Best upgrade bang for the buck

[NikatKimber]

I have a Remington 700 in .243 Win. As far as I know, the trigger, action and barrel are untouched factory. The barrel is a 24" sporter. The gun is in a Choate super sniper stock, and has a 6-18x Swift Premier scope in a Leupold standard base and rings.

How should I prioritize upgrading this rifle?

What I've thought of:
Change the stock, probably to a Bell & Carlson
New trigger, Rifle Basix has been suggested
Get the factory barrel's chamber recut and bluepring/true the action
Upgrade the base/rings/scope
Rebarrel

Which of these are more worthwhile, what would be better to wait till I can put more $$$ into it? IE, I don't want to rebarrel it yet, as that will cost several hundred with gunsmith fees, and I don't want to do a cheap job of that when I do. Is it worth upgrading optics/mounts on my budget? Or just keep what I have for now?

Thanks for any opinions.

Here's a visual of where I'm at now.

 

[MoBoost]

Ammo + shooting time ... see a post on that earlier this week.

 

[Mitch Rapp]

What kind of groups are you getting right now?

 

[NikatKimber]

~1.5 MOA but not real consistent right now. Hence the idea of prioritizing any upgrades to it. Not just for cost.

MoBoost, are you referring to the "REAL" rifle shooter thread?

I'm not wanting to go dumping money in before I shoot it, but I'm looking for some help on what to upgrade as I shoot the gun more and become proficient.

 

[ez bake]

Personally, I wouldn't touch anything on it if you're on a budget except for possibly the trigger if you've got an X-Mark Pro - it will start to creep badly over time, period.

I'm partial to Timney triggers, but the Rifle Basix are good as well (I wouldn't necessarily spend more money on a Jewell or anything more expensive).

Learn to adjust in MOA with just your knobs if you've got a duplex reticle if you've got decent knobs - if you've got mil-dots and your knob/clicks aren't repeatable, then learn holdovers for now and save up for some good glass.

You probably won't need to change your base until you get to over 600yds (guessing with .243 and a Swift scope - I don't honestly know where your equipment's limit is) - then if you run out of room in adjustment on your scope and need to upgrade to a 20MOA base - get a Badger (or Warne if you're on a budget still).

Spend some time on JBM's web site to make your own ballistics cards and pick out a good off-the-shelf ammo selection (unless you already reload). I plan on starting to reload soon, but I've got plenty on my plate for now, so I found ammo that was "good enough" off the shelf at a reasonable price for now - if you've got the cash, just order some Federal or Black Hills stuff and do your training against it - I wanted to save some money on ammo, but I'm not quite ready to start reloading (yeah, I know - have my cake and eat it too).

http://www.jbmballistics.com/

Read this:

http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=216239&nt=2&page=1


and print this off and throw it in the crapper for those long reading sessions - you'll be doing some quality reading on it and learn the math behind it:

http://www.mil-dot.com/Content Images/The_Derivation_of_the_Range_Estimation_Equations.pdf


I spent a lot of money on my rig before I started learning to use it properly and had really no excuse as to why I couldn't shoot better. I've only in this last year started to really use all of the resources I had available to me and now I'm starting to "get it" and am noticing that the basics are getting easier for me the more I do it - like using my reticle for range-finding, accurately adjusting MOA come-up or using holdover for specific distances, and judging and adjusting for wind (I'm not gonna lie, when the wind gets above like 7 mph, I suck at compensating for it - its one of my biggest hurdles).

Most importantly, don't be afraid to ask stupid questions. I have missed out on a bunch of stuff because I was worried about looking stupid - there are several folks on here who are very good at the long-range game and will offer plenty of help.

 

[Leadlobber]

Nik how is your trigger? I have a new Rem.sps w/out X mark trigger never could get the gritty feel adjusted out. I swapped it out for a Timmney it is set at 2# .That was a big improvement.

Are the adjustments on your scope repeatable .? I use Leupold 6.5 X 20 for long range stuff. You can spend more on a scope but I like my Leupolds great warranty and you can always move the scope to another rifle.

What about ammo do you hand load??

 

[NikatKimber]

I already reload, so got that covered. My ammo is probably not any better than factory, probably less than high end stuff, but it is certainly a lot cheaper, which helps with the trigger time part of the equation.

EZB, thanks for the links.

 

[Mitch Rapp]

Take your $250, buy a scope. Then sell the whole rig, and buy a Savage 10fp .308, WHAM! instant sub MOA rifle!


LOL, Trigger isn't a bad place to start, buy a box of match ammo, see how well you can group with it, then you have a benchmark to work from with you handloads.

 

[12gabackup]

I always make sure the bore is super clean first. Then I work on the trigger pull if it's too heavy. You can have the factory trigger adjusted to an acceptable pull weight. You should also make sure the bolts and screws are all tight. (stock, scope mount, rings)

If you're not getting 1" moa or better, try different loads. If still not, try a different scope. That gun should do 1" moa or better. You should get someone else to shoot it to verify the accuracy of the gun.

 

[NikatKimber]

Take your $250, buy a scope. Then sell the whole rig, and buy a Savage 10fp .308, WHAM! instant sub MOA rifle!

Not so easy. The rifle is a wedding gift from my wife, so it is not going anywhere.

LOL, Trigger isn't a bad place to start, buy a box of match ammo, see how well you can group with it, then you have a benchmark to work from with you handloads.

Sounds reasonable enough.