I have this friend, who is just starting to get into rifles. I took him shooting LR steel last spring, and he got the bug for that bad. He wanted his own setup, but was working on a very tight budget, so here is what we did.

First we got him a Savage 308 tactical, on sale at Cabelas new for like $500, with a $100 rebate. It already had a tactical bolt handle, aluminum rail in the stock, detachable mag, and came with an EGW rail. I skim bedded the action into the stock for him too. The we got him some Burris extreme tactical rings. A few months later we caught the SWFA fixed 10x, side focus, Mil turrets, Mil-Quad reticle, demo-B on the SWFA sample list for $359. Added a Harris 9-13 notched leg bipod to it, SWFA bubble level, and a Karsten cheek rest to it, and for very close to a grand he is totally set up.

He also bought a few stencils, and last week one night we set up and did a custom cerakote job on the stock for him.

So far just using the Nosler 175 custom comp ammo he has had it on steel out to 650. This week we start tuning handloads for him.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you can put togther a rig that will hit things very far away on a tight budget.

Good for you for guiding along a friend, on the right track and keeping the cost down for him.

I like it, well done.

Love the paint job. I have the same rifle, and it is definitely a shooter. Jealous of that paint though!

I told him that there was pretty much no way he was getting out for under a grand once he had everything he needed on it, and also having a solid, reliable setup he could depend on. If he wasn't prepared to spend that much, he didn't need to start. And even at that, he would have to pay attention, because at that price point there was a very narrow set of options that would work, and we would have to really shop for the best prices. But he listened, even though I had to reign him in a time or two, so it came out all good.

He could have saved another $100 by going to a rear focus on the fixed 10x, but that model comes with a Mil-Dot and not the Mil-Quad reticle that I like a whole lot better. And the side focus is just so much handier shooting prone and going from target to target. I said skimp somewhere else if you have to, but not here if you can help it.

I know you can get a 6.5 for a couple hundred more, and that would have been great. But at the time he wasn't reloading yet, and 308 is so much cheaper to shoot, and so many more good factory options on match quality ammo. Besides, if he can learn to dope a 308 well, by the time he wants to swap to a 6.5 it will make it a cakewalk. Main thing is he needs to put a ton of rounds downrange, and that was the cheapest thing to do it with because of some other freebie stuff. Besides, a 308 with a good 175 load will take it plenty far for him.

Me and some of our other friends scrounged through all of our reloading equipment and got enough stuff together to donate to him that he didn't have to buy much there to get set up either. He had to buy dies, and a couple small items, but he has a pretty solid set up that he can add to as he goes along. Lots better than what I started with 25 years ago! We should start cranking out his first reloads later this week.

BTW, thank you for that complement, that means a lot coming from you. Wish we could come down for a class, but that is a long way down there for us. We do have some good places to really stretch it out some though, and plenty of hard wind to play with just off the caprock here.

Looks like you have it figured out, don't know how much help I could be.

I agree with you on the .308 as well as the Mil quad reticle. The .308 will teach someone to judge wind, and it will teach someone to pay attention to temp and DA if they're shooting outside 500 yards. Plus .308 barrels last a crazy long round count when shooting 175's and 178's. I think you gave him perfect advice top to bottom!

Great looking set up. I had a similar situation this year and I helped my brother out.

It's a lot of fun. I had him go with a Savage as well because the cost is great and the out of the box accuracy is incredible. We also got lucky with a used Vortex Viper PST FFP 6-24 scope.

Good lookin rig, money well spent and it will last a long time. Thats what good friends do for one another

Fantastic, most excellent.

That is a great job all around! I hope he enjoys the long range game.

Very nice!

He needs the pistol to match.

Pretty much exactly what i did. Got the same rifle but the suppressor ready 20" model with a 12x rear focus, btw you can get the milquad reticle in the rear focus, mine is. Love that paint job, I need to look into that cheek piece as well for my accustock.

Working up a178 AMax load right now, but have stretched it out to 800 yards at Jason's the last shooting comp with chad's 168 bulk ammo. Great shooter and really liking the accitrigger.

Trigger in his is really pretty good, I was surprised. We didn't touch it, just left it as-is.

I don't think he will go the suppressor route, but after he shoots mine more he might, lol. His does have the 1-10 twist and not the 1-12 though. He has some 178 AMAX to try.

Great rig!!

What does the Latin/Greek/Roman stand for on the stock?

Purportably what King Leonidas said to the Persians when they demanded them surrender their weapons at battle of Thermopylae. "Come and take" is translation.

Thanks K, how about "Three Percenter" what is that?

I found it:

What is a "Three Percenter"?

During the American Revolution, the active forces in the field against the King's tyranny never amounted to more than 3% of the colonists. They were in turn actively supported by perhaps 10% of the population. In addition to these revolutionaries were perhaps another 20% who favored their cause but did little or nothing to support it. Another one-third of the population sided with the King (by the end of the war there were actually more Americans fighting FOR the King than there were in the field against him) and the final third took no side, blew with the wind and took what came.

Audentis Fortuna Iuvat...Fortune Favors the Brave

THANK YOU THREE PERCENTERS!!!!!!

I need a buddy like you... That's sick!!