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As a recent returnee to "big guns" after a medically induced lay off of several years, I've been doing a lot of research on a fast twist .223 for vermin and long range fun, plus something in the .264 range for longer range fun. It's a mind boggling world I've come back to, Savage rifles seem to get a mixed reviews, Ruger and Remington seem to need money spending on them to get them to shoot straight and Sako's and other's are way out of my price range. It makes me wonder which way to go and what to look at.

Given my finances of 2K for 2 rifles, I reckon I'll have to look at used, I kept the scopes I had on my previous rifles, so that's an expense I don't have, so, could I ask the learned members for suggestions please.

Thank you.

Remingtons are still good kit, despite the nay-sayers but are ridiculously priced now. Savage are great value and do shoot. Perhaps you should look at Tikka and Steyr. Particularly in the second hand market, two grand will turn up two really good rifles!

The Savage is a good rifle although it took me a while to get used to the trigger, as Simon says, the Remington 700 always gets it done and a Police model is comfortably within your GBP1000 budget and both the .223 and .308 are accurate. I am a big fan of the Sako also. I reckon for GBP2000 you are spoilt for choice. Don't forget things like bipods and ammunition and/or reloading kit at some point. Factory .223 ammunition is readily available at good prices, something like .260, or 6,5x47 less so.

just to throw another name in the mix Howas are very good and even new are inside your budget

Agreed. Howas are very, very good, I have worked on a few and they do get the job done and at a sensible price.

Don't discount a Remmy 700 in 223. A friend uses one - 1 in 7 twist - out to 1000yds.
Its a standard rifle and he uses 77gn smks.
I have a Mossberg mvp varmint - 1 in 9 twist - this also shoots 77gn bullets out to 900yds accurately.
It was only £600 new.
I have a Tikka T3 in 260 and its the nuts at 600yds - not tried it any further.
Bide your time and these will pop up for sale.

Thanks for the replies folks, as I mentioned, I still have my scopes, bipods, cleaning kit and all my reloading gear from my previous foray. so the only thing I'll be needing, is the rifles and moderators, plus, brass, bullets, powder and primers, but that's all readily available.

Cheers, me dears.

I wouldn't discount a good Swiss K31 in 7.5x55 to get you back into the fray!

They are usually in excellent shooting condition, having never seen war time use and would be well inside your budget.

They normally have superb triggers and IMHO, the are the nearest you can get to a match rifle issued to troops.

I have a friend in the US that regularly shoots his in competition out to 1000 yards in vintage rifle matches.

Swiss products make a high quality no-gunsmith clamp-on scope mount and bolt-on muzzle brake.
Here is my K31 with both fitted.

ukrifleman

ukrifleman wrote:

The attachment SDC17180.JPG is no longer available

I wouldn't discount a good Swiss K31 in 7.5x55 to get you back into the fray!

They are usually in excellent shooting condition, having never seen war time use and would be well inside your budget.

They normally have superb triggers and IMHO, the are the nearest you can get to a match rifle issued to troops.

I have a friend in the US that regularly shoots his in competition out to 1000 yards in vintage rifle matches.

Swiss products make a high quality no-gunsmith clamp-on scope mount and bolt-on muzzle brake.
Here is my K31 with both fitted.

ukrifleman

they also work very well in standard form

Don't know who would have given Savage a mixed review? I have never heard a bad word about them. They are not top of the line, but the yare very accurate and at a good price point. I bought my Savage 110FP in .223 (1 in 9) the year they came out, an have had some very good shooting with it out to 900 metres. The only change I want to make is to convert it to use detchable box magazines. I also have a Remington 700SPS Tacticl in .308 - shoots very well indeed. That one I converted to detachable magazine, and replaced the recalled Remington trigger.