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Hello again all. I have followed the "budget F/TR rifle" thread with some interest, but for those of us (me especially) who aren't up to that standard, what would be a good "starter-intermediate" rifle for non-F/TR events.

My interests are more in the Practical or CSR side of things, out to 5/600yds and club shoots only go out to 200yd. I have a slight preference for .308, but 7mm08 and .243 seem to be sensible alternatives?

Does anyone have any recommendations on makes? - I am looking for something that is good (ideally sub MOA) out of the box, without the need for any immediate upgrades. I've shot a Tikka I liked and heard good things about Howa and some Remingtons (Sako seem to be a bit over the budget of ~ £900 for the rifle).

Have a look at the range of used Remington 700's or Howa 1500's - there are always a good few for sale on GunTrader and similar. Also what about Parker Hale, some very good club guns are based on PH .308's. I was shooting with someone the other day who had a scoped P17 in 30-06 which was doing very well at 1000 yards, it had cost him GBP300.00 including the scope and bracket and all he had added was a Harris type bipod.

GRSporth1 wrote: My interests are more in the Practical or CSR side of things, out to 5/600yds and club shoots only go out to 200yd. I have a slight preference for .308, but 7mm08 and .243 seem to be sensible alternatives?

Well for Practical or CSR forget 7mm08 and .243, expensive to load for and lose cases in fire with movement stages, the high round count would trash a .243 barrel in very quick time. If you want something out of the box and .308 is your preference to shoot either of the discipline you've mentioned then possibly try a Ruger Scout Rifle:



Alternatively you could go Historic and shoot with an Enfield.

John MH wrote: Well for Practical or CSR forget 7mm08 and .243, expensive to load for and lose cases in fire with movement stages, the high round count would trash a .243 barrel in very quick time. If you want something out of the box and .308 is your preference to shoot either of the discipline you've mentioned then possibly try a Ruger Scout Rifle:

Many thanks, I didn't know .243 was heavy on barrels. I only came across 7mm08 in passing and just wondered.

John MH wrote: Alternatively you could go Historic and shoot with an Enfield.

Already do. Great fun, but I wouldn't confuse mine with a target rifle!

ovenpaa wrote:Have a look at the range of used Remington 700's or Howa 1500's - there are always a good few for sale on GunTrader and similar. Also what about Parker Hale, some very good club guns are based on PH .308's. I was shooting with someone the other day who had a scoped P17 in 30-06 which was doing very well at 1000 yards, it had cost him GBP300.00 including the scope and bracket and all he had added was a Harris type bipod.

Thank you. Are there any particular models of the 700 you would look out for, or is there no practical difference (other than the more obviously hunting-orientated versions)?

We'd recommend a target rifle conversion of a P14 or P17. They may be old - around 100 ooman years - but they can be phenomenally accurate. We have 4 of them.

Take a sneaky peeky at http://www.highwoodclassicarms.co.uk/Fi ... itarym.htm

and

http://www.highwoodclassicarms.co.uk/cl ... rifles.htm

meles meles wrote:We'd recommend a target rifle conversion of a P14 or P17. They may be old - around 100 ooman years - but they can be phenomenally accurate. We have 4 of them.

Take a sneaky peeky at http://www.highwoodclassicarms.co.uk/Fi ... itarym.htm

and

http://www.highwoodclassicarms.co.uk/cl ... rifles.htm

Mmm, very tempting. Guns with character instead of plastic.

Out of interest can the P14/17 be scoped?

Dannywayoflife wrote:Out of interest can the P14/17 be scoped?

Yes, it looks like it. There are a few US sites out there advertising either rings or picatinny rails.
http://kinneysshootingsupply.com/mounts ... p-662.html

I haven't found any in the UK yet.

Interesting.