swampcrawler
Member
- Joined
- Jun 3, 2013
- Messages
- 584
Hi guys. I recently picked up one of the Howa Ranchland package guns in .223 kind of on a whim. For those not familiar with the rifle it's a Howa 1500 with a light profile 20 inch barrel in a hougue overmold stock and comes with the oh so high quality Nikko Sterling 3.5-10. Of course I cannot stand the scope. Tiny eyebox, blurry, small field of view, heavy as sin, just everything you expect from a 135 buck chinese scope.
Now I bought the rifle mostly to really learn how to shoot. Not that I don't know how to shoot, but I want to REALLY learn how to use a rifle, and 223 is cheap to feed and should do well enough out to 300 or so if I can ever find somewhere to shoot more than 100 yards. I may one day use it for hogs or coyotes but the 1 in 12 twist emiminates the heavier bullets appropriate for larger game, so again the primary role of this gun is sort of a "trainer" rifle in field shooting at hunting distances.
Now it needs a non garbage scope. Honestly I'm not even sure what magnification to go with. I want to stay smallish and lightish so no super high magnification 50mm objective lense stuff. I usually prefer a fixed 4 power for hunting but it seems that would limit my ability to shoot groups during load development. I suppose something between 2-7 and 4-12 power with decent glass good reliability would be my best guess. So I'm going to leave it to the guys who have the experience. What should I look into for at or under 500 bucks? Thanks for the help folks!
Now I bought the rifle mostly to really learn how to shoot. Not that I don't know how to shoot, but I want to REALLY learn how to use a rifle, and 223 is cheap to feed and should do well enough out to 300 or so if I can ever find somewhere to shoot more than 100 yards. I may one day use it for hogs or coyotes but the 1 in 12 twist emiminates the heavier bullets appropriate for larger game, so again the primary role of this gun is sort of a "trainer" rifle in field shooting at hunting distances.
Now it needs a non garbage scope. Honestly I'm not even sure what magnification to go with. I want to stay smallish and lightish so no super high magnification 50mm objective lense stuff. I usually prefer a fixed 4 power for hunting but it seems that would limit my ability to shoot groups during load development. I suppose something between 2-7 and 4-12 power with decent glass good reliability would be my best guess. So I'm going to leave it to the guys who have the experience. What should I look into for at or under 500 bucks? Thanks for the help folks!