I'm not looking for a SHTF rifle. I said I want a tactical rifle, but I guess I should have used the term precision, or even "s____r". I know I don't need one, I just want one.
I also plan on getting a Springfield M1A, someday. One thing at a time. I'm going to take it slow and save up for it.
I talked to my old roommate today and asked for his thoughts on the subject. He's been shooting guns his whole life and he has an extensive gun collection, including a .50 cal. rifle. I asked him if he could consistently hit a target past 200 yards. He told me no. That confirmed my instincts, stay at 100 yards, at least for a while. No need to go longer distances, especially since I am unskilled. He agreed that I should stay with a fixed scope, as that is one less worry for an inexperienced shooter to deal with. So I will most likely go with a 4X. Shooters throughout most of history have made do with less.
The scope that I'm looking hard at is the Nikon Monarch 4X40mm. I know it's not a Leupold or a Zeiss, but I don't need the best (yet), just quality glass. The research I've done indicates that this is a good, if not great, piece of gear. Anyone have experience with Nikon scopes? What about my thought process? Am I missing anything here?
FWIW, given the comments above (as well as the "fixed-power" scope comment above these) seems you are not yet really in the market for a
precision rifle and scope.
Precision rifles and scope combinations are rifles which excel at accuracy beyond 500 yards and generally hold 1/2 MOA out to 1000 yards.
Box stock rifles, sans the high-end and custom built Remmy 700s, are rarely gonna get ya this level of precision, infact most off the shelf rifles like the one you have mentioned ain't much good past 400 yards.
The particular long range club in my bag is a custom built Kreiger barreled Rem 700 in 30-06. It has a full aluminum pillar bedded stock, a Premier Gen II recticled Leupold 6.5x20x40mm scope w/ turrets and mil-dots and consistently shoots 1/2 MOA at any distance out to 1000 yards using a custom 175grn SMK load, (when the shooter does his part).
Note: the Gen II Premier scope has no wires, but is etched into the first focal plane which means one can range using the mil-dots with the scope set at any power and while Premier no longer works on Leupolds (due to their well known fall-out or rather screwing of Premier by Leupold assholes) they do and currently provide Schmidt-Benders to the military snipers and civilians which are a great choice for a precision optic. I highly recommend their Gen II recticle w/ the 1/2 minute lines which makes ranging even more accurate, especially if ya purchase a Mil-Dot Master or similar aid.
It cost roughly $2100 to have it built up from a $300 box stock Rem 700 30-06 ADL, (including the initial $300 purchase) so you can see that precision ain't buying what one can afford at the time, but a careful blending of parts and gunsmithing skill - for all the best parts in the world cannot make-up for lousy gunsmithing work.
As we (my father and I) have an 800 yard range off the back porch at up at the farm and a 1300 yard range nearby in Lufkin we tend to practice regularly and I can tell you that with the
proper equipment I can have anyone shooting quite respectable group sizes in less than a day at any range out to 1000 yards.
We have several rifles from 223s, 260s, 22-250s and 30-06s that are more than capable of getting consistent hits out to the 1K line and father, (note: the 223s do require greater skill and something we like to refer to as "good-air" but in the proper hands w/ the proper load MOA @ 1K is attainable even with this small 77grn round).
Dad regularly pops crows from a bench rested position using his custom Kreiger 223 at ranges in excess of 500 & 600 yards, that's precision shooting.
You'll not get this kind of consistency and accuracy from "stock" equipment.
Hope this is of some help to you and good luck with your purchase.
(ps - at to the reason behind the 30-06 choice over the more common 308, I own several older military rifle chambered in the '06 and wanted a caliber commonality in my arsenal; that and the fact that there ain't nothing the 308 can do that the '06 can't duplicate)
Also you might want to check out Garrett ammo for the 45-70....their 420 grain lead gas check (not the +P) does well; the +P kicks more than I need.
