Need Suggestions on Budget Bolt-Action Rifle

[Guest Baron]

Got a surprise gift from my company this year and they doubled my Christmas bonus. I was thinking about using a portion of it to treat myself to a new rifle.

I see a lot of Remington, Mossberg, Savage, etc that offers Rifle/Scope combos for under $500. I won't get chance to fire the rifle much so I am not looking to putting too much into it. It will be used for target shooting and possibly deer hunting.

I would appreciate any recommendations. Its not critical that it comes with a scope, but I would like to keep it around $500 and in .308

Thanks much.

[robin48]

Look at the Marlin x7 series. Budsgunshop.com has them cheap. Great little shooter.

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[gunrunner32]

Check your local pawn shops, find yourself a Remington 700 with a long action...so should you decide later to go to a magnum cartridge you won't have to buy a whole new rifle. It may look a little rough, but once you find what you'll use it for your local gunsmith can take it from you and "accurize" it, throw a new barrel on it if need be and to suit your needs a nice camo job, reblue or some racing stripes (if you go the benchrest route). You can get a lot done with a pawn shop cheapo.

[mikegideon]

Check your local pawn shops, find yourself a Remington 700 with a long action...so should you decide later to go to a magnum cartridge you won't have to buy a whole new rifle. It may look a little rough, but once you find what you'll use it for your local gunsmith can take it from you and "accurize" it, throw a new barrel on it if need be and to suit your needs a nice camo job, reblue or some racing stripes (if you go the benchrest route). You can get a lot done with a pawn shop cheapo.

Long action? .308 is short action.

[Dolomite_supafly]

I would seriously look at the Stevens 200 (not the Axis or Edge). They are exactly like a Savage except without the Accutrigger. They can be easily upgraded with anything that fits a Savage 1X or11X series of rifles. And nearly everything available for Remington are now available for Savages or Stevens. They can be bought everyday for $350 and can be found on sale for under $200 from time to time.

Another great advantage to Savage and Stevens rifles is barrel swaps can be done at home in about 10 minutes. No need for a expensive gunsmith like with Remingtons or most other rifles that don't use a barrel nut. The tools to do it can be had for under $30. And even if you don't want to do it at home most smiths charge 1/10th what it costs to do a barrel swap on a Remington because of the extra time on the lathe the Remington requires.

And finally it is a well known fact the by in large the majority of Savages are very accurate out of the box. And despite what the haters think the average Savage will often out shoot the average Remingtons.

Dolomite

[starion73]

I own a Marlin X7VH (26" barrel) and it shoots very well at 200 yards which is as far as I have taken it at this point. Even the friends I shoot with that are 700 5R owners are impressed with the Marlin. The only work I had done to it was to float the barrel which is relatively cheap.

For the price of the Marlin (around 350) you cannot go wrong IMO. The X7VH may be heavy to lug through the woods but there are many other flavors with shorter barrels.

[CM1021]

T/C Venture!! I bought one of these in .223 and it shoots absolutely amazing!! Out of the box accuracy blew my mind and they have a $50 mail in rebate right now so that takes the price down to like $400! Definately won't be disappointed with it!!

[Guest Aces&8s]

I would seriously look at the Stevens 200 (not the Axis or Edge).

Dolomite

^^ What he said. It is hard to beat a Savage... I bought my Savage 110 .30-06 NIB for $350, with a Simmons 3-9x40 scope. Now, the scope, while serviceable, is certainly nothing to write home about, but the rifle is well-built, has a smooth action, is highly accurate, and the Accutrigger is very sweet. Some people complain about the look of the barrel nut, but to me, I see the piece of mind knowing that should I ever need to swap out barrels, I can do it easily and inexpensively myself (as Dolomite also pointed out).

[Jonnin]

The packages tend to have poorish scopes; if you want to take it past short ranges (past 200 yards or so), buy the rifle and scope seperate. If you just want a 100 or so yard gun, they are a good bargain. I did not get to play much in this area, was looking when I found the browning lever 308 sold by a member here and have been happy with that so I stopped looking. That savage is certainly a nice gun, I looked at those but did not get to shoot one. I put an inexpensive BSA 6 to 24x (I think, maybe its 8-24) scope on mine, sort of silly looking since its "tacticool" looking but it delivers.

[Alleycat72]

I would seriously look at the Stevens 200 (not the Axis or Edge). They are exactly like a Savage except without the Accutrigger. They can be easily upgraded with anything that fits a Savage 1X or11X series of rifles. And nearly everything available for Remington are now available for Savages or Stevens. They can be bought everyday for $350 and can be found on sale for under $200 from time to time.

Another great advantage to Savage and Stevens rifles is barrel swaps can be done at home in about 10 minutes. No need for a expensive gunsmith like with Remingtons or most other rifles that don't use a barrel nut. The tools to do it can be had for under $30. And even if you don't want to do it at home most smiths charge 1/10th what it costs to do a barrel swap on a Remington because of the extra time on the lathe the Remington requires.

And finally it is a well known fact the by in large the majority of Savages are very accurate out of the box. And despite what the haters think the average Savage will often out shoot the average Remingtons.

Dolomite

100% This

[Slasher]

Look at the Marlin x7 series. Budsgunshop.com has them cheap. Great little shooter.

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+1

I picked up a Marlin XS-7 in .308 and it has been great for the money. Right around $300 without scope.

[MikeW]

Long action? .308 is short action.

The Armys' M24 is a LA .308 though you may not find one in a pawn shop

[William_Munny]

JM2C... but I would go with the Thompson Center as well... CDNN has some ICON's for around $500....

[jcoosi]

I just picked up a Remington 700 SPS in 308 and put a Nikon prostaff 3x9x40 with bdc its has the x-mark adj trigger.

It was a little over $500 gun only.I do agree with Dol that the savages are some of the mst accurate out of the box.I

have owned each.

[gunrunner32]

Long action? .308 is short action.

The military M24 is a Remington 700 that is a long action chambered in 7.62x51 or .308, I'm staring at one right now. You can put whatever barrel you want to on a long action making it any caliber. If you limit yourself to a short action you take out the magnum based calibers.

[mikegideon]

The military M24 is a Remington 700 that is a long action chambered in 7.62x51 or .308, I'm staring at one right now. You can put whatever barrel you want to on a long action making it any caliber. If you limit yourself to a short action you take out the magnum based calibers.

I never thought about it before. I have a long action 700 in .270 right now. I recon I could convert it to any short action caliber as well? Good to know!

BTW... it has a jewell trigger on it too! There is a plan forming as we speak

Edited December 17, 2011 by mikegideon

[gunrunner32]

mikegideon, I hope your plans a good one. You'll have to start a thread and let us know once it starts.

The Army did the LA 7.62 so they could possibly later go to the 300WM round. Since that didn't happen I now have another rifle at my disposal, the MK13 add to that the M24, M107 and SCAR-H I have hanging on my rack for me to choose from, pending the job. Vehicles....M107, People closer than 800m...M24, People out to 1200m...MK13, Everyday carry...SCAR-H, sometimes I carry 2 of the above.

[mikegideon]

mikegideon, I hope your plans a good one. You'll have to start a thread and let us know once it starts.

The Army did the LA 7.62 so they could possibly later go to the 300WM round. Since that didn't happen I now have another rifle at my disposal, the MK13 add to that the M24, M107 and SCAR-H I have hanging on my rack for me to choose from, pending the job. Vehicles....M107, People closer than 800m...M24, People out to 1200m...MK13, Everyday carry...SCAR-H, sometimes I carry 2 of the above.

Just the caliber search can drive you nuts. Looking to build a long range paper slayer. This could save me a few bucks.

[Guest TimGeezy]

Mosin Nagant?

I know it's not .308 but it's close and you can't beat the price.

[Guest Baron]

Thanks everyone. I think I am going to look more into the Stevens. It seems to have everything I would be looking for.

I keep meaning to pick up a Nagant because they seem to go up 10-20 bucks every gun show. However, modifying one to mimic what I want would end up costing more. I think the Nagants are great 70-100 dollar riffles as long as you keep them that way. When you start adding stuff, you kinda negate the bang for your buck value.