Varmit rifle?????

[Thomass]

I am wanting to have a custom Varmit rifle built for my son. What is the best caliber rifle to use where the ammo cal can be bought over the counter and not something that will needs to be custom ammo?

 

[treeman]

Thomas, You cant go wrong with the 204 ruger or the 223 rem. they are both excelent varmint cartridges that you can buy ammo for over the counter. Another option might be the 17 rem fireball. I bought one earlier this year and it will shoot 3" groups at 300 yrds although that was with handloads.By the way the fireball does 3700fps with a 25gr bullet burning only 17grs or less of powder! No matter which you choose you and your son will have a great time. treeman

 

[mikecr]

Seriously, if you just want to cut checks and keep things simple, this is one route I took:

Buy a Cooper M21, in 223Rem
Buy a Leupold 8.5x25Mk4/M1 and Alumina flip-up covers
Buy Talley medium height base-ring-combo for Coopers
Buy a 'ScopeLevel'
Buy a Harris 25s bipod and a PodLock for it
Buy an Accu-Shot rear monopod
Buy a sling
Buy Remington 50gr Accutip ammo

I painted and baked the barrel matte black with Brownells 'Gun-Kote'. Piece of cake and now it looks as good as it shoots.
This is a nice walking varminter which will shoot ~1/2moa.
Far better with handloads..

 

[Preacher]

The plain old 22/250 is also a good choice if he plans on any long range shooting.

 

[Austin]

Well Id say a 223 also.In my experience with it its a do almost everything round.You can get Fderal eagle or remington umc for very cheap.Next is Ultramax,Good consistant stuff.Then you get a little more spendy with Hornady,Winchester,Remington,and Black Hills.The Hornady,Ultramax,Black Hills are are my favorite factory loaded.The Hornady has a 1/2"-3/4" capability, hot or cold.The Ultramax has the same POI as the hornady but the groups are 3/4"-1".
Hornady- 50-55gr V-Max.
Ultramax- 55gr Nosler B-Tip.
Federal- 55gr Nosler B-Tip.
Black Hills- To many to list.All good.
Remington- 55gr Accu-Tip.
Federal Eagle and Remington UMC 40,45,50gr HP that are just nasty to critters.

 

[Focus]

Have you considered a savage varminter in 22-250? Parts available to make it as custom as you want, 12bvss is pretty much ready to go with maybe a skim bed and trigger adjust tops. Mine shoots well with factory ammo,hornady) and much better with handloads. Not to spendy either....

Focus

 

[0neeyeddrifter]

i have a 204 ruger made by savage, and the 17 remington fireball by remington. i like them both and they both shoot very well out of the box.
the savage has a great trigger, the remington i swapped out the trigger for a jewel w/safety.
i kind of like the 17 fireball, as it will stay on target and you can see your hits. the 204 is pushing 4200 fps and the 17 is doing over 4000 fps. both shoot very flat and would be a good choice for varmint hunting. heck in the 50's we use to shoot .22 to 30-30's, then someone got a 222 and then a 243. i shot a 257 weatherby until the farmers told me to leave the rifle home as the cows would not give milk, boy was it loud.
that also is nice about the 17, it does not have a sharp report, no recoil either.
good luck!!!

 

[yamahaman36]

OK, BY READING YOUR QUESTION I'D ASSUME THAT YOU'VE ALREADY PICKED THE RIFLE BRAND YOU'RE GONNA HAVE CUSTOMIZED RIGHT?? NOW YOU'RE ASKING BOUT WHICH CAL. TO GET. IF YOU'RE WONDERING ABOUT A CUSTOM, I'D GO WITH TH OLD REM M700. NOW, THE CAL. HAS A BIGGER RANGE TO CHOOSE FROM. ALSO, IT'S ACCORDING TO THE AGE OF YOUR SON TOO I THINK. THE EASIEST TO BUY AND FIND AMMO WOULD ABSOLUTELY BE THE .223, AND IT'S ALSO MY FAVORITE, BUT I HANDLOAD. I DON'T KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE, BUT IF WALLY WORLD IS THE ONLY OR CLOSEST OR CHEAPEST PLACE TO BUY YOUR AMMO, ID SURE GO WITH THE .223. BUT IS YOU HAAVE A GOOD GUN STORE NEARBY YOU'LL BE ABLE TO FIND ANY OF THE CAL'S LISTED ABOVE. I KNOW I'VE NEVER SEEN ANY 17 FIREBALL'S AT WALLY WORLD. THE .223 IS NOT VERY LOUD, NO RECOIL, AND RELATIVELY CHEAP,UNLESS YOU HANDLOAD LIKE I DO). MOST FACTORY .223 AMMO WILL BE THE CHEAPEST OF ALL THE CAL'S LISTED ABOVE, AND THE MOST VARIETY AS WELL. I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOUR SON WILL BE HUNTING WITH THIS VARMINT RIFLE MOST OF ALL, OR JUST ALL VARMINTS IN GENERAL. I'VE HAD A .22-250 B4 AND I JUST DIDN'T LIKE IT FOR A # OF REASONS, VERY NOISY AND ACTUALLY HAD ABOUT AS MUCH RECOIL AS A .243 WITH MY LOADS. THE .223 IS NOT NOISY LIKE I SAID, NO RECOIL, AND EASY AND CHEAP TO SHOOT AND VERY ACCURATE AS WELL. IT WILL WORK FINE IN MY OPINION. LIKE I SAID IT'S MY FAVORITE OF EM ALL. BUT I'M GONNA BUY A .204,NEXT GUN TO BUY) AND TRY IT TOO BECAUSE I THINK THAT I WILL LIKE IT TOO. BUT MY .223 LOADS ARE PROBABLY NOT GONNA BE FOUND ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD LIKE I LOAD EM. I STARTED SHOOTING A 35 GR. HP THRU IT WITH A PRETTY STRONG POWDER CHARGE THAT I WOULDN'T RECOMMEND FOR A BEGINNER, OR YOUNGSTER. START SMALL AND BUILD UP. TO BE HONEST I DON'T REALLY KNOW THE FPS MY LIL 35 GR HP'S ARE GOING BUT I'D SAY THE FIRE IS BEHIND EM...LOL. BUT OVERALL, I WOULD GO WITH THE .223 BECAUSE OF VARIETY, PRICE, AND EASY TO FIND...AND GENTLE TO SHOOT. AND IT'S A HELL OF A CARTRIDGE TOO, I'VE SHOT GROUND HOGS,WOODCHUCKS) AT 300+ YRDS B4 SEVERAL TIMES WITH 46 GR. HP'S THAT I USED B4 I SWITCHED. WELL THASS MY REPORT FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH, AND WITH EXPERIENCE COMES KNOWLEDGE !!! PAUL

 

[silverback]

Even if you don't reload sit dowm with a reloading manual and compare some of your caliber choices. The 204 Whoops the snot out of the 223. A 6mm caliber of some sort is a great choice cause it can be used on various game. I am building a Rem 260 I plan on killing anything with for legs,well stopping at elk). Anything higher than a 223 look and make sure that your caliber has a great choice of bullets and weights. Do not fear reloading. It can be a great bonding experience as well and it is by far the cheapest and most accurate way to go.