Choosing a caliber.....

[itgoesboom]

Ok, I have finally narrowed down my choice of rifle.

Probably going to be a Savage 10fp, with 24" bbl and acutrigger.
I am probably going put either a Bushnell elite 3200 10X40, Nikon Prostaff 3-9X40 or a Leupold VX-I 3-9X40.

For the first 6 months, I expect to do all of my shooting at 100 yards, while I build my skills up. I figure it will take me atleast that long before I can start to see the real potential of this rifle.

So I am looking at either .308 or .223.

.308 has the advantage or more range, which isn't really all that necessary for my current use.

.223 has the advantage of being inexpensive.

I don't want to waste money on match ammo untill I can actually get match results (limiting factor is me right now), so I need to take that into account.

I can get Aussie surplus (people are claiming close to 1moa) for under $50 for 160rounds (including shipping).
I can get .223 blackhills remanufactured for about the same price. Advertised as being able to be 2" at 300 yards.

Is there any real reason to go for .308? Outside of SHTF, I can't really see much use for me to get .308.

After I build my skills up I will start purchasing match ammo, or reloading.

Whatcha think?

I.G.B.

 

[Baba Louie]

If punching holes in paper is all you plan on using it .223 is fine. Unless you're only going to shoot it once a month I'd expect to see positive results within 3 - 4 range sessions. By the end of 6 months you should be able to shoot 4" groups at 300 yds.
The heavier .308 would do you better only if you're planning on pushing that envelope out to 600 yds or plan on bringing bambi home for dinner.
Getcha a good spotting scope too cause .22 caliber holes are hard to see at 100+ yds.

 

[DonNikmare]

I selected .308 due to the possibilty of getting bored with 100-300 yrds and eventually wantinf to be able to shoot up to 1000 yrds.

I originally wanted .30-06 due to it having a bit more variety in the different grains available but settled on .308 due to it been pretty close balistically and also available for wider variety of rifles.

The .223 I like but I see it as more of a battle rifle semi-auto caliber and not a bolt action rifle one. When I think bolt action, I think - slow, taking my time and wanting each round to count, ie perform at whatever distance eventually becomes a challange to me. When I think of the .223, I think - lower recoil, better sight picture reaquizition, multiple rounds, shorter distances. That's just my personal way of seeing the two at this point.

Nik

 

[Sunray]

"...I don't want to waste money on match ammo until I can actually get match results..." You will not get match grade results with surplus ammo. If you really want match grade results, you will load your own ammo. Anything else will just frustrate you. A good rifle with mediocre ammo will give you mediocre groups. In any calibre at any range.
"(people are claiming close to 1moa)" There's no reason to ass/u/me this ammo will shoot 1 MOA in your rifle. It just doesn't work that way. Every rifle shoots every type of ammo differently. Your Savage may just not shoot Aussie surplus well. And Savage rifles are good.
Your choice of .308 is a good one though. It's inherently more accurate than the .30-06 and it is regularly used at 1,000 yards. But with match grade ammo. 168 grain match grade bullets carefully loaded.
Up here, 300 yards is close range for target shooting with iron sights. No scopes. I believe most NRA matches are not much different. Go to www.nra.org to be sure. You'll also find that most Camp Perry shooters are using gussied up AR-15's in .223.