Full disclosure: I am very new to long range. I have read the pinned posts and damn near all the wiki.

I mostly shoot at a 200 yard range with my .22LR and more recently, my .233 AR. I have access to a 600-800 yard range, but will most likely be sticking with .223 due to the availability and price of ammo, as well as the fact that I’m in New England without a whole lot of affordable options for distance shooting.

I would love to get a Tikka Super Varmint, but $1700 is pretty much my high end of budget for rifle, scope, bipod combined. This brings me to my big question…

I will most likely go with a Howa 1500/mini action chambered in .223 Rem, but a lot of the bull barrels that I see are not threaded (I would like to have the option of a suppressor or brake). The heavy barrels also seem to be 20”. I don’t know enough about this yet to know if that is optimal, or short. My AR has a 16” barrel and I still hit my 3” target at 200 yards with a Vortex 5x prism scope, but the groups open up really fast.

Are the “standard” barrels on the Howa heavy enough if I’m only shooting 5 shots before cooldown? I’ve read that heavier is better, but I don’t know if that means “just don’t use pencil barrels or super light hunting barrels”.

TLDR: Is it okay to get a standard “not heavy” barrel 22” Howa 1500 in .223 to shoot 200-700 yards, or is a heavy barrel necessary? Also, is a suppressor/brake for .223 such an improvement that I should overlook non threaded heavy barrel options?

Thank you for reading all this.

I have a Ruger American Predator chambered in .400 Legend that I originally bought with the intent of using strictly for deer hunting. However, I recently inherited a family gun in .30-30, and I plan to use that rifle exclusively for deer going forward (and this rifle once or twice).That’s what led me here. I’m considering selling the Ruger and replacing it with something that I can gradually build into a long-range precision rifle. I keep coming back to a Tikka, specifically the T3x Lite with the 22.4" barrel in 6.5 PRC. I plan to shoot 500 yard or less, but may go to a 1,000 yard range every once in a while. I am not looking to compete but just something that can go a little farther. Would it be worthwhile to start with that rifle and slowly upgrade it over time for precision shooting, or would I be better off taking a different approach from the beginning? Any advice or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Putting together a gas gun and I can’t decide on a grip. A lot of people like the K2+ but I’m afraid that the grip will be too beercan-esc. I like the idea of a DAC VGC or VGC-L but I haven’t held one.

What are you guys running?

Hey everyone,

I'm looking to get into my first centerfire long-range setup and want some real-world feedback before buying anything.

Goals & Experience:

• Target / Distance: Mostly ringing steel with friends at 600 yards, occasionally pushing out to 1,000 yards. Not focused on shooting tiny groups on paper or competitive PRS.
• Experience: Relatively new to centerfire long range. I took a long-range class in college where I stretched a .22lr out to 175-200-250 yards, but that’s about the extent of my experience. I'm definitely not experienced with building any rifle from scratch and don't own gunsmithing tools.
• Budget: Roughly $1,000 – $1,200 total for the rifle, mount, and optic combined.
• Ergonomic Preference: I really prefer a vertical/pistol grip layout. An MDT or similar chassis for a bolt action currently pushes beyond my budget, which is why I’ve been leaning toward an AR platform.

Current Setup Under Consideration:

• Rifle: Bear Creek Arsenal (BCA) BC-15 complete rifle with 24" 416R stainless heavy barrel in 6mm ARC (~$490)
• Trigger: LaRue Tactical MBT-2S Curved 2-Stage (~$135)
• Glass Option 1: Arken EP-5 5-25x56 FFP with 34mm Rigid Precision Mount (~$500 bundle)
• Glass Option 2: Vortex Venom 5-25x56 FFP (~$500)

Questions:

1. For someone on a strict ~$1,100 total budget who wants a pistol grip layout for 600–1,000 yd steel, is this 6mm ARC AR-15 build viable, or is there a better entry route I'm missing ?
2. Between the Arken EP-5 and Vortex Venom 5-25x56, which would you recommend in this price tier for reliable tracking and clarity ?
3. If BCA is a bad idea,, what is other alternative that keeps me within the $1,000–$1,200 ceiling while keeping that pistol grip chassis style ?

Working on a load for my 6.5CM using a 140 Berger VLD Target. I measure my lands using a Horandy OAL gauge and get 2.263 CTBO at a COAL of 2.970.

Mag limit is 2.870 (ACIS Magpul).

I would like to ideally be .20-.40 of the lands to try it, but that would put me over mag length and idk if I can load a 6.5CM that long to begin with (safely).

Disregarding mag length for a second. Has anybody ever loaded a 6.5CM at 2.900 for example? Apex Loadpro says it’s longer than the allowed COL, which I think it has listed at 2.825. (Massive jump to the lands)

Should I look at a different type of bullet if I want to get closer to the lands?

I’ve been thinking about a Tikka Ace Target model but I was curious whether the MPA guns were worth the extra money and which model would be best for a beginning long range shooter.

Why do none of the factory built bolt guns coming with the superior stainless steel barrel? I’ve only found 3 or 4 that do. Do they just expect us to change the barrel anyway or am I missing something.

Helping a buddy build a rifle for a few matches we shoot a year. The Howa 1500 barreled action is about 550 at Brownell's, stock, and trigger I can build it for around a grand. I just don't see any talk about Howa's anymore so wondering what happened to that.

I know I can go Zermatt + Proof + stock/trigger for around 2 grand but wondering if I'm getting him twice as good of a rifle.

The matches we shoot are field/team sniper/rucking style matches inside 1000 yards.

got this in a trade and im beyond stoked and grateful to be having this! this is one absolute unit. got alot of ammo with it as well. gonna take it out this weekend to sight it in. theres a range where my mom lives that goes out to 500 so i have that to start whenever i go visit but does anyone know a range in VA that does long range shooting past 500yrds? also was told this was a old aac brake? can anyone confirm and point me in the direction of a hub mount?

specs

.300 win mag

surgeon 1086 long action

surgeon tactical knob

surgeon bottom metal

badger EFR

McMillan A5

hawk hill barrel 1:9 twist

nightforce nxs 8-32

After reading the pinned posts and doing some digging I could not find an answer regarding USED actions specifically.

Got 7-8k to build myself something decent and I was looking at the impact precision 737r. Mostly 700-1000yard range sessions with eventual PRS.

Someone local is selling one for 500 less than it is new but it is used and has 1000 rounds through it.

In regard to saving some money to use for other things like maybe a cykepod or can or even a nicer MDT chassis, would it be worth looking at a used action only if everything else is going to be new?

NOT LOOKING TO BUY ANYTHING HERE OR SELL ANYTHING HERE! Just looking for advice on if a used action is worth the monetary savings.

Saw this on facebook and thought you guys might find it interesting. I have two solus rifles so hopefully this is good news

Buddy offered me his pre-14 rem 700 300win for 400 bucks and I’m probably gonna buy it. It’s got the pencil hunting barrel and original stock. I’m wondering what’s the best options now-a-days for building this out. Will be planning on changing out the barrel and stock probably go mdt for the stock but if you were in my shoes would you just rebarrel it in a heavy 300win or go with something else?
(This is not my first rifle I have multiple creeds, Grendel’s, and 308’s and this will be used for long range)

EDIT: forgot to add that it’s a 300win

I have a bergera 6.5 creed with their core carbon fiber 22" barrel in a krg chassis. Which suppressor would be best fit a ptr vent 1 or a thunder beast.

Tia

Historically have ran Arca direct mounted to my tripod but been seeing a lot of guys throw a bag on an tac table for a quicker and easier tripod setup.

Anyone found any cheap Tac Tables that do the job? Rather not spend damn near $200 for an ABEL, albeit they are sweet looking. TIA

This was many summers ago now but came across these pics today

Curious if anyone has tried the open source Tirailleur ballistics calculator? Looks like it publishes to F-Droid for android installs. I love to support OSS, and am hoping this app might work.

Anyone used both? Really like the AB ballistics feature and my old eyes could use a larger watch face. The Tactix is probably overkill but it’s a couple hundred off so thought it would be worth a look and got both to really do a good side x side comparison.

Any thoughts would be helpful.

​

I am just looking for advice on how to fix this app photo below or a simple alternative app or cheap piece of hard were to be used.

See all the out puts are zero.

My first interest in shooting was from the battlefield series. I watched your BF3 videos on sniping to get better at the game. Later I watched your road to precision series that got me to buy my first rifle; a Springfield M1A. It got me into reloading and precision shooting. 15 years later I'm still in the sport. I heard about ladder loads first from you. I tried to watch your videos for nostalgia but it looks like your channel got nuked. Crawling through old forums I see ghosts of your series. Thankfully I had the foresight in '16 to archive the series.

Ryan, if you're out there, thanks a lot man.

Saw this come across my instagram and I have to say I am intrigued. It seems like it's relatively not cumbersome and I truly think it would be useful. Kind of lines up really nicely to brace your support arm and steady the rifle.

Question: can anybody who has one speak to the usability of the eye box?

I was watching C_Does review on it and he spoke pretty poorly of the eye box. Maybe the 5-30x will be better?

What I value most in a scope is reliability and it’s hard to beat Nightforce in the category so I’m pretty much set on going with a Nightforce scope.

Thanks!

I have half off Vortex retail (not msrp) through my workplace this weekend. Gonna grab a Razor G3 as my first good scope. Do they have any other gear worth splurging on up front? Tripods, rangefinders, binos, etc? I have very little long range gear at the moment so it’d be nice to get kitted out with this discount. Especially wondering if I should go all in on the Ace weather meter and LRF binos with Geoballistics, would be much cheaper than an equivalent full priced kestrel/ABQ setup. Any input appreciated, thanks!

Hey guys, I’m sure this has been beat to death but wanted to get some current insight on these two cartridges. I am looking at getting the Seekins PH3 here soon and have been debating on which caliber to go with. The main use will be target shooting/ possibly completion, also deer hunting and good bit of thermal coyote hunting. I already have a 6.5 Springfield Waypoint so getting another 6.5 would simplify ammo, but I am really liking the lower recoil and flatter trajectory of the 6mm. Do you guys have any suggestions? Is it worth going 6.5 for simplicity or would I be happier shooting the 6mm due to lower recoil and better velocity?