Ideal .223 Bolt Action Plinker (?)

[GS455]

I'm mainly a milsurp guy but have put together a couple of new/commercial bolt action rifles, supressed, and thinking about going further.

My RPR in .308 is astonishing (to me) for the money. Just landed a 1" group @ 300yds wi 175gr FGMM.

An RAR in x39 in a nice Boyd's stock has delivered 1.5" @ 100yds wi 1970s Romy milsurp.

Have a sh_t ton of various 55gr backed up and three nice ARs in .223 but am bored with em.

Sooo, thinkin about a bolt action in .233. All cursory web scanning a steers my towards another RAR. It really appeals to me to use standard 10-20rd mags that I already have .

Thoughts, ideas?

 

[D̷e̷v̷i̷l̷D̷o̷c̷A̷Z̷]

I'm mainly a milsurp guy but have put together a couple of new/commercial bolt action rifles, supressed, and thinking about going further.

My RPR in .308 is astonishing (to me) for the money. Just landed a 1" group @ 300yds wi 175gr FGMM.

An RAR in x39 in a nice Boyd's stock has delivered 1.5" @ 100yds wi 1970s Romy milsurp.

Have a sh_t ton of various 55gr backed up and three nice ARs in .223 but am bored with em.

Sooo, thinkin about a bolt action in .233. All cursory web scanning a steers my towards another RAR. It really appeals to me to use standard 10-20rd mags that I already have .

Thoughts, ideas?

budget?

Those 55’s might not be the best option.

 

[GS455]

Budget? I dunno. I'm not really looking to build up a $2k chasis + custom everything rig tailored to hand loads.

Kinda the point is to get something besides an AR to start burning through this ammo.

 

[D̷e̷v̷i̷l̷D̷o̷c̷A̷Z̷]

Budget? I dunno. I'm not really looking to build up a $2k chasis + custom everything rig tailored to hand loads.

Kinda the point is to get something besides an AR to start burning through this ammo.

id say just grab another off the shelf rifle and toss on a budget friendly scope and get to blasting. I’d prob seek 1:9 for 55’s

 

[Turkeytider]

id say just grab another off the shelf rifle and toss on a budget friendly scope and get to blasting. I’d prob seek 1:9 for 55’s

Agree on the 1:9 for 55’s. My 110 Storm shoots that weight great. My 7 twist Savage Model 12 LRPV literally threw them all over the lot the first trip to the range. Almost 2k rounds later have shot nothing lighter than 68 grain.

 

[SkyScrapin]

Seekins HIT Pro

 

[tekmann2377]

Another option for a plinker (not necessarily a heavy barrel match rifle) is Eurooptic has Tikka Ranahan's in 223 on sale right now.

 

[mark5pt56]

For money spent, the Ruger Ranch would be a good choice, scope it and have fun. If you plan to start f'ing with it, then look at something like the Tikka. Big thing is, decide what you want and don't try to make something it's not. Example being buying the Ruger and spending 1500 or so with a new barrel and chassis.
Me, I have the RR, great little gun, stock. I also have a couple custom builds, nothing like the RR though with price, weight and performance but also not "match guns"
You could find a decent "traditional" stock, AICS mag BM, Origin action, prefit from PVA(light-med Palma) and have a really nice compact useful rifle. The easy button is a KRG Bravo stock.

 

[spife7980]

I wouldn’t build a rifle just because you have a bunch of crappy ammo. A ruger American I guess would be a cheap way to burn through it if you have to scratch the itch.

 

[TheBigCountry]

Try to find a Tikka…

CTRs in 223 can be found used. Or a varmint model

 

[TheOE800]

I’d suggest a mini action like Howa, but their factory barreled rifles are 1:8.

 

[Budrichard]

There are good buys to be had in 223 Remington 700's including 40x.
I have purchased a few in the last few years since Remington went belly up.
Gun Broker is a good resource if you vet the seller.
I have not had one disappointing purchase in the last 10 years. But I don't purchase anything but NIB or rarely used.
Last purchase was a 223 40X Varmint Special. new in the box, never fired with everything that the old Custom Shop provided.
Why do individuals purchase this stuff and never use it????
-Richard

 

[ma smith]

+1 Find an old varmit .223 off gunbroker $<1k and just enjoy it for what it is.

 

[SortOfClear]

I've seen some sweet xm-3 clone-ish .223 builds on here. If you're willing to cut and rattle can stuff, you can do it cheap and look good. This is a back-burner project for me, since changing jobs has its start up costs.

 

[Chickentoast]

A CZ 527 in 223 is also sweet - the varmint or kevlar models especially.

 

[FuhQ]

I'm mainly a milsurp guy but have put together a couple of new/commercial bolt action rifles, supressed, and thinking about going further.

My RPR in .308 is astonishing (to me) for the money. Just landed a 1" group @ 300yds wi 175gr FGMM.

An RAR in x39 in a nice Boyd's stock has delivered 1.5" @ 100yds wi 1970s Romy milsurp.

Have a sh_t ton of various 55gr backed up and three nice ARs in .223 but am bored with em.

Sooo, thinkin about a bolt action in .233. All cursory web scanning a steers my towards another RAR. It really appeals to me to use standard 10-20rd mags that I already have .

Thoughts, ideas?

Aero Solus .382" action, with a 16-20" 1:7 twist PVA Osprey prefit built by @bohem ... His barreled action specials are extremely affordable for what you get.

 

[GS455]

I wouldn’t build a rifle just because you have a bunch of crappy ammo. A ruger American I guess would be a cheap way to burn through it if you have to scratch the itch.

Yea, this is kinda where I'm at.

 

[GS455]

1:9 is best for 55gr ?

 

[jLorenzo]

For the love of god don't buy a 1/9 twist 223 bolt gun. 1/8 and 1/7 will both shoot lighter bullets fine, some of the best groups I have shot with one particular 1/7 barrel were with 50gr hollow points. 1/8 and 1/7 will allow you to shoot stuff up to 85 grain and still shoot the lighter stuff.

*Also, just buy a Tikka of choice. You will not regret it.

 

[spife7980]

Yea, this is kinda where I'm at.

Now, if you’re going to reload heavier bullets in good brass a good 223 is awesome. It’s very much at the opposite end of cheap plinking fodder though.

 

[mark5pt56]

Just saw this as I think I'm finally going to do a 16" .223 in the Screech Owl with an Origin action. But for you with the RAR.

https://jtacindustries.com/ruger-american/

 

[epeet]

I don't know how the Gen 2 RAR was, but I bought the Gen1, for the exact scenario you describe. It would be an awesome truck or ATV gun, but it sucked as a serious plinker. Stock is terrible (cheap, thin, flimsy), action drags, trigger is heavy. In basically every case I would rather have had a nice AR. I ended up building a 700 clone in .223 (using an ARC action) and that is what I spend most of my time shooting - .55 grainers out to 400. No recoil, ammo is basically free compared to .308 or 6.5C, just a ton of fun. I'd try to track down a CZ before I went back to a Ruger, and I've been really hoping Sako would get back to offering a mini action .223 with a stainless/synthetic combo. Lots of people say the Tikka is the way to go, and they are probably right for the price.

TLDR the Ruger RAR sucks (but the price is awesome).

 

[epeet]

1:9 is best for 55gr ?

I think 1:9 is great. Should work well for 50 to 75 grains. 1:8 or 1:7 let you go super heavy (80+), but honestly, it starts to get a little ridiculous in .223 with the amount of powder you have available. 1:7 was only the 5.56 standard because of the super long tracer rounds.

 

[spife7980]

My 9 twist wouldn’t stabilize a 70-75. You’re capped with a 9.

 

[tacoman69]

8 twist Tikka is the easy button

 

[Chickentoast]

8 twist Tikka is the easy button

I know most people have had Tikka's that shot everything with the 8 twist. Mine would not. It shot 77's into 1 hole, but anything lighter was not good. Some stuff was 4-5 moa bad. So, while probabilities are on your side, it's not 100% the easy button.

Used 9 twist 700 or model 7, the CZ I mentioned before was also 9 twist, a Savage will bang out one holers as well, and for next to no money since everyone turns their nose up at them. Just don't put any money into any of them and have fun burning through your ammo.

 

[GS455]

My Gen 1, RAR in x39 is a great little rifle. I paid $425 a couple years ago from an outfit called Family Firearms down in Alabama. I dunno if it was on blow-out, cuz the Gen 2 came out 6 months or so later. They’re outta business now. some kerfuffle with the ATF or something.

I cycled the zipper bolt hundreds of times with some bore past and lapping compound. Smooth as glass now. The Gen 1 “Rubbermaid” stock was okay. Put it in a Boyds stock and eventually a better bolt handle, is all I’ve done to it. Mags are a skootch loose fitting and nose dive from time to time with that Boyds “bottom metal” adaptation. Aside from that frustration I’m extraordinarily pleased with it. Pulled off the groups below with it just today. So much for the vaunted Yugo M67. Doesn’t like it. But regularly pull of 1” groups with Barnaul, Golden Tiger and surprisingly, 1970s Rommy green tin milsurp. Trigger has a nice clean break that I was able to adjust down to 3lb, 10oz.

A Tikka’s gonna be near a couple grand, no? I looked into the CZ 527 in x39. Wonderful, but they are long disco’d. Some PITA issue for scope mounting as I recall (???) and mags are unobtainium, no ? Rem 700 ?

I’m leaning towards another RAR (Gen1 if I can find one) and an aftermarket stock again. Not sure I’d wanna spend the money on the Gen2 just to change out the stock as well. And I plan to fire suppressed so no need for the brake they now give you. What else might be special about the Gen2 that’s worth a couple hundred more $ ?

Barnaul

Golden Tiger

1970s Rommy Milsurp

Yugo M67 (blech). I thought this stuff was supposed to be amazing.