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Academy (at least in San Antonio) has the Marlin XL7 on clearance for $249. Choice of .270, 7mm-08, and .30-06. After extensive research for a quality, inexpensive rifle, I came up with this one (or the Savage 110). The XL7 takes the best of Savage, Remington, and Ruger to make a great rifle at a great price point. It's replacing my Remington 770 as my primary game rifle.

I'll be dropping a Nikon scope on it and will provide a range report in the coming weeks! But overall fit and finish is superb!

If you're looking, give your local Academy a call!

I like my A-303 sportarized, beautiful, sexy and deadly. A lot like the woman I married.

I have an XL7 in .30-06 that I need to get scope mounts for so that I can get it out to the range.

BTW, I think that the 7mm-08 is in the XS7. Same just in a short action. Too bad they aren't going to make one in .223 or .22-250.

Make mine a Remington 700 VSF in .308:

The Annoyed Man wrote:Make mine a Remington 700 VSF in .308:

Why's the bolt in backwards

Hey TAM, I'm going to need a left handed .308 for my son in law. Would you happen to have any leads or links? They would sure be appreciated, cause I don't have a clue.

lrb111 wrote:Hey TAM, I'm going to need a left handed .308 for my son in law. Would you happen to have any leads or links? They would sure be appreciated, cause I don't have a clue.

I bought that one from SportingArms.com. They told me when I bought it that they sell a lot of left-handed rifles. This one has a 26" heavy contour fluted barrel with a 1:10 twist on an HS Precision varmint contour synthetic stock, and it shoots 175 grain MatchKings real well. Unfortunately, I don't think Remington offers this model any longer. It's an excellent rifle and quite accurate, but it was probably a low volume product for them, and I suspect that procuring the left handed stocks from HS Precision made it prohibitively expensive for them to sell at the price point they had it at. MSRP for the left-handed model was $1187.00, but nobody ever paid that for it. I certainly didn't. Mine was purchased for $831.00.

- Current Remington Left Handed Offerings

Savage also has a fair number of left-handed offerings:

- 14 American Classic Left Handed
- 114 American Classic Left Handed
- 12 Left Hand Varmint

Here's another picture of my 700 VSF I took on a deer hunt in Jack County a couple of years ago:

Kewl! Thank you sir.

pbwalker wrote:Academy (at least in San Antonio) has the Marlin XL7 on clearance for $249. Choice of .270, 7mm-08, and .30-06. After extensive research for a quality, inexpensive rifle, I came up with this one (or the Savage 110). The XL7 takes the best of Savage, Remington, and Ruger to make a great rifle at a great price point. It's replacing my Remington 770 as my primary game rifle.

I'll be dropping a Nikon scope on it and will provide a range report in the coming weeks! But overall fit and finish is superb!

If you're looking, give your local Academy a call!

Bought one last month at Cabelas. Paid $259.00. Planning on getting the Nikon Prostaff 3X9X50. Looks like they run about $200.00. Read alot of good reviews on the XL7. Hope it lives up to it - going to check out a possible lease Friday and plan on putting this gun to work next season.

jmra wrote:

pbwalker wrote:Academy (at least in San Antonio) has the Marlin XL7 on clearance for $249. Choice of .270, 7mm-08, and .30-06. After extensive research for a quality, inexpensive rifle, I came up with this one (or the Savage 110). The XL7 takes the best of Savage, Remington, and Ruger to make a great rifle at a great price point. It's replacing my Remington 770 as my primary game rifle.

I'll be dropping a Nikon scope on it and will provide a range report in the coming weeks! But overall fit and finish is superb!

If you're looking, give your local Academy a call!

Bought one last month at Cabelas. Paid $259.00. Planning on getting the Nikon Prostaff 3X9X50. Looks like they run about $200.00. Read alot of good reviews on the XL7. Hope it lives up to it - going to check out a possible lease Friday and plan on putting this gun to work next season.

The ProStaff (one of the scopes I am looking at) is $134 at Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Nikon-ProStaff-3- ... B000FH1E0I" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)!

I'm also looking at the Pentax Gameseekers...both good scopes for the price.

Can anyone offer any insight on the *big* differences with a 3-9x50 and 4-12x40? Is 50mm too much? Is there a huge difference in 4-12 and 3-9? I can't imagine so...

pbwalker wrote:Can anyone offer any insight on the *big* differences with a 3-9x50 and 4-12x40? Is 50mm too much? Is there a huge difference in 4-12 and 3-9? I can't imagine so...

The x50 and x40 are your field of view, the bigger number, the larger field of view (bigger lens basically).

3-9 or 4-12 is the amount of magnification, bigger numbers = larger magnification.

If you are just going for 100 -200 yards, the 3-9 would be fine.

d strokes wrote:

pbwalker wrote:Can anyone offer any insight on the *big* differences with a 3-9x50 and 4-12x40? Is 50mm too much? Is there a huge difference in 4-12 and 3-9? I can't imagine so...

The x50 and x40 are your field of view, the bigger number, the larger field of view (bigger lens basically).

3-9 or 4-12 is the amount of magnification, bigger numbers = larger magnification.

If you are just going for 100 -200 yards, the 3-9 would be fine.

Isn't the larger lens also better in low light such as early morning and late evening?

jmra wrote:

d strokes wrote:

pbwalker wrote:Can anyone offer any insight on the *big* differences with a 3-9x50 and 4-12x40? Is 50mm too much? Is there a huge difference in 4-12 and 3-9? I can't imagine so...

The x50 and x40 are your field of view, the bigger number, the larger field of view (bigger lens basically).

3-9 or 4-12 is the amount of magnification, bigger numbers = larger magnification.

If you are just going for 100 -200 yards, the 3-9 would be fine.

Isn't the larger lens also better in low light such as early morning and late evening?

Yes. The larger diameter lens's primary value is its light gathering capability in low light shooting. The larger field of view is secondary, since there isn't that much difference between the FOV of a 50mm objective lens and a 40mm objective lens, particularly at higher magnifications. In fact, FOV on a 3-9x40 at full magnification might be no worse than the FOV on a 4.5-14x50 at full magnification because whatever gains you get with a 50mm lens are lost to 14X magnification.

Another important factor is eye relief, or the distance from your eye to the ocular lens. Generally speaking, eye relief is greater with lower magnification. Anybody who has gotten too close to the ocular lens under heavy recoil and collected one of those neat little 1/2 moon shaped cuts over an eye will come to an appreciation of eye relief.

And glass quality is another entirely too often overlooked matter. I have a fixed power 10X42 Super Sniper with HD glass that is every bit as bright and clear as either a 3-12X50mm Burris XTR Tactical I own or the above mentioned 4.5-14x50mm Leupold — maybe even brighter.

All of this adds up to mean that the most powerful scope available for the money is not necessarily the best scope for the intended application.