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Which gun, which caliber?


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In another thread I asked about bolt gun thoughts. Based on the following please vote and then feel free to leave comments.

This will NOT be a hunting or competition gun. This is for me to learn to shoot better and the targets will be card board silhouettes, various fruits and veggies, milk jugs, etc. Esentially this a gun that will further my addiction to shooting stuff because it's fun. I imagine max distance will be 500 yards +/-.

Everyone has their personal favorite bolt gun. After doing a load of window shopping on the net my choices are limited to three rifles and two calibers.
 
Savage rifles have some of the best out of the box accuracy you will find even compared to rifles of a muchhigher price point. They are known for their extremely good barrels and decades of experiance with the same tried and ture actions. My son bought a BI MART special Savage model 111 package in 30-06 that with Remington factory ammo is shooting 3 shot groups at 100 yards of under 1" and he is NOT an experianced bolt action shooter. This is with the maybe $50.00 Bushnell scope and NO work to the rifle. The rifle cost him $329.00 on sale.

Now when he changes the rifle from the stock Synthetic Stock (read molded plastic) to a Boyds Parrire Hunter ($120.00 in Walnut) And glass beds the action ($20.00). Changes the Scope for a Mueller 3-10X - 44mm Sport dot And gets in more then 50 rounds of practice I would estimate the rifle will be able to make 5 shot groups at 100 yards that cloverleaf and 1/2-3/4 MOA groups beyond.

His total investment in the rifle will be under $700.00 And it will last him the rest of his life.

My Dad Built a Custom Left Hand rifle using a Savage 110DL Barreled action in 1967 and that rifle to date has gone deer hunting every season since has taken dozens of Blacktail and Mule Deer been used by four different hunters and is still tight still shoots Quarter Sized 5 shot groups at 200 yards and still looks good.

My comments about the Model 12 VLP DBM in .243 I just bought are in the other thread.

That is why I would suggest a Savage rifle to learn to shoot better.
 
I had a Savage in 30-06 and it was amazing for the money I paid. Of course, I really babied it, spared no expense or time on cleaning & maintaining it properly, etc. It was a very accurate rifle, even with the cheap glass, I can only imagine what I could've done with a nicer scope. I had at least a couple gun snobs at the range admit their first hunting rifles (Savages) were really hard to top...

If I ever bought another bolt-action rifle, it would be a Savage 10 w/ Accutrigger in .308 Winchester. It's $500 very well spent.
 
Been a Rem 700 fan forever: from when the hot(picky) shooters were buying Mod 70's and Savage was much lower quality. Products change, but don't try to take my Remington....lol
.30 cal can't be beat: available, accurate, efficient.
 
For what you describe as the use of this gun I would suggest the Savage in .223. The reason for this choice is you can save money on the rifle and purchase a better optic and/or stock. With a good scope and practice with load testing and wind adjustments 500 yards with a .223 is no problem. .223 is still pretty cheap to reload as well. If you ever get tired of it you could sell that setup to get into a .308 later and start shooting longer distances.
 

This will NOT be a hunting or competition gun.
This is for me to learn to shoot better and the targets will be card board silhouettes, various fruits and veggies, milk jugs, etc. Esentially this a gun that will further my addiction to shooting stuff because it's fun. I imagine max distance will be 500 yards +/-.

Given what you just said, 7.62x54r should be on that poll
 
Pick up an old Soviet Mosin-Nagant. It is not a precision rifle, but it is accurate enough, and CHEAP. It is also full power cartridge, with full recoil and blast (read fun) and it is CHEAP. I have heard all the good stuff about Savages and I agree. But you could get a Mosin and a boat load of ammo for the same price. It will ring steel at 500 yards if you do your part, and it will be lots of fun on cantaloupes and old cabbages!
 
I dislike the bolt design on the Savage. I don't mind the Remington, but I really like the Howa actions. I think if they said "Made in the USA" instead of Japan, they would be one of the best selling rifles around. At 500 yards or less, either caliber would work, but the .308 would let you move to longer ranges eventually if you wanted...
 
Please explain. Are you referring to mechanical function? Shape of handle? So what, all 3 are push feed?

Aesthetically, its ugly. But ugly works. Push feed is push feed, so. But I don't like the small detents and springs in the bolt. Since I'm a gunsmith (not working at the moment, but a gunsmith never the less), I don't like small pieces that tend to launch themselves during assembly and disassembly. But Savages work.
I just prefer building my rifles off Howa actions. The recoil surfaces inlet and bed nicely, the extractor is nice and beefy, it has the same receiver diameter as a Remington, so rings and bases are available in most any flavor (although Savages are getting more popular and hence easier to find). I also do not like the accu-trigger on the Savages. The way my finger works on a rifle trigger, I feel I have to put too much finger on the trigger to engage the center bar. Just preferences. All three would technically do what the OP wants to do...
 
2. The external barrel nut allows easy barrel and thus caliber changes.

So wouldn't this make the quote below make sense? I am all geared up for .223 reloading already. I could always "up-caliber" couldn't I?

For what you describe as the use of this gun I would suggest the Savage in .223. The reason for this choice is you can save money on the rifle and purchase a better optic and/or stock. With a good scope and practice with load testing and wind adjustments 500 yards with a .223 is no problem. .223 is still pretty cheap to reload as well. If you ever get tired of it you could sell that setup to get into a .308 later and start shooting longer distances.

Given what you just said, 7.62x54r should be on that poll

No. Ammo access and ease of ability to reload for it were a part of my decision to keep this to a choice between .223 and .308.

Pick up an old Soviet Mosin-Nagant. It is not a precision rifle, but it is accurate enough, and CHEAP.

No offense but I had definite poll choices and this MOST DEFINITELY is not among them ... in case you hadn't noticed. I am not after cheap or any thing I can buy on sale at Big 5. I am making a choice between three specific guns in one of two calibers for a number of reasons.
 

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