.223 Varmint gun. Indecision may or may not be my problem.

12 Volt Man,

I talked to "Eric" at CZ-USA about this two months ago, and he told me "the Varmint rifles both Kevlar and laminate stocked were 1 in 9. The American including the new heavy barreled American were 1 in 12."

I guess you'll know soon enough when you shoot some heavy bullets. I have the HS Precision stocked one and it really likes heavy bullets.

Hello CZguy:

Now its me who just got off the phone with CZ since I also have the 527 laminate. The person I talked to was very firm in saying the the kevlar is the only 1-9 twist in the 527/.223. I guess the bottom line here will be to run a tight-fitting patch down the bore and measure the twist. Can't do it to mine because its at the shop getting the action bedded. If you do it, let us know because I've seen this discussion before and it has some serious implications for bullet choice.

By the way, I thought you also had the laminate. Did you add a new horse to the stable or do some trading?

Pete

Until you start loading you may want to try the Winchester white box 40 round .223 varmint load with the 45 gr JHP bullet. A number of folks at my range have shot sub .5 moa 5 shot groups with this ammo out of both bolt guns and Ar's. Its abou $11 per box of 40 at Natchez shooters supply.

I have heard that wally world may also carry it.

MasterBlaster:
That was my experience as well. Almost kind of discouraging to find WWB that outshoots some of my reloads. However, I recently bought a box at Wal-Mart (I use it for borefouling shots) and this particular box was terrible. Hopefully, it was just an oddball lot and won't characterize this ammo in the future.

Pete

Jayhawker, was your bad box of WWB the FMJ or Varmint 45gr JHP?

I got some of the FMJ a while back with the annealed case necks and it wasn't as good as the previous stuff I'd seen.


<Sorry for the OT threadjack>

The Varmit 45 grain. That other stuff patterns out of my CZ like a shotgun.

Pete

Jayhawker,

By the way, I thought you also had the laminate. Did you add a new horse to the stable or do some trading?

Click to expand...

I sold my 527 American, and bought a 527 Kevlar stocked Varmint, and couldn't be happier!

Master Blaster,

Until you start loading you may want to try the Winchester white box 40 round .223 varmint load with the 45 gr JHP bullet. A number of folks at my range have shot sub .5 moa 5 shot groups with this ammo out of both bolt guns and Ar's. Its abou $11 per box of 40 at Natchez shooters supply.

Click to expand...

This ammo shoots half inch groups out of my rifle, I'll second your advice.

CZGuy:

Were you having problems with the American or did you just want a change? I've been looking awfully hard at some full-on bench rest rifles but practially speaking also have my eye on a 6.5-284 for some really long range.

Pete

"This ammo shoots half inch groups out of my rifle, I'll second your advice"

Maybe I should try the .45gr. JHP WWB stuff also. After I get my rifle back from the gunsmith after getting the action bedded, barrel floated and triger jod done, I'll get 40 rds. of the 55gr. FMJ and 40 rds. of the 45gr. JHP's from wally world and compare.

Flip

Jayhawker,

The American was a pleasure to carry, but for me it was too light to shoot accurately. Both it and the new Varmint model are in .223

Please post what weight bullets your rifle likes.

As I've said before and in other .223 threads, a 1:9 twist will stabilize 55grSPs, but it will also stabilize 68grainers very well. This may vary one rifle to the next, but this is my experience. 72gr bullets may also work real well too, but I haven't shot any of those through any twist rate to know.

12 volt...Ruger makes just as good varmiters and they are very reasonable in cost. What Im getting at is that I bought a M77 in 223 that is boringly accurate. I didnt go the expensive route, I bought a tasco 6-24x scope and a harris biopod, got 90 in the scope new and 55 in the pod used at a show.I later put in a adjustable trigger at 35 bucks.I have 450 in the gun new plus the things Ive added and I cant complain about its accuracy nor reliabilty one bit. Ruger includes steel scope rings for this gun in the box as it had no irons on it. Ruger also makes some very accurate single shots that are somewhat more pricy than a M77 but as far as Im concerned, they are top of the line as well. Its all in what you want the gun to do and how it needs to look. but for varmits..its the one rifle that I know will do the job. I have a bushmaster in a heavy barrel also,but its strictly a fun gun though an accurate gun.I didnt want to spend alot of money on special mounts and optics for the bushmaster so I bought the M77 strictly for varmits.

varmiting is a great sport,pick your gun then optics if you want them then try different loads to see which is best for you.

Sounds like some good advice, and a # of options.

I'm also into varminting, and put together an ISSI upper (www.insightshootingsystemsinc.com) on a Bushy lower with a 9 twist 26" heavy Hart. I'd been working with the rig as a spot and stalk coyote rig/pr. dog rifle the last several yrs. and was trying to get the 70 JLK, and 75 A-max to work in it. 100 yd. gps. were .5 or so, but opened up too much @ 500-600, so i switched back to the 69 Nosler Comp., and have had some decent results with it to +/- 500 on coyotes and pr. dogs with decent terminal ballistics. Coupled with a 4.5-14X Burris FFII Ballistic Plex reticle, it has served the spot and stalk role well.