204 sugestions

[trevort]

find a second hand VSSF for about half that. Order a custom barrel thru Clancy and have it fitted and your action trued and you have the rifle I suggested in the first place. Semi custom.

[Drafty]

Trevort once the work is done by clancy will the gun shoot any better than a new VSSF, and what do you estimate the damage will be to my pocket? Im not aposed to getting work done to a rifle, its just not something i have dabled in before so am hesitant.

[simmo]

Hey Drafty,
Save yourself some money on the Remi and buy the T3 in L/H, top it off with a Bushnell Elite 6500 4.5-30 x 50 mil dot for only a little more than the Remi. Get some 39gn Sierra Blitz Kings and 2208 and go to rabbit town.

[trevort]

a barrel fitted and a true was $900 last time.

It might and it might not shoot better. You might get a good VSSF like Drew or you might get an average one. Vssf is a good platform as the stock is good.

Simmo, your the first I've heard using 2208, most use 2206h

[simmo]

Hey trevort,
Only my observation on the 204 and 39gn bk's. I load 28.8 grains with moly coated bullets in the Tikka's.

[Dr G]

Hey trevort,
Only my observation on the 204 and 39gn bk's. I load 28.8 grains with moly coated bullets in the Tikka's.

What sort of accuracy are you getting with that load Simmo?

ps I dont think trev was having a go at your post but was curious like me, he is just a grumpy irish bastard with a complex about his appearance

Dr G

[Drafty]

Hey Drafty,
Save yourself some money on the Remi and buy the T3 in L/H, top it off with a Bushnell Elite 6500 4.5-30 x 50 mil dot for only a little more than the Remi. Get some 39gn Sierra Blitz Kings and 2208 and go to rabbit town.

Simmo the T3 does appeal to me, the price is good and i like the look, the fact that it does come in a lefty is also a bonus but will it shoot aswell as a gun floated with a proper alluminium bedding, that is the question.

I have a 5.5-22x50 NSX sitting in my study ready to bolt onto whichever 204 i end up with so optics are already sorted.

[Dr G]

Hi Drafty

The T3 is a lot of rifle for its price range. I am not to familiar with the synthetic stocks but the timber ones are fine with the barrel already floated, unlike a lot of cheaper rems and a few others which have pressure bedding under the barrel near the end of the stock.

As for the aluminium bedding block you will still need to get the rifle skim bedded to get the best out of this. This is because they blocks are not machined individually to suit the action and stresses can still occur. Shane skim bedded my H&S stock (which has the same bedding arrangement as the VSSF II) on the catkiller and belive me this rifle can shoot. I have been advised that this is necessary for most stocks like this but occasionally you get lucky and chance on a real shooter like Drew.

The advantage of the Rem 700 is that your stock options are endless, the Tikka is a bit more limited. 500Nitro was selling Tikka stocks but I havent heard from him for a couple of months, hope he is ok. Also Wild Dog were rumoured to be making a T3 stock but I havent heard anything about that for a long time either.

If you intend to stay fairly much out of the box the T3 would be my pick, if you want to go down the semi-custom path then get a stainless SPS, H&S Stock, rifle basix trigger and re barrel it with a match barrel (essentially a VSSF II with better barrel and trigger) for a few hundred more than the $2500 VSSF II, this way you know you will have a shooter.

Dr G

[simmo]

Hey Drafty and Dr G,
No offence taken at all i'm used to getting the same response to 2208 in the 204. As for acccuracy I have just seen a ten shot .2 group at 100 yards from an old mate that bought a T3 Super varmint in 204. I had to give him some of my loaded rounds to try and convince him that 2208 was worth a try over BM2 and 2206H. Overall in all the 204's I have played with,
2208 and the mighty Sierra 39's are very hard to beat. Drafty send kdj a message and ask him about his t3 and one to grimo and ask him what kind of 204 he's getting and i think you'll find it's the same as i use but mine's in left hand. Anythings worth a try.

[Dr G]

Hey Drafty and Dr G,
No offence taken at all i'm used to getting the same response to 2208 in the 204. As for acccuracy I have just seen a ten shot .2 group at 100 yards from an old mate that bought a T3 Super varmint in 204. I had to give him some of my loaded rounds to try and convince him that 2208 was worth a try over BM2 and 2206H.

No worries mate, 2208 is now added to my experimental list

Dr G

[Drafty]

guys thanks for you posts, i think i have now narrowed the search down to a few guns being the T3 and the VSSF. Should i decide to go down the semi custom then the VSSF will be my choice and an out of the box will be the T3.

As a newbie can you explain what you are refering to when you say 2208 or 2206h as a lot of what your saying is going straight over my head.

[trevort]

different types of powder.

Travis, I didnt think Simmo was taking any offence. ignore him simmo, he's just a no neck prop who's angry at the world.

Drafty, agree totally with your selection but i wouldnt pay $2500 for a VSSF. I would only buy one as the stock and action are great to start a custom on. Therefore as barrel and trigger are thro aways, buy a second had one as the barrel is where the wear is. If it shoots accurately for the 6 months you may wait for your turn at Clancy's then thats a bonus.

Now you make me nervous when you dont know which powder is which. Means your not a loader. If you arent, dont waste your money on semi custom guns. Unless you tune a load for your rifle its gonna shoot not much better than any factory rifle.

I wanted an accurate factory rifle that would work and wouldnt tempt me to waste $$ customising something that didnt need customising last year. Bought a Tikka T3!

[Drafty]

Trevort thanks for your honesty mate, yes certainly not a reloader. Brother and good mate are both deerhunters & reloaders so it may be something i dabble in in the future, but for now i just grab my 17 hmr and a box of ammo and go and take out a few bunnies.

Sounds like the T3 may be the right choice considering im a lefty, will the T3 accuracy benefit from reloading?

[trevort]

all rifles benefit from handloading.
Thomo used to have a T3 varmint 204. it was boringly accurate with his 39bk and 2206h hand loads!

Thats not to say you cant get good usable varmint accuracy from factory loads, you'll just do better from well constructed handloads tailored to your rifle.

There is a federal factory load using the 39bk. Most rifles like that projectile better than others

[Drafty]

I will keep that in mind, i would say that at some point with help i will reload, so will quiz you guys further then about projectiles and powder but have learnt quite a bit already so thanks heaps.