Thinking about a new calling rifle

[KillBilly]

yeah I'm wondering about that. Have you shot this rifle then. I was curious how loud it was.

HOWA!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I forgot to look at there sight. I may change my mind but I do love this ugly bugger.

My experience with the ports is that it is very loud at the muzzle but the animal will hardly notice it. It's just the way it works, forces the sound lefdty, right, up, down depending on the direction its ported.

[Antlershed]

I have the VTR in .223......BUY IT!  I love mine, and its not THAT loud. 

[MHWASH]

Your crazy, but that has nothing to do with the rifle.  

I'm shooting the Ruger all weather in 22-250. It's no too bad to pack all day. Although it only has a 22 inch barrel I'm sure it's still more than a .223 in the same barrel length.

[Sagedawg]

 I have a Howa Varminter GREAT gun!!!!  Very heavy, but very accurate with the 168 gr Gold Cup loads.Mines a 308 so it leaves a bit of a hole. My calling gun is a Remmy 788 in 222  not heavy at all just dont loose the mags .......talk about expensive or I use my old Ruger boat paddel in 22/250.  For longer shooting my  HB 22/250 or 25/06 with 87gr gets to them fast and hard, both of these are Remmy 700's.

   One I havent seen mentioned is the Savage Predator, already camoed, adjustable trigger, free floated barrel, and you can get it in 22/250 and its only 7lbs. Or buy you a Stevens in 22/250 and put your own camo job on it.

    Bad decision to have to make with all your free time on your hands..........


  Sage

[Gutpile]

I hear you sage. It is a toughy.       Hey, but somebody has to do it. Right?

[Big10gauge]

Just buy a Cooper instead of 3 Howa's

[deaddog]

 gutpile , you deserve at least one of ever gun you ever wanted, buy it,

[Bofire]

I have for predators a  223, 243 and 22-250, My tikka 22-250 is my go to, it is the one in the truck 24/7. accurate, super trigger, light.
4.5X14 leupold. knocked over a bunch of coyotes with it and a 5X6 Muley.
Carl

[tlbradford]

Gutpile, It is worth a trip to Northwest Gun and Pawn on Pines.  The owner is as honest as they come and you can get some great deals.  I have purchased my last 6 firearms from him.

[Gutpile]

He is a good guy. Only a mile from my house too. After fondling and cleaning my a r today i think i'm gonna hold off a bit till the sickness hits again. Hahaha

[SagebrushStalker]

+1 on the Howa
I've been using mine, chambered in 22-250, for 5 years now, never a problem, except for the weight.  I just got rid of my remington varminter in 204, weekest action I've seen.  I could take the scope off and the bolt would start opening hard.  It was an accurate gun just not for me.  If I had the chance to pick up another howa for what I paid for mine I'd do it in a heartbeat

[bighorns2bushytails]

tape a 5lb weight on your gun and walk around with that the first few hunts then take it off... youll be impressed with how light it is   or fire your employee and get back to work so your not so outta shape LOL  

seriously id just hang tight shop till you find a bargin you cant pass up,  let that be your deciding factor.  of course thats not stopping me from eyeballing those weatherby's. 

[Tundra]

New to this forum, saw this thread and thought I would add a question to it....   

I have always shot at yotes with the deer rifle, but thinking about getting a rifle in .223 to let my son shoot, and give me another option in the safe!    

Anybody have any experiences with the Remington Model 7 Predator Rifle?
http://www.remington.com/products/firearms/centerfire_rifles/model_seven/model_seven_predator.asp

The other option I am looking at is the Howa Compact Heavy Barrel Varminter.
http://www.legacysports.com/products/howa/howa_compactvmt.html

Leaving price out the equation, which rifle is better tailored to my use as shown above? 
I would prefer to stick with Howa or Remington at this point.

Thanks!

[KillBilly]

I have a delima. The ruger I have is the target model and as much as I love that thing it's just too heavy to lug around all day. So I bought an AR a couple of years ago and as much as I love it it's pretty fuggin heavy too, and I am not impressed with the .223 so far. I think it's all in my head but I'm so used to the 22-250 I'm having a hard time with it. Anyhoo I'm thinking about buying this rifle in 22-250. My plan is to use it on my "hard hunts" where we walk miles and miles. I also want it in 22-250.

So what do you think? It's only 7 1/2 lbs. Ugly like me, and it's a 22-250. Am I a fool? I do need another toy right??? Either encourage me or call me a fool.

Damn I love this rifle!!! 


http://www.remington.com/products/firearms/centerfire_rifles/model_700/model_700_VTR.asp

if you are thinking about spending that much (ref. link price shown) then you should consider the Tikka T3 Varmint
it weighs 7.9 lbs. and is a high quality piece for about a hundred dollars more.
http://www.tikka.fi/rifles_varmint_reg.php#

[Gutpile]

if you are thinking about spending that much (ref. link price shown) then you should consider the Tikka T3 Varmint
it weighs 7.9 lbs. and is a high quality piece for about a hundred dollars more.

It's between the Tikka and the VTR. Strongly leaning towars the Tikka. I'm going to sit on it for a while but maybe in January I'll make a move. We'll see.

I see that the VTR comes in a ported and unported, I'll have to look at the unported. Not worried about the port spooking game, I'm worried about losing my hearing faster than I already am and just being plain obnoxious to my hunting buddies. I mean I'm already obnoxious enough so I don't want to make it worse. Right MHWASH?

Tundra. After chasing these things all over with my "too heavy" rifles all I can say is consider weight. On smaller properties where your not walking much it's no big deal. But when you go on really long hunts which I commonly do, you'll wish you'd have gone light. As for caliber, I've not been at all impressed with the .223 so far, had ANOTHER runner last week!!! If AR's came in 22-250 thats what I would have had built instead of the .223. Anyways I'd recomend the 22-250 even though there are a lot of .223 lovers out there.