Varmint rifles

[kurby09]

Whats a good varmint bolt action rifle thats worth getting and in what round?

[damon1272]

For center fire .223
I am partial to Tikkas but the older 595 version. Remington, Savage, Mosberg, and just about any other bolt action rifle company has a decent varmint gun.

Decide what kind of varmint hunting you will do as a heavy barrel is not always needed.

If you are looking for rimfire then I would say best bet is .17 hmr.

There are plenty of other calibers that do well or better but as for overall performance and cost especially high volume then these two calibers are some of your best choices. I have others but I tend to come back to these time and time again and I don't especially care for the .223 as I really like 22-250.

What kind of varmint hunting do you plan on doing?

[bombadillo]

What are you hunting and I could give you some recommendations.

[killnjoke]

I have a CZ 550 varmint chambered in 308Win that I like a lot.Its a quality firearm and a tack driver.Got it for under 1k otd iirc.

[Skipando]

Haha that is beyond classic.

[bombadillo]

http://www.budsgunshop.com/catalog/images/23034.jpg

http://www.budsgunshop.com/catalog/product_info.php/cPath/36_63_971/products_id/23034/CZ+USA+308+Winchester+Bolt+Action+Sniper+Rifle+wBlue+Barrel

Here is a great one. You could either blow up a ground squirrel with a 168gr AMAX round, or put down a Coyote at 600 yards pretty easily with one of these. Just know what you're shooting at, and figure out the round you like.


The 6.5creedmoor is an amazing round with 1k yard capabilities, but is a bloody laser beam at sub 600 yard shots. It would comfortably do all your duties including ground squirrels, diggers, chuckers, or 'yotes etc. It may be a bit big for the small beasts out there, but will still kill them dead without incident. MANY rifles are chambered in this from the factory now, and are ALL worth taking a look at.

[kurby09]

Mostly ground squirrels gophers when i see em and coyotes. Maybe some wild jack rabbits

[Divernhunter]

223 or 204Ruger
Tikka, Vanguard, Savage, Howa all make good rifles. You need to pick heavy barrel or not depending on if you plan to hike and carry it much.
Rem but their QC is hit and miss

[russ69]

243. They are varmints, they need killing.

[Rosebud22]

You may need two. .22LR for squirrels and gophers, something bigger for all the rest. Kind of a waist spend 50 cents/rd on a gopher when 8 cents will do the job.

[Noonanda]

.243 is my go to coyote gun, but i have also used my AR in 5.56 as well

[russ69]

You may need two. .22LR for squirrels and gophers, something bigger for all the rest. Kind of a waist spend 50 cents/rd on a gopher when 8 cents will do the job.

Yeah but if you want to dispatch them with "extreme prejudice" you'll need to spend the 50 cents.

[Calif Hunter]

It's hard to beat a .223 for cost of ammo, availability and versatility. If you really get into long range and small targets, you may want a heavy-barreled .204 or .22-250 later. For an initial, walking around varmint rifle, get a CZ-527, Tikka T-3 or Savage with a sporter barrel, IMHO.

[bombadillo]

.223
.204
.22-250
.243
6.5 Creedmoor (for long range varmints)
.308 for those big varmints. Yes .308 is still considered a varmint round by a lot of folks.