Thread: What sort of 223?

Originally Posted by Tussock

If you talk to Gunworks they now seem to have an office person you will have to circumvent if you want to talk to Robbie or Amanda.

Good luck with that!! I only get Robbie's time is when he has thought of new things to call me
I'm lucky too have a mole that circumvents things. He is reliable and has things sorted for when I get back in country.
If they stocked Lapua brass it would be perfect. Hint Hint BD

I do drop in and see then all too often. I actually really like the Howa but think the twist rate may be too limiting. So probably looking American or Scandenavian. Any views on the 'where is my bolt' T3's?

The Savage classic is wood stock 20inch light profile barrel and is 1:9 twist. Mate has one, has accutrigger if you like those and is quite a nice looking gun. Mag fed.
I have a Rem700 Tac too which is 1:9, not mag fed, but it's heavy barrelled so not what you want.
As much as I hate to admit it, if you want a light profile barrel and fast twist get the standard blued barrel 1:8 twist Tikka T3, mag fed for $1000. Other mate has that and it shoots anything you put in it really good and probably has the best std trigger too, just don't tell him I said this.
Personally if I started again and had to buy 1:12 twist I'd get a CZ527 Ebony edition, they are pure gun porn. Pick up one and have a look in the flesh, WOW!

Had a .223 T3 in 1:8 and it shot a range of bullet weights into the same hole at 100m and my .270 T3 does the same but only shot factory 130grn in it. Some people don't like the plastic mag, bolt shroud or trigger guard but they help keep them light and seem pretty strong...though there is a company making them in metal now. The triggers on the T3's are excellent too!
I own a couple of expensive custom 700's but though a like them very much, i sometimes wonder why I spent so much on them when the T3's i've had have been so accurate straight out of the box!
Don't have much experience with the other rifles you've mentioned but you won't be disappointed if you end up with a T3!

Yes I do like the Savages, there are one or three loitering about this place. The T3's do 'leave me cold' but by all accounts they do work fairly well. It will be a working piece of equipment so I'd want to go synthetic/stainless, not that the Tikka stainless is particularly rust resistant. Might do some investigating/tyre kicking.

tikkas stainless is far better than the remington sps version. duno about the savages.

Originally Posted by gadgetman

Yes I do like the Savages, there are one or three loitering about this place. The T3's do 'leave me cold' but by all accounts they do work fairly well. It will be a working piece of equipment so I'd want to go synthetic/stainless, not that the Tikka stainless is particularly rust resistant. Might do some investigating/tyre kicking.

It's only $100 differance bewteen the blued/stainless so what ever you think makes it worth it.

P.S My Remington has a plastic trigger guard too and the bolt shroud might be also.....Only thing with Tikka mags is if you use high grain loads they sometimes won't fit in it. .223 mag is short.

There is also the Ruger 77 with a 9" twist. The mag issue could be a problem with the T3.

Originally Posted by gadgetman

Yes I do like the Savages, there are one or three loitering about this place. The T3's do 'leave me cold' but by all accounts they do work fairly well. It will be a working piece of equipment so I'd want to go synthetic/stainless, not that the Tikka stainless is particularly rust resistant. Might do some investigating/tyre kicking.

Savage stainless seems to be pretty good.

Originally Posted by Snala

It's only $100 differance bewteen the blued/stainless so what ever you think makes it worth it.

P.S My Remington has a plastic trigger guard too and the bolt shroud might be also.....Only thing with Tikka mags is if you use high grain loads they sometimes won't fit in it. .223 mag is short.

The Tikka mag is not too difficult to modify. The plastic blocker at the back of the mag is hollow and can be ground out. I have seen the mag that AaronB modified and it looked really good. You may have to lengthen the follower though in a 223 as there will be a pretty big empty space behind it otherwise.

Just been into a shop. There is a huge space at the back of the mag in the T3 and looking at the bolt release I can understand why so many disappear into the ether. Fondled a CZ and was quite happy to hand it back and scrub that off the list, though it was only $200 more than the T3 and had a set trigger.

Howa .223 are a fine gun with the right ammo... old 50 cent piece has 5 holes at 200m with Hornady 55gr bulk pack ammo. Haven't been able to better it with hand loads. The Howa is a bit on the heavy side. Even heavier than the 30-06 in the same model. 1 in 12 twist so not much good for the bigger bullets.

Rock River

Nah! I get bored wothout a bolt to operate.