[Guest]

I'm about to purchase my first "distance" rifle, something that I can tap targets at 400-600 yards with. The rifle will be used primarily for targets and the occasional unlucky coyote.

The local gun shop has a Savage Model 12, .22-250 for $450. This is new, with wood laminated stock and blued barrel. Its got a bull barrel and the 26" barrel is free floating.

Any experience with this gun or any comments? I'll be looking at alternate guns, but this one seems pretty well suited for my purposes.

 

[TheGermanGuy]

Eventually I'll also be looking into buying a rifle for longer ranges, and I'm somewhat undecided between the .223 and a .308. Can't beat the price of the .223 ammo, but the .308 will give you even longer range.

Anyways, what I would like to point out here is that Savage suggests between $626.00 and $675.00 for the Model 12 on their webpage. So... $450.00 sounds like a pretty damn good deal to me.

TheGermanGuy :sniper:

P.S.: Doc, do you know if this rifle has Savage's new Accu Trigger system? Read on their website about it @ http://www.savagearms.com/at_pressrelease.htm

 

[Guest]

It doesn't appear to have the Accu Trigger, and it has the blued barrel instead of the stainless fluted barrel. Apparently there was a limited run of blued barrels that was marked down $100 or so for a more affordable model. Its the last one he has, so I guess the run was awhile back.

My thinking with the .22-250 is that its a very fast bullet, around 4,000 fps, so it shoot pretty flat. I'm not very good at estimating distance, yet, so the flat shooting ought to help me out. I enjoy reloading, so the bullet cost is not a big deciding factor.

I'm still looking at different models and calibers, but the two main calibers I'm considering are the .22-250 and the .308. The .308 would obviously have the advantage in knockdown power, which would be nice if I decide to head south and take a deer with it, but won't play much of a factor for coyotes and paper. The .22-250 has the advantage in flat trajectory, so it would be more forgiving of a bad range estimate on my part.

The Ruger 12 is really set up for a bench gun. Its very heavy with the 26" bull barrel, has a flat bottom on the wood so it will sit evenly on the sandbags, etc. The owner of the gun shop has suggested it might not be the best purchase if you wanted to carry it around with you very much. He has a single shot model for $250 that is significantly ligher, but of course you give up some range. Decisions, decisions.

 

[Swede]

I have a Savage Tactical in .223 and I really like it. It doesn't have the Accu Trigger but it can be adjusted. It's accuate enough that I can shoot the clothes pins that my brother was using to hold up his target.