bronko22000

You guys know the feeling. I want to get a new rifle but really don't know what to get. I am considering an AR platform in .308 but living in PA I can't use it for hunting - only plinking. I can use it for hogs in FL when I go down there. But that isn't enough to justify getting it.
Then I think I'd like to get a long range bolt action rifle that I can do both with.
Throw some suggestions out here for me.

Game Stalker

Rem. M-700 SPS Varmint. 26" barrel, 8.5 lbs., 1 in 12 twist. Have read on long range forums where this has been used w/very satisfactory results out to 1,000 yds. w/168 gr. bullets. The .308 is simply a known commodity whose usage should be easy to predict regardless of needs. The Order # is 84218. Hope you find your fix!

Nomercy448

More details!

Hunting of hogs and...? Assuming deer?

Factory round, or open to reload-only propositions?

Supportable static position firing for deer and hogs over bait, or are you hunting on the hoof?

Long range = how long? 300yrds is pretty long in relative terms, but some folks expect "long range" to mean a LOT farther.

Are you buying a factory model, or considering building something custom?

For myself, that proposition means 0-600yrds on deer and hogs, usually from static positions where I could use some form of support (at least a monopod), and I'm still spry enough to carry a 12-13lb rig afield. I don't love long barrrels, 24" tends to be my top end for handling, prefer not a 26", and I tend to like something in the forward weight balance of a #5-5.5 contour. Laminate or Walnut stock, stainless steel. For that distance and game, I'd be looking in the 6.5-7mm. Since you were talking a 308win, maybe a 6.5Creed or 260rem, even a 7-08 - but now that you're talking bolt gun, you'd have the option of going with magnum or short magnum cartridges. I have a soft spot for 284win as well. Lots of cartridges that'll play that game too though, 25-06 and 270win on top of that list above. Lots of 30cal cartridges will do a fine job, but just for deer and hogs, that much recoil isn't really necessary. It's a lot easier to get super high BC's with a 6.5 or 7mm without knocking your arm off (not that a 12lb rifle has a lot of recoil, usually).

A Rem 700 or Savage 12/112 or 16/116 would be where I look for a push feeder. You can put together a custom Savage on your own really easily, or if you pay a smith to install and headspace the barrel, the Rem 700 would go together easily as well.

bronko22000

NoMercy its a real tough decision on what I want to get. I do reload and have been for about 50 years. Other than rimfire or shotshells, I can't recall the last time I purchased loaded ammo. Long range I would consider out to 500 yards. I've taken deer cleanly out over 400 with my Rem 700BDL in 270 win. (that rifle with its favorite load would shoot 1/2 MOA all day as long as the barrel didn't get too hot)
I don't know why I'm being hesitant on the AR platform. I have plenty of other manually operated rifles that I can use to hunt with. I guess I'm just trying to justify shelling out the $$. I already have a .223 and .22LR on the AR platform. So one more won't hurt I guess.
If I go that route I will likely go with a production model, 20" barrel and get a replacement trigger with a cleaner break.

Bocajnala

If you put one together you could sneak down to West Virginia and use it to poke a whitetail with, just to say you did.
-Jake

Nomercy448

AR-10's are pretty hot right now, manufacturers and retailers are choking on over-inventory parts lately since the AR-15 wave fell off, so now they're pushing AR-10's like crack cocaine...

Grab up a used LR-308 for $700, play with it for a while. If you don't like it, resell it for what you have in it. If you DO like it, then you can keep it, or resell it for what you have in it, and buy a new one. If you ALMOST like it, you can resell it and put that $700 towards a custom

With a 700 in .270win, I wouldn't add a bolt gun as a surrogate nicotine patch for your want to buy an AR-10.

Sheridan

+1

Excellent suggestion !

super_hunt54

Since you have plenty of .308 brass laying around, Mercy's suggestion of a used LR .308 is spot on. Not to mention, if you end up liking it but want more bang for the buck, you can always rebarrel it to a .338fed or something of that nature (bigger bore) or you can go with one of the WSM variants OR you could take it down to a 6.5 or 7mm variant. Lot's of things you can do on an LR platform. Gotta love the "Lego Rifles" of today! Staying with the same bolt face dimensions and just changing barrel diameter is fairly cheap and easy to do.

alleyyooper

You can always do as a friend did. He didn't want to pay the price for a new dark rifle so went to a gun show and got a Remington 742 in 308.

Of course he didn't want the 308 for coyote and other varmint critters so had it rebarreled with a 22.

Now he has the auto loader and the 22 center fire rifle he wanted for a 1/3 of the cost for a dark rifle.

Al

bronko22000

Alley - I had a 742 years ago in 30-06 I got for next to nothing. It was a nice clean rifle but as far as accuracy it sucked. I traded it in on a Browning A bolt.
But unlike the 742, the AR platforms are inherently much more accurate.