What's the best sniper rifle?

[nomosendero]

:grin: No sweat Mike - I seem to have mis-spent a fair amount of my life messing with accurate field rifles of one kind or another... Love talking about 'em and working with 'em.

If you're truly looking for the "best" sniper rifle - there are a lot of them that could be contenders. Here's a few I've been very impressed with:

Sako TRG
Accuracy International
GAP's wonderful Rem 700's

Many different builders can set up a wonderfully accurate match or "sniper" rifle. Seems that most are based on the Rem 700, but there's no reason a Winchester or Savage can't be built to be a very accurate, robust rifle.

Regards, Guy

Guy, knowing what you know now, if you were going to buy a new rifle, would you use a 260 or stay with the 308?

 

[Guy Miner]

The .260 is a great cartridge - and in many ways it out-performs the .308 because of the high BC bullets the .260 can send downrange.

For my purposes though - the .308 is still my choice:

1) Real world SWAT rifle requires factory loaded match grade ammo. Until Black Hills unleashes theirs, there hasn't been any match grade factory loaded .260 on the market. Availability of factory, match grade ammo was a huge factor for me, despite how much I enjoy handloading.

2) Palma matches require the .308 Winchester.

3) Absolute ease of loading for varmints, big game, or match shooting. Wonderful loading components (like Lapua brass) are readily avail.

4) In my experience, the .308 produces power within a whisker of the .30-06, and that isn't half bad. Particularly true with the mid-weight bullets. Start loading the .30-06 with 180, 190, 200 grain bullets over slow burning powder, and the grand old cartridge walks away from my stubby little .308 Win. Either one delivers a .30 cal, 165 grain hunting bullet with authority, which endears 'em both to me.

Nowhere above do I state that the .308 offers superior ballistics to the .260 Rem. Only in bullet weight does it beat the vastly under-appreciated .260, but for me, for those reasons above, I stick with my .308 rifles.

Heck, it's only a barrel swap to turn either of my .308's into a .260 anyway! :grin:

Regards, Guy

 

[nomosendero]

Thanks for the reply & the info. I have a M700Vs in 22-250 that I will have re-barreled soon. I don't shoot comp. & no matchs are close to me that I am aware of, but I may compete some day. I want to use it for volume target work, occassional Varmits & just some of my Big Game, possibly my Wife may go with me this time to shoot an Antelope with it. I want this to be a volume gun, & I have a Match grade AR for that also. I understand that some of my AR loaads will closely parallel the 308 loads in drop anyway. It's just that Shawn Garlock & some others have said alot about the 260 lately & it got my attention due to the better ballistics, but I have a couple of Senderos, 1 in 25-06AI & one in 300WM that I use for hunting anyway, among others. Thanks again.

 

[Guy Miner]

The .260 is superior to the .308 for target shooting. Less recoil, and less wind drift. At 600 yards, when my .308 gets blown into the 9 ring by a change of wind, the .260 shooters often still stay in the 10 ring. It's got even more of an advantage at longer ranges.

I like my .308, but not because it's a better target cartridge. I have a couple of requirements to shoot it. Otherwise, I'd be taking a real hard look at either the .260 or one of the 6mm's for target shooting.

 

[nomosendero]

Guy, thanks again. I understand when you say requirements & since I
don't compete like you do at this point I guess these are not things for me
to worry about. And I suppose that if I do later, the 260 Black Hills will be out & maybe Nosler or someone else will have some as well. Besides, if
I get the rifle soon & shoot it alot, by the time I could go somewhere & compete I could get a 308 barrel if I thought I should for any reason.

It looks to me with your clarification that the 260 may have the edge & when I do hunt with it, I will not be shooting anything larger than Mule Deer or AR. Whitetail.

Thanks again, the 260 may be the best for me, at least short term.

 

[nomosendero]

Catman, does that scope do OK in the AR. heat/mirage that we get?
I thought of getting a SS 10X, but would rather have one like yours &
put a Deer hunting scope on in the fall if it works allright.