Howa Axiom riffle .204?? or something else??

[chris_32212]

The video on youtube of the guy making 700 yard shots and a .88" 3 shot group at 500yards got me extremely fired up about the .204. I have really wanted one for close to a year now but it hasn't been in the cards yet. I apologize if I was causing a rukus being so eager and not being able to buy. Just trying to learn.

[Glen]

No need to apologize Chris. Some of us were your age once. If I remember that is. Excitement is the name of the game & I was chomping at the bit myself for an old rimfire rifle in 5MM for the last couple years. I had opportunities to buy a couple at $500+ & just waited. Finally got a real looker & good shooter for $345 shipped to me. Just have patience. You will need that at the reloading bench. Hang in there young man & we'll help you all we can!!

[oldguy]

Chris your on the right track do your own research, go to gun shops and hold all models/brands you many want.
I checked the following
Remington 700
savage 12
Tikka
T/C
Howa
Weatherby Sub MOA.
Cooper
CZ
All had some plus/minus points, I must admit I do not care for most synthetic stocks on production rifles.

Taking someone's word on the various boards can be good and bad there is alway a Remington, Savage and the Cooper crowd, but in truth barring a fluke most will shoot .500 with reloads out
of the box, especially the .204 ruger. Part of the fun of this sport is learning and after 50 years
I'm still in the process.

[Mike]

I appreciate your advice and I value the experience of the members on this forum. I certainly don't intend to be "all over the map with my posts". But researching these riffles has been a steep learning curve as I have still never fired a bolt action riffle. I have just been trying to soak up as much knowledge as possible and it can be difficult to weed through opinions vs facts.

Chris, I hope that you didn't take my comment as a criticism because that was not my intent. I just meant that you should figure out exactly what you want in a rifle before researching the options. As you have discovered, there are a lot of great rifles to pick from and they don't all serve the same purposes. Knowing what you want in a gun will narrow the field considerably and help to ensure that you get the rifle that best meets your needs.

[chris_32212]

I appreciate your advice and I value the experience of the members on this forum. I certainly don't intend to be "all over the map with my posts".

I just meant that you should figure out exactly what you want in a rifle before researching the options.

I would love to figure out exactly what I want in a riffle... but I don't know how to do that without doing research on my options. If I find a riffle capable of grinding my coffee in the morning, I might decide that fits my purposes but I can't say thats what I want in a riffle until I have researched it and know that option exists. I don't have any experience with bolt guns, so it seems a little short sighted to expect me to know exactly what I want in one.

I can restate what I have already said I am looking for in general... but its just going to make me sound like a broken record.

"Most accuracy I can find out of the box for under a grand. Something I can bench shoot because I enjoy that, but being able to take it on a hike to hunt a coyote is a plus."
It would seem there are many different riffles that would serve those purposes very well, and I am not convinced Cooper is the best option for me.

[chris_32212]

I went to the only two gun shops I know about in my part of town today and was able to look a few different riffles. The Tikka T3 (they didn't have the T3 varmint) came with a 3 shot own moa guarantee for 600 bucks which is cool but the stock was really poor plastic. felt like a cheap Chinese toy gun (it was really smooth plastic and felt like it wanted to slip right out of your hand). The Sako A7 had a rubberized synthetic stock of much better quality and came with a 5 shot one moa guarantee but it was over 900 bucks. The remington action I handled felt less refined than the t3 and the sako. The CZ I checked out really left a lot to be desired (which I kind of expected). There were no T/C, Savage LRPV's, or Cooper's to be found in my neck of the woods today. I might take a trip to some gun shops out of town and see what I can learn about some of the other riffles this weekend.

[chris_32212]

Went to the last two gun shops in town and struck out. Nobody keeps any long range varmint riffles in stock around here so that makes pretty difficult to compare side by side.

[doug]

Chris if u havent already seen this, Go to GUNSAMERICA home page & click on MAGAZINE on left hand side of page . very interesting article called OUT OF THE BOX ACCURACY MOA.