The UK's Finest Independent Forum for Shooters and Gun Owners. Est 2010.

I’ve currently got a 6.5 Steyr pro hunter II which I think is great. It’s super accurate especially when I use my own loads but the premise of getting it was to shoot vermin and deer. However I also added it to my license to target shoot with it on ranges which I quite enjoy. Being a hunting rifle the barrel is a bit light for this and it soon warms up.

It’s a sythentic stocked rifle with stainless action and barrel- does anyone have any recommendations over what I could replace it with that will cover both range and deer. I’m not walking miles when I shoot deer so weight isn’t a massive consideration. I was thinking something in 7.62/ 308 so it’s cheaper to run on ranges but still is viable for deer. Whatever I look at will be second hand and ideally come as a package scope etc but that’s not essential. I’ve used a SSG69 quite a lot at our club and love that but I wondered what anyone would suggest. Top end budget would be £1,400

Or do I just keep what I have and limit the range round count?

JS569 wrote:I’ve currently got a 6.5 Steyr pro hunter II which I think is great. It’s super accurate especially when I use my own loads but the premise of getting it was to shoot vermin and deer. However I also added it to my license to target shoot with it on ranges which I quite enjoy. Being a hunting rifle the barrel is a bit light for this and it soon warms up.

It’s a sythentic stocked rifle with stainless action and barrel- does anyone have any recommendations over what I could replace it with that will cover both range and deer. I’m not walking miles when I shoot deer so weight isn’t a massive consideration. I was thinking something in 7.62/ 308 so it’s cheaper to run on ranges but still is viable for deer. Whatever I look at will be second hand and ideally come as a package scope etc but that’s not essential. I’ve used a SSG69 quite a lot at our club and love that but I wondered what anyone would suggest. Top end budget would be £1,400

Or do I just keep what I have and limit the range round count?

JS

You may want to have a look at what Breacher of this forum has for sale at the moment. He'll want a bit more cash than your top end budget but take a look at what's on offer before you dismiss this suggestion. The rifle he is selling is top kit at a VERY reasonable price. Talk to him and grab yourself the bargain of the year.

Mezzer

For that sort of price a brand new out of the box Tikka T3 Varmint or even a Heavy Varmint would do what you want. The Varmint would leave you with about £500 for a decent scope.

Mezzer- Breachers looks great, I actually saw it the other day. I would quite fancy it, I'd need to sell my rifle first to fund it.

phaedra1106 wrote:For that sort of price a brand new out of the box Tikka T3 Varmint or even a Heavy Varmint would do what you want. The Varmint would leave you with about £500 for a decent scope.

I'll have a look at them-thanks

Hello,
I have the same question but have been looking at the Sako 85 laminate varmint in stainless.
I feels nice and looks good too. I'm not sure which is better though? Sako or Tikka.
The shooting shows is coming up so it may be worth a look there.
Good luck in your search.
Phil

Could you not just get your current rifle rebarrelled with something heavier for the heat or just switch to a less over powered calibre? Then there's need to worry about a scope, you'll already have the manual of arms with the rifle and it'll probably cost a lot less

I think Steyrs have a swaged-in barrel so probably almost impossible to rebarrel?

DaveT wrote:I think Steyrs have a swaged-in barrel so probably almost impossible to rebarrel?

I believe Armalon do them, and possible some others. As I understand it, the old barrel is bored out from the receiver and the receiver is then threaded for a new barrel.

Surprisingly reasonably priced too, as I remember it.

Do you have a rough idea of that cost?