[Bolosniper]

I take it you are a sniper, or will soon be one for your department.

There are a number of sniper rifles on the market that are much better quality than the factory Remington offerings. The US Army is hedging at re-newing the contract for the M24 system with Remington. Unless Remington is able to improve the accuracy and consistency of the system, they just might lose it.

Two Friday nights ago I had the opportunity to host a dinner at Appleby's in Columbus Ga. for the cadre at the US Army Sniper School, Ft Benning. That was one of the topics of conversation at the table that night, among many others. One of the statements made that was universally agreed upon was that as snipers, we would all give our left nut to have a sniper rifle that shoots as well as a Match rifle, with the factory Match ammo we must use.

I would suggest looking to one of the smaller specialty manufacturers of turn bolt sniper rifles for a rifle if I were you. It will cost more money, but some few of them deliver a much better performing product. 1 MOA @100 yards isn't a good sniper rifle, and I don't care what is claimed about the accuracy of a rifle, it is what it will actually do at the range that matters. Not everyone is entirely truthfull about the performance and consistency of their product, ISO 9000 certification or not..

 

[Bolosniper]

If you can afford one, look at Chey-Tac or Accuracy International.

edit: Oooh, Chey-Tac's new website is spiffy.

The CheyTac is too expensive, and way to much cartridge (in any configuration - 408, 375, 338) for the application. We are currently using the same action and barrel manufacturer (Lawton Machine, LLC) as CheyTac for our production rifles because of the high quality of both products. That is part of the reason the CheyTac weapons system is making such large waves in the world of snipers.

I have rebuilt a large number of the SPS rifles, and there will be very little difference in any of the factory offerings from Remington as they are all built with a stock action and barrel as the heart and soul of the weapon. If you luck out and end up with a "good" barrel (rotary hammer forged barrels are anything but consistent), it will shoot pretty good out of the box. If not, then you won't be real happy. The US Army isn't extatic about the M24 for that very reason. I do believe that Remington is going to have to scramble to keep that contract.

 

[Bolosniper]

Sniper soon too be. I work for a small department, basically in the middle of nowhere. I don't have the resources to establish much of a tactical team so the sniper is the next best application until additonal officers have time to arrive. It goes without saying that the small department has a very small budget, especially for new and unexplored applications surrounded by a crew that started before the tactical ways. Any help or advice on a cheaper rifle I can apply for tactical means would be much appreciated.[/QUOTE

90% plus of the sniper shots taken by domestic police officers are at ranges under 100 yards, so 308 Winchester Match will suffice. Zero the weapon (point of aim is point of bullet impact) at 100 yards.

If you are under budget restraints then I would advise purchasing a Reminton 700 SPS @ $681.00 MSRP, or a Savage 10FP @ $649 MSRP. A lot of things wrong, and a lot of things right with both designs, but they are affordable and serviceable sniper rifles that meet the missions parameters.

A full length Picatinny rail to be both a base for the tactical rings and to stiffen the receiver.

Don't scrimp on the optics. If you can't see it with clarity under any conditions, you can't shoot it, period. Get at least a Leupold Mark4, 4.5x14x50mm LR/T M1 riflescope (yes it is more than the rifle costs) with the Duplex reticle. The scope is well enough made so that it will box the target consistently, and will therefor give precise 1/4 MOA adjustments per click.

You don't need or want a Mil Dot, or Tactical Milling, or ART (Automatic Ranging) type scope for this mission. An un-cluttered reticle is best, and if you chronograph your rifle with your issue ammunition, with the help of a ballistics program you will know your exact scope adjustments necessary to be able to hold dead on at ranges beyond 100 yards. Good quality 3rd Generation Optic Glass (low light dispersion) with a large (50mm) objective lens, and a 30mm body diameter will give good light transmission, with no glare, and allow you to use the scope at night for the ranges and conditions that you will likely face.

That will at least get you into a serviceable and affordable sniper weapons system that can be incrementally upgraded as time goes by and money is allocated to increase your departments SpecOps capabilities.