I'm looking for a factory heavy barrel rifle for precision benchrest shooting. I have looked at the Savage Axis 2 Precision and the Howa mini action Excl Lite. Any feedback on either of these? I'm looking to keep the rifle under $1000 before optic.
223 benchrest rifle advice
- Thread starter crowellsr
- Start date
There are few factory rifles suited for precision benchrest shooting, and none I can think of for 1k or less. Go to a BR match and see what everyone is running, decide on that basis. - dan
I'm not looking to start competing. I just want something that is plenty accurate for some personal bench rest precision shooting (sub moa)
I'm looking to go 223 so there really isn't any recoil to worry about if that is the concern.
This is all second hand information based on reading (not personal experience) but there seems to be a notion amongst benchrest shooters that the .222 rem is 'slightly' more accurate than the .223 rem (I certainly cant shoot well enough to see this advantage) ... the point is that you may find a good used .222 rem 'heavy' target rifle easier than a comparable .223. and it may be in your budget zone without giving up any accuracy capability.
Hand loading ammo and 100 to 200 yards... a .222 Remington with 50 to 52 grain match bullets would be hard to beat... with a heavy barrel and a bench rest style stock.
A 6mm Br would be an excellent choice with a heavy barrel and a bench rest style stock... with a bit more range.
A 6mm Br would be an excellent choice with a heavy barrel and a bench rest style stock... with a bit more range.
If you are looking into true bench rest as opposed to causal plinking from a bench (my style of bench shooting), rifle weight (more being better) helps the rifle ride the bags better and moves less during recoil, with less shifting over the course of a 5 round or 10 round group. So it’s not a comfort consideration but relates to less shifting of the rifle in the front and rear bags.
Shooting from a rest, be it F Class or benchrest gets accuracy benefits from being able to return the rifle as closely as possible to the same position after every shot.
I remember a 100-300 yard bench rest match I went into some years ago using my F Class rifle. (It was really just an excuse to pick up 1000 bullets I had a friend pick up for me from the ORA.)
As one might expect, I got my butt kicked at 100 yards against the 6 and 30 BRs.
Later in the day I saw a bunch of guys standing around scratching their heads comparing my 300 yard target to the others.
I walked up and said "I thought you guys were good at this game."
The guy responded... " Ya... We thought so too."
I guess my point is that you can pick your honey hole and depending on how the gun is set up, you can do better either close or far. A lot like golf clubs, there is no one best rifle configuration for all distances.
