I'm new here on SH, but have been lurking for a long time, so greetings everyone. Since this is my first post, I will give you my background. I have been shooting for 47 years, but just found the time 2 years ago to start shooting A LOT. Probably got 50,000+ rounds downrange since spring 2018. Joined a good club, shoot all the time, etc. I know quite a bit about the equipment and have no problem working on my stuff as long as it's within my realm. I spend of lot of time with 22LR and 9mm in rifle and pistol have gotten pretty good with those, and am very accurate with a few. I shoot Bullseye, silhouette, and airgun competitions out at my club, as well as spending an inordinate amount of time with a 22LR filling 1.5" circles at 100 yd, and shooting steel rams at 200. I feel it's time to go ahead take the plunge into long range centerfire rifle. Honestly, I've been patiently waiting for the better part of 25 years to do this. I am most definitely one of those tunnel-vision OCD types that has a hard time multi-tasking, so I had to get the other stuff squared away first, lol. I know when I finally do this, I will be sucked in for good.
So, I've been mulling .223 options for a looooong time now and I think I finally know what my intentions are with the rifle. I have decided that I want to go ahead a get something I can shoot FTR up to 600 yards with at my club. I currently do not see myself having the time commitment to be an elite shooter anytime soon, but if I ever did, I would have no problem building another rifle. I have two rifle options that I could buy right now: 1) a Win 70 '89 very good condition, prone style fiber/comp stock (McMillan?), heavy barrel in very good condition (unknown barrel specs at this moment), other gunsmithing also unknown at this time; or 2) a mint Savage 12 FTR in factory condition. I like the savage because I know what I'm getting, that it will be pretty accurate as-is or with minor tweaking, and switching barrels won't be hard if I had to. I've had the Savage in mind for a long time. But, I like the Winchester because it's a long time proven gun, and this gun appears to have been a competition gun, which means I might get lucky and get some accurizing work already included. Right now, good 223 pickings in my area are slim to none, so I'm having to look online. Nothing under $1200 is really jumping out at me screaming "buy me" except for these two. I would love to hear your opinions with these two being the options. Thanks in advance.
So, I've been mulling .223 options for a looooong time now and I think I finally know what my intentions are with the rifle. I have decided that I want to go ahead a get something I can shoot FTR up to 600 yards with at my club. I currently do not see myself having the time commitment to be an elite shooter anytime soon, but if I ever did, I would have no problem building another rifle. I have two rifle options that I could buy right now: 1) a Win 70 '89 very good condition, prone style fiber/comp stock (McMillan?), heavy barrel in very good condition (unknown barrel specs at this moment), other gunsmithing also unknown at this time; or 2) a mint Savage 12 FTR in factory condition. I like the savage because I know what I'm getting, that it will be pretty accurate as-is or with minor tweaking, and switching barrels won't be hard if I had to. I've had the Savage in mind for a long time. But, I like the Winchester because it's a long time proven gun, and this gun appears to have been a competition gun, which means I might get lucky and get some accurizing work already included. Right now, good 223 pickings in my area are slim to none, so I'm having to look online. Nothing under $1200 is really jumping out at me screaming "buy me" except for these two. I would love to hear your opinions with these two being the options. Thanks in advance.
