Cooper M21 Vartarg v. Cooper M38 Vartarg

[Schrutester]

For those of you with a M38 Vartarg, why did you choose the M38 over the M21? Or, vice versa?

[Rick in Oregon]

Schru: I've got Coopers in both flavors, and both are sweet rifles for sure. For a VarTarg, two things to consider;

1. If you ever plan the possibility of rechambering, you have a very short action to deal with, so other cartridge choices later are limited by action length.

2. If you seat bullets out to the lands, generally a Model 38 will not eject a loaded round due to excessive overall length....you must remove the bolt and extract the round (no biggie...you can also just shoot it). No problem if you seat a bit deeper though.

I really like the Model 38 for the Fireball or VarTarg class of cartridges. It has more inherent torsional ridigity than a M21 , therefore theoretically more accurate due to its shorter length (theoretically anyway), and due to both being single shots. they have no magazine cutout to weaken the action. The rifles are just so nice and petite, they remind me of the Sako Vixens...no extra fat anywhere, trim and light for the intended cartidge..... real sweeties.

It may be hard to decern from the pic, but here's my two M21's with my M38 20 VarTarg on top for comparison (top to bottom M38 VR 20VT, M21 VR 223 Rem, M21 MTV 204 Ruger):My M38 20VT now wears the exact same Lupy 6.5-20X LR scope as the M21's.



Either way you'll be a happy guy, just consider if you want the very short M38 action, or the 'standard' short action length of the M21. You can't go wrong either way, both are gonna shoot bugholes. If you plan to leave the rifle as a VarTarg or Fireball of some sort, I'd just stick with the M38 and have a sweet little shooting rifle.