AR platform for distance shooting

[Precision]

As I am a poor school teacher building my 308 long distance platform is going to take a lot longer than I was hoping. Even going with the Savage Model 12 build idea, it is just outside of my monthly squirrel away some money savings plan. At least for shooting the rifle any time in the next few years.

This leads me to the idea of getting an AR upper that would be good out to 600m. That is the longest distance official range that I have access too. It is my understanding that with a proper gun and proper hand loading of heavy for caliber bullets, 600m is very do able.

Some very basic research says White Oak Armament makes good stuff.

http://www.whiteoakarmament.com/xcart/home.php?cat=261

I am looking at the 24" with the 1:8 twist

http://www.whiteoakarmament.com/xcart/p ... 261&page=1

Am I sending money down the rabbit hole with this idea?

Are there other companies that I would be better spending my money with or that I should look at for comparison.

Ideally I would like the upper to run sub $1000.

[Yogimus]

I know of several folks that hobby shoot at 500 yard ranges with an AR. one uses 308, another uses some weird ass caliber.

[Aesop]

An off-the-shelf AR-10 or equivalent should hit center of mass man-sized silhouettes at 600m with white-box off-the-shelf ammo.
So should a basic Savage .308 bolt gun with a decent Leupold scope, let alone anything as unexotic as an off-the-shelf Rem700 or Win70 platform in a caliber starting with ".3".

But if you're trying to do .308 work with a .223, you're trying to use a Miata as an F-150, or vice versa, and the results won't be what you had hoped, and will cost you ten times what they're worth.

If you're trying to hit targets beyond 500 yards, get a bigger bullet than a .223.
(Those single-shot boltie uppers in .50BMG, .416 Barrett, etc., look like a helluva lot of fun for truck killing at 1600m(!) if you're wedded to an AR lower.)
Or dash forward from the 600m line for 10-15 seconds, go prone, and send it.

[workinwifdakids]

I picked up the White Oak 18" Stainless Steel Match Grade Barrel, 1:7 Twist, .223 Wylde, Mid-Length Gas for my AR build.

Now if I could just find and/or afford some decent ammo /slash/ reloading stuff, and a static range over 50 yards. /sigh/

[JAG2955]

If you're just looking at shooting man-sized targets at that range, it's easily doable. Marines qual at 500 yards with M16s and M4s. If you want to get tighter groups, barrel, handguard (freefloated), and round selection will greatly assist in that. Learn your marksmanship fundamentals and figure out how to use a loop sling. You'll have a blast.

[Erik]

Here's an example of 5 shots at 500m with an AR-15. Grouping is less than 5 inches, or 0.83MOA.



The rifle was more or less out of the box, some minor modifications made, but it's not a custom made gun.
It wasn't me doing the shooting, I found the photo in a forum. But I know who the shooter was and trust him that the info is correct.

[Precision]

My goal is to get into long distance shooting for an inexpensive amount of money, while I save up for a better platform. Either .038 or 7 mag based. My thought is I am already familiar with the AR platform. I can just get a new upper or new upper and lower. I already have a Gieselle two stage trigger and I already reload heavy for caliber 5.56. I have a decent scope, but will have to Kentucky windage the mil dots for now. The scope I buy would definitely be able to cross platforms, so I figured +/- $1000 would get me up and running and I could get appropriate glass in a few months.

I was hoping to learn to dope wind with this platform, but it sounds like that won't work. But the good news is that I rarely have to face winds over 10 mph for very long unless there is a storm and I won't be out shooting then anyway.

It seems like if I go this route, I am making a very large compromise regarding wind. Otherwise, it doesn't sound like such a bad way to do things and is gonna be way cheaper for hardware and consumables. So I can call this a 400 yd gun. I am not currently a consistent 400yd shooter, so I should have plenty of room to grow with the gun and save up my nickels for the 6-800 yds gun over the next 18-24 months.