Best Varmint Rifle? (out-of-the-box)
Shannon McNeil
Would the best (accuracy) out of the box varmint rifle (with heavy barrel)
be the Rem., Ruger, Savage, or Browning? What whorks for you? What caliber
for best accuracy? Within these brands, I can afford, but 'costum made'
varmint rifles are too high for my blood. So which will it be. Thank you
greatly to all who respond.
Shannon McNeil
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rutledge
Shannon McNeil wrote:
>
> Would the best (accuracy) out of the box varmint rifle (with heavy barrel)
> be the Rem., Ruger, Savage, or Browning? What whorks for you? What caliber
> for best accuracy? Within these brands, I can afford, but 'costum made'
> varmint rifles are too high for my blood. So which will it be. Thank you
> greatly to all who respond.
> Shannon McNeil
My flat out favorite is the Remington 700 VSSF. Caliber doesn't matter
much, they all shoot well. For what I do, I decided the .220 Swift was
the best option. Depending on the size of your varmints, a SS fluted
Sendero in .25-'06 is nothing more than a long action version of the
same rifle. The fluted Remingtons are heavier than sporters, shoot well
because of the larger diameter barrel, etc, but are light for a varmint
rifle ... making a GOOD varmint rifle if you have to carry it any
distance. And are possibly the most accurate of all the factory varmint
rifles.
The 700 VS is basically a blued version of the same gun without a fluted
barrel ... a little heavier, matte blue finish.
The Winchester 70 heavy varmint should work out well ... I haven't used
one myself. If you're trying to increase the weight of your gun, for
shooting off bags, etc, this is a good choice. Seems to be about a
pound heavier then the VS Remington and about a pound and a half heavier
than the VSSF.
I've spent several years with a Ruger VT 77 Mk II in .25-'06. Good gun.
Took some tweaking to get it "right" ... but it'd shoot 115 grain
partitions under a half MOA and varmint bullets at about 0.75 MOA.
I haven't used Browning. There seems to be no aftermarket triggers
available, so you're at the mercy of the "gunsmith" who is so liability
conscious that he won't put anything lighter than a 3.5# deer hunting
trigger on your varmint rifle.
I don't like the Savage varmint rifles. Period. End of sentence.
First choice? Rem 700 VSSF. Second choice? Ruger. Third choice?
Winchester. I'll pass on the rest, thanks. IMHO.
Tom
Brian Adams
In my opinion (which I respect) the BEST out-of-box accuracy platform
available is the Remington 700 VS line. It's always possible to get
a bad barrel from ANY of the makers you mentioned, but every 700 VS
I've ever been around is a shooter.
My 700 VS in 223 will shoot (at 200 yards, mind!) 5/8-inch groups all
day long with a couple of different handload combinations. I had the
factory trigger tuned to a smooth 2-lbs by a gunsmith, that's all.
Benchrest competetition accuracy? No. Devastating, can't miss
varmint accuracy? You bet!
Shannon McNeil wrote:
>
> Would the best (accuracy) out of the box varmint rifle (with heavy barrel)
> be the Rem., Ruger, Savage, or Browning? What whorks for you? What caliber
> for best accuracy? Within these brands, I can afford, but 'costum made'
> varmint rifles are too high for my blood. So which will it be. Thank you
> greatly to all who respond.
> Shannon McNeil
--
Brian Adams
Reno
You must remove the obvious anti-spam part of my e-mail address.
KDolsen197
I bought a Rem 700 bdl in 22-250 two weeks ago and fired Winchester ballistic
silvertips ( which is combo with Win and Nosler) anyways I shot 5 shot at
100yrds and can put a quarter over the whole group, which is very god for the
rifle and also me.
Kian
Bob Carman
I purchased a Rem 700 PSS .308 a few years ago and found it to be very
accurate "out of the box", however the trigger needed to be lightened.
The facory trigger was heavy and probably 7~8 lbs.
I ve "terminated with extreme prejudice" numerous groundhogs, the best
shot was approx 425 yrd (yes I have a witness).
For target practice I tried Hornady Custom & Federal Match Grade 168 g
bthp rounds. At 100 yrds, a 3 shot group from the Hornady Custom placed
2 rounds in the same hole and the 3rd round went apprx. .25" high. The
Federals also had very impressive results. But remember, dont use the
match grade rounds for hunting as they are a thick jacket that doesnt
expand.
Bob Carman
Jay Johnson
Shannon McNeil wrote:
>
> Would the best (accuracy) out of the box varmint rifle (with heavy barrel)
> be the Rem., Ruger, Savage, or Browning? What whorks for you? What caliber
> for best accuracy? Within these brands, I can afford, but 'costum made'
> varmint rifles are too high for my blood. So which will it be. Thank you
> greatly to all who respond.
> Shannon McNeil
>
> Visit the rec.hunting and rec.hunting.dogs FAQ Home Page at:
> http://sportsmansweb.com/hunting/
>
> To leave the Hunting listserv list, send a message with SIGNOFF HUNTING
> in the *body* to list...@listserv.tamu.edu
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
and shot .5 in groups out of the box. With minor work (i.e. trigger
job, trued bolt face and bedding) it shoots 3 shot groups in the .2's
and 5 shot groups in the low .3's.
Jay
Life is short, hunt hard
drw
I have a Savage 112V. It frequently gives .5" five shot groups with a good
handload, and never over 1" with any load. I can consistently hit 20 oz
soda bottles at 400 yds with it at my camp in Northern MI. It has also
connected on a 450 yd crow. I would say that you can't beat Savage for the
money. No doubt as to the cartirdge, .22-250. Hotter than a .223, not as
rough on barrels and cases as .220 Swift. If you intend to do alot of high
volume fire at targets within 350 yards, go with a .223, it falls on its
face much past that. I fired expert many times with an M16, USMC ranges go
to 500 meters, and while you can hit at that range, I'm not too convinced
of the results. Just an opinion....
DAVE
Manfred and Remy (GSPs)
Mauser (GSD)
Shannon McNeil <sn...@netdoor.com> wrote in article
<01bd2ced$cb8e16c0$8d9b89d0@preinstalledcom>...
Thomas Fournier
KDolsen197 wrote:
> I bought a Rem 700 bdl in 22-250 two weeks ago and fired Winchester ballistic
> silvertips ( which is combo with Win and Nosler) anyways I shot 5 shot at
> 100yrds and can put a quarter over the whole group, which is very god for the
> rifle and also me.
I like accurate rifles as much as the next guy, but don't you think that
deification is over the top? ;-)
Keep your stick on the ice,
Thos.
Mike
On Tue, 3 Feb 1998 15:48:13 CST, Shannon McNeil <sn...@netdoor.com>
wrote:
>Would the best (accuracy) out of the box varmint rifle (with heavy barrel)
<snip to save band width>
> Shannon McNeil
>
Shannon,
the best out of the box rifle I've ever seen is a friends Ruger #1V in
.220 Swift. If you go with this rifle I'll get you his loads for
starters.
mike
Brian Adams
Jay Johnson wrote:
> No question. Remington 700 Varmint Synthetic. Mine is in .220 Swift
> and shot .5 in groups out of the box. With minor work (i.e. trigger
> job, trued bolt face and bedding) it shoots 3 shot groups in the .2's
> and 5 shot groups in the low .3's.
I agree that the 700 VS is the best OOB platform.
But just curious, why did you feel the need to re-bed that HS Precision
stock, and how did you bed it? How much of the accuracy improvement
do you attribute to the stock bedding?
Thanks,
Brian Adams
Reno
--
Brian Adams
Reno
You must remove the obvious anti-spam part of my e-mail address.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bob Carman
I purchased a Rem. 700 PSS in .308 a few years ago and found it to be
very accurate out of the box. I had to lighten the trigger pull a tad
"out of the box".
The best factory ammo for target was Hornady custom 168g bthp. 2 shots
in the same hole and 1 flyer approx .25" on third shot. Barrel getting
warm maybe?
R72267
i bought the ruger m77vtmk11 in a 22-250 heavy barrel last week.
i didnt buy any factory bullets,opting to load my own.
using hornady 40gr. v-max and 34 grains of h4895 i shot
.5 inch groups, and that is with the first loads i tried.
i have a rugersame gun but in .223 and can shot 5 shots and all holes be
touching. i dont think you can beat the gun for the money, i dont think
custom rifles claim more than i inch groups.
William F. Reeder
I own several Brownings, a Tikka (make by Sako) and a Remington VLS 700 in .223
caliber. Without question, the Remington is the most accurate out of the box. I
load my own, but I do that for all of my rifles, so that factor is taken in to
account. With the Remington, I get .253 five shot groups (essentially one hole)
at 200 yards consistently. That is as good as it gets! The trigger was easily
adjusted. No question for an out of the box choice, go with the Remington.
>Would the best (accuracy) out of the box varmint rifle (with heavy barrel)
>be the Rem., Ruger, Savage, or Browning? What whorks for you? What caliber
>for best accuracy? Within these brands, I can afford, but 'costum made'
>varmint rifles are too high for my blood. So which will it be. Thank you
>greatly to all who respond.
> Shannon McNeil
>
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Mark Przybylowski
Shannon McNeil wrote:
>
> Would the best (accuracy) out of the box varmint rifle (with heavy barrel)
> be the Rem., Ruger, Savage, or Browning? What whorks for you? What caliber
> for best accuracy? Within these brands, I can afford, but 'costum made'
> varmint rifles are too high for my blood. So which will it be. Thank you
> greatly to all who respond.
I own/shoot a Sako L579 H.B in 220Swift. It shoots the "new" 50gn V-max
bullets a little under 4000 f.p.s with consistent 0.5" @ 100mt for 5
shots. I recently had the trigger worked and a shoe fitted and
performance on varmints has to be seen to be believed.
Other offerings that also work well (without the same range) are:
22/250REM
223REM
222 REM MAG
22PPC
6mm PPC
More Specialized offering are:
25/06REM.
257WBY.
243WIN.
6mm REM.
7mm MAG.
300 WIN MAG.
7mm STW
30/378WBY
338/378WBY
50BMG
....etc....etc...
The latter choices are for real "stretch out" work on windier days. But
you have to cope with more recoil, noise, richochets, and cost.
If you want a really accurate rifle "out of the box" the Remington 700
is really hard to beat. There are a host of hop up parts available, and
as the action is "round" it is easy to set up in a lathe if you want to
do any re-machining/accurizing. But now we're getting ahead of
ourselves.
I'd recommend one of the New VSSF in 220Swift, Topped off with Leupolds
6.5-20X50mm A.O.L.R. Get a trigger job for it and go and shoot. If you
don't reload I would suggest the same Gun/Scope combo but in 22/250REM.
Regards,
Mark..
--
Check out My Hunting Page at:
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/1278
Check back as it changes often.
Jay Johnson
Brian Adams wrote:
> Jay Johnson wrote:
> > No question. Remington 700 Varmint Synthetic. Mine is in .220 Swift
> > and shot .5 in groups out of the box. With minor work (i.e. trigger
> > job, trued bolt face and bedding) it shoots 3 shot groups in the .2's
> > and 5 shot groups in the low .3's.
>
> I agree that the 700 VS is the best OOB platform.
>
> But just curious, why did you feel the need to re-bed that HS Precision
> stock, and how did you bed it? How much of the accuracy improvement
> do you attribute to the stock bedding?
Brian,
I attribute most of the accuracy improvement to the trigger job and
truing the action. Load development played a big role as well, I pretty
much stuck with H414 powder and changed bullets and seating depth until
I found that awesome combination. Those groups were shot with 55 gr.
Berger MEF bullets at near max. oal. (about .015 inch from lands) and at
3800 fps.
The gunsmith who did the work recommended that we rebed the action.
He's a very reputable gunsmith with lots of experience with Rem. 700's.
Something about the machined surface not being perfectly uniform and he
could make a more uniform area by bedding.
Whatever the reason, it works great.
Jay
Mikjrob
Just to weigh-in on the 700 BDL thing, I have one with the heavy Varmint bbl in
.308 that continues to print one-hole, three-shot groups when I do my part, the
moon is in the seventh house, etc.
Brian Adams
Bob Carman wrote:
>
> I purchased a Rem. 700 PSS in .308 a few years ago and found it to be
> very accurate out of the box. I had to lighten the trigger pull a tad
> "out of the box".
> The best factory ammo for target was Hornady custom 168g bthp. 2 shots
> in the same hole and 1 flyer approx .25" on third shot. Barrel getting
> warm maybe?
Not enough shots to conclude anything about the gun's accuracy. And
it's certainly inappropriate to label that third shot a "flyer."
Show me a 10-shot group, 9 of them inside a circle of, say, 1-inch
diameter, with the 10th hole a good inch or two (at least) outside the
circle, now *that's* a flyer!
--
Brian Adams
Reno
You must remove the obvious anti-spam part of my e-mail address.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jim Goddard
Shannon McNeil wrote:
>
> Would the best (accuracy) out of the box varmint rifle (with heavy barrel)
> be the Rem., Ruger, Savage, or Browning? What whorks for you? What caliber
> for best accuracy? Within these brands, I can afford, but 'costum made'
> varmint rifles are too high for my blood. So which will it be. Thank you
> greatly to all who respond.
The varmint guns from all of the above are pretty much equivalent. All
have the Al block bed, floated 'heavy' barrel, synthetic/laminated
stock,.... Although the models with BOSS (Browning only in the varmint)
have the capability to give better performance as they can be 'tuned' to
the stuff you're shooting at the moment. Im planning to reload so it
wasnt that great an advantage. I made the choice primary on fit/feel
and caliber. I agree about the custom guns - they were too rich for me
too. Anyway I wound up with a Win 70 in .243 for myself and a Savage
112 in .223 as a second gun for those (many) times the gang wants to
come to the range with me. The Savage doesnt feed well from the mag and
has a horrible trigger. This isnt a big problem since the kids shoot
single shot only and cant out shoot the gun yet. When they get more
praticed then Ill have it slicked up.
As for caliber I picked the .243 since it can be used for both varmints
and deer. Although I had initially planned to use it deer hunting my
main deer gun is a Win 1300 slug gun. The .223 is mainly a practice gun
so it had to be inexpensive to shoot.
Hal Dougherty
The best varmint rifle out of the box is a lot like the ultimate
cartridge. Everybody has an opinion...
In my opinion the Remington 700-VS is the ultimate non-custom varmint
rifle. I own them in .222, .22-250, and .243. I also own several other
brands and styles. The heavy barrel Remington's are the quickest to
find a load that will go under 1/2 inch. The only rifle I've not been
able to get an under 1" group at 100 yards was a Ruger 77/22 in .22
Hornet. Darn rifle wouldn't group under an inch with any load. So I
swapped it for a Ruger #1 in .22 Hornet that shoots 3/4" groups.
Anybody else have an opinion? Let's hear 'em. I don't think any of the
rifles on the market today are poor choices. (heck I own most of 'em) I
just find the Remington 700-VS the easiest to get to find a
target/varmint load.
Here's a photo of one of my rifles.
http://www.public.usit.net/hald/rr1.jpg
rr2.jpg is a close up. It's a Winchester Model 70 Lightweight in .308
with a muzzle break and a custom inline thumbhole stock. I know it's
not a varmint rifle, but what the heck, I can carry it all day deer
hunting. The muzzlebreak isn't a boss, but with the addition of spacers
before I screw on the boss, it works fine to tune the rifle to the load.
The recoil is so reduced that I can see the bullet impact using a 130g
Sierra (pistol) bullet and varget powder.
Another rilfe of mine is the background graphic at this url:
It's my .22-250 Remington 700-VS tiled. The 700-V with the dime on the
reciver was shot by Scott Sutherland (sco...@usit.net) a few years ago.
We tried to get a 5 shot group inside a dime, but ran out of dimes
before we were able to get 5 shots in a dime without breaking the rim.
If anybody out there can, at 100 yards, shoot a 5 shot group inside a
dime, I'd love to see the picture!
Hal Dougherty / ha...@usit.net
In article <34E351...@perf.zko.dec.com>, god...@perf.zko.dec.com says...