[matt g]

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

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

 

[matt g]

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.

Kimber and Sako both make nice bolt guns that are nowhere near the cost of the Chey-Tacs. IIRC, both can be had in more mundane loads like .308 Win and .300 Win Mag or .300 WSM. Also, it sounds like the rifle might be doing double duty, so you might consider some sort of M14 platform. Smith Enterprise makes a nice M14 and is doing police and military work almost exclusively right now.