Cheapest, Good Quality .308 Bolt Gun

[Snappo]

I'm up to my nose in home renovation bills and the wifey will not take too kindly to me putting down $1500 to $2000 on a credit card for a rifle.

My plan is to stash $20 a week until I have enough to get a decent quality .308 Bolt Gun. It may take up to a year but I'm patient. It isn't something I really need since I do not hunt but just want in case I ever do in the future.

What are my options?

Is the Savage Axis any good?

Savage® Arms AXIS Bolt-Action Rifles : Cabela's

I don't know much about Bolt Guns and don't really plan on buying one that needs to be modified.

I basically just want something that's brand new and descent right out of the box without need for modifications with a decent trigger.

Oh. And it must be a .308.

Thanks.

I think I paid about $550 for my Savage Axis? Bolt movement is solid. Trigger is smooth with no hitches. Barrel is heavy and crown looks to have been machined well. Break-in is not over but I am seeing 1 MOA.

I think I paid about $650 for each of my Remington 700 Police. I have 20" bull fluted (which Remmy calls the light tactical), and 26" non-fluted. Both are broken in and doing 0.5 MOA. Triggers on those were before the days of the X Mark Pro. They had to get dialed in. XMP is supposedly much easier. My only XMP gun has a Timney 510 because I was too impatient to wait for the recall.

Thompson Center is 0.5 MOA right from the box, and those are about the same price as Savage ($550 to $650).

If I could only have one of the three above - I would pick the Remmy 700P every day of the week. It's what police snipers use, it's what the Military uses (The 700 Police is also the M24 Sniper). With M118LR long range 175 gr the average horizontal spread at 1,100 yards is 10" for the 700 Police / M24 Sniper. I prefer the 20" bull barrel because I even hunt with it; but the 26" is just fine too. Stock is made by HS Precision I believe. It's a very nice stock. Remington sold Uncle Sam $30 million worth of M24E1's. Military has been very happy with the product. In fact happy enough to award the M2010 Enhanced Sniper Rifle contract to Remington.

 

[Snappo]

I would like both. I figure up to $500 for the rifle and perhaps $600 for the glass? But the glass would be a whole other thread. I'm not up to yet.

I have all of the above named brands. Remington 700 Police in both 20" light tactical and 26" standard. It's the same as the M24E1 that Remington has been feeding the US Army ($30 million contract). The military loves the product enough to award the M2010 Enhanced Sniper to Remington as well. My Savage Axis is a solid 1 MOA weapon but feels "cheap" compared to the Remington 700 Police series. My 700 Police Light Tactical (the 20" fluted bull barrel) is 0.25 to 0.5 MOA on the bench using Lake City M118LR. The 700 Police with 26" is giving me 0.5 MOA to 0.75 MOA on the bench. Both do 0.5 MOA or better with Federal Match 168 as well. They also enjoy being fed Black Hills red box 168gr. Thompson Center is also in that Remington 700 price range. About $600 and TC guarantees 0.5 MOA right out of the box. Of all the bolts I have; I would say the best is the Remington 700 Police. And you don't need to blow $600 on glass. The Nikon M308 is superb and often on sale for $399. Another piece of glass you will love if you can find it - Springfield Armory Government. I have no idea why SA stopped making them. What a pleasure to look through. I paid maybe $400 for mine? I think it's 3.5-12.

 

[Snappo]

Weird. First the post deletes itself so I re-write the stupid thing. Now I see both? WTF?

 

[Snappo]

What is the trigger pull in poundage on an average bolt gun?

On bench you probably want about 3 lbs. Out hunting with all that adrenaline flowing - probably better off setting it to 5.