Heaps of questions from a newbie.

[dave]

If all else fails get a .243............had to be said

[Rinso]

If all else fails get a .243............had to be said

No it did not and a 243 cant compete with a 6BR anyway so its no hope against a 25.06

cheers

Rinso

[dave]

Awww come on Rinso everybody knows the .243 is the number 1 cartridge in the world

[Ackley Improved]

I'm going to go out on a limb here...... the 6mmBR shits all over the 243!!

Thats got to start something????

It doesnt matter how fast you drive them.... accuracy is the key!!!

Keep an eye out on the forums... AHN and here... for Rem. actions for sale.

Buy a Pro Cal BRX design stock, put a 28" match barrel (keep contour down for weight), Rifle basix trigger (ERV-3 good adjustment).

This rifle would allow you to compete, specially if you can keep it below 13.5lbs. That inlcudes 100/200yd and Fly as well.

Then, out in the field, this rifle with bipods under it could blow bunnies to bits, or drop them dead at 500m!!!!

Recoil is low, accuracy high! Barrel life excellent... Cheep to load for... Very little work to get it to shoot!!

Cheers
AI

[Ned Kelly]

G'day all,
I prefer a single shot action (for me anyway) however, all my varminting has been repeaters loaded one shot at a time. The XR100 is just about ideal, set up as a 6BR would cover 95% of all varminting situations today. You can also set it up as a switch barrel for .308 if you want.

The main point is to clearly decide what you want to do, and then how best to do it.

For example, I've had a sporter weight Tikka m55 in .222, then a Rem700VS in .22-250 and currently own a rem700PSS accurised in .223 with a 1:8' twist using 75 Amax's. If I had a choice today it would be an accurised XR100 in .223 and the barrel cut down to about 22" for walking around and maybe a heavier fast twist 6BR for F class and long range varminting.

Please consider some of the problems that I have had to resolve over the years.....

1. Try to be very clear about what game you wish to shoot and the calibre to do so and try to have one gun for all if possible.
2. Will you be walking a lot or sniping from a hilltop? Heavier varminting rifles can wear you out while climbing gullies and hills, where a lighter rifle may be better suited
3. How far will you be shooting? Can your prefered cartridge reach that far consistently and accurately?
4. Will there be anyone who may complain of excessive noise? ie 22.250?
5. Will you be on your own and need to spot missed shots? I've found a .22-250 and high powered scope means you may not not see your fall of shot without a second person to spot it for you
6. Will you reload you own or rely on factory ammo?
7. If you reload and run out of ammo can you get factory ammo in emergencies when far from home?
8. Can you get your reloading equipment off the shelf or is it a special order?
9. Can you reload in the field if necessary?

All of these points need to be considered carefully. You can spend many $ trying to buy/build rifles for many different varminting situations, but 1 superbly accurate rifle can cover most varminting tasks. A great reference book is "A Varmint Hunter's Odyssey" by Steve Hanson available from Peter Moncrieff from Melbourne, he sells them for $55- plus post, see link
http://www.bundukibooks.com/

It covers varminting styles and techniques, custom guns, scopes, barrels, gunsmithing, ballistics for everything from .22lr short range to 50cal long range up to +1500m and everything in between. If this cant help you then I dont know what else to try! Either way good luck but remember to try to buy quality stuff and you will never regret it in the long run.

Cheerio Ned

[lamanna]

Thanks for the guidelines Ned. The funny thing is I can't answer many of those questions. I'm really buying a rifle for the hell of it and trying to justify what it can be used for.

I can see most of you here aren't just the ordinary, plain-jane, average shooters. Some of the cartridges mentioned I've never heard of, which is a good thing, opens my eyes bit more. Most of it is going over my head though. I can see where most of you are coming from though, I assume you've all been around guns forever and tried everything out there and really all that's left is these exotic calibres. I can kind of relate it to computers in a sense... most people start off by going to Harvey Norman and getting ripped off for crap they don't want or need... where as going into a proper computer store, buying the parts, putting it together gives you exactly what you want. Is that a fair analogy?

At the end of hte day, being totally realistic, I think it's hard to ignore a .223. Heaps of rifles chambered for it, lots of ammo out there, long barrel life and decent out to 300. In all honesty, if I do eventually go shooting I doubt very much I'd even hit anything out past 300y or even 200y. I'll end up going with people who want to actually eat the damn rabbits too. Ammo cost is something that I kept getting told but I will reload, so does the ammo cost factor really come into account?

At this point of writing the post I nearly deleted it. Maybe you guys get tired of newbies asking the same questions always having the same dilemmas? I searched a heap of forums and saw so many topics like mine that I had to stop reading out of sheer boredom. So.. thanks for your patience . I think I'll just go out and buy whatever.

[trevort]

I'm only on my P plates but we were all newbies once. If we cant get out shooting talking about is the next best thing. I think where we are going over your head is when we start talking about rebarrels and custom jobs. I have a reasonable wage and shooting has turned into a bit of an obsession for me so its only taken 2 1/2 years to get a cuatom rifle ordered in a wildcat calibre. Some shooters will shoot all their lives and never get the "accuracy" bug.

People are telling you to buy a remington becase if you do get the accuracy bug the remington action is the best factory action to build your custom rifle on. You rip out your old barrel and get a smith to fit a match grade barrel and true the action. If you dont, a Remington as as good as most and better than a lot of factory rifles anyway.

I have 7 rifles. If I go out shooting and know that fox rabbit hare and crow are the only things i will see then the 204 is the first choice. You will love it. No recoil. You can spot your own hits with a heavy rifle. The advantage of a heavy rifle is that it moves with your shakes or vibrations less than a light sporter so easier to make those 200m shots on small targets. If you are a big bloke then they can be carried.

In remington you have the sps for a sporter, The LVSF is a "light varmint" original reporst said you needed a 26inch barrel to get full 204 velocity but JB 747 has no problems with his. The VS VLS and VSSF are varmint rifles. There is the xr 100 which is a single shot. On the way is the sps varmint, their budget priced heavy varminter and their is a XR 100 lookalike with a magazine feed due here soon.

If you do decide the 223 is the way to go as O'Reillys to show you a CZ 527 varmint laminate. A light crisp trigger is the key to accuracy. This has one of the best factory options. Thats what my 223 is. I priced mine at O'reillys near a year ago. If they still have it they may be keen to deal

[sarath919]

G'Day All,
if you want a repeater, try to get a factory Rem with the correct magazine ie if you want for example a 22BR get a 22-250 to start with, that way the bolt face is the correct size and the magazine should cope, so a .22-250 can accomodate a 22BR, 6Br, .243, .308 etc, while a .223 will set you up for a .204, .222, .223, 17MachIV, 221 Fireball etc. all on the same action just by switching barrels. A magazine for a .223 will have difficulty stacking a case base on the .308 head size, without modification to the magazine.

I would just like to clarify a few points. If I bought a Remington bolt action in say .223, and had a barrel made in .204, I could change between barrels without having to change the magazine or bolt. Is it as easy as this, or are there other issues that need to be addressed.

Secondly, based on the .223 action, other than the 204, .222, .223, 17MachIV, 221 Fireball, what are the other cartridges that could be rebarreled for this action.

I look forward to all your comments,

Regards

Sarath

[Ned Kelly]

G'Day Sarath,
what ever the head dimension of the case is ie a .223 is 0.378", literally any cartridge of the same head size and the length is dictated by the magazine internal length, so looking at any reloading manual will show up for example, 17machIV, 17Rem, 221fireball, 204, 222, 223, 222RemMag, 5.6x50mag, 6x47mm (not the new 6x47lapua).

Likewise anything with the .308 sized head of 0.473" and with this you have short action rifles for .22-250, .243, 6mmRem, 260Rem, 7-08, 308, etc. Likewise the longer actions with 0.473 head sised cases you can fit 25-06, 6mm-06, 6.5-06, 270, 30-06, 35whelan, 338-06 etc etc.
hopefully you get the drift. If you have a long action you can also have any of the shorter 0.473" cartridges as well. this also applies for any other common sized cases such as the belted magnums ie 300WM, 338WM......

Hopefully trhis has cleared this up. now its up to you and your gunsmith to work out what is viable
Cheerio Ned

[Archfile]

I;ve only been shooting a year or so, I love it. Great pass time, i can load when its too wet to shoot, and shoot when i need to get out of the house, its outdoors - which i dont get from work or study

I'm spending more money than i should on it, but i really enjoy it, and my first semi custom should be in hand by feb, so i'm really into it.. reading about it, doing it and preparing for it is all enjoyable and I like the fact that I can treat the kittens to some rabbit or bring home some deer.. its great being outside which is something that we are getting less and less of these days (time outside - on average)

-Arch

[Bidgee]

If you are serious about accuracy follow Ackley's and Trevort's advice. A factory rifle just cant compete with a semi custom rifle.

In terms of aftermarket parts (stocks, triggers etc) and proven accuracy you cant beat a rem 700. If you are tight for cash go and buy a 2nd hand rifle with the bolt face you want. There are plenty of rem700 .222 and .308 around for about $600. IMO the older actions are better quality than those manufactured today anyway.

Shoot this rifle until you can afford to fit a quality SS match barrel. This will also give you time to get to know the capbilities of the cartridge and you can work out from there if it or something similar will suit your needs.

Then fit a good stock (pillar bed it), trigger and dont skimp on the scope. At the end of it you wont get any change from $2000 but you will have competitive rifle.

The other important side of accuracy is your handling technique. If you are new to shooting developing good technique takes considerable trigger time. You may as well wear out an old barrel getting your skill up to speed.

Have fun getting set up.

Scott