Beginner Long Range Comp. Style Rifle.

What's your budget?

I have a Zermatt Origin and would buy another in a second. Criterion Barrel in a Magpul stock.
It shoots less than .5" MOA.

I bought the scope used on Snipershide. (ATACR 5-25x56)

6.5 cm is fine, it's what I have. .308 would be good as well.

If it's just punching paper, I'd probably look at 6mm BR or any of the other 6mm rounds. A lot of people are using 6mm rounds. Lot less powder in those rounds and easier to get dialed in.

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of people are using 6mm rounds

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I've looked at 6 creedmore, but also see it burns through barrels faster. Hadn't spent much time in too many other 6mm rounds other than dasher.

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I've looked at 6 creedmore, but also see it burns through barrels faster.

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If you want to shoot comps and give yourself the best chance at being competitive, then itll have to be a 6mm. They all burn barrels, dont kid yourself.

Precision Rfile Blog, What the Pros use.

They have all sorts of data about what the pros use, some of this stuff is sponsor driven, but its gives a good idea as to what the better shooters are using.

The solus looks like a good start. You can get prefit barrels for it since it uses the zermatt origin specs. MPA has a production rifle as well.

GA Precision makes an entry production rifle, but its still $3k.

Another thing that I'll add, your trigger is very, very important. Don't skimp.

Triggertech, Bix'n Andy, Timney and Jewell are some of the best. I'm probably missing some.

I have several Triggertechs. I love them. My comp rifle is set to around 1.25 lbs.

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hard to believe a guy that doesn't want great glass needs to worry about barrels burning up.

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I shoot every week at the range. Also started reloading. I had read some rounds could wear a barrel in ~1500 rounds. I could see myself shooting that within 2 years. Burning through barrels is a very small factor if any at all. Just when weighing the differences between 6 and 6.5 it's not a huge difference in drop for my hobby level of shooting and saw that fact put out there.

The local range I would shoot at is an indoor range and has 100 yard lane. That would really be just coming up with loads, etc. There's a 600 yard range about an hour from me that I could see going to ~once a month.

When I speak of budget, I'm looking at options such as Arken or Vortex in the $750 range and upgrading at a later time if I truly get into it. I've got another 7mag that needs an optic upgrade, so this would get donated to that rifle if I end up spending more money to upgrade in the future.

6.5 would not make my top 10 for long ranger rifle calibers. If you are just wanting a small caliber, go with 6mm Dasher, Aero platform is going to leave you wanting more from it fast. Bergara not bad for a beginner or the Ruger Precision model has options to grow with.

I would go after an action that accepts prefits, if this is your first you will want to change things along the way and it just makes it easier. I would also take the time and spend a little more because it will save you money in the long run.

If you don't already reload get a factory offering. People can hate on the 6.5CM but it's the easy button. You can easily shoot it out to 1k with factory ammo. Depending on your firing schedule 6CM is not a bad idea, but with Hornady offering 6GT factory ammo that is the 6mm I would purchase. Barrel life is great, extremely accurate, and if you start handloading it's an easy cartridge to find a good node.

I would give a hard look to the Terminus Zeus Quick Change action. Finally got mine in the other day with the 6GT barrel, bolt throw takes some getting used to compared to my 90 degree bolts, but the option of swapping barrels without having to take an extra 5 minutes on a barrel vise is a great 1st world problem that was solved

Bergara is nice because of the interchangeability with rem700 parts, like the trigger. But in my experience, hands down the smoothest and most accurate factory rifles are Tikka. There are less trigger options for Tikka, but you can get prefits and there are many stock/chassis inlets that are made for Tikka.

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The Aero is its compatible with a ton of existing popular parts. Rem 700 triggers/chassis and Origin prefits or savage barrels. The Aero is also just about the cheapest way to get into a integral rail/recoil lug action.

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This was my understanding. I may look to build up starting with the Solus action and have my eye on the MPA chassis that is used on the Bergara. The barrel installation on the Solus seems easy.

I would like to get some more details from the comment that the Solus may leave me wanting more. With no experience in bolt guns outside of mid quality hunting rifles, I wouldn't even know at first. But I also have a tendency to jump in head first and would be the guy upgrading in 6 months if there's truly a lack in features/quality.

Same on the comments of 6mm loads over 6.5. listened to a video on the way to work and the main drawback of 6.5 creedmoor is recoil. But availability is so much higher. Some flatter rounds in 6mm for sure and lighter recoil, but can get specialized in reloading components.

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I'd jump on the Arken EP5 at ~$500 based on reviews I see for it's performance vs. price in competition style shooting, but at it's weight, I don't think I'd love it on a hunting rifle.

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That’s going to be a common theme with “competition” style scopes.

If you bump your budget a little to a Vortex Razor LHT it would be a scope that you could eventually put on a hunting scope. That’s exactly what I’m doing. I got the razor LHT for a range gun that I plan on upgrading and moving the LHT to a hunting rifle.

I currently use an Arken EP-5 and a Vortex Strike Eagle on rimfire PRS rifles that I have no complaints with.

Savage used to make a couple of target models