Best Varmint GUn?

[frank1947]

A_Gamedog, glad you did put your 2 cents in, I shoot my .223 more then any other in 200 yard varmint class heres mine with a Hart stock i got at stock Stocks http://s732.photobucket.com/albums/w...0for%20savage/ , talk about low recoil my F Class savage in 6mm br is better then 223 doesnt move a hair as far as optics i will use several i plan to take 3 or 4 guns, leupold 6x18 variable Target.Hunter 1/8 dot--leupold competition 45x i have on two guns one is 1/8 dot other fine cross hair and a T36 weaver and a bushnel 5x15, I really want a Nightforce 15x42 with NP-R1 or NP-R2 most common sence recticle i have ever seen the bars are in 1 moa and 2 moa far better then any mildot with mildot you have to be a mathematical genous to figure in your head,my memory at 63 is not that great i need simple, useing MOA you should know your drop you can go 1000 yards no problem.

one more thing is brass i can get tons of 223 brass , I sell it for a indoor range, and best part most is once fired , but we sell in big volume 55 gallon drums mixed caliber right off the floor all over the country also have a web store for regular 1000 and 500 lot buyers, I have contacted by phone the owner of this site to be a vendor but have not got around to doing it yet plus we had a fire a month ago that was contained to the range destroyed 30% of the rafters so the range is shut down until we get it fixed about Febuary we have 18 bays at this time of year they are normally packed with shooters, but gun sales are good right now we are in arnold missouri since i am not sure if i can put a link to it i wont but you can google it top gun shooting sports.

[phantom]

Yoda . . and the rest of the posters . . I have found that the 17 is a great caliber for just about all of the Fur Keepers, only an entrance wound. My cousins wife has been shooting coyotes with the 17 HMR and doing a fine job with it out to 150+ yards, she says they just "Keel over" !! I put together a 17 Rem. Fire Ball last year and it is getting to be nearly the "go to" gun. I took it to the PD fields last year and had a great time with it out to 300 yards, but it loads up pretty quickly - about 100 rounds and it needs to be "de-coppered", but, to that point . . it's like shooting a laser ! I used the foam copper remover and cleaned it out and I was back to shooting it again. I put some ultra-bore agent in it and it cleans up quickly. That is one neat cartridge, I reload for it exclusively, but got a wild hair and bought some factory to see what it was doing . . wow . . over the chrono it was doing 4020 fps pretty consistently . . I haven't quite got my reloads to go that fast yet, but close and more importantly . . dead on accurate !! It will put a 20 gr. pill into a 1/2" dot at 200 yards. Everything I have pulled the trigger on it with so far has died . . .

The .223 is still the go to gun on PD's, but the 22-250 is the stand by for that, and as far as recoil, hardly noticeable, unless you have had Rotator Cup surgery . . then you may notice it some. I shoot the 55 gr. V-Max in mine and it works well to around the 300 yard line and that is about as good as these ole eyes are going to get these days. I do go further out with the 22-250 but not much, it is not a game of how far out we can get them with the guys I run with, hitting them with the least amount of shots is. Dribbling lead across the desert isn't all the fun it used to be . . . Now we try to hit them with the first or second shot and keep the shots to a minimum . . granted it is still a shooting game, but it is getting more expensive all the time.

I am in the process of putting a 6 BR together, would like to make it to the field with it this year, time will tell !! But I usually take the .223's and the 17's and go have a good time. The 250 is always along though, I just can't seem to go afield without it any more, too good a cartridge to leave home, the picture of it is still on this link above. . .

I am going to try this year, after the deer season to get into the field and do some coyote calling, we have a place down along the Red River that is full and need to be culled out some, going to get to see just what the 17 RFB will really do, the animals I have shot with it so far didn't take a step, and the friends that I have that shoot it say the same thing about the coyotes that are hit with it. I also have a 17 Rem, but have had a hard time getting it to the same level of accuracy as the Fire Ball, don't know why, it just isn't quite there, good caliber, but for some reason it just doesn't want to step up to the plate like the FB did, still working on it though. I got a book on "all" of the 17's and it has a lot of good info in it, trying most of it yet.

Phantom . .

[Yoda]

Thanks phantom, the fireball was another cartridge I will be looking at before the stevens gets a new barrel..

[A_Gamehog]

Yoda:

I call coyotes now but 35 years ago I was a fur trapper 4 months out of the year. "Killed just about everything that walked or crawled" 50+ grey fox in a season was average.

The 17 HMR is highly accurate, fun to shoot, but not right for a coyote, I have one I shoot a lot, a gut shot to a P-Dog leaves them crawling back to the hole but not very humanely.

Some P-Dogs are not even crawling, they are running with virtually no effect seen. All you hear is a "Pop" then they leave.

The 17 Fireball when used is fouled before 50+ shots, If you are a high volume shooter the .223 is the ticket especially if you buy over the counter ammo. If you reload

it's a no brainer, .223 hands down.

If you are only going to get one gun and shoot less than 1,000 rds each year, then the 22BR, 22-250, .243, 6BR, in that order. They all use more

powder than the 204 or the .223. I shot many coyotes in my younger years with a 30-06 because that's all I had, I used 2 lb fishing line to sew

the 147 FMJ hole back up before the fur sale.

[bubbinator]

I am blessed with multiple HB Varmint rifles and a couple not so HV tack-drivers as well. But if it absolutely has to be dead right there- my circa 1970s Savage M10 26" HB .220 Swift w/ 10X glass. Speer #8 Manual yields excellent loads w/ 4064 and a Sierra 55gr. SPBT and a Speer 52gr HPBT load near 4000 fps. Most recent victim was a feral dog harassing on of my female dogs in heat. He stopped to look back on the far side of a 10 acre pasture later laser-ranged @ 375 yds. My Rem M700 .223 HB is a 1-hole grouper w/ handloads as is my glass-bedded Rem 788 in .222.

[Terry Balding]

It's really hard to beat a Savage LRPV in .204 with a Nightforce 12-42 Benchrest scope with their mil dot reticle.

Terry

[Duster]

For small carry rifle...I like my CZ 527 American in.204. But in the winter I carry my snow camo M10 Savage in .223...both rifles have Nitrex 3x15x42 scopes on them. Both these rifles are used for crows and woodchuck.

[macon]

i have a model 12 bctss 204 its deadly on dogs out past 400 yds,ive shot pdogs at 600 with it and i have a remmy 204 with a 1-9 twist bbl. i shoot berger 50 and 55 gr pills through it and it has killed yotes past 500 yds no problems

[bubbinator]

My everyday, out of the gun safe ready to deploy is my Savage .220 Swift 26" HB w/ a Bushnell 10X scope. Load is 55gr. Sierra BTSPs or Speer 52gr HPBTs over IMR 4064 (Speer #8). Last deployment was feral dog bothering my hound dogs that stpped to look back across a 20 acre pasture. Lasered after the shot-355 yds. and I don't even remember holding over! DRT, not a kick.

[savy22br]

I like the 22br model 12bvss same velocity as 22-250 less better accuracy less powder means less heat barrel will last much longer. But thats just what works for me to each his own! :)

[Luckus]

My all around favorite,Ruger 77 ts 220 Swift. 2.5x8 VariX111, 39 grs 4064 50 and 55 gr bullets that are accurate. Mostly Hornady and Noslers. Also kills deer right now.

[efw]

Savage's new walking varminter in 204 Ruger looks like a real winner to me... nice beavertail design in the stock for solid benchrest performance, reasonably light weight taper in the barrel and action so you don't kill yourself carrying over hill and dale.

I'm looking forward to hearing about results w/ these rifles.

My personal favorite varmint rifle is a Remington built 03-A3 w/ a Sako take-off barrel chambered to 6mm-250 and stocked in a beautiful Fajen w/ cheek piece. I topped it w/ a period-correct Weaver K6 microtrak and while it is heavy it is UBBER accurate and a real joy to shoot.