Ricky_Rocket

I'm getting ready to buy my first rifle. I want to get something that is accurate and has good quality. I'll be using it primarily to target shoot 50 yard and 100 yard range. I prefer bolt action can spend $500 - $800 and used is ok by me.

I have shot several rifles at the range. I've shot a .22 a 30-06 and a Colt AR-15 (not sure of the caliber). The .22 doesn't have enough power I think to be accurate for 100 yards(right?) and the 30-06 has too much recoil for me and is a lot more gun than I need for target practice. I was most comfortable shooting the AR-15 but I'm not going to buy a military type rifle. I want a bolt action rifle that has about the same power and accuracy as the AR-15.

I'm considering a Remington 700 ADL Synthetic in .223 Caliber. Is that a good choice ? Or any other suggestions ?

Does a .223 have a lot less recoil than a 30-06 ? Does a 7mm have a lot less recoil than a 30-06 ?

Thanks
Ricky

ColoradoElk

Hi RR

I believe (from memory) the .223 has about 4 lbs of recoil, and depending on the load, about 18 from the .30-06.

Take a look at the packaged Savage products, especially with the Accutrigger, they are priced well below your range and are excellent.

If you want more juice, look at .243, .25-06, .260 and .7mm-08.

Good Luck.

CE

Carpmaster

I think that the 223 is a great choice for fun accurate shhoting, but i would recommend a varmint style rifle, but if you were to stay in a sporter style i would go with the ruger 77 over the ADL. My two cents.

charlie brown

The AR-15 is chambered for .223. The Remington 700 should have very slightly more recoil than the AR-15, but not much, and probably not even noticeable. It would a good caliber for informal target practice. I also would reccomend that you look into the Savage's.

driftrider

.223 Remington, or if you want a little more velocity 22-250 Rem; either would be great choices for what you're looking to do.

If you plan on shooting mostly factory ammo, I'd strongly suggest the .223 Rem as it will allow you to stretch your ammo budget a little more. There are gobs of different factory .223 loads available, and even with premium bullets they are still very reasonably priced. If you plan to handload, I'd suggest that you step up to the .22-250. It's just as accurate, shoots a bit faster and flatter, and has a touch more energy downrange if you ever decide that shooting coyotes at 400 yards is your thing. 22-250 is also a very easy round to handload for, and handloading a 22-250 is only slightly more expensive (because it uses about 10 grains more powder per shot) than handloading .223 Rem. From a price perspective, it's almost not worth handloading .223 because you can buy match/varmint grade ammo for just a few cents more than you can handload the same stuff, to the time and labor isn't worth it.

The recoil of either is very mild. So mild in fact that if you can't tolerate a .223 or 22-250 then you don't have many options in the way of centerfire rifles. If you buy a varmint/target rifle with a heavy barrel and/or a heavy beavertail stock the recoil will be even less.

As for rifles to look at, most of your decision should be based on going out and looking at and handling several rifles and seeing which one you take to the best. We can give you suggestions to point you in the right direction, but your personal preference should be the major deciding factor.

I personally own a Ruger M77 V/T MkII in 22-250 that shoots exceptionally well. I handload for it, and have found that a 50gr Nosler Ballistic Tip BT pushed by 35.7gr of Varget inside Winchester brass and lit by a CCI BR-2 benchrest primer delivers .33MOA accuracy at 200 yards, or about .66" at 200 yards consistantly. I've had three shot groups at 200 yards measuring less than 0.3".

I'd also look at and strongly consider a Savage 12BVSS with the Accu-Trigger. They are great guns, and very reasonably priced for the features they've got like dual pillar bedding, free-floated and button rifled bbl, Accu-Trigger, etc... If you buy a Savage with a heavy barrel that shoots over 1MOA with good ammo right out of the box, then you've got a lemon. Savages have a well deserved reputation for outstanding accuracy.

One other thing to remember is that a rifle, especially a target rifle, is only as good as the scope that sits on top of it. Buying an expensive rifle and topping it with a cheap crappy scope is like spending $2000 on a home theater system and running the sound through $25 speakers. It's just not going to sound good. So when you're saving and budgeting make sure you factor in spending at least $200-400 on decent glass for the rifle. If you're only shooting at paper or for long range varminting where accuracy and precision are paramount, you'll probably be best served with a med to high magnification, variable power scope with an adjustable objective to dial out parallax. I have a Nikon Monarch 6.5-20X44 AO scope on my Ruger that has been an outstanding scope. You might like something between a 4-12X if your plan on keeping your ranges close (100-200 yards), up to about a 8-24X if you plan on really reaching out there to 300+ yards in the future. If you plan on hunting predators in the future, stay at the lower end of the magnification. For nothing but paper punching or long range varminting a higher mag scope would do well.

Good luck,

Mike

JagMagMan

RR it really depends on what you want from a gun. You've stated that it will be primarily a target rifle. In that case you really don't need a heavy caliber, with plenty of punch on both ends! Something along the lines of the .223 would be ideal. Cheap to shoot, accurate, and low recoil too! If you are going to be using it for varmints and game up through whitetail size, something a little heavier would be better! Like something in .243, 25-06, 260, or 7MM-08. These are good target calibers and have plenty of power for whitetail size game, without punishing recoil!
Remember, caliber alone does not determine felt recoil! Action types, (semi-autos recoil less than other action types, such as bolt actions.) Also, barrel length, type of stock, and total gun weight, along with different bullet weights in the same calibers, will determine how much a rifle will recoil!
For example, I have a .308 that I feel, recoils more than my 7MM Rem. magnum! Why? Because the 7MM is a heavy rifle and absorbs more of the recoil than my light weight .308!
By all means, don't get caught up in macho-ism! Get something that you can be comfortable with! I'll take accuracy over power any day! (up to the point of being under-gunned for larger game!)
Also, recoil can be a "percieved" thing as well as a "felt" thing! If you start out light, you can usually work up to heavier hittters without too much trouble, but if you develop a flinch from starting "with too much gun," it will be a hard habit to break!
I hope this helps! good luck!

fgdcd

I have a 7mm-08 and it has very low recoil and works great for deer and is very accurate.

pharaoh2

if you be shooting 100 yard targets, and nothing else, a .223 remington will be fine. If you ever want to hunt with your rifle, and I'm assuming you will or you would be elsewhere asking this question, get somthing with a little more poop. As stated above, a .243 or 7mm-08 will be great hunting guns but with a little more recoil, which is virtually not a consideration with the .223. The AR-15 fires a .223, in stock form, but Armalite will build these things all the way up to .300 WSM (!) But my guess the rifle you fired was a .223.

Ricky_Rocket

Thanks for all the replies everyone. I found out the AR-15 I shot was a .223 caliber. I'm comfortable with that caliber.

I was at the gun shop today and they had a Ruger M77 .223 with a stainless steel barrel new for $500. It's this gun http://www.ruger.com/Firearms/FAProd...17837&return=Y

They had the Remmington 700 .223 ADL for $400.

They also had a Ruger KMINI-14 .223 for $600. It feels kinda small and it's not a bolt action.

So far I do like the look and feel of the M77 the best. Too bad they won't let me try out the new guns for a week before buying.

I think the KMINI-14 shoots the .223 military rounds, anyone know if the M77 would handle the .223 Miltary rounds ? (like the same type of ammo that an AR-15 takes)(those rounds are cheaper).

driftrider

.223 Rem and 5.56mm NATO are the exact same cartridge. The military simply uses the metric NATO designation rather than the U.S. civilian name. There are slight differences between the mil-spec ammo and civilian ammo because mil-spec ammo is for use in combat, but none of these differences will effect the safe operation of mil-spec ammo in a civilian gun, as pressure levels and external dimensions are identical.

The one problem you may run into shooting the M855 5.56mm NATO ball ammo (green tip) is that the bullets are very long (because of the partial steel core) 62 grain bullets. Military, and a few civilian, rifles are rifled with a 1-in-7" twist rate to stabilize these extra long bullets, but most civilian factory rifles in .223Rem are rifled with a slower twist (usually between 1-in-10" to 1-in-12") and are mean to shoot standard weight and length (40 to 55 grain) lead cored bullets most typically used for varminting and short to medium ranged target shooting. This means that the M77 or 700 ADL might not have sufficiant twist to stabilize surplus M855 military ammo.

I would say that since you're investing in a bolt action rifle you're more interested in accuracy than putting a ton of lead down range, so if I were you I'd look at some of the slightly more expensive factory loads (Black Hills and Winchester both make ammo in 50 round boxes that are fairly inexpensive and will shoot much better than surplus military ball, especially the ultra cheap imported stuff. I'd also stay away from the Russian Wolf and Barnaul ammo because it uses steel cases. It's also very dirty shooting and accuracy in my experience is literally hit-or-miss. Some imported cheapy ammo also may contain corrosive primers, even if it's labeled "non-corrosive". Why expose your nice new rifle to ammo imported from some craphole country that has no quality control or labeling standards (SAAMI) and might rust out your nice new barrel, when for a couple bucks more a box you can get U.S. made ammo that you'll know will not only shoot well, but will be made to meet SAAMI specs?

Decent domestic .223 Ammo is super cheap (relatively speaking) and readily available. You wouldn't buy a high performance car and feed it the cheapest gas, would you? So why do the same to your rifle.

Mike