SmallCaliberCentral

Dose anyone have any suggestions for a new rifle. Im looking for someting to shoot coyotes at 100-250 yards and take to the range. Im not a big spender and was just woundering if anyone has any suggestions for a good inexpessive rifle. Someting in .204 or .223

for the price, imho, it is hard to beat a howa, in either caliber. less than $600.00. with a little load work, i have my 204 shooting under 3/8 in at a hundred. ( Howa 1500 Varminter with hogue stock) my 223 is Weatherby Vangard, which is made by Howa. it is a sporter model. and it will do just under 1/2 in at a hundred with my hand loads. i did put timney triggers on both, and that really helped tighten groups.

+1 for the Howa / Hogue combination!!

I have a Howa 1500 Vamint Heavy Barrel with Hogue Overmoulded stock in .308win and love it to bits! Great gun, great price!!

Another for you to consider is the Savage Model 12 VLP, but this might be a bit more expensive (Not sure about prices over there in the US).
I bought my VLP in .223rem and get consistant 1/2" groups with handloads at 100 yards. The 1 in 9" twist loves the 69g Sierra MatchKing!

I Went with a howa 204 and love it, I also recomend buying a barreled action, timney trigger and stock all seperate, you can save a couple hundred bucks buy doing this vs buying a howa varminter. Mine has shot some groups in the .2s

Im not a big spender and was just woundering if anyone has any suggestions for a good inexpessive rifle.

I would look at the wood stocked Savages in 223. Ammo is more available on store shelves if one does not reload. And a wider variety of bullet selection over the 204. Then I would top it with a 6X "scope of your preference" & just go shoot it.

I am in no way discouraging you from the 204. I just read what your needs & preferences are & this is the rig that I would like to have for a dedicated coyote gun myself someday.

HTH


This would be the one I would opt for.

http://www.savagearms.com/11g.htm

Consider shopping for a good used rifle... Plenty of used rifles at gun shops, pawn shops and the like. If you're not real picky about the cartridge or the make, you might pick up one heck of a 250 yard coyote rifle for very little cash... A good used .223 or .243 Win comes to mind - sometimes I find Rem 700's, Rugers and Savage rifles for around $300 - possibly even with a scope. A lot of folks are hurting for cash and are selling their toys. It's a good time to pick up on something if you have a little cash on hand.

Go for the Howa 1500, I have three of them and they all shoot under an inch right out of the box. What ever brand you decide on, try galleryof guns.com and click on their gun genie. fill out the info and check out the prices. Pretty darn good deal, I bought my last three rifles from them, saved a hundred bucks on my last Howa in 300 win Mag.

Thanks for the tips and suggedtions on the rifles. It really helped. I was looking at a weatherby vanguard in .223. They are going for 399.99 where im from. Has any one had any experience with these rifles. Are they good or bad. The weatherby vanguard is basicly a howa if im not mistaken.

I would have took that one home with me @ that price.

Howa makes the Weatherby Vanguard, esentially the same rifle.

I own a Weatherby Vangard in .223 and it had the worse trigger I ever tried to shoot with. So I replaced it with a Timney trigger and then replaced the synthetic stock with a Bell & Carlson tactical style stock with the aluminum bedding block. A little fitting by the rear bolt shroud finally got it snug as a bug in a rug. I put a Nikon "Buckmasters" 6-18 x 40 side focus 1/8" M.O.A. scope with sunshade (cant beat it for the money for clarity and its 1/8" M.O.A.adjustments) and it is printing 55gr.Sierra BK under 1/2" M.O.A. @ 100yds (1 1/2" at 300yds.) using Benchmark; in fact I am planning on using it as my primary shooter on Prairie Dogs next month in Wyoming. I will also be using my Savage 12VLP .204 for shots over 300Yards (it shoots into 1" at 300 yards) but up to 300yards the Vangard .223 will be my workhorse. The Vangard/Howa is a great rifle for the money (I heard they improved the trigger) I wouldn't hesitate on giving it 5 stars if it wasent for their earlier junk trigger.

I would agree with an earlier poster that if you are willing to shop a bit, and are discerning about rifles, that a good used rifle can be had for under $400.

As far as a new rifle, one that merits a close look is the Tikka T3. It is offered in .223 and .243, and you may be able to find one for around $550, and used would be less. These rifles have an excellent trigger and a reputation for out of the box accuracy.

The Ruger M77 in .204, .223, 22-250, or .243 would also be a good candidate, although the Ruger may not have as good a trigger as the Tikka.