Ultimate long range Varmint setup?

[FOTIS]

What is your idea of this? No I am not interested in lobbing 300 Sierra Matchkings from a 338 Super Duper Whatever.

I am interested in an affordable rigs, nothing bigger than 24 or 25 caliber. Max range would be 500-600 yard prairie dogging.
So what's on your minds fellas?????

 

[nodak7mm]

OK Pop,

I'll key in on the key word "affordable" and go with a factory varmint gun, such as a 700VLS or a 77VT in a .243 (5-600$), a decent 6-24 scope (3-500$) a replacement trigger (80$) and a Muzzle brake installed (100-125$). You will have fun at that 500yd range you refer to, using bullets from 55 - 105 grns (the Amaxes shoot just out of the factory 1:9 tubes) and with the brake, you can spot your own shots....

So for a paltry 1000 - 1300$, you can have a great rig. As an FYI, I just picked up a very slighty used Sightron II 6x 24 for 300$ and I really have come to like the Sightron line... and you can get loopy 6x20's off Ebay for as little as 450$.

You want to shoot 500-600 yds consistantly and have fun, shoot no smaller than a 70gr NBT (bigger is better) with decent glass... You will and the brakes are a blast to watch your bullet trace in the the PD's and watch skippy do the aerial herky jerky...

Nodak

 

[Woodycreek]

POP

I love my 700 SPS Varmint .243 with 70gr BTs, 42 grains of Varget, Win brass, and 210 Fed gold match primers. That 70gr BT is going 3460 FPS and will shoot under a half inch at 100 yards if the shooter does his part :lol: I had to do some trigger work and float/bed the stock. It has a VX-III 6.5-20 scope and Harris bipod. Just shot it at steel at 600 yards two weeks ago and five shots hit within 4-5 inches. How about that Savage 110FP 25-06 we talk about a few months ago?

 

[FOTIS]

Yup about $1200 is my max.

Cartridge selection is first......

 

[Charlie-NY]

6mmBR - More accurate than most other cartridges for your application and an extended throat/barrel life to boot. Kind of hard to beat that combination.

Personally, I have had exceptionally good luck with the 6.5x284 but the barrel life will probably be only 1/3 of the 6mmBR.

 

[Woodycreek]

You could get the SPS V for $475-$500 and the 110FP was priced at $600. I like the .243 for groundhogs and yotes but i still want that 110FP 25-06.

 

[Powerstroke]

A 22-250 launching 60gr B-tips would be a hard rig to beat..... biggest issue being finding one with a barrel with a decent twist rate for the 60 grainers.
I also think the two :?: Fireballs would be neat ones to play with on a "calm" day....

 

[Desert Fox]

6MM Remington launching the 87 grain V-Max at around 3300 fps is hard to beat. I have my first and only long range varmint rig chambered for this round. It is built around an old Argentine Mauser 1909 with a 28"-10 twist Shilen match grade barrel. My longest kill to date was a crow at 598 yards.

 

[buckfever]

What about a 22 250 Savage M12 for around 500 bills can't beat the trigger mine is just under 2 pounds rings for around 60 and a Nikon Buckmasters 6x18x40 with turits for around 350 that should work quit well for under grand.

 

[JDMAG]

Looks like a 22-250 Pop. Mine is a heavy barrel remington laminated stock, and I think it has an adjustable trigger. I haven't spent much time with it, My nephew wanted my 300 RUM, and wouldnt shutup until I traded him. I'll ask him about the trigger, I think he had about 800 tied up in it. :roll: :grin:

 

[Guy Miner]

I'd strongly consider a Savage. Most serious P-dog shooters I know go through several thousand rounds a year - and wear out barrels on a regular basis. With a Savage and a few tools, you can swap on a new match grade barrel anytime you want, at home, without paying a dime to a gunsmith.

Plus, the Savage varmint rifles typically shoot very well. I'd think a .223 would be fine, but I'd also take a hard look at the .204 Ruger. P-dogs don't need much bullet do they? :grin:

Regards, Guy

 

[hvy barrel]

I think that a Rem 700 VLS in 6MM Remington would be a good varmint rig to meet your criteria.

 

[R Flowers]

Well, I used to travel to Wyoming and South Dakota and even Utah to shoot prairie dogs and decided I needed a long range rifle. I was satisfied with my 22-250 guns for most shots but built a rifle for the ones way out there.

I took a Remington 700 to a gunsmith and he built the following. A Rem 700 SA with a Shilen SS match barrel (heavy), Jewell trigger, pillar bedded McMillan stock, Leupold dual dovetail rings and bases, Leupold 6.5 X 20 EFR scope.

I may have messed up in some people's minds in that I stuck with the 6mm Remington cartridge and the 1 in 12 twist that I had in the original 244 Remington that I grew up with. It will not shoot heavy bullets, but will put 70 grain Nosler BT's or Sierra 70 grain HPBT bullets into a quarter of an inch at a hundred yards. It will shoot Sierra 80 grain Blitz bullets darned near as well and that is my favorite bullet for this gun.

With this gun I have killed a bunch of prairie dogs over 600 yards and one was measured at 752!

 

[6ppcar]

The 6BR is hard to beat, low recoil and barrel life is very good.
I used one a few years back to reach out and touch pasture poodles at 600 plus yards.

 

[Hegland]

Pop, I'm not sure I can tell you anything you don't already know, but I will cast my vote for the 6mm Rem.

 

[jmad_81]

POP- Something I have been kicking around for a while is a 243 WSSM shooting something around the 90-100 gr. match bullets. Don't know what a guy could pick one up for or who chambers them but a 90-100gr. bullet over 3000 fps would be a good 600 yard round I think. Just a few of my random thoughts.

 

[FOTIS]

What is missing is a decent rifle platform..........

 

[Powerstroke]

Second thoughts.....
The .260 is out of the running due to your limits set @ 25 Cal and smaller....Why not add to the Weatherby line? .240 Weatherby Mag?
Gun Broker has a Tac Savage on there now......

POP... do you have any experience with the .240 ? Don't want to hijak your thread, but thinking that may be my next build...... :?:

 

[jtoews80]

I love my Savage 264, but that isn't a varmint caliber really. I will second POP's opinion about the Savages tho, it's a great thing to be able to change your own barrels. Especailly when Pac nor can send you a prefit barrel for 380-425 bucks in whatever caliber will match up to your action. If I were thinking about the 243WSSM, I would

A: start with a savage short action like a model 12, or if I had too, a long action with a mag bolt face. rebarrel to 243WSSM.

B:shoot it single shot, It's most likely as hard to get to feed nicely as the 25 WSSM.

If you went with a 22-250 model 12(600), a used Elite 4200 6-24X whatever off Ebay or Gunbroker(250), a new Pac-Nor Prefit(400). You're at 1200 for a Switch barrel rig, not counting the barrel vice and savage nut wrench(150). Add a Bell and Carlson stock and then you're set.

Be shooting a great rig and have alot of versitility too, just my 2 cents.
I'm told most guys with a switch barrel rig just end up buying another savage action anyway........ We'll see, after I finish my 264 if I get another tube for it. It shoot right now, but the trigger isn't great and the stock works well, but pillar bedding would improve upon an already accurate rig

CC.

 

[jtoews80]

I love my Savage 264, but that isn't a varmint caliber really. I will second POP's opinion about the Savages tho, it's a great thing to be able to change your own barrels. Especailly when Pac nor can send you a prefit barrel for 380-425 bucks in whatever caliber will match up to your action. If I were thinking about the 243WSSM, I would

A: start with a savage short action like a model 12, or if I had too, a long action with a mag bolt face. rebarrel to 243WSSM.

B:shoot it single shot, It's most likely as hard to get to feed nicely as the 25 WSSM.

If you went with a 22-250 model 12(600), a used Elite 4200 6-24X whatever off Ebay or Gunbroker(250), a new Pac-Nor Prefit(400). You're at 1200 for a Switch barrel rig, not counting the barrel vice and savage nut wrench(150). Add a Bell and Carlson stock and then you're set. You'll also need to buy a mag bolt head if you go SA.

Be shooting a great rig and have alot of versitility too, just my 2 cents.
I'm told most guys with a switch barrel rig just end up buying another savage action anyway........ We'll see, after I finish my 264 if I get another tube for it. It shoot right now, but the trigger isn't great and the stock works well, but pillar bedding would improve upon an already accurate rig

CC.