The El Cheapo Sniper Rifle

(Note that this was written years ago and the opinions on the various specific manufacturers are no longer valid. Also, this is not the route I'd take to build a high-end rig.)

The El Cheapo Sniper Rifle
First, let’s get a little perspective. Zaitsev, Hathcock, Unertl, Mawhinney all made their bones with rifles that would get me laughed off the range at any of these “tactical” or “sniper” competitions with their wooden stocks, bedded medium-weight barrels, low-magnification scopes, and lack of mil-dots. It’s nice to have the very best equipment but obsolete doesn’t mean useless and a good man with a mediocre weapon is going to get the job done.
Next, you pretty much get what you pay for. Trusting your life or the lives of others to the low bid is false economy (despite Uncle Sam) and can come back and bite you. Obtaining accuracy on the cheap is easy. Getting reliability and durability is going to cost you. The other side of that coin is that sniping and sniper equipment are the big fad, right now. The most popular pieces of equipment, not always the same as the best or most suitable piece, are over-priced (sometimes WAY over-priced) due to demand. I like a nice, heavy-duty, steel trigger-guard, but the prices they’re asking for some of these things are just ridiculous. I can build my rifle with a cast aluminum trigger guard and spend the extra money on a better scope base with the option of adding the expensive guard later down the road. Now, if Uncle Sam is footing the bill. . .
I’m going to outline what I would put together for a rifle that would let me play sniper for the absolute minimum of cash. If I were to assemble or purchase a real working rifle I would expect to spend between $2,000 and $3,000 (U.S. dollars) for a rifle and another 1 to 2 grand for base optics. Spending much more than that is just conspicuous consumption. I’m only going to discuss new equipment. A canny consumer who’s willing and able to do some of his own gunsmithing can put together a good smoke-pole on the cheap but that’s entirely dependent on what happens to be available on the used market at any given moment. So, I’ll stick to new equipment, for now.
The rifle is the easy part. Savage makes some outrageously accurate weapons for very little money. A Savage will shoot with any but the very best custom weapons. The downside is that Savages may not be quite as durable as some of the other makes. Savage rifles often have magazine problems. It was quite common to find Savage rifles that wouldn’t feed if you worked the bolt too slowly or would let several cartridges jump the feed lips if the bolt were worked too quickly. That kind of problem is acceptable on a whitetail or gopher gun but not on a dangerous game rifle. I’d get the model with a synthetic stock but I wouldn’t spring for the law enforcement model. For the difference in cost between the LE and varmint models, I can add my own second forward sling stud.
Caliber would probably be .308 for availability and cost of ammo and reloading components. The .308 can get you out to 700 or 800 meters and, with a little luck and a good bullet, out to 1,000 yards. An alternative for strictly target shooting would be a .223 with a fast twist barrel for the 75 or 80 grain bullets.
If you opt for the heavy .223 loads and prefer a semi-auto you can build an inexpensive rifle on the AR15 platform. The AR .308s tend to be expensive but the .223s are quite reasonable. Just remember to put your money into a good quality barrel where you’ll get the most bang for your buck.
For rings I’d go with the Burris Signature as they won’t allow the scope to shift under recoil and they can be fitted with offset inserts to give windage adjustment or extra elevation. The Burris rings are also self-centering so they take the stress off the scope tube and don’t need to be lapped.
Bases tapered to give 20 or so MOA of extra elevation are available but tend to be kind of pricey. A .028” shim under the rear of a standard base will give you the same elevation. I don’t remove my scopes a lot so the Redfield or dual dovetail style bases work for me. The Redfield style base allows windage adjustment at the cost of possibly getting loose or out of alignment. Some industrial Loctite (Loctite is available in different grades depending on the application) or an added set screw can alleviate that problem. The turn-in dovetail rings will loosen up if you repeatedly remove and replace them. If you need to take your optics on and off you would be better off with a Weaver style base. The screws on a Weaver type ring are not under a lot of stress but they can also get loose. Two piece bases aren’t a real handicap and allow the rear base to be shimmed without putting the whole base at an angle to the receiver. The Signature rings will keep the scope from being stressed by the height difference. I would seriously consider drilling the base and drilling and tapping the receiver for 8-40 mounting screws. Even in a heavy .308, the standard 6-48 screw can shear under recoil with a lot of shooting.
So, I’m going to go with the two piece dual-dovetail bases. I’ll shim the rear base and use offset inserts, if necessary, to make up for any windage misalignment.
It’s easy to get an inexpensive scope with good optics. The mechanics of the scope are where you’re going to end up paying. A cheap scope is going to break. If you are willing to live with that (say, on a target rifle), you can save a lot of money. In general and given equivalent quality, variable is going to be more expensive than a fixed power and a mil-dot reticle is going to be more expensive than a simple duplex. I would rather have a solid fixed power scope with duplex reticle than a questionable variable with a mil-dot, but that’s just my opinion.
What you do want is a scope with click adjustments that don’t require tools and plenty elevation and windage adjustment. Parallax adjustment is very desirable but not absolutely necessary. Most manufacturers will add target turrets to most of their scopes for a nominal fee. If you get a fixed parallax scope you can also have the factory reset it from the standard (usually 150 yards) to whatever you like (maybe somewhere from 300 to 600 yards). You can also order custom reticles but the cost is probably going to be more than if you simply bought a model already fitted with the reticle you want.
Some of the cheap scopes are just not worth the trouble. Every BSA mil-dot scope I’ve picked up has had a bent reticle. I can’t imagine they’ll stand up to recoil for any length of time. Several of the other manufacturers have lousy customer service so when the scope does break you’re going to have a heck of a time getting it repaired. Leupolds used to be great scopes but they’ve become fashionable and over-priced. I can get one of the good German or Austrian scopes or a base model from U.S. Optics for less than a Leupold. For inexpensive scopes both Simmons and Tasco have great customer service and their more expensive (relatively) lines of optics have outstanding glass. The reticle is in the rear focal plane on their American marketed scopes so you will get some change in the point of impact when you change magnification. However, the mil-dot reticle is only correct at one magnification so you’ll probably want to set your scope and leave it.
Some time back I purchased a Tasco 2.5-10X mil-dot target scope for use on a .22. The low recoil on a .22 means that the scope will probably hold up for many years. The objective is adjustable and the optics are nice and clear. The mil-dot reticle is well made and straight. The turrets are target style and click adjustable. When it does break, Tasco has always been great about repairing or replacing their scopes under warranty. The scope cost me about 80 bucks. For my cheapo sniper rifle, I’ll slap a similar Tasco on top, set it on 10X and leave it there. This scope is not suitable for a working rifle.
Tasco made a mil-spec sniper scope for the U.S. Navy some years back that is available for civilian purchase as their Super Sniper. I don’t know if the quality has remained good but they are inexpensive.
Uncle Mike’s makes an inexpensive leather military style sling. There are a couple of cheap bipods available that run half the cost of a Harris. An ARD and Butler Creek flip-up lens covers complete the scope. A good cleaning kit and a cheap hard case from Walmart will complete the package. The cheapo sniper rifle will shoot right along with the big boys but I would prefer not to use it for serious social purposes. The component most prone to failure and the one I would upgrade first is the scope. For an adult toy or something to let you wet your feet at the tactical rifle matches, this setup will get you by about as cheaply as possible.