New Rifles: The Good, the bad, the ugly

[jbronner13]

I'm not sure what my problem is, but I can't bring myself to buy any of the current production guns. The last one I tried was a Seekins Havak PH2 in 300 PRC. It was a nice gun once I got the action broke in, but I never loved it. It shot OK, but not great. The stock wasn't bad, but I just didn't like the way it fit me. The tigger was good, but face of the trigger was a little too wide and "sharp". I really liked the bottom metal/carbon fiber magazine and that was what initially got me to buy it.

I just can't find the right combination of features and available chamberings in any production guns right now. The last rifle I bought that that checked every box was a Ruger 77 Hawkeye Alaskan in 375 Ruger, and that was probably 12 years ago. It was perfect, a 20" barrel, controlled round feed bolt, hinged floor plate, excellent all-round performance chambering, accurate, and an indestructible scope mounting system. That particular Ruger is the smoothest, fastest, and most reliable action I've ever owned or shot, and that includes custom actions from BAT, Defiance, Borden, ARC, Impact, Stiller, Curtis, and Bighorn.

I'll admit that one of the new Weatherby Backcountry Carbon 2.0 rifles in 338 RPM looks like it has potential. If only it was a CRF action!

I am finding myself more and more in the same boat. I started either buying old guns and having them customized or buying stripped receivers and doing my own research to piece together "perfect for me". I am a short guy with little stubby arms and sausage fingers, no rifle fits me off the shelf. The last 3 "guns" I bought were two model 700 receivers and a pre-64 model 70 receiver.

I find that over the last 5 years this has been why I haven't bought a Leupold scope, it checks most boxes but there has always been one feature that is "off" and it ends up being a deal breaker for me. When Tract made the Tekoa models, I couldn't for the life of me see a benefit to buying a VX3i. Now with the Trijicon Huron and Ascent models and the Maven scopes it's the same thing again. Not knocking Leupold at all, I have a few on rifles and I like the ones I have but there have just been some headscratchers lately with their product lines for me. Like the VX5 2-10…..thousand dollars and no parallax adjustment, the VX3HD 1.5-4….why the exposed CDS dial on a 1-4 scope? Why wire reticles on the VX3 let me when a bunch of your competitors are offering glass etched in the same price bracket?

 

[bamban]

Howa 1500/Vanguard are GTG.

 

[jbronner13]

Howa 1500/Vanguard are GTG.

Honestly, in terms of something that's quality that you can "semi custom" these are an awesome option. Quality action build, nice trigger (with options aftermarket from Timney if you'd like), custom prefit barrels, I think they take Remington 700 bases too? People make stocks for them (McMillan, Boyd's). I was honestly shocked when Magpul came out with the "Hunter 110" instead of the "Hunter Vanguard"….that one to me was also a head scratcher beside you get the bedded adjustable polymer stock from the factory with the new 110's.

 

[jbronner13]

Honestly, in terms of something that's quality that you can "semi custom" these are an awesome option. Quality action build, nice trigger (with options aftermarket from Timney if you'd like), custom prefit barrels, I think they take Remington 700 bases too? People make stocks for them (McMillan, Boyd's). I was honestly shocked when Magpul came out with the "Hunter 110" instead of the "Hunter Vanguard"….that one to me was also a head scratcher beside you get the bedded adjustable polymer stock from the factory with the new 110's.

Also you can do a barrel nut with them!

 

[Jon Bischof]

I'm not sure what my problem is, but I can't bring myself to buy any of the current production guns. The last one I tried was a Seekins Havak PH2 in 300 PRC. It was a nice gun once I got the action broke in, but I never loved it. It shot OK, but not great. The stock wasn't bad, but I just didn't like the way it fit me. The tigger was good, but face of the trigger was a little too wide and "sharp". I really liked the bottom metal/carbon fiber magazine and that was what initially got me to buy it.

I just can't find the right combination of features and available chamberings in any production guns right now. The last rifle I bought that that checked every box was a Ruger 77 Hawkeye Alaskan in 375 Ruger, and that was probably 12 years ago. It was perfect, a 20" barrel, controlled round feed bolt, hinged floor plate, excellent all-round performance chambering, accurate, and an indestructible scope mounting system. That particular Ruger is the smoothest, fastest, and most reliable action I've ever owned or shot, and that includes custom actions from BAT, Defiance, Borden, ARC, Impact, Stiller, Curtis, and Bighorn.

I'll admit that one of the new Weatherby Backcountry Carbon 2.0 rifles in 338 RPM looks like it has potential. If only it was a CRF action!

Try Sauer 100 in caliber of your choice, you will be happy. I have two of them.

 

[Jon Bischof]

Read Sauer 100 reviews. No kidding. No one who has a Sauer 100 ever wants to sell it. I will never part with mine except by death and then my beloved son inherits them. No better rifle.

 

[Lenny Foffa]

Jamie, The rifle has lots of that deep hand engraving. Take a look Its Chambered in 30 -06 FN Action and Dual Triggers.

 

[jbronner13]

Jamie, The rifle has lots of that deep hand engraving. Take a look Its Chambered in 30 -06 FN Action and Dual Triggers.

The set triggers and the engraving on the rear right…..

 

[Tomjoad]

For those of you considering entering the Sauer 100 game:

WTS - Sauer 100 6.5 PRC KUIU

For sale is a like new Sauer 100 6.5 PRC with a special factory edition KUIU Vias stock. The rifle has only been fired a few times at the range and never hunted. It shot custom loaded 140 grain Berger Elite Hunters approximately 0.75”. Price is $700.00 shipped to FFL.

www.rokslide.com

Good deal on a good rifle.

 

[Ethan Sackett]

My first word have to be Jorgensen in 6.5x55 Swedish.
Ruger M77.
CZ 550 American no longer in production
Today it would be a Tikka T3 hunter just bought one for my son.
Or a Sako, Winchester 70.
Short of that a custom gun with a Mauser action.

 

[Rosebud]

Curious to see what new rifle offerings people are excited about, ones that people are scratching their heads over and ones that being are just plain repulsed by. I'll start the ball rolling with some of my opinions, polite disagreements are encouraged, emphasis on polite.

The good: I think Kimber is onto something with their open range models. They look to be well thought out and nicely spec'd. don't own any Kimbers but these looked interesting to me. Browning continues to impress me with their X-Bolt offerings, it seems like they have a model that would fit the bill for every hunter even though I think it's weird that they run a 1-12 twist on their 308 Win barrels. Ruger I think has nailed the new Marlin 1895's, really excited for the 336's.

The bad: I can't for the life of me understand what Savage was thinking with the impulse. It seems like a waste of time, effort and money. I applaud them for trying something new and thinking outside the box but I can't see that selling or where they thought there would even be a demand for that rifle. I was disappointed to see Weatherby stop offering the vanguard/mk5 in stainless. I like to overkill my rifles and cerakote my stainless steel rifles, I like the idea of a more corrosion resistant bore. Generally I love the Ruger M77 Hawkeyes but the hunter model with the 20 MOA rail on a walnut stock with a stainless action is just a real head scratcher to me. It's like a baseball player going to his game in shoulder pads with basketball shoes on.

The ugly: anything wearing that NRA over watch pattern or the Ruger Go Wild Pattern. I remember it from a few years ago and hope it died.

Episode IV: a new Hope- would love to see the TC Icon come back, that think was ahead of its time.

I'm one of the people who owns a couple of CA Ridgeline and Mesa's. I've no complaints about either a them. I guess I'll count myself lucky I didn't listen to people who don't own a product talking about how bad the product is.

 

[nksmfamjp]

Howa also has an extensive lineup of models on their site…HS precision stocks, carbon fiber barrels, you name it, they got it. The Japanese just tend to make really nice guns ironically since they really aren't allowed to own them! But the old Kodensha, SKB shotguns and of course anything Miroku…..quality stuff.

So, who is shooting one? Good? I want to drop some money on something in that lineup, but willing to wait. Thinking about something light in 7-08 or 6.5 Creedmoor or maybe 308.

 

[jbronner13]

So, who is shooting one? Good? I want to drop some money on something in that lineup, but willing to wait. Thinking about something light in 7-08 or 6.5 Creedmoor or maybe 308.

Randy Newberg shoots them on his Fresh Tracks show. I have dry fired them…very decent trigger.

 

[2rjshort]

Those Howas are good looking rifles. I'd like to get me hands on one but they seem to be hard to find around here.