Questions about 20 MOA rail

[BigDave]

Big Dave. Manatee Gun and Archery has a 1000 yard range. About a 3 hour drive from Lauderdale. http://www.manateegunclub.com/
FYI PBSO has a 200 yrd range open to the public once a month and occasionally a 300yd shoot
and welcome to precision long range shooting

jim

Yessir! Why thank you for your words, Jim!

I did find the Manatee range online. Another member here speaks very highly of it.
For now I can use two ranges out to 500 yards. Neither one is very close. The Homestead one looks VERY expensive and IDK...I got bad vibes. The one in Okeechobee City is really far. Barely doable for me (getting old) in a one day. But doable. I get a very good vibe from these guys.

My dope is only 3.5 mils give or take at 500 yards. No reason to have a 20 MOA rail. I may get a cheap $35 20 MOA EGW anyway. I have not decided. I will not need one until I check out Manatee Club. I have to crawl before I walk.

BTW, my scope's Total Elevation Adj. Range is a paltry 19 MRAD(9.5 mils each way, right?) ...in spite of having a 30mm tube. I may have as little as 8 mils left for elevation after I mount the scope. I probably dont want to use more than half of THAT, so my "safe" limit with a 0 MOA rail may be 4 mils or less even.
I am thinking that with a cheaper scope (Falcon Menace, that I dont want to use any where near the full range of the turrets.) IDK,,,yet.

I figure I can have pretty good fun learning to be good at 500 before reaching out farther. But that is why I bought this Savage. I an hoping that the rifle and ME can shoot it at close to .5 moa. I am paying attention to tuning tricks. I am pretty sure my mind set is up to be meticulous about my form and trigger control.
I am willing to practice until I am in the groove. Right now, the rifle likely can out shoot my skills. I intend to merge those at some point.

As much as I THINK I know, I am take every opportunity to train under a good instructor. When you find some one REALLY good you know it right away. I am hoping the range in Okee has some good guy. I actually have every confidence that they do. It is a very cool part of the state as opposed to Homestead which I find a bit creepy.

WPB is much closer. I need to shoot there too. I plan on a trip to Stokeys in WBP. The owner there can give me the low down on things up there too.
I am seriously looking at a B&C. No, i simply can NOT afford a Mickey or a Manners. The $275 B&C will be a stretch. I have spent way more than the cost of my rifle for periphery items ($$Ammo ..all new .30 caliber cleaning stuff, scope mounting stuff, Tipton Best Gun Vise and So much more "stuff"...dont get me started.)

So sorry for the long post. I have a ton going on right now. Getting things on paper help put things into perspective for me.