What is a good varmint pistol cal. ?

[Austin]

I am wanting to build a varmint pistol but don't know where to start.I am looking for a good caliber for a for Coyotes, Rock Chucks,and Sage Rats.It will be used to mabey 200yds.It will be on a REM short action.I have narrowed it down to a few but still to many.204ruger,221rem fireball,223rem,22ppc,6mmppc, 6mmbr.Do you guys have any sudgestions on calibers.Also who makes a good walnut or syn. pistol stock.

 

[NeilNE]

Any one of the cal. you suggest are good for 200yds. I shoot a 6TCU and 223 AI. I got my BR pistol stock for Six Lee.

 

[mikeinct]

I'd build a Savage striker in 6 MMBR...In the pistol I'd take advantage of a slower rifling twist than I use in my rifle..say a twelve twist, instead of the ten twist I like in a varmint rifle...The lighter [say under 75 grains]6mm bullets would be perfect for up to two hundred yd shooting...The savage gun is easy to do swap barrels on..If u neeeded or wanted to the bolt face could be converted to accept 223 diameter cartridges..You would be able to cover all your needs up to & including a pretty serious big game cartridge in that action..It could accept a 308 lenght so there are many fine choices..The 35 remington comes to mind..Building one really good pistol with a good trigger & one good scope sight on a stock that fits you..then u have something there..good luck, mike in ct

 

[roninboise]

My personal varmint pistols are a Competitor in 17 Rem. and an XP100 in 223. I have 7X Burris pistol scopes on both,a 10X has to small a field of view) I limit the 17 rem to about 125 yards but have taken Rock Chucks out to 200 yards with the XP. I use a 25gr. bullet in the 17 and a 52gr. Berger in the 223. I moly coat everything.

Ron Baldner

 

[Preacher]

Austin,
You can not build a pistol on a SA Remington action, the ATF will not allow that.
But you can find a XP-100 and build to your hearts content with no problem from the ATF guys.
A 6mm BR is the most accurate of any of the cartridges you mentioned.
I shoot a 6br in a 20 inch bench rest type pistol with a 1 in 14 twist and 66 grain Fowlers are awesome, and I shoot ground hogs out to 300 yards with it.
If you have trouble finding a stock for the XP let me know and maybe I can help you out with that.

 

[Cheechako]

Austin

It's a good thing the preacher saw your post before you got too far into your project. He's right. Building a pistol from a rifle receiver will get you nothing but grief and possibly some boyfriends in Leavenworth. Use an XP 100, a Stolle Cub, or a Dodd pistol action.

Preacher

Not to be a disagreeable sort, but the 6PPC is a much more accurate cartridge, in a pistol or otherwise, out to 500 or 600 yards. Back when there were NBRSA pistol Benchrest matches, most, if not all of the pistols were chambered for the PPC. A lot of 100 yard groups in the ones and the pistols beat the BR rifles a few times, head to head.

Ray

 

[Austin]

Thanks guys for watching out for me.Why do the ATF have a problem with rifle actions?

 

[SnakeEye]

Thanks guys for watching out for me.Why do the ATF have a problem with rifle actions?

The answer is ..they are idiots....!

Now to answer your question, in a long range pistol I think most varmints can be taken out to 400-500 yards. My choice would be a very accurate round that doesn't recoil to bad and give you more confidence in long shots. My choice would be anything in a PPC cse, 17 ppc, 20 ppc, 22 ppc 6 ppc. Next choice would be 20, 22, 6 mm in a BR case. Other choice would be anything in the .223 case. Next would be a good rifle scope, 4.5x14 min. to a 6.5x20. I like a rear grip stock with a fairly wide forearm that will lay in a sand bag or accomadate a bi-pod.

Here's a few of my rigs:

Rampro 20 ppc, also have a 17m4 barrel for it. http://www.varmintsforfun.com/Rampropistol.html

XP 100 in 22 br http://www.varmintsforfun.com/customxp100.html

Here's a stock you may want to get if you decide on what you want. You can find it here under micellanous. Richard's Custom Rifles

Varmints For Fun

 

[Austin]

Nice rigs.Makes me drule.I have narrowed it down to 5 rounds.22ppc,22br,6ppc,6br,223.I will try to sort through these cartridges for what I want.What bullets and weights do you guys recamend for 200yard chuck to a 400yard hay field coyote for these.What one would you guys pick for a,do it all) cartridge for this.Sorry for picking your brains so much.

 

[Rupe]

Don't mean to muddy the waters, but I shoot a stock rear grip XP chambered in 22-250 Rem that is a shooter. Thinking about building a bench pistol. but chambered in 22-250 AI. You may want to add that one to the mix.

Rupe

 

[Dogfox]

Hi
I have a 6BR in a H&S precision pistol and they know how to make an accurate pistol.It is pushing a 65 grain vmax @ 3223 fps out of a 18 inch barrel using 32 grains of N135.It is topped with a Burris 3X12x32 handgun scope and I can achieve under 1/2 inch groups @ 100 yards.It is a sweet round to shoot and not much recoil as I do not have a muzzle brake on it.
Dogfox

 

[ballistic64]

Austin,
You can not build a pistol on a SA Remington action, the ATF will not allow that.

What if the Rem action is brand new and has never been a rifle yet?

 

[sewwhat89]

It depends on what the action was classified as when it left the factory. The xp actions Remington is using on some of their rifles now cannot be made back into a pistol either. Check with the smith that will be building it, and they should be able to guide you.

 

[Austin]

Thanks everybody.To simplify things,who would go with the 22 category or 6mm category.

 

[sewwhat89]

6mm

If you want to stretch its legs a little more, the bcs are more friendly to allow you to do that, and there are more bullets available too.

 

[Cochran]

I copied this from another forum. Truth or not...I dont know.

"This is a continuing saga of my post on this forum about a legal Remington 700 pistol. After some talks with the BATF I found that I could purchase an action by itself from Midway and assemble it as a pistol. Whala! "

 

[Austin]

HMMMM.Very interesting.I don't see the difference between an action from Midway and a dissasembled 700 rifle.Go figger.

 

[Cheechako]

I copied this from another forum. Truth or not...I dont know.

"This is a continuing saga of my post on this forum about a legal Remington 700 pistol. After some talks with the BATF I found that I could purchase an action by itself from Midway and assemble it as a pistol. Whala! "

I'd get it in writing.

Ray

 

[457ciSBC]

HMMMM.Very interesting.I don't see the difference between an action from Midway and a dissasembled 700 rifle.Go figger.

There's a world of difference. If one takes a previous manfacturered rifle and converts it into a pistol you have manufactured a short barreled rifle, an NFA item.

If Remington sold Midway or Brownells a batch of actions that never were configured as a rifles in any form or fashion, how could you not use the action to make a pistol?

When Sako actions were available the ATF didn't have a problem with them being made into pistols either.

Here's the gist of what I was told by the ATF several years ago.

A factory action that left it's facilities and was distributed as an action only that never was documented and sold as a complete rifle can be made into a pistol.

I was also told that if one takes a pistol and converts it to a rifle that when it sold and documented as a rifle, it can no longer be converted back to a pistol.

Mike

 

[Austin]

Sorry.I was thinking wrong.Thanks Mike for setting me right.