Best 308 mountain rifle under $1500

[Buzby]

Kimber hunter pro is hard to beat. Controlled round feed and 3 position safety are nice. There’s 8oz of goo in the stock you can remove if you’re counting ounces. Fully adjustable trigger.

Tikka is a nice action. Bolt locks on safe. A spring swap makes for a sweet trigger. The common action, and availablity of prefit barrels makes caliber changes pretty easy. Why is the comb so low for a rifle intended to be scoped?!
What makes the veil and roughtec worth $500+ more than a T3x?

 

[bnsafe]

Im surprised no body threw out bergara. I have the cheaper b14 hunter and its a tack driver. amazing trigger, and cheap.

 

[Gorp2007]

What makes the veil and roughtec worth $500+ more than a T3x?

Already threaded and cerakoted. If you’re comparing the Veil to a stainless, you just about break even once you pull the barrel and send it off to be threaded with an adapter.

 

[mvrk28]

If it were me I’d buy a Tikka, order a carbon McMillan or AG Composites stock, send to a smith for bedding and call it a day. Throw the M Carbo trigger spring in while you’re taking it apart.

 

[KenLee]

Up to 8 pounds for bare rifle, none will shoot consistently better, and with more types of ammo, than a Steyr Pro Hunter.
I hardly ever pick it up because I like a 6 pound rifle, but those Steyrs will hurt the feelings of folks with custom rifles.

 

[PsRpOiGrRiAtM]

I've had great luck with a Ruger Gunsite Scout .308 w/ the 18" (closer to 19" barrel) that I put in the composite stock to save about a pound. I'm not counting ounces on this gun, but it's sure light and handy, and it just shoots where I point it. Edit: Curiosity got the best of me, so I weighed it. It's at 8.4lbs with a Burris FFE1 4.5-14, empty magazine and stock pack. Gonna be a perfect host for my Gunwerks 6ix when it gets out of jail.

I also love the feel of the Kimber Hunter Pro and I had one in 6.5cm, but it was too light for me to shoot consistently.

Tikka seems to be a go-to for checking all the boxes, but I can never get excited about them. Like a Toyota Camry. That being said, if I had to choose just one for that price the Tikka would get the nod, and I'd have a decent amount of money leftover for optics.

 

[yfarm]

Just bought another Ruger American All Weather compact LH in 243 with no name scope for 400, put a takeoff full size stock on it shoots 1/2” group at 200 yds with cheap norma ammo, have same in 308. Both under 7 lbs. Dont shoot my M92 280ai much better.

 

[Loper]

Just bought another Ruger American All Weather compact LH in 243 with no name scope for 400, put a takeoff full size stock on it shoots 1/2” group at 200 yds with cheap norma ammo, have same in 308. Both under 7 lbs. Dont shoot my M92 280ai much better.

I saw that LH 243 in the classifieds and inquired about it, but I got a bad feeling about and thought it wasn’t legit. Glad it worked out for you. How do you like the compact 308 you have?

 

[yfarm]

Shoots well , like the short barrel, used a slip on pad to lengthen the stock until I found an adult take off. Killed a Nilgai at 308 yds, one shot Barnes 150 ttsx, broke both shoulders, put both lungs down and bone fragments lacerated the liver. No complaints, scope cost more than the rifle.

 

[martyparty]

+1 for Tikka with HNT 26 MDT chassis shoots well and easy carry, topped it with NF nxs 2.5-10x for total weight of just over 8lbs not incl ammo