I bought a savage 25 lvt in .223 which is a NICE rifle but im not queit sure it has what it takes to accurately blow up targets way out there. Note i've recently gotten into reloading and bench rest shooting so im still finding a good cartridge combination for the rifle and thats why im so nervous with the rifle. So heres the question am i wasteing my time with this, should i have some improvements done by a gunsmith (glass bedding, aluminum pillars), or get a better factor rifle because i cannot afford to wave around some 6 thousand dollar gun. So im open to any tips, answers to my questions and advise

Just what are your intentions regarding long range shooting?. Savage does or did make up a centerfire rifle for "F" class shooting. Won't cost $6,000 either. Best bet is to see if its still available, buy it and shoot it. Learn from that rifle barrel combination and just have a new barrel put on. Long range 6.5x284winchester, 6.5 creedmore there are a couple of good long distance cartridges. Hope this helps. Frank

How far do you want to shoot the thing? I have seen factory guns shoot well and a few very well. The .223 is a great place to start in my opinion, cheap and easy to load for... and a lot of fun.

deer slayer, good advice above.
What is long range to you? 800 yards? a 223 or 308 will be superbly accurate, and cheap to shoot (relatively speaking).
How often will you be shooting at this long range? Once a month? Once every 6 months? Once a week?
Remember the barn burners are called that for a reason. They use large quantities of powder to launch bullets at very high speeds. Barrel life is limited and bullets are expensive. You do understand that for the best accuracy you will have to use premium bullets?
Long range shoting is an expensive and time consuming proposition unless you have a 1000 range in your back yard with targets or rocks set up. The Savage "F" class rifles are an excellent place to start. They do make one in 6.5x284 I believe
Just my 2 cents,
Peter.

thanks for everything and yes 800 yrds is long range to me and also what is the name savage f class rifle

I believe it is the Savage F/TR or something like that. Best to Google "Savage F class" or similar. You could get into it by buying a Savage 110 FP or similar and rebarrelling it to 6.5x284 which seems to be the "in" cartridge but the rifle does not look as 'cool". Also, search this forum for "Savage".
Peter.

Depending on your bullet and load you can stretch a .223/5.56 out to 1000 but it is at a disadvantage. 77 SMK's are good out to about 700 or 800 if you have a 1 in 8 twist. You can take 80's out 600 to 1000 single loaded, they are too long for a magazine. Again depending on the barrel brand life may only be 3000 rounds up to 8 or 10,000. Barrels will loose long range accuracy first.

www.savagearms.com They have F/TR rifles on short actions. It doesn't look like they make a long action F/TR any more.

I have a 223 Savage Tactical, with a 9" twist, and it shoots the 77gr Black Hills moly loads into the x ring at 600 yds--haven't tried any further with it. 6.5x284 is the gold standard for 800-1000 yds.