what rifle?

[Guest jarvey]

hi im new to the forum and am now doing my second post. i have spent alot of today on here checking through posts and i am looking to buy my first rifle. the problem is ive heard so many opinions that i dont know what to go for anymore. my situation is this.

 

..........im shooting on my dads farm which is safe and has alot of space for shooting with plenty of varmint.

...........currently i can only afford one rifle so im looking for a rifle to do the job for all. my budget isnt too high.

........im looking to shoot rabbits, foxes, pigeons and the occasional muntjac.

...........was thinking about a .17hmr but it hasnt got the range as im looking for consistent shooting out to 200 yards and a .17 hmr will definitely be no good for muntjac.

.........have done alot of shotgun shooting and have fired loads of 5.56mm and 7.62mm down ranges. not sure about the 7.62 but i know 5.56mm is a .223

 

so the only question is....what rifle?

 

your opinions would be great.

 

cheers Jack

[lgray88 4]

a .223 is probably your best bet if you only want 1 gun i strongly suggest you get 2 guns , its not the cheapest for a bunny basher where you would be better getting a .22lr for that which is fine and cheap. why dont you buy your .17 hmr or even a 22lr (sako quad) this month then go for the .223 another couple of months down the line. im sure the 17 hmr will keep you keen until you get the .223

 

At the moment i have a sako quad in both 22lr and 17hmr its a geat rifle but ive not used it much it is not the cheapest rimfire rifle ,if your looking for something cheap then go for a cz 452 i have one of these to and great little gun but you dont get the versatility of the sako quad which in the long run i cheaper as it saves gettin mulitple guns scopes etc. I suggest you get the sako quad so on the windy days you can switch to .22 which isnt affected by the wind as much as the hmr . then buy your dedicated fox/muntjac gun 2 months down the line. The sako quad will handle small rabbits pigeon no problem in 22lr and you will be able to reach out abit further with the 17hmr. i am led to believe both these caliber will shoot a fox fine at close range fur the .22 and abit further for .177 . hope this helps mate

 

liam

[Guest JohnGalway]

My advice would be to buy the HMR and to forget about the deer for the time being until you've saved enough for a deer legal centrefire rifle

[SNAP SHOT 194]

i would suggest a good .17 hmr cz are excellent for the money, then purchase a good secondhand centrefire, for the range of vermin your looking to shoot including deer i would strongly suggest two rifles. As for the little .17 in wind it will effect the .22lr every bit as much people tend to give the hmr a bit of a dig because the round is so little nonsense. all you need to do is keep the ranges sensible in strong winds like any rifle even centrefire.

[Guest jarvey]

cheers for the posts. have just been reading up on .22 centrefire hornets. is this the same round as a .222 or something different. seems to be a good all rounder. any thoughts?

[SportingShooter 0]

The Hornet is a .22 C/F but is a fair bit less powerful than the .222

 

It is a good round to foxes to 200 Yards, perhaps a touch more, and good for shooting in low noise areas.

 

It will also comfortably take small vermin at range.

 

The problem with the Hornet is that the ammo is expensive if you dont reload and if you want to shoot bunnies then you will need to head shoot.

 

Also, it is a centrefire and so you may have to have mentoring, not sure how the Licensers deal with the Hornet as it is the lowest powered .22 C/F/

 

SS

[Mr_Logic 5]

Hornet isn't normally mentored AFAIK, it's only little.

 

But, it's also too little for muntjac, so if you want to shoot them you need something like 222 or 223. (NB, that is in the eyes of the law, a Hornet will quite happily knock over a muntjac deer...)