M14 style guns can be accrurate for a battle rife, but a battle rifle is not a tack driver, it's a 5'6" man shooter.

You stated tack driver so that is the comments you are getting.

My .02  ......
If you want to shoot iron sights and want to hit the target repedetly at 800+ yards then M14 is your thing. If you want a scope, M14 can be done but it will not give you MOA repetability without some work $$$
If you want a semi with an optic then an AR10/15 platform will allow free float barrel and easy optics mounting for less cost than most semi autos out there.
Bolt buns usually come one of 2 ways light or tack driver. Not to say you can't have both but you will have to work at shaving oz and keeping the stock rigid, and lightening the barrel will usually take away from groups shot is short succession staying tight.
If you want a decent (not great or a tack driver) you may want to look into the Mossberg MVP series, they will have the same mags and calibers as the ar10/15 guns with decent (not savage cheap) stocks and light to meduim threaded or non threaded barrels.

I have 2 savage rifles and I love to shoot them but I changed the stocks out on both, which added weight. the barrels are medium to heavy which is not light. Then added a scope 4-12x and 6x. I still would not want to carry it any further than I had to. Both will shot MOA with match and about 1.5 moa with CBC 308 ammo
For a Semi I have a DPMS LR10 that I have installed a PVS-4 on (haven't shot it yet) and I wouldn't even think of doing anything but static with it.
I also have a 18 and 16" AR-15 that I would take anyplace. one has a 2-7X and the other a ACOG (and IR laser) both will do ~1 MOA with 75gr hornady match but it gets expensive, ~2 MOA for CBC 62 grain

So it all boils down to what you want to do with it and how accurate you want to be in the end.

Based on your comments about desired range and accuracy, I'd try to steer you toward a good bolt-action .308, such as the Savage mentioned earlier. I bought a .308 10FP-LE in 2002 or so and it's hands-down the most accurate rifle I own. I have a few relatively accurate rifles (varmint AR, weatherby bolt-action, CZ bolt action), but the savage is the winner without question. Even with cheap walmart federal 180SP stuff, it shoots slightly under 1MOA, and with premium Hornady, Federal GM, or Nosler stuff it does even better. I paid $379 for it NIB, put a leupold Vari-X 2 scope, a harris bipod, and a RifleBasix trigger on it, and done.

The key thing is, I've accepted the fact that I'm no Matthew Quigley, and at my age I'm never going to be. I've got maybe $850 total into the gun, and it's more accurate than I am; so anything "better" would be wasted on me. With a good rest, pretty much anything I can see, I can hit with that gun; even with walmart ammo. I bought the gun for my personal use, and in my hands, there could be no 'more-accurate' rifle in the world than this one, simply because this rifle is better than I am; all for about the price of a mid-range AR rifle nowadays.




+1. I have only one AR set up with accuracy as its first goal, and it has a Wylde chamber and heavy stainless 1:8 barrel. Very good combo. Honestly, with its Zeiss scope and CMC straight trigger, it's probably my second-most accurate gun; just behind the savage.

LOL no when I lived in southwest Texas I found this guy. I had dealing with him as a deputy and to one Marine to another he liked me. He had his own land out in the desert that he took his 50 cal sniper rifle out to since I respected him and saw all the awards and junk as he called it for being a sniper trainer I asked him to take my STG-58 out and tell me what he thought. He did and I was there not going to say the first 20 or 40 rounds we shoot where hitting the X but after he got it tuned in. Yes it was hitting the X and head at 1000 yards!

Again could I do that? Nope no way in hell this was a pro and trainer of pros! Kind of like the guy who shot a subnose at 200 yards and hit his target Bob Munden did that so is it really that hard to thing at 1000 yards a 308 win semi auto can't hit 10 on the X and 10 head shoots?