Walk around varminter?

[nonliberal]

I have found a niche in my gun safe that needs to be filled. I have several varmint rifles, but they are all 10+LB rifles which is fine from a rest or bipod, but gets pretty heavy walking around or shooting them offhand. .223 is the caliber i want this time because I have over 1000 rounds of Vmax .223 ammo and I sold the rifle they were meant for.
What rifle do you guys recommend that is as accurate as a varminter but light enough to carry and shoot offhand with ease? It doesn't need to be an ultra lite or anything, just not over 10 pounds with the scope. It will be used for Coyotes, squirrels, crows, etc. I would like to stay under $750 for this particular rifle, lower is even better.

 

[th82457]

Buy a CZ527 American. Very accurate, set trigger and economically priced. Weighs about 7 lbs. minus scope.

 

[dtucker]

I highly recommend buying a tikka lite in 223. If for some reason you want to change the stock you can get a B&C stock that it will drop right in. It has the bedding block like the HS and all. When you get tired of it you have a super action to build on. You can open the stock up some for a larger sporter barrel if you want and go to another caliber. ;D

 

[K22]

I have three walking around varmint rifles, all in 223, but like you I also have a whole safe full of 10 lb+ varmint rifles. The older I get the more I find myself taking those "walking around" rifles with me.

The three "walking around" rifles that I have are: Two Rem Model 7's, 20" and 18 1/2 inch barrels and a Browning X Bolt Composite Stalker. All three shoot under 1 moa with tailored reloads with the X Bolt hovering around 1/2 moa. I highly recommend the X Bolt Stalker; great trigger, great handling, easy loading and feeding, and excellent accuracy. It comes with a 12" twist which handles the 50 and 55 grain bullet very well.

Both Rem Model 7's required bedding the actions before I could get them shooting consistency under 1 moa.

As another poster mentioned the Tikka T3 lite and this seems like a good choice too. I have one a 243 and really like it. My only question is on the accuracy of the 223 version with 50 grain bullets since it has 8" twist. Perhaps some owners might want to chime it on this aspect.

 

[nonliberal]

Great suggestions guys! I will start doing my home homework now.

 

[Catfish]

Don`t over look the Savage. There are alot of good ones out there.

 

[CanusLatransSnpr]

The Thompson/Center Venture seems to be a great value and claims pretty good accuracy too! The barrels are 5r rifled, hogue stock, detachable mag, and 12 twist to shoot up to 60gr. bullets. With some work, I've heard the triggers can worked down to a very respectable pull weight. Just a thought!

Mike

 

[284driver]

My walker is a TC encore 16 1/4" 243 with a choate folder. what's funny is that that is considered an assault weapon by Diane Feinstein and her constituents.

 

[GSPV]

+1 for the Tikka.

I have one in 243 for coyotes. It's a great little rifle. Action is smooth as silk. Nice, crisp trigger.

 

[pacificman]

I just bought a savage model 25 in 22 hornet about 9 month's ago. Was wanting a cz in 221 firball but couldn't seem to get one. Savage makes other calibers in their model 25 also. I finally found a reload that is very acceptable which will be devastating to the prairie poodles this year. Let us know what you come up with as looked like a lot of other good suggestions mentioned also.

 

[Lapua40X]

OK, I know there are shooters out there who will turn a thumbs down on a rifle under .223 for coyotes. But there are a lot of guys who are as successful using the 17HMR as a "walk around" off hand varminter.
That said, I'd suggest you look at:

http://www.ruger.com/products/rotaryMagazine7717/models.html

I've use it out to 300 yards for ground squirrels. It's an awesome little rifle and you can buy 17HMR rim fire ammo for just about the same price as you can reload .223.

 

[flatlander]

I'll 2nd the recommendation for the CZ527. I purchased one of their carbines in 7.62x39, simply because that's the same boltface as the PPC or Grendel, and I wanted a smaller than standard bolt action for a 6 RAT project. The RAT is based on the 6.5 Grendel case necked down to 6mm & fireformed to blow the body .100" forward, and create a 40* shoulder. I used a #3 sporter contour from Krieger, turning the shank down from 1.250" to 1.070" for a better match of the receiver, and finished it at 24". Pulled the OEM set trigger & replaced it with a Rifle Basix from Sinclair, bedded the action with Devcon, added a Sightron Big Sky 4.5-14x44 in the 1" rings that came with the carbine, and wound up with an 8-1/2lb rifle that's just plain 'cute', and shoots great.

Only problem I've got with it is that the RAT doesn't feed 100% from the magazine - need to spend some time figuring out how to modify the magazine lips to fix that issue, as the 527's Mauser-style extractor makes it a controlled-feed action, so you need the rounds' rim to slip up & under the extractor.

 

[Rust]

Recommend taking a serious look at the CZ's. The little detachable box mag carbine is pretty nice and fairly accurate to boot. My last CZ, a .17 HMR needed to be bedded to tighten the groups up a bit (walnut stock). My other CZ's were good enough that I haven't done anything to them yet. For instance the .416 easily shoots minute of elephant and makes an interesting hog rifle. Still trying to get three to line up in a row.

One nice thing about the CZ's is they scale the action for the cartridge family so they are pretty trim and light, and they are forged receivers. The rings work pretty well to and with the receiver mount rings no bases required.

 

[Ringostar]

I looked into this same situation several years ago. I didn't want to carry a heavy varmint rifle for miles, through the snow, chasing yotes. I decided on a Tikka T/3 Lite stainless. They shoot great, and at the time were only $500 !

 

[nonliberal]

Wow! a lot of great choices.