Need advice on new bunny blatter

[Stalker]

Righto boys. No bullshit, just a poll. Feel free to elaborate but brand and model is fine. I am gonna grab a new .17HMR and would like to know who runs what. Almost purely for bunny work out to 150m, odd fox but that's what .204s were made for......

[Sir Snipealot]

If you want something that is decent quality, it is really hard to go past the Savage BTVS.







It is a great gun in a great caliber. The pic above shows a group that I shot a 75m. Not too bad considering it was the first group shot after sighting it in for the first time. Do yourself a favor and get one in your hands. It is a very comfortable rifle and one hell of a lot of fun.

[kjd]

What does one of them savages set you back sir snipealot?

[Sir Snipealot]

Well I got all excited as it was my first rifle, and bought it for a bout $850.00
I have since seen one advertised in Brisbane for $650.00 brand new. I was devastated.

[fenring]

What does one of them savages set you back sir snipealot?

Mate of mine just got one for about $800 I think it was (mine was $780 about 18 months ago).

Stalker, there are a lot of options out there depending on your budget and what features you want.

A basic blued, hardwood stocked Savage 93R17GV is about $480, the laminate stocked stainless is about $670 and the BTVS as mentioned above is around $800 or more now.

CZ also make great rifles for the $$$ with the heavy barreled Varmint going for about $850 and the lighter American about the same.

Marlin run about the same price as Savage but the triggers are shocking out of the box and the quality has been a bit variable on the ones I've handled.

Ruger also do HMR's and the 9 shot rotary mag is great - they tend to be around $1000 though.

Anschutz are up around the top of the pile and they can be had for about $1100 or more.

[Brad Y]

Marlin VSF are nice rifles and mine shot a 0.3" 4 shot group (full mag) of 20gr CCI gamepoints. Ive done the trigger work myself and it lets off really light. I dont think it would be over a pound. You get the 4 shot and a 7 shot mag with the marlins. Rifle basix triggers are available. Mine was 695 here in WA.

http://www.marlinfirearms.com/Firearms/ ... 917VSF.asp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[fenring]

Brad, out of interest how did you lighten your trigger? A mate of mine had his done by a 'smith and it made a big difference. Dunno whether he did some honing, spring or both.

[Brad Y]

I honed alot of metal off and polished up with 1200 wet and dry. Where the two edges are that let go when you pull the trigger, I also improved that angle to allow less effort in trigger pull. The spring I did file a little off each end to sort of square it up and polished it too. Its dangerously light though. Im talking even go near the trigger and it goes off. It wont slap fire when i give it a bloody good tap around the trigger and bolt and at the end of the butt. But thats how i want it. Just dont have my finger anywhere near it until the crosshairs are settled. I dont have a trigger pull guage but I know the timney on my 22BRX pulls around 2lb and its heavy compared to this little sucker. My guess is 1lb or less

[Stalker]

Thanks boys, better go and have a play with a BTVS, they sound too good to be true.

[Knackers]

I've got a CZ452 varmit, it shot pretty good, but I floated it, got it bedded, and had Shane Clancy tidey up the trigger and it shoots very good now.
If I was going to buy another it would be like Fenrings, thats sweet.

[Davyd]

Wood stocked sako quad with set trigger - knocked of a number of bunnies on the weekend with it the shotgun and the Blaser R93. The sako quad wearing an HMR barrel is my mid range favourite though - like you said long range is .223 and short range quick is shotgun. Though the quad is good at short range - knocked off 2 kits from one hole at 20feet. The second just went to sniff at the first. Spent a lot of time sitting in the lee of trees or fnces reading books that gradually got wetter and wetter, and everyso often looking up to spot an knock off rabbits which came out despite the weather.

I think all the HMR's are good and accurate exspecially with a little TLC - though in slighly different ways. The savage as a heavy barrel thumbhole varminter and looks fantastic!. The CZ - well its as good and robust as the renown CZ, and the 453 has a set trigger option. The sako quad has set trigger option ( I think it is now out in thumbhole) and can morph into any rimfire calibre. Anshutz is lovely though the clip is disconcerting to a couple of friends. For field purposes differences in accuracy between them is insignificant

For me I don't need a varmint configuration, use the set trigger on every shot even offhand, and swap it over to the .22lr barrel for practice at the local range - it suits me.

Probably the main difference is whether you want a varminter style or not. I walk a bit and take some offhand shots - and with the weight of a bipod already attached to the forend I don't want/need any addtional weight

I came close to doing the CZ but held out for the years weight for the quad

Look forward to hearing your choice no matter what an HMR will bring a smile to your face

[Dr G]

Nice summary Davyd.

FWIW Stalker I have a CZ452 Varmint. I like it it is a solid dependable rifle. The only other 17hmr i have shot is trevort's CZ452 Sporter. For spotlighting i prefer the shorter Varmint, I dont use it for anything else other than occasional plinking or instruiction with new shooters.

Dr G

[Jock]

I paid $700 for the young fellows one.

I love the Gun and Calibre.

Real sharp.

[Stalker]

Mate cheers. Check out my new post in General discussion, just picked it up and blooded it within hours!! Bloody stoked!!