My descritpion of the ruger from the 2 I've handled wouldn't include the word slick, if probably use words like gritty, rough sandy and the likes.
I liked the rest of the rifle, and they shoot well, but they do still feel like a budget rifle
Printable View
Firing one of my Savage Classics back to back with a mates T3 I found the Savage action slicker and smoother regardless of the extra bolt lift. It was also more accurate (individual examples can vary with any of them and ammo choice etc of course), with a better trigger and nicer safety position etc. Couldn't see what all the fuss was about with the Tikka to be honest, good practical rifle but to me it was nothing special.
Personal taste is a big factor with any rifle choice though - I say people should take all forum opinions (and magazine reviews) with a grain of salt, consider the assorted information, handle the options and chose the one that suits them personally the best.
Ok , big day yesterday . "ROAD TRIP"........... I had a Winchester XPR in 308 put aside with my name on it .
The written reviews looked good and the YouTube clips had me convinced I had found a great budget rifle that was gonna rock, oh man I was onto a winner.
2.5 hours of driving later , a couple of double shot coffee's and I burst into the shop like a one man SWAT team. The usual Tyre kickers and gun fondlers were there, dreamers, wannabes and time wasters, fuck have these guys got nothing better to do, get a hobbie and watch some porn.... you dicks are taking up the salesman time and slowing me down to getting to my hot date.
I played it cool by letting the other guys ask meaningful questions like " doe's it come in an Orange and black stripped stock with pink rings ? ". Then suddenly a voice laced with boredom and more than a dash of disinterest said " can I help you sir " I hadn't been called "Sir" in a long time and it took a few moments to click that he was talking to me, in fact the the way his hands were twitching I thought he was going to attempt sign language.
I mentioned I had a rifle put aside but would like to view other brands within my budget and calibre I was looking at. The salesman was great, very helpful as he pulled 4 different options off the rack and placed them on the counter.
They all looked like clones, soulless bland offerings.... oh well if you have a low budget this is your choice.
Ruger American: Probably the best of the bunch, felt light and balanced , thin barrel but at 1K bare it wasn't the best buying. Stock shouldered ok .
Remington 783: felt the best and tight finish but the budget 770 was shit and I was wary of another low end gun from Rem
Howa: nice gun, shouldered well, houge stock but felt weird , chunky feel and solid with a horrible little barrel that felt like it should be on an air rifle.
Drum roll..........Winchester XPR, as it was placed on the counter I thought the wrong rifle had been placed in front of me. Now don't get me wrong I'm a realist and I wasn't expecting Miss World with some stunning false boobs.
I was expecting more of a very average porn starlet with a lot of make up and a good tit job.
What I got was a 4ft Mexican midget with two empty Tip Top ice cream containers stabled to her chest, fuck it was ugly. The stock made a Tikka T3 plastic stock look like a $5000 bell and Carlson .
The thing did't shoulder or fit me either which was probably a blessing. I was faced with such bland offerings that I was sort of blind sided and mentally in neutral.
I think I mumbled some about getting a coffee and making a decision and walked out, huge waste of time and a little gutting but with a limited budget you will only be given so many options.
Needless to say I turned the car on and drove outta town for the other 2.5 hour return drive.
However the story has a happy ending , I needed some 17HMR ammo so dropped into my local shop and there was a surprise on the rack, traded in yesterday. Rem 700 in 7.08, two years old and under 100 rounds through it. Unmarked , shouldered well and felt right.
$650, not a steal but not bad either and a good platform to refine and improve. I even got to speak to the previous owner who had brought it new . He was getting 1 inch groups with average ammo and sub MOA with good stuff so it has potential.
Trigger job and suppressor to start with, I'm going to treat it as a project rifle and be a tight arse and see how far I can take it for as little as possible, should be fun.
Good shit Viper [emoji106] Really enjoyed the yarn, felt like I was in the passanger seat along for the ride. Meant to be I'd say, you & the 7m08 [emoji3]
Sent from my GT-I9192 using Tapatalk
Funny how it goes, head into a shop on a pre determined course..then curve balls start being chucked at you... All I can say is I tried a lot before I bought and it was a long time between titoo n purchase. Still happy with the Predator
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sweet mate glad you found something
7mm-08 is a great round
308 although no one is questioning its effectiveness and the fact that its tryed and trued
It is in my opinion no longer the bees knees
Most of the people who have them only swear by them do because their grandad or dad had one or something along those lines
Others go on about it being good enough for the military tary good enough for me but the military's are slowly but surly moveing away from 308 in favour of more modern and superior cartridges
Long range full bore shooters use them yes and not as much these days
But yeah its still quite popular in those circles
But what you have to remember is there shooting targets at a set known distance and set there sights up accordingly and only need to make very minor adjustments for wind etc so it doesn't really matter about low bc's etc
308 is great and its still very effective but then so is 303 British and thats slowly dieing I think give it another 10 years and 308 will be doing the same
What you have done imo is brought the best cal you can buy these days for a general purpose hunting rifle for some who only shoots factory ammunition there are slightly better options in my opinion for the Reloaders
But as far as a factory ammunition run rifle for general purpose hunting to 450m you can't go past 7mm-08
My thoughts and my opinion only
Will piss a couple off but dilligaf
You have done well the 7-08 is a great round as is the Remington 700 rifle if you start loading you can't go wrong with the Nosler 120 or 140 B Tip and good old 2208.
Sent from my SM-G920I using Tapatalk
Thanks Guys
it is strange how you go into a shop for one thing and walk out with something different. Thanks for your thoughts and input @ rambo-6mmrem , it should definitely do the job I need it to as a deer rifle and allow me to start quietly working away at long range on a budget.
I will probably start a new thread showing the progress of the rifle and money spent as a budget long range / hunting rig.
Cant go wrong with a rem700, tonne of aftermarket support for them, one day its a mexican midget with icecream containers stapled to its chest and within a few years and a bit of money thrown at it a couple of years later it can be jennifer lawrence
@viper check this out https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uZ80q6Ms3BE thats the 1st video in a full series where the guy builds a 1000 yard rifle for $500 us interesting and worth a watch if you're interested in getting into long range on a budget
Shot a Remington 783 last year then did a load development for it. It was a 243 and shot 80 grain Sierra HPBT's into sub 1/2 MOA repeatedly. Not a beautiful rifle but the guy who ended up with it has now shot over 40 deer with it, he call it the laser beam.
The tough part of the build / project will be a suitable budget scope capable of the dailing and distance work, the Deer shots shouldn't be as demanding in terms of range.
Cant really go wrong with any brand new centre fire rifle on the market today, even a rossi / savage stevens or the very cheapest would be more than accurate for a 200 yard deer in any reasonable calibre
im looking to change one of my nikon scopes soon(maybe now) 4-16x50 and 3-12x44 both have capped turrets but dial well used the 4-16 out to 1100m on my 260.
Can also get nikon m223 and m308 the same as the monach's with target turrets.
I have a Howa Ranchland Compact .243, nice rifle. Heavy but quite accurate. Best I've done is a head shot @ 250m, and heart shot @ 335m (both fallow, the 335m was a handbag almost).
More recently I got a Ruger American Ranch in 300BLK. This rifle is very light, stock feels a bit lightweight compared to the hogue on the howa. Trigger is nice (accutrigger type). I shoot both supers and subs, for subs I change my elevation dial to #6 and it's zero'd for 50m (supers are zero'd @ 120m).
Both rifles have Nikon scopes (Nikon Monarch 2-8x32 BDC on the Ruger, and a Buckmaster 3-9x40 on the 243), and both have DPT suppressors. I think the Howa has the edge on accuracy and range, but I must say the Ruger is a much lighter (~3.3kg). I also like the Ruger flush mags, having a spare mag or 2 to pop in quickly is handy.
There is a NZ distributor for Nikon scopes now, I've seen some pretty good deals on them lately. Historically I've brought offshore, but got the Monarch locally as the price was very sharp.
This is the Ruger:
Attachment 75383
Hiya @viper. Never owned a Tikka, probably never will, (like Toyota Corolla) but have looked long and hard at the Win XPR and rilly do like what I've seen. Think that'll be my next purchase - just pondering calibres for now. But yes, a good value, accurate piece from all accounts. Think it has more to do with the Browning AB3 than the Tikka, though. And that's no bad thing (imho).
Hey@Keneff
Yeah the Winchester XPR does look good on paper but handle one first , I found the rifle didn't shoulder well as it was to short in the stock.
The new Remington 783 felt better and is also a good shooter.
In case no-one pointed it out yet: All Howa rifles sold from 2017 onward carry a 1 MOA guarantee and lifetime warranty. That said, most factory rifles will do 1 MOA.
Haven't seen a Howa that would shoot well, yes they are heavy though. My flatmate has a Ruger American and rates it, very light in comparison, and the trigger is an adjustable one like the Savage accutrigger, which takes a little getting used to but I'm certainly not changing my Savage's accutrigger anytime soon. The 783, Savages Axis, and Ruger American all probably shoot well in reality, but they feel flimsy as anything. The big rubber Hogue stock on the Howa feels chunky, but i'm betting it'll be easier to hold when you get mud, blood, or anything else that's slippery on your rifle, whereas regular plastic is probably not so good in that regard.
What about a Bergara take-down .308? Fits in the budget as the take-down version is $999, stainless steel, picatinny rail, and factory threaded. 16" barrel, which, in a single shot, makes it very short, but plenty of potential for accuracy, and it's a Bergara, they make excellent barrels.
Quite true and often forgotten, some people think a 1 MOA guarantee is more meaningful than it really is. With modern rifles its basically just a guarantee that it will be at least average (with a good shooter and ammo it likes).
The hogue stock was actually one of the things I didn't like about the Howas I've handled - the grippyness was nice, but the fore-end was so soft and flexible that I could push it against the barrel easily with light finger pressure. Doesn't worry some people, but it would annoy me if I owned one.
Had a good play with one of these in the weekend, although it was the 20", 1-12 twist version. I was just running in the barrel for a mate, so I didn't do any real accuracy testing. Quite impressed really. Not as light as you would think but the weight is in the barrel where it should be. Trigger was way better than I expected, the hammer pull click, while there, was quiet enough. Being a quick take-down it will be real handy for those who have to walk a long way or for what ever reason don't want people to know they have a rifle with them. I'm going to have to give it serious consideration.
As an aside, it had a Dean Maisey suppressor on it, again heavier than other models but very well made. Whether is quieter than say my HRE I couldn't say.
True, I've also found that if you push the fore-end to the left or right before you tighten the action screws, it'll more or less stay in that position. Easy to avoid, and even if you rest the fore-end on a bipod or tree branch etc it won't touch the barrel through the sheer weight of the rifle. There are niggly things yes, but we are talking a sub $1k rifle, $899 without the scope usually
I was in the local H & F recently while a guy was umming and arring about a brand new Howa 1500 in a houge stock, with Nicko diamond scope and a DPT can, in 243, all for $999
He decided to phone a friend, and was told not to touch it as they are a POS.
He walked away :wtfsmilie:
Well I will go on the record as calling him foolish (I will stop short of calling him an idiot...) The Diamond range of scopes are very under rated even for the 3-9x40. And with a DPT can (Or any new can for that matter - Gunworks, Greystone, DPT , MAE) for new even if it is 243 that is a bloody good deal. The actions alone cost us near 3/4 of that without the scope let alone the suppressor....I am tempted to ask which H&F and send a mate up rather than sell him one of ours.....
I got this Howa 1500 .308 for $750 new at Shooters supplies.Thepurists would probably suggest a flasher scope, but I am on a budget and it is a 1-3 times a year rifle.
sorry. Got click happy. Have corrected the photo.:o
[QUOTE=Ryan_Songhurst;640548 and drive the wife's mini.....[/QUOTE]
:XD::O_O::thumbsup::thumbsup::O_O::shave::whut::yo !::o:yuush::XD: