From what I read Savage and Remington are the tools of choice for those who want value and cost.

What is wrong with the Ruger or Winchester? Don't they shoot well or is it adaptability?
I want a 26" bolt for varmit and the savage seems to have a resale shortfall.

Help
Matthew J.

I have a New Ruger M77MkII in 223. It looks very nice but gave me fits trying to get it to shoot. It drove my friend nuts and he traded it to me. I have it shooting one load at around 1 MOA @ 100 yards. I changed the trigger and did alot of tinkering and bedding. I have a Rem 700 that I did nothing too and it shoots 1/2" - 1" @ 100. My friend who traded me the Ruger, bought a Savage, did nothing to it and right out of the box (after cleaning) shot MOA. I can't speak about a Winchester except I like thier safety's, I believe thier 223's are push feed, and hear that there triggers are good. I had a CZ 527 and am thinking of getting another. Great rifle IMHO. I (just me) wouldn't worry about resale too much on any of these rifles mentioned.

I haven't seen an accurite Ruger out of the box, but many claim to have them. I have seen many Rem's, and savages and CZ's out of box accurite.

I do think the savages are kind of butt ugly though.

I have an 18 month old Ruger 77 VT in 223. All that has been touched on this rifle is the trigger. It is quite adjustable, and the final result was very good. It likes its bullets seated very long. So long that I use it as a single shot. I've had excellent results with Hornady Vmax, especially in 55 grain, which consisently shoot under .5 moa. The 40, 50 and 60 are all around .7 moa. Noslers don't seem to work as well, but still average around .8 moa. Upshot is that I'm quite happy with this rifle. At some point in the near future it will be pillar bedded.

My other Ruger was an RBZ in .243. The light barrel on this thing just couldn't be convinced to shoot straight. It was eventually rebarreled, and the trigger and bedded done. Last week was the first serious shooting for groups, and it averaged around .5 moa, and gave groups with loads it liked at .3 moa.

My wife's Remington, in 243, has had the bedding and trigger done, and it hangs around 1 moa.

My next buy will probably be a Sako...

If your interested in getting a 223 you really should look at the CZ 223 in their varmit synthetic. These guns are accurate and affordable. I own 2 rem 700 varmiters but I wouldn't mind getting a CZ. If you can live with the detachable mag that's the only thing I'm not crazy about.

I read in a recent gun rag test of the CZ varmiter where the author shot a .23" 5 shot group , not bad!