Neighbor is moving back to Montana. Is in the market for a walk around varmint 223 bolt. I suggested a CZ he was not hot on that idea.

He asked about the Tikka or Howa Mini. Any experience or thoughts? I had no experience with either.

I love my CZ Carbine. Great truck or carry rifle. Ground squirrels coyotes prairie dogs
Jack rabbits javelina!!! Accurate with Leupold Compact 2x7 scope.

a CZ was my first suggestion. He didn't care for the safety nor the magazine hanging out the bottom.

Tikka has a good rep.I have a Kimber Montana ,stainless ,synthetic.Needed just a bit of tweeking for best accuracy.Both of those are light weight .They should last for many coyotes !

Howa is going to have the magazine hanging out of the bottom as well. Right now they are only offering a 10rd mag, so its going to stick out quite a bit.

CZ also has the 527 American M1 which has a flush magazine, only available in synthetic, if that makes a difference.

What about a Model 7?

i went through this myself last year. Which bolt rifle in 223.

It boils down to this. What is the intended application? What bullet weight do you intend to use?

Most of what I found out there in a bolt gun, had a 1:12" o 1:14" twist barrel. Suitable for lightweight bullets of 40 to 55 grains. I wanted something a little more versatile, something that would handle bullets in the 55 to 70 grain range.

What I settled on was the Remington 700 Tactical. It has a 1:9 twist barrel and handles bullets inb the 55-70 grain range nicely. The only downside to this rifle is the 20" barrel, so you lose a bit of velocity. When the time comes to rebarrel, I'll go with a 24" incher.

I'm still playing with load development, but so far I like Varget and the Sierra 65 gr Gameking bullet, although the 60 gr Nosler is showing promise.

Good luck with your decision!

Crap didn't even think of bullet weight

The AR-15 variants seem to handle all bullets well with 1:8 twists...

quote:

The AR-15 variants seem to handle all bullets well with 1:8 twists

Like me he has several of those. I believe this is more a leave under the seat of his pickup. Then again maybe he was just making party conversation over wine.

Maybe one of the Zastava Mini-Mausers? Cabela's seems to have a supply at most stores at 400$

Two options.

I have a 700 in an HS Precision stock that is sub MOA.

Or a, now getting hard to find, Ruger African in 223. Sub MOA as well.

As different a look as possible, but both deliver.

For a walk around bolt action varminter in 223 it is hard to beat the Remington Model 7. It is very light weight, sweet handling, and with a load it likes, extremely accurate. Mine shoots 5/8" 100 yard 3 shot groups at 3200 fps using a Hornady 50 gr V-Max, 27.5 grains of Varget and a CCI standard primer.

Ruger American Savage Axis or similar all are reasonably priced. They are not to be worried about this someone pops a trk window and steals it your not out much.

And they have a reputation for accuracy

My favorites are Mini Mark X, Brno ZKK-601, Sako L461. Walk around quite a bit with all. The Mini is the lightest, also equally accurate as the Sako.

I would also go with the model 7.

I truly love my CZ527. Very accurate and a joy to carry.

Go buy a Tikka T3 Hunter. Has a 1-8" twist and will shoot silly accurate.

I recently bought a Howa .223 with a 3.5-10 scope package deal for 505$ shipped out the door to my FFL.
It has a green Hogue stock, holds 6 rounds with a flat floorplate. All in all a really nice rifle. Trigger is very nice.
It shoots everything I put in it to nearly the same POI and 4 kinds of factory ammo print sub 1" 5 shot groups, a couple of those approach .5".
My handloads for another rifle are right at .5" in this rifle.
I was skeptical of the scope (Nikko Stirling) but must say it is clear, bright, moves by the click where it is supposed to, adjustable objective, lighted reticle in red or green and overall impressive.
I think I got a steal at 505$ shipped and highly recommend it to anyone.

Dave is that the 1500?

I don't know his budget but if I was in the market and could swing it financially the Sako 85 Bavarian in .223 would be my choice.

quote:

Originally posted by TC1:
I don't know his budget but if I was in the market and could swing it financially the Sako 85 Bavarian in .223 would be my choice.

I'm scouring the country for a Bavarian with the 1 in 8 twist. Just put a bug in Darrik's ear at Whittaker guns...he has a way of coming up with stuff....


signed: a leopard by any other name

What is his target price?

Mossberg and Savage offer a cheap solution. $700~800 opens up a lot of options. Personally, a lightweight 7-08 would do the trick for me and would offer more payload when needed, after all it's not like he is doing mag dumps from an AR-15.

Yes Paul it is the Howa 1500, Gameking package.
Good scope bases, rings and like I said a very impressive scope for what I thought would be a throw away. I am a died in the wool Leupold guy also have a few Nikons but this scope that came in the package is very useful.
I found some bare Howa 1500's for about 400$ (no scope rings or bases), the package I got for 505$ was worth every penny.

quote:

What is his target price?

Don't know for sure but he isn't a guy that lets a few $$ keep him from what he wants.

Thanks Dave.

Well after all the discussions with him about how he HATED the safety and magazine on the CZ he was at the shop after Christmas and found a DEAL. So he now owns a CZ American. It came with a 3 shot mag.

So thanks to all but his decision has been made.

That's a nice rifle. I bet he'll enjoy it.

An excellent choice. No heavier than necessary . Nice and slim.

Hands down a Kimber, if you can find one.