Right now I'm running a Ruger Gunsite Scout in .308. It has the 16" barrel on it with a Leupold Scout scope. If it had the 18" barrel I probably wouldn't be looking around because I love the Ruger M77 action. I'm thinking about finding a .308 bolt gun in a longer barrel length that still uses the AICS pattern magazines. Something reasonable. .308 is not exactly a barrel burner, so I want a little more barrel length for the sake of velocity. I love the scout in the woods, but I'd like to be able to do a little longer range target shooting at some point, although any rifle will have to do double duty for target shooting and primarily for hunting.
I've been looking at the Bergara rifles, but a lot of them are too heavy for lugging around in the woods all day, or too expensive, or both. I've been eying the new Remington 700 Magpul Enhanced, but I don't know if Remington's quality has climbed back up out of the gutter or not. I've also been checking out the Savage 110 Tactical. And, somebody recommended the Ruger American Gen II, but I have yet to handle one.
I wish there was such a thing as a highly accurate rifle with a medium contour fluted barrel with backup iron sights on it (cause I'm old fashioned), but dreams don't often come true.
I'm sticking with .308, or maybe .30-06, because I don't want to have to go through the trouble and expense of re-tooling everything for a different caliber. Otherwise I would LOVE to go back to a .270.
Any suggestions?