Been a long while since I've seen or heard of a .308 as a 'heavy recoiling caliber'. ::) People who get up and rub their shoulder after 20rds from a varmint weight .308... thats definitely a new one. Are ya sure they're using a recoil pad?

The 12BVSS as described, sitting on the shelf at the local dealer, would be an excellent choice for getting started into accuracy shooting. The .308 is easy to load for, and can be readily used from 100 to 1000yds + without much trouble. There's not much you can do to screw one up

IF you decide to get something *new*, a .223 is a great choice as well - but I'd lean towards a 6mm BR for straight-up shooting paper targets.

All three are great choices, and capable of very good accuracy at 400yds and in. The .223 gives up a little in the wind - even with heavy-bullet loads - but other than that its probably the cheapest to feed. 6mm BR is possibly the most accurate - by a small margin - and is very comfortable to shoot. .308 Win is no slouch - its been used for target shooting from 100 to 1200yds in nearly every venue imaginable, and will probably continue to do so for the foreseeable future.