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meles meles wrote:The Tikka is a good suggestion but, beggin' your pardon ooman, .223 / 5.56 is short range stuff in our opinion.

Tikkas are exceptional rifles, if you can get one "pre-T3, Sako" flavour.

My old .223, a Savage 12BVSS, would bang V-bulls all day at 800 with it's prefered load. My new .223, a Browning TCT also has that potential and further...

meles meles wrote:Tikkas are well made too, handcrafted by trolls in Finland we believe. Their stainless steel barrels are up there with the best of them...

Got to be sure of it's age and history, particularly if looking at second hand. Some nine or ten years ago, there was a spate of stainless barrels on Tikkas splitting like a banana skin. Most appeared in Australia and New Zealand and a particular batch of guns with suspect barrel steel was identified. Tikka conducted a recall, but, not all of that batch went to the Southern Hemisphere but all round the world. Every now and then, one turns up..... usually accompanied with pics of the exploded barrel....

techguy wrote:Any other suggestions?

Savage 12BVSS. Without doubt, the ugliest, but most accurate, out of the box rifle I've ever owned...

CZ597 Varmint. Laminate or Kevlar stock, with detach mags. Only 5 rounds though. Use a "super short action" to keep everything stiff. Nearly bought one. Barry has one though...

My current .223 is a Browning A-Bolt TCT. When I get to a full bore shoot, you're more than welcome to have a cabbie.

Another well under rated rifle, but not black, is the Ruger VT (varmint target). Heavy barreled, solid laminate stock, Mauser type action. Thankfully prices are still low because people really don't know how good these are! Mine was in .243.

Winchester Model 70 Stealth. If you can find one. pe4king has one and it's a really impressive piece of kit.

Howa 1500 Varmint. Loads of guys in my other club have these. Optional bolt ons and replacement Gucci stuff is coming available all the time. The action is rapidly becoming popular in custom builds because they are that good and Remington became that bad....

Cheers Sim (and everyone else) that has given me plenty to read up on :)

Sim G wrote:

techguy wrote:Any other suggestions?

Another well under rated rifle, but not black, is the Ruger VT (varmint target). Heavy barreled, solid laminate stock, Mauser type action. Thankfully prices are still low because people really don't know how good these are! Mine was in .243.

Winchester Model 70 Stealth. If you can find one. pe4king has one and it's a really impressive piece of kit.

Howa 1500 Varmint. Loads of guys in my other club have these. Optional bolt ons and replacement Gucci stuff is coming available all the time. The action is rapidly becoming popular in custom builds because they are that good and Remington became that bad....

Blimey Sim!
You and I must be thinking along the same lines..... Top one is a Win 70 Stealth (in 308) but modified a bit.
Next one down is a Ruger 77 VT (in 223). I brought it for my wife to shoot but I love it as it is so damn accurate. I was looking for a Howa Varmint laminate for her but this one cropped up at a silly price and I couldnt turn it down. It was a display model that did the rounds of the gun shows and I was assured that it was unfired, it was unmarked and 1/2 the price of a 'new one'.

meles meles wrote:The Tikka is a good suggestion but, beggin' your pardon ooman, .223 / 5.56 is short range stuff in our opinion.

.223 can reach out to 1000 yds with the right bullet and barrel twist, however I've not shot my .223 AR15 beyond 600 yds.

223 will go to 1200 yards with the right setup. I was shooting mine at 1100 yesterday and it was working OK. Need to get the 90vld working really though - the 82 Berger is not ideal that far out. There was a chap in the states shooting one with the 80 amax out to a mile, so it can be done.

The amax is very forgiving as it goes transonic, so it is a good bullet if it works for you (my gun hates it).

I shoot a factory savage f/tr.

My advice is ... Get a Remington SPS tactical. Shoot it. Load it with 75gr Hornady BTHP. Will do 600 yards. When you get bored, get a gunsmith to put a 30-inch medium profile 7-twist barrel on it, and ask for it to be throated to seat the 90vld long. Then shoot that. If you get the load right, you can keep up with the best in the world.

So I had another thought...how about a steyr aug?

Have a read of Dave Sattar's review on a thread of mine, very informative. I really like the look of the Steyr (+VLTOR) AUG A3... :cheers:

http://www.full-bore.co.uk/viewtopic.ph ... 44#p131244

techguy wrote:So I had another thought...how about a steyr aug?