What rifle is better!!!

[Ernesto C]

aaahhhh see I told you! so the 308 is the way to go

[Guest RutNHard]

300 WBY or a Sako 300 short mag.

[MRL1984]

Hey guys I have decided that I'am going rifle hunting this year and was thinking of getting a new and improved rifle. I am thinking of getting a rifle that has a heavy barrel and have narrowed it down to the Remington 700 sps Varmint or the Howa/axiom varmint rifle. Would you guys happen to have any experience with these two rifles. Also feel free to say if there is a better heavy barrel rifle for around this price range.

 

Well after many posts I'll offer my first hand experience with the Remington 700 SPS Varmint. I have one of these big boys, in .308. It is a heavy SOB especially with a Harris Bipod. I put a 4.5-14X40 Burris on mine which makes for a little more weight. I kinda have been thinking I need some better glass for the new horse in the stable. I got mine before the triangle barrel du-dad porting and X mark trigger hit the market.

 

My trigger pull is a bit heavier than I like, but that just means it needs to find its way to smith like the rest of my rifles. I am highly satisfied with my 700 SPS, it is far more accurate than I will ever be.

 

Hunting for Coues it's not too big a burden to pack. Then again I'm young and dumb. I really don't notice any difference in the weight of this rifle and my regular barreled 700 synthetic stock in 7mag.

 

I did a lot of googling before I settled on the SPS and the biggest complaint I saw was the stock that many others have complained about already in this thread. I don't think it is the end of the world, but there could be some improvement. From what many have said the first thing they do is dump the stock and the trigger for something "higher quality". If it fits the budget than by all means go for it if not it won't ruin the rifle.

 

I have no experience with the other rifle to give a compare/contrast about the two, but I figured I could throw in my two cents about the SPS.

 

I'm going to try to link to snipercentral for a report on the SPS if I can. If its not ok someone can remove the link without offending me. http://www.snipercentral.com/remspsv.htm. He shows the improvement of just swapping the stock out for what its worth.

 

 

 

 

[Coues Archer]

Wow. Does that remington sps-v look nice. The price is not bad and it averages a .75 moa at 100 yards out of the box thats pretty dang good. One question though have any of you guys shot any Howa rifles if so how are they on accuracy.

[Hooked_on_Coues]

Look at the new sako A7. 5 shots in one inch guarantee. Little nicer than a Tikka. Morph between a sako 85 and a tikka, nice result.

 

308 would shoot great. I wouldn't be liking it too much for long range hunting tho....maybe out to 450.

 

If you want to shoot farther get a slicker bullet.

[308Nut]

Look at the new sako A7. 5 shots in one inch guarantee. Little nicer than a Tikka. Morph between a sako 85 and a tikka, nice result.

 

308 would shoot great. I wouldn't be liking it too much for long range hunting tho....maybe out to 450.

 

If you want to shoot farther get a slicker bullet.

 

450 yards is just the beggining for the 308.

 

 

 

The 308 is a much better long range hunting round than it gets credit for. Shot placement as always is key. High velocity doesnt kill, expanded bullets in the vitals kills. With the inherent accuracy of the 308 as well as low recoil, good shot placement isnt real hard. Sure using the right bullet for the job is a bit more critical than the big boomers but it can be done. All this couple with the fact that the 308's premium accuracy life is very long as is fairly economical to shoot, one can really get to know his weapon and make shots count. Sure it isnt sexy like the 300 RUM and such but she sure is practical. Big rifles are like big trucks. Expensive as he!! to operate and only shows the rest of the world that youre making up for something.

 

A short list of a few of my 308's best shots:

 

2002 Dall sheep @ 763 yards. One shot fired one dead ram.

 

2003 Dall sheep (my buddy using my rifle) 604 yards.

 

2007 Moose (one shot flop) 438 yards.

[308Nut]

well I did use a 300 ulta mag rem 700 sendaro a very good flat shooting rifle and I have taken about 5 nice size bucks with that gun at about 300 to 450 yards normal for were I hunt down south but here is the problem with that gun

its weight is almost 30 lbs with scope and all

 

I think the next best thing again this is only me and my two cents is a rem 700 308 varmint

The heavy barrel is good but it’s heavy so its up to you on how much you want to lug around

the entire rifle is at 25 lbs

 

Check your scale. Senderos and 700 Varmints dont weigh even close 25-30 pounds even with the largest of scopes, rings and bases, bipods and a full magazine. Closer to 12-14#

 

30 pounds is 50 BMG territory.

 

[joeybari]

308nut your right on the money for the type of hunting we do in arizona the 308 is just perfict

elk deer sheep pig mnt lion you name it the 308 will do its job and better then most other guns out there and best part of it all it 1/2 the cost on ammo then your 300 300 ultra mags 7 mm ultra and whet ever ultra is out there you pay almost sixty a box

and i think even if you reload those ultra ammo i still costing 50c more then reloding 308 175 sierra

 

[Hooked_on_Coues]

look at the .308, then compare it to the .260 remington. not saying the 308 cant perform at distance, just others do the same thing more efficiently.

[308Nut]

look at the .308, then compare it to the .260 remington. not saying the 308 cant perform at distance, just others do the same thing more efficiently.

 

Using a smaller bullet isnt neccesarily more efficient. You can get bullets of equal weight to go faster using a bigger bore than in a smaller bore of equal barrel lengths. The reason for this is burn area. A 26" 308 barrel has an approximate burn area of 8.008" where a 26" 260 barrel has an area of 6.864". It would take a 30.33" long barrel to get the velocity to equal the same weight of bullet using the larger bore. So we take advantage of this situation and use heavier bullets and higher BC's and make them go as fast as the smaller lighter bullets in the smaller caliber. This is how we get a 30 cal 190 up to the same speed as a 260 140 grain.

 

I have vast amounts of experience with the cartridges in question both in the field and behind the PC using advanced ballistic calculators. You cannot out perform a given cartridge by sticking a smaller bullet in the same case. You can beat SOME factors but not all. About the only advantage the 260 remmy offers is a bit less recoil, a few less inches of drop and a few less inches of wind drift at 1000 yards where the 308 has nearly 150 more foot pounds of energy and a bigger wound track. At more practical game ranges such as 600 yards and youre within 3" of drop, 2 inches of drift to the 260's favor but the 308 shines with 300 additional foot pounds and a bigger hole. I am not saying the 260 isnt capable just that the 308 can and will hold her own against any other bullet based off the same case and do it with significantly more barrel life.

 

The bullets used in the above example are the 30 cal 190 BERGER hunting VLD and the 6.5 140 BERGER hunting VLD. These are practical bullets for hunting applications.

 

Up the anti a bit and use some of the GS bullets from South Africa and you cant touch the 308 using the 177 grain HV and its wicked BC with the 260 period. With the 177 HV you get a 200 pound advantage, 15" less drop, and 5" less drift at 1K. The only issue is the bullet requires at least a 10 twist barrel and many 308's are 12. For those with 10x barrels these bullets can be awesome.

[.270]

it's a good thing i happened to be by a computer today so i can straighten you morons out. why's everbody need a big fat barrel? heavy barrels do not increase accuracy. the main reason for heavy barrels is so you don't hafta put a buncha machine work into a target rifle. the only other reason, other than looks, is for a rifle that is going to see shot after shot at the range, so it won't heat up as quick. but after it does heat up, it takes longer to cool down. what matters on a barrel is what's on the inside. twist, throat, headspace, and quality of the rifling. the outside does not add one iota of accuracy to a rifle. especially to a huntin rifle that is only going to see a few shots at a time after it's sighted in. big fat barrels are like jacked up trucks and short guys with high heeled cowboy boots on. trying to make up for some other deficiency. someone questioned the christensen rifles? i've only had experience with one and it is a nail driver. only it's like driving a 16 penny with a a 20 pound sledge. my son has one in .300 rum. i shot a muley with it at 640 yards and and elk at 735 last year. extremely accurate. very well made. o' course it was me shootin' it, so accuracy is a given. there ain't a lot of fancy slick stuff on it. the stock is rough feeling, the floor plate isn't all smooth and machined out nice, but they are one well made accurate rifle and the only reason i don't have one is because they are so dang expensive, especially after you invest a couple grand in a scope that is worthy of the rifle. get you a good slim profiled 26 inch barrel in whatever caliber you want and some kinda good action. .308 is ok, it's sorta like an '06, only less. same with a short mag, it's like a .300 win mag, only less. i guess a .308 is a good target rifle, real accurate round with twisted properly, but it's pretty slow, and i like hotrods. but if you're real serious, get a .270 and forget about all that other stuff. and for heck's sake, don't get a dang 7mm/08! Lark.

[25-06]

it's a good thing i happened to be by a computer today so i can straighten you morons out. why's everbody need a big fat barrel? heavy barrels do not increase accuracy. the main reason for heavy barrels is so you don't hafta put a buncha machine work into a target rifle. the only other reason, other than looks, is for a rifle that is going to see shot after shot at the range, so it won't heat up as quick. but after it does heat up, it takes longer to cool down. what matters on a barrel is what's on the inside. twist, throat, headspace, and quality of the rifling. the outside does not add one iota of accuracy to a rifle. especially to a huntin rifle that is only going to see a few shots at a time after it's sighted in. big fat barrels are like jacked up trucks and short guys with high heeled cowboy boots on. trying to make up for some other deficiency. someone questioned the christensen rifles? i've only had experience with one and it is a nail driver. only it's like driving a 16 penny with a a 20 pound sledge. my son has one in .300 rum. i shot a muley with it at 640 yards and and elk at 735 last year. extremely accurate. very well made. o' course it was me shootin' it, so accuracy is a given. there ain't a lot of fancy slick stuff on it. the stock is rough feeling, the floor plate isn't all smooth and machined out nice, but they are one well made accurate rifle and the only reason i don't have one is because they are so dang expensive, especially after you invest a couple grand in a scope that is worthy of the rifle. get you a good slim profiled 26 inch barrel in whatever caliber you want and some kinda good action. .308 is ok, it's sorta like an '06, only less. same with a short mag, it's like a .300 win mag, only less. i guess a .308 is a good target rifle, real accurate round with twisted properly, but it's pretty slow, and i like hotrods. but if you're real serious, get a .270 and forget about all that other stuff. and for heck's sake, don't get a dang 7mm/08! Lark.

Lark, Dont you think its about time you get a dang computer?

[308Nut]

big fat barrels are like jacked up trucks and short guys with high heeled cowboy boots on. trying to make up for some other deficiency.

 

You confuse heavy barrels with big calibers.

 

Heavy barrels actually have several good purposes.

 

1: They add weight to the rifle and subsquently reduce recoil.

 

2: They ARE more ridged and subsequently more inherently accurate than spaggetti thin whippy barrels.

 

3: This extra ridgidity also cuts down a bit on the effects of "the cold bore shot." Something you may encounter on a December WT hunt.

[GameHauler]

"but if you're real serious, get a .270 and forget about all that other stuff. and for heck's sake, don't get a dang 7mm/08! Lark."

 

How could I have known when I started reading this post

that there may have been a slight chance it would end this way?

Guess it must be because great minds think alike

Take that 270 and cut a V in the butt stock and it WILL

make a good monopod for the 7MM/08

[308Nut]

Take that 270 and cut a V in the butt stock and it WILL

make a good monopod for the 7MM/08

 

 

Now that was funny!