Thread: Best $1000 budget rifle ??

Ok , big day yesterday . "ROAD TRIP"........... I had a Winchester XPR in 308 put aside with my name on it .
The written reviews looked good and the YouTube clips had me convinced I had found a great budget rifle that was gonna rock, oh man I was onto a winner.
2.5 hours of driving later , a couple of double shot coffee's and I burst into the shop like a one man SWAT team. The usual Tyre kickers and gun fondlers were there, dreamers, wannabes and time wasters, fuck have these guys got nothing better to do, get a hobbie and watch some porn.... you dicks are taking up the salesman time and slowing me down to getting to my hot date.

I played it cool by letting the other guys ask meaningful questions like " doe's it come in an Orange and black stripped stock with pink rings ? ". Then suddenly a voice laced with boredom and more than a dash of disinterest said " can I help you sir " I hadn't been called "Sir" in a long time and it took a few moments to click that he was talking to me, in fact the the way his hands were twitching I thought he was going to attempt sign language.
I mentioned I had a rifle put aside but would like to view other brands within my budget and calibre I was looking at. The salesman was great, very helpful as he pulled 4 different options off the rack and placed them on the counter.

They all looked like clones, soulless bland offerings.... oh well if you have a low budget this is your choice.

Ruger American: Probably the best of the bunch, felt light and balanced , thin barrel but at 1K bare it wasn't the best buying. Stock shouldered ok .
Remington 783: felt the best and tight finish but the budget 770 was shit and I was wary of another low end gun from Rem
Howa: nice gun, shouldered well, houge stock but felt weird , chunky feel and solid with a horrible little barrel that felt like it should be on an air rifle.

Drum roll..........Winchester XPR, as it was placed on the counter I thought the wrong rifle had been placed in front of me. Now don't get me wrong I'm a realist and I wasn't expecting Miss World with some stunning false boobs.
I was expecting more of a very average porn starlet with a lot of make up and a good tit job.
What I got was a 4ft Mexican midget with two empty Tip Top ice cream containers stabled to her chest, fuck it was ugly. The stock made a Tikka T3 plastic stock look like a $5000 bell and Carlson .
The thing did't shoulder or fit me either which was probably a blessing. I was faced with such bland offerings that I was sort of blind sided and mentally in neutral.

I think I mumbled some about getting a coffee and making a decision and walked out, huge waste of time and a little gutting but with a limited budget you will only be given so many options.
Needless to say I turned the car on and drove outta town for the other 2.5 hour return drive.

However the story has a happy ending , I needed some 17HMR ammo so dropped into my local shop and there was a surprise on the rack, traded in yesterday. Rem 700 in 7.08, two years old and under 100 rounds through it. Unmarked , shouldered well and felt right.
$650, not a steal but not bad either and a good platform to refine and improve. I even got to speak to the previous owner who had brought it new . He was getting 1 inch groups with average ammo and sub MOA with good stuff so it has potential.

Trigger job and suppressor to start with, I'm going to treat it as a project rifle and be a tight arse and see how far I can take it for as little as possible, should be fun.