down the road. Here is the rifle i'm looking at. The good thing is its local and I have very good repertoire with the FFL selling it. http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/Vie...Item=164616148


Anyway, I'm looking to get rid of my vanguard .270wsm and 8 boxes of ammo if anybody wants to shoot me an offer or I may just want to put it up here on the board soon enough. I may potentially just trade it in as well on this rifle.

What are your thoughts or opinions between the two of these options and not build a different rifle route.

[RRangel]

Do you absolutely need a triangular 5R barrel? I'd rather have an SPS-V since it's the same as the 700P tactical rifles and it cost a hundred less. Actually I do have it.

There was a write up in American Rifleman for the VTR, and there didn't seem to be anything improved about it, other than higher cost. Well, maybe weight because of the shorter barrel.

[RRangel]

Review of the SPS-V at Sniper Central.

[bombadillo]

Oh no, no preference at all as barrels go. I tend to want a round barrel because its what I've grown up shooting and the triangular thing seems weird to me but it seems to be quite a shooter. I can get the 5r triangular barrel for about 700 bucks for the rifle so its not too bad a deal and I can trade a gun in that I won't shoot much anyway so it works out pretty cheap. I'm a little torn because I can have this gun now and the other will take 6 weeks and i'm pretty antsy about it.

[BigBamBoo]

.........

[RRangel]

The SPS-V goes for near $600 on gunbroker. There's one here with Buy Now for $560 NIB. You have to find out if they ship to CA.

[bombadillo]

Stan, i'm considering .308 as a really do-all round. I like the .243 and will ultimately be reloading but there are SOOOOOOOO many options on .308 that I really like. That combined with the knock down power that the .308 has I tend to like it. I will be using this as a 90% paper puncher and 10% potentially slinging it around with me and varmint hunting as well as a bit of larger game hunting. I am just throwing options around as what the base should be so I don't end up changing every single part after buying an action. I want to spend in the 1200-1500 dollar price point and trying to get as accurate as I can for that.

[Hoop]

I would get an sps varmint and stick a bushnell 10X on it for a cheap tactical. Otherwise I would get a PSS or Sendero in 308 or 300 win.

[rchman]

http://www.snipercentral.com/vtr.htm

Based on that review, they weren't big fans of the VTR barrel, and felt that it reduced accuracy. In summary, groups were roughly twice the size of the SPS tactical.

[bombadillo]

Are there any good reworked barreled actions out there that I could slap in a bedded stock that don't cost a fortune. Something that may be considered a mild custom or something of that nature? I would be interested in that type of gun but would need to know where to even start that. I just don't want to do the same thing I did with AR's and thats find out what I like the hard way. I have shot a handful of remington 700's and got to fire another one this weekend which is what made me want one again. I decided to go against the tikka route.

[BigBamBoo]

............

[bombadillo]

Anybody shooting 7mm or 7mm mag for distance??

[bombadillo]

so .243, .260, and .300 are the long rangers for the most part?

[rksimple]

Start here:

http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showthread.php?t=214398

http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showthread.php?t=275749

[Bug Splat]

so .243, .260, and .300 are the long rangers for the most part?

308 really runs out of steam around 700-800 yards. The 6mm (243) and 6.5mm(260) do so well out to long range because of their high ballistic coefficient. This means they have less drag and are less affected by wind. 300WM is using the same size bullet as the 308 but its got a lot more punch behind it. Also the heavier 300mw bullets have a higher BC then those bullets typically shot out of a 308 case.

Last year I too was looking for a long range rifle. I spent a lot of time looking at ballistic tables of each round and comparing them together. For my 1000 yard goal, 308 was no where near as good as some of these other rounds.