# What Gun?



## XFIRE800 (Oct 25, 2010)

I am going to be purchasing a new rifle soon and have decided on a .243. The rifle will be used for coyotes, antelope in west river South Dakota, and possibly deer if i don't feel like shooting them with the 30/06. My problem is I do not know what rifle I want. I would like to keep it under $700 so i still have money to get a VX II 4-12-50. I am thinking:
Weatherby Vanguard
Tikka T3 Stainless Lite
TC Venture
Ruger M77
Win Model 70 (If cheap enough)
Rem 700 (Not a big fan)
Browing A or X bolt (if cheap enough)

I will not own a savage, i hate how cheap they feel. I would like some opinions on these guns to find any faults or reasons not to get them to try to narrow down my choices. It would be nice to not make the gun shop get 10 different guns out ha. Thanks.


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## xdeano (Jan 14, 2005)

here is what i'd buy:

Winchester mod70
Remington 700
Tikka.

just my opinion.

xdeano


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## kingcanada (Sep 19, 2009)

Well if you don't like the cheap feel of a Savage, you won't care for the cheap engineering of the Ruger! Of the guns listed, the Rem 700 is going to give you the best potential. It's the only one of the guns in your list that ever gets built into a competition benchrest rifle. Like it or not, and it gets my vote after having built some mighty fine varmint rigs on the model 700. 
The Vangaurd is just a Howa 1500 with cosmetic changes. The trigger is crap (read CREEP! creep that does not adjust out), but that can be fixed and the two 1500's I owned shot great once the trigger was taken care of. You either perform internal surgery or buy a Timney.
I have never owned a Tikka, but it is just a cheaper Sako. Sako once made very fine guns and from what I hear, they still do.
Browning? They are not too bad. My .17 mink is built on the early A-bolt micro hunter. Not the best I have owned, but certainly the best 22 hornet action I had available (the .17 mink is a wildcat based on the .22 hornet case). Needlessly complex bolt system. The trigger required little work to be excellent though (changed a spring). They are fairly accurate out of the box.
Model 70's are over rated. Not too bad, but nothing to get excited about. Back when the original "pre-64" came out, it was special, but now we have better guns.
Thompson Center? If you are talking about the break open gun, move on. One shot and the deck is stacked against you in the accuracy department. As fare as their new bolt gun is concerned, it looks pretty good, but I haven't heard if they shoot great or not.
Clear as mud? Hopefully this is of some help.


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## AdamFisk (Jan 30, 2005)

xdeano said:


> here is what i'd buy:
> 
> *Remington 700*
> Winchester mod70
> ...


I support this!!!! :thumb:


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## Kelly Hannan (Jan 9, 2007)

I have an older Win Model 70 243, it's awesome. Just a little trigger work, floated barrel and it shoots very good

I have heard bad things about the barrels on Ruger
I know you said you don't like Savage, but they are hard to beat for out of the box shooting. Maybe try a differnt model


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## XFIRE800 (Oct 25, 2010)

Keep it coming guys! Sounds like the Ruger is out, Im not a huge fan of the looks of that gun anyway. I have been told to get the tikka by a coupe peope not on this forum also. 
If i were to go with the Rem 700 which model should i go with? Also, I could care less about bench shooting since I have never shot at a range or popped off 100 rounds in a day at targets other than with my 12 gauge or .22.


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## saskcoyote (Dec 30, 2006)

xdeano said:


> here is what i'd buy:
> 
> Winchester mod70
> Remington 700
> ...


I own all three, the Winchester Model 70 in XTR, the Remington Model 700 in BDL and the Tikka in Model 595. If I could take all the best characterisics -- accuracy, weight, balance, etc. -- and put them into one gun, I would also put the Winchester 70 at the top of the list. Of course, the modifications to all three over the past few years have changed but if I could get my hands on an XTR in .223 or .243 I'd jump on it faster than a hungry dog on a bone.

Saskcoyote


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## OutdoorsFan (Jan 17, 2008)

After i watched the report "Remington Under Fire" i don't think i would ever buy a rem 700! ever! I bought a Tikka T3 light this year in the 22-250 and it is a very good shooting gun. Really happy with it.


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## barebackjack (Sep 5, 2006)

OutdoorsFan said:


> After i watched the report "Remington Under Fire" i don't think i would ever buy a rem 700! ever! I bought a Tikka T3 light this year in the 22-250 and it is a very good shooting gun. Really happy with it.


So you believe all the crap you see from the "unbiased" drive by media? :rollin:

The Rem700 is one of the most copied designs there is. How many custom actions/triggers are copies of the M700? Most of them.

Rem 700
Win Model 70

There are NO others. 

If anybody got scared of M 700's from that dishrag of an example of reporting by NBC, go ahead and ship your Rem 700 to me. Ill "dispose" of that dangerous old rifle properly.


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## Fallguy (Jan 23, 2004)

Don't get the Ruger.

Although I do not believe I will ever sell my 243 Ruger, I will not buy another.

I have a Weatherby Vanguard that I like alot. I think they are great guns for the money.

Out of the ones listed, I would look at the Tikka and Winchester Model 70 as the next guns I get.

Have fun gun shopping!


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## Kelly Hannan (Jan 9, 2007)

We went to the local Cabelas a few months back, and looked at Remington 700's. We looked at a blued 308, dodn't remember which model, but it was expensive. It was a pile of rust. Ask the clerk for a different one and he said they are all like that. Looked at a stainless and it was rusty but not as bad. The clerk got us one out of the back room, it was ok. 3 days after taking it home it started to rust. My step son has a (sold by remington) over under shotgun that has spent more time getting repaired than being used. Won't be any remington's in my future.


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## blowefosho (Jan 29, 2008)

OutdoorsFan said:


> After i watched the report "Remington Under Fire" i don't think i would ever buy a rem 700! ever! I bought a Tikka T3 light this year in the 22-250 and it is a very good shooting gun. Really happy with it.


 

watch this


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## xdeano (Jan 14, 2005)

the video has it right.

xdeano


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## bobt (Oct 1, 2008)

if you go with the tikka get one with a wood stock. I had the t3 lite in .243 and the stock was so thin you could flex it in your hands and change the point of impact.on the up side the trigger was nice and the gun held and worked graet. wish i would have kept it and switched the stock.


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## johngfoster (Oct 21, 2007)

I'm a big Remington fan. I really like their actions. But I'm not blind to their deficiencies either. There are more accurate rifles out of the box. For a bolt gun, I really like the Model 700 XCR compact tactical. It only seems to come in 223 and 308 though. 20" barrel, and I believe 1:9 twist on the 223. This would be perfect for the heavier 223 loads and I think would make a great coyote gun. You could get the 308, but then would need to get it rebarreled. If going that way it may be easier to get the SPS in the caliber you wanted, and rebarrel it when you shoot it out.

The Winchester action is a great action. Based on the Mauser action. Don't have any personal experience with the winchester, but I know people really like them. Don't know how accuracy compares.

Tikka has a good rep. for quality/accuracy/price, but aftermarket stuff is harder to find, if you ever think about changing/upgrading the stock, etc.

Let us know what you decide to go with.


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## RaBiD (Sep 17, 2009)

I would recommend Tikka, Savage, or Ruger. My biggest concern is accuracy and a good trigger.

I have a Tikka T3 .22-250 and it shoots literally every factory ammunition I've tested under 1 MOA, which was 8 different factory loads. I keep all my test targets so I remember what does what. All the different loads had the same point of impact. I know if you switch to hand loads the gun will group tighter easily. I was shooting 1 inch groups at 200 yards with 55 grain Noslers and 37.5 grains of Big Game. The other great thing about Tikka is that it's so light. If you're concerned with weight at all this would definately be the way to go. Great accurate gun, amazingly smooth bolt, and clean crisp trigger. TIKKA would be my #1 choice.

I know you said you don't like Savage, but you can't refuse the hard evidence that they produce accurate shooting guns. I personally didn't like how they felt when I shouldered it. It felt like it was gonna take a nose dive out of my hands. My brother did purchase a Savage, cause he liked how it felt. We always go shoot at the shooting range together and we take turns shooting each other's guns. Savage shoots 1 MOA easy as well. If you ever shoot a Savage and switch ammunition, point of impact changes are drastic though. I think it might have to do with the tighter rate of twist in their barrels.

Ruger M77 .220 Swift I've shot a couple years at prairie dogs. Factory 55 grain moly coated Hornady ammunition shoots 1 hole 5 shot groups. I usually shoot only 3 shoots for groupings, but I thought it was dumb luck that 3 shots went into the same hole, so i shot 2 more times. Turns out the gun can really shoot! LOL!

Everyone likes a different feel, so I would go to the store and shoulder a few guns. Work the bolt a couple times to see what feels good and you'll be that much closer to your decision. Good Luck!!!


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