Thread: beginner varmint hunter

Hey bud, firstly welcome to the forum and good to see both the next generation of shooter coming up and a varmint shooter to boot, good stuff.
Your questions are good ones and often asked.
I am pretty much a varmint shooter through and through so have some idea's also like the above postings to your question.
I had a .223 which I loved, awesome caliber and versatile enough to shoot a rabbit at 300 mtrs plus or knock over a close in Deer with a well placed shot.
I sold it and got a .17hmr and within 6 months had sold it for a ............................223 for more range and knock down.

Came full circle , there are plenty of other great calibers for rabbits but they generally are more expensive to shoot per round.
223 has a massive range of brass, primers, and powder / projectiles both in factory loads and reloading .
As the guys said a Tikka is hard to go past, I don't run the 1/8 twist but just a 1/12 twist. For varmints the 1/12 is great as you want to shoot light bullets for max velocity and damage ( my opinion )
Brands to look at are Tikka, Howa, Savage, Remington, there are some great models and shit models within those brands , particularly Savage and Remington, CZ are awesome but will be more pricey.

Scopes are a whole subject within itself, nothing less than a 4-16 power in my experience. As Rossi said, Bino's are a must, my most used piece of gear for spotting rabbits.
Bipod and suppressor also will be needed at some stage.
Hope this helps , all the guys will have a slightly different idea as some things work well for some guys and give good results so that becomes the bible for them.

Ditch the 17 mate, once you pull off a 300mtr plus shot on a rabbit you ill be hooked.