Premium Production Rifles Worth It?

[Shane Lindsey]

Lemons happen. How many on here have sent their Christensen back...

 

[cardon1122]

In the lower price 1K or less range I don't think you can go wrong with a CZ. I have 7 CZ rifles from 17 HMR to 338 Lapua every one shoots 3/4 MOA or better. 4 have heavy barrels and shoot in the 1/4 - 1/3 MOA range. I also have a 6 Creedmoor built by Defiance. It's a BadRock South Fork that was in 2K range that also shoots in the 1/3 MOA range. It's a great PRS style rifle. It's towards the heavy end of a hunting rifle at 11 pounds (the CZs are lighter if not a heavy barrel model) but man is it nice to shoot. Unfortunately CZ has discontinued a lot of their rifle models focusing more on pistols where I guess they have greater sales volume. Their Dan Wesson 45 1911 is my favorite pistol to shoot.

Picture of my BadRock ( my wife agreed to let me me get it only if I got the huckleberry stock . She loves shooting it as well.)

 

[cardon1122]

In the lower price 1K or less range I don't think you can go wrong with a CZ. I have 7 CZ rifles from 17 HMR to 338 Lapua every one shoots 3/4 MOA or better. 4 have heavy barrels and shoot in the 1/4 - 1/3 MOA range. I also have a 6 Creedmoor built by Defiance. It's a BadRock South Fork that was in 2K range that also shoots in the 1/3 MOA range. It's a great PRS style rifle. Unfortunately CZ has discontinued a lot of their rifle models focusing more on pistols where I guess they have greater sales volume. Their Dan Wesson 45 1911 is my favorite pistol to shoot.

Picture of my BadRock ( my wife agreed to let me me get it only if I got the huckleberry stock . She loves shooting it as well.)
View attachment 314960

My CZ Dan Wesson

 

[TXTrained]

Maybe this was mentioned, but one thing you get with the higher end production guns is peace of mind. for all of the great success stories with low end Ruger, Savage, and others there are also alot of disasters. By that I mean rifles that are just unacceptably inaccurate regardless of ammo used. You can feel pretty confident that your $1.200 to $2K rifle will not only shoot well, it will shoot a load you actually want to use well. with a little research you will also find you can get all the features you want in a rifle for under $2K that will save you starting the process over in a year or two. The other thing is those lower end guns, much like customs, can be hard to sell without a huge beating if you decide they are not for you.

Well Said.
My $1,900.Bergara Premier Pro 6.5PRC shoots equally well as my $6,000..custom.
The Bergara may not look as pretty a d as fancy as my custom.
It's Pride of Possession

 

[docdempster65]

I define an accurate rifle as consistently under one inc h five rpound groups.
First accurate out of the box rifle I owned was an unmodified Remington 788
in 7mm-08 Remington...with Remington factory ammunition, 140 grain
Core-:Lokt's...a bargain combo!
Doc D

 

[FEENIX]

When you say the Kimbers are hard to shoot, is that just due to their light weight? Just a matter of steadying it? Felt recoil? Both? Or are you saying the stocks are not good, or something else? I saw in another post that someone recommended the stock they use in one of their models, so it seems like they have good stocks (at least some of them).

If it's just a matter of a lighter gun being harder to shoot, at what weight do you think that becomes less of an issue? The lightest deer-capable rifle I've shot was probably 7.5 lbs. For me, it's a trade off -- if practical accuracy goes up considerably with a 6.5 or 7 pound rifle as opposed to say a 5-something pound rifle, I may just opt for the practical accuracy. On the other hand, I'm not adverse to building skill that can replace ounces.

For example, I decided that I'd go the tarp route for my three-season backpacking shelter. It took a lot more elbow grease to learn various knots and tarp pitches than it would have just to learn how to pitch a tent, but the result is I have a more versatile (though not as warm) shelter system that is over a pound lighter than even ultralight backpacking tents. On other things, however, I choose to carry more weight than any self-respecting ultralight backpacker would ever carry. For example, most ultralighters carry some skeleton of a first aid kit (or maybe not even a skeleton), but I carry a real kit since I consider it to be a potential life (or at least trip) saving item. So, it's just a case-by-case Goldy Locks sort of thing for me.

The venerable .30-06 and its variant are very capable for your intended purpose. I have a Kimber 84L Hunter in .30-06 re-chambered in .30 Gibbs; the build is under $1500. It is under 8 lbs hunt ready. Still working on load development but propels the 190 Berger VLD at 2806 FPS with more room, not a slouch, IMHO. Here's the link to the thread, https://www.longrangehunting.com/threads/30-gibbs-is-finally-ready.242088/

 

[kevin0270]

6.5 CM 6.5x284 or a 7mm-08 would be my choice.Weatherby makes nice rifles and they have several models to chose from.Good luck.