Looking For Target Rifle Recommendations

BigBlue 94 said:

Savage has also made a left hand throw, right hand eject bolt action based on the model 10 action.

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Savage just introduced a new bolt action pistol with a left hand bolt and right hand eject.

https://www.savagearms.com/content?p=firearms&a=product_summary&s=57797

Do you need your hunting rifle? Or is it your rifle that happens to have a sporter profile barrel?

What if you only needed a new barrel?
Savages are renown for their barrel nut system. Order a pre-fit barrel from a number of excellent makers, like Shilen, http://www.shilen.com/savageBarrels.html , and replace the barrel on the rifle you own now. Gauges can be bought or rented, or it can be head spaced on your current ammunition spec’s.
There will be a much higher return of accuracy per dollar spent as compared to a new rifle.


Wait, did I just endorse NOT buying a new rifle?!
Of course not!

I’m with Varmint, to learn the skills best at the range you’ve got, get a rimfire Savage MKII and a case of CCI Standard. That will cover the new rifle and a fair amount of range time.

Don’t get a “cheap rimfire”scope, get an actual rifle scope. There are expensive rimfire scopes designed with the elevation adjustments necessary for longer range rimfire shooting. This would be nice.

Shooting a .223 target rifle from a bench at 100 yard targets is boooring. Once you get dialed-in the challenge will be how big your one hole is as you put more rounds down range. I wouldn't recommend this, unless you want to try shooting a semi-auto .223 and see how quickly you can hit a can on follow up shots. A 100 yards is rimfire range, and nowadays you can get factory match .22 for twenty cents a shot (more or less) vs. a dollar for factory .223 match. If you shoot 500 rounds, you basically get a nice .22 rifle for free! Additionally, the lessons you learn shooting .22 at 100 will carry over to shooting something bigger at 500. Its hard to go wrong with a .22 CZ or even a Savage mk II. Just don't cheap out on the scope -- and scope rings. Spend the extra $$.

First I do not shoot Competitions so take what I say with a grain of salt, I am sure there are more expensive/dedicated competition rifles that are better. I like to shoot groups at 100/200 and steel out to 1000

I use a Howa 1500 Heavy barrel, fluted, Varminter in .223 and with 69 grain reloads it is a fine rifle out to 200 yards for targets (longest paper target distance at my range) and steel out to around 500 (though we do occasionally stretch that out past 500 as we have 800 yard steel). At $600 for the rifle, it won't break the bank and is MOA accurate or better if you are.

I also have a few .22 "precision" rifles (Ruger and Savage) that I purchased for at or near the same cost and they are also fine and fun to shoot with out to 100 (longer in some cases). My 6.5 CM is for for longer distances out to 1000, but I paid about twice the cost of the Howa for it.

I reload my target centerfire rounds, and for the .223, 69 grains generally works well, but I can go heavier if desired (out to 75) though the 75s are on the border for the Howa 1/9 twist rate and to be fair I have only tried a few at this weight as the 69s work fine.

When I looked for options for a dedicated .223 target (bolt action) the Howa kept showing up on the top 5 lists, i got a deal on mine so I bought it, I like it, and see no need to change. Plus .223 is economically and if I want I can shoot the same handloads in my AR.

oops, looks like you may have settled on a .17 - Never mind.

YMMV

Dave

Turkeytider said:

Found some. Anybody out there shooting a Savage 93R ?

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Good to go. The 93R thumbhole heavy barrel is a fantastic little 17HMR target rifle.

The Savage 93 and MkII use the same receivers since Savage switched over to the "E" receiver for their rimfire rifles years ago. My MkII in 17m2 is almost boring to shoot at 100 yards when there isn't much of a cross wind. The 17HMR will be the same. Now when you get a decent cross wind things will get interesting with both since thy use such a light bullet. A 17 grain bullet is the most common for both.

Like I mentioned before, all of my Savage rifles have their heavy varmint barrel and all shoot well.

Turkeytider said:

I`m intrigued with the 17 HMR. A good friend and hunting buddy of mine has a Savage and dearly loves it. He is someone who knows rifles and I respect his opinions. So far, having trouble even finding any bolt action 17s.

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My dad has a Savage 93r17 BTVS which is insanely accurate. My 17 is a Lithgow LA101



This is about what I get at 100 yards if the wind is calm. The paper is a 4x6 inches so the center black dot is about 3/4”. If I do my part judging the wind I can hit pop cans at 300.

Savage Axis II with a Heavy barrel in 223/6.5CM



Remington 700 Tactical in 6.5CM

Rimfires are alot of fun. I have a very Accurate Remington 540XR, and I shot sporter matches with a pair of CZ 452's. One a Lux and the other an American. I usually win or second place. The new CZ rifles 455 and 457 are switch barrels, you just change the barrels between 22 Mag, 17 HMR, and 22 LR. I also have a Ruger American in 22 Mag that shoots really well. Tikka 1X are very good and for the money Savages are good. Then there are the Vudoo and Anschutz if you want to spend over $1000. A few make 22 rifles for PRS matches that are around $1500.

someguy2800 said:

For a bolt action that your going to sit and shoot a lot I like the Savage mark 2 mags a lot better than the rotary mags on the ruger or Savage B22. The Savage ones are very easy to load and I don’t get sore fingers even if I sit and shoot a whole brick.

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I think there are alot of rimfire shooters that disagree with you. Many say that savage magazines are a problem. They are probably easier to load . I have a Ruger but I don't shoot it enough to notice. I think there are speed loaders. My CZ's are good to go.

d2wing said:

I think there are alot of rimfire shooters that disagree with you. Many say that savage magazines are a problem. They are probably easier to load . I have a Ruger but I don't shoot it enough to notice. I think there are speed loaders. My CZ's are good to go.

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I can only tell you I still have the 4 mags that came with mine and never had an issue after many bricks shot through it.

I’ve heard similar complaints but I guess I don’t know what people are doing to them to cause it. The only 22 magazine I’ve personally ever worn out is the feed lips on a ruger mag just from shooting it a bajillion times, but they are meant to be a wear item

d2wing said:

I think there are alot of rimfire shooters that disagree with you. Many say that savage magazines are a problem.

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I guess I am one the the odd ones since I have not had any troubles with my Savage MkII magazines over the years. They are no worse than the Marlin Model 70/795 magazines.

My BTVSS has never had a mag problem either and it is fun to shoot out to 100. I recently bought a B22 Precision, but have not had a chance to shoot it yet. The Mags are a little funky but usable once you get used to it. I also have the RPR in 22 WMR and no issues there either. Maybe I am just weird and it does not bother me.

d

Turkeytider said:

Currently enjoying the range shooting my .223 hunting rifle. Would like to explore something more target oriented, maybe in .223. Local range is 100 yards, with periodic access to private shooting range up to 300 yards. Would like thoughts and recommendations on potential guns between what I have now ( Savage Storm 110 in .223 ) and a chassis gun. Maybe in a range from 500 to 1 K. Thanks guys. Any advice really appreciated.

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The AR-15 in my eyes is verry universal, you can swap upper assy in a matter of a minute or less. I have one chamberd in 5.56 nato, which in turn will chamber the .223.

I also have a seperate upper assy that is chambered in .458 socom. to go from 5.56 is just a matter of swapping magazines out. to go from the 5.56/.223 to the .458, all I have to do is swap the upper assy and the mag then Im ready to go.

The US military wanted this exact option in the field, so the ar ended up being the answer. A soldier can be sarrying his 5.56, and in need can swap the upper and mag to be able to shoot the 4.58.

The best part is the AR-15 can use different uppers in several different chambers. I absoutly love hunting with my ar loaded with .223.

45CalPal said:

The US military wanted this exact option in the field, so the ar ended up being the answer. A soldier can be sarrying his 5.56, and in need can swap the upper and mag to be able to shoot the 4.58.

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I have never seen nor heard anything like that the entire time I was in the Army.

While an accurate AR is nice to have, so is owning an accurate bolt action.

12Bravo20 said:

I have never seen nor heard anything like that the entire time I was in the Army.

While an accurate AR is nice to have, so is owning an accurate bolt action.

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Im not a military and have never been, just was reading up on the AR years ago befor I bought one
(For the record the AR can be built with a side charging upper option, verry similar to a bolt action. but has auto loading and semi auto. and yes it is not exactly a "bolt action")

Now dont quoate me on this and I can't remember the exact article I read that in but the original info if I remember it correctly was when the m16 was first introduced they were heavy and did not have an ability to use different caliber ammo. in short, the AR was derived from the m16 and during the ar's development the military wanted to add the ability to fire multiple caliber's of ammo.

so changes were made to the design to allow the removal of the upper assy, and the trigger group redesigned to allow/accept another upper assy. this was suposedly by request of the military general at the time.

I will try to find the article and post it in it.s own thread.

45CalPal said:

Im not a military and have never been, just was reading up on the AR years ago befor I bought one
(For the record the AR can be built with a side charging upper option, verry similar to a bolt action. but has auto loading and semi auto. and yes it is not exactly a "bolt action")

Now dont quoate me on this and I can't remember the exact article I read that in but the original info if I remember it correctly was when the m16 was first introduced they were heavy and did not have an ability to use different caliber ammo. in short, the AR was derived from the m16 and during the ar's development the military wanted to add the ability to fire multiple caliber's of ammo.

so changes were made to the design to allow the removal of the upper assy, and the trigger group redesigned to allow/accept another upper assy. this was suposedly by request of the military general at the time.

I will try to find the article and post it in it.s own thread.

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458 socom was developed by Tromix at request of a special operations unit (hence the name) for an upper that could be used on an M4 to shoot heavy subsonic bullets with a suppressor. It was never intended for use by regular army though. All AR15 caliber offerings have been civilian developments.

The AR10 actually came first and was later developed into the AR15, XM16 and then M16A1, M16A2, ect... The AR15 was actually extremely light in its original form as the army had giving a design requirement including a very aggressive weight target. Weight kept getting added over the years by adding more and more features, so it got heavier, not lighter. There was never any intention originally for the AR15 to use different calibers or to have different uppers available. The upper was always detachable as that was carried over from the AR10. If the upper wasn't removable there would be no way to get the bolt carrier out or clean it. In Eugene Stoner's own words the only design requirements he was given for the cartridge was that it needed to be able to penetrate a steel helmet at 500 yards so he chose 222 remington, which was later lengthened and named 223 remington at request of remington's ballistics engineers.

@45CalPal I won't derail this thread anymore then it already has been. I suggest that you take the time to research the AR15/M16. The AR15 was developed by Armalite and it was the 15th version of their rifle. The 308 AR10 was the tenth design. It was the US Military that changed the name when it was adopted for military use as the M16. There is no difference in weight between a M16A1/2 and an AR15A1/2. The only differences is the M16 is capable of either burst or full auto fire.

someguy2800 said:

458 socom was developed by Tromix at request of a special operations unit (hence the name) for an upper that could be used on an M4 to shoot heavy subsonic bullets with a suppressor. It was never intended for use by regular army though and it was not part of the design criteria of the AR15 to be able to have interchangeable calibers. All other AR15 caliber offerings have been civilian developments.

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The 458 was not the only caliber requested or tested by SOCOM or the Army Marksmanship Unit. That is also how the 6.8 SPC came about too.