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best .223 for £200 to £400


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CIS who I was with at the time would'nt even entertain such a cover

Another reason not to shop at the CO-OP.

The first being that they wont allow hunting on their farms!

 

Frank, hadn't you realised that Nick likes something 'different'.

 

I am very surprised that he has lowered his standards and gone for .223!

 

I was looking forward to hear about a .22PPC from somebody.

i would have gone for a .222, but i dont want to have two batches of .222 in the house, and Howa dont make a .222 currently. if i have it rebarreled i might consider something 'different', maybe a .222 mag or a .221 fireball.

Edited by dunganick
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Nick, stick with what is known best mate and that is the .223 :thumbs:

Getting ammo, loading gear ect, will be much easier then the rare calibers. :thumbs:

 

rjimmer, i can see now how Nick goes for something completely different. But i do think he is making the right choice when he is going with the .223.

In my experience so far, it is a very versitile caliber. :lol:

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I decided to go for the Howa 1500 Varmint Stainless Laminate in .223. Picked it up on Saturday. It's not exactly a .223 for £400, but the cheaper sporter models have r.r.prices of around £460, so a helpful gun dealer might get down near £400.

Am I happy with it ? Yes, I think that for the money it's a hell of a lot of gun.

The stock needed a little attention to get the barrel fully floating and there is a bit of creep on the trigger. You very quickly get used to the trigger because it's very consistent. Otherwise it's very well built and very smooth to use. It feeds very well from the mag and the stock is really well designed.

Accuracy seems very good with 40gr V-max moly and H335. Varget is a bit slower,but very consistent, better suited to heavier bullets maybe, Hornady think so anyway.

Overall, I think for what I wanted to spend it was a bit of a bargain.

Chris

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I decided to go for the Howa 1500 Varmint Stainless Laminate in .223. Picked it up on Saturday. It's not exactly a .223 for £400, but the cheaper sporter models have r.r.prices of around £460, so a helpful gun dealer might get down near £400.

Am I happy with it ? Yes, I think that for the money it's a hell of a lot of gun.

The stock needed a little attention to get the barrel fully floating and there is a bit of creep on the trigger. You very quickly get used to the trigger because it's very consistent. Otherwise it's very well built and very smooth to use. It feeds very well from the mag and the stock is really well designed.

Accuracy seems very good with 40gr V-max moly and H335. Varget is a bit slower,but very consistent, better suited to heavier bullets maybe, Hornady think so anyway.

Overall, I think for what I wanted to spend it was a bit of a bargain.

Chris

you can play with the trigger, and get a clean break from it using one of the two screws, but best to seek advice on it, as one screw will add creep the other will take it away.

 

im hoping to get the gun at just over trade price, so below £350 for the barreled action. if this works out the whole gun will not cost over £500. but we shall see, i havent got confirmation of trade price yet.

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When you remove the creep from the trigger the interceptor for the safety jams before all the creep is removed so on this particular gun if you remove all the creep for a light, clean break, the safety wont engage. At a later date I will totally dismantle the trigger to solve this problem(yes i know what im doing) and I have a solution for this problem. It will get smoother with use anyway. The Tension spring in the trigger is also lacking a bit in terms of preload and will not fully reposition the blade unless its set quite heavy because of the sear engagement being a bit rough. BUT IM BEING OVERLY PICKY. I worked on the gun for chrisv and as a HAPPY owner of a Sako75, A Tikka 695 and a Remington 700 and an Unhappy CZ owner, I was extremely impressed with the build quality and fit/finish of the gun, its an absolute bargain and if you ask him nicely, he will put you onto the dealer who gave him a great price on it, WELL below rrp! For the difference in price, I'll be buying a Howa next time!

good to hear this, i will probably have my trigger stoned after a few months by a friendly RFD who will also be getting the gun for me a little above trade price (about 1 bottle of irish above trade price, straight from fox firearms) so its fair to say he will be considerably below rrp, as he wont be taking a cut from the sale. but thanks for the offer none the less.

 

i did read that the safety was a little rough to engage, and with some stoning could be improoved. any experiance with this?

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Don't let markbivvy know you like Tikka's but don't like CZ's :D:)

 

What are looking at for the 6.5 target rifle, Blaser, RPA that sort of thing?

I don't have one, I am just curious..

 

There were 2 guys with 2 RPA's each last time I was at Short Siberia.

They had the full stars and stripes stocks, Nightforce scopes, handloads, bench rest setup etc etc - for 100 yards?! :*) I guess they could have doing some development work, who knows they seemed a bit too anorakie so I didn't talk to them.

 

As a complete contrast at the 600 yard point on the way out a guy was laying prone shooting off his backpack with open sights!

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I hear what you are saying about the 695, I also have one in 6.5 and after 3 or 4 shots in quick sucession it starts drifting as the barrel gets hot very quickly.

 

I also have a CZ527 and reckon they are the new rem 700 i.e. good guns and the basis of many a custom rifle. I, like Frank may have got lucky, but mine shoots very well, and so does his.

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This is very true, thanks Stuart, i love my CZ 527 .223. :):)

Although, it is a hunting rifle and as Fister said, it heats up quick after 3 shots.

But thats all i mainly use it for and only take it to the range for a small bit of practice and to check the grouping, every now and then. :D

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Tikkas are fine guns, very poular with the local crowd at my club(mainly stalkers and rough shooters), i STILL aint met a happy cz centrefire owner yet but i have met a lot of happy cz rimfire owners. Shot a 527 hornet once and it was dire, brand new, terrible gun, I know cz make some corkers, i just think they send them all to America.

 

Sitting back now waiting for abuse......

 

as for the 6.5, id like an RPA but cost is an issue, im thinking more along the lines of a rebarrelled remy 700 or maybe a custon Howa like Vince Bottomly just made for Target Sports Mag, but then again, its getting close to rpa cost i suppose, shame howa dont make a 6.5 x 55 in the heavy barreled action, its a superb calibre, my Tikka 695 is 6.5 but its a stalking rifle, still accurate though, just not suitable for longer shot strings and at the end of the day, i will never be a super serious target shooter cos its just too expensive, just fancy having a go at that Egg shoot at diggle next year! and a play everynow and again. I regret getting rid of my 243 PSS now :D

the RPA's are nice, they are actually made just down the road from me, but unless you want the single shot they are very expensive indeed, and the multi shot conversion is a bit of a pig to look at.

 

could you not just buy a Howa 6.5 sporter and then rebarrel it (as i pressume you would intend to anyway) with a heavy barrel. to my knoledge the sporter and varmint actions are identicle.

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