Build me a Vintage Varmint Rifle

The 75gr vmax is an outstanding bullet when spit from a 2506. Violently explosive on groundhogs and crows. Basically cuts coons in half at 50 yards. Never body shoot a skunk. Whether they actually spray or not it stinks. Head shots only for them. I load to 3550 fps and have flattened coyotes out to 552 yards. Ive shot them further but hold over was getting pretty high. A frontal chest shot at 780 yards was still enough to kill quick even though i missed the first 2 shots
My buddy borrowed my gun and mixed up the ammo and shot a deer broadside in the heart lung area andsaid the insides basically poured out when they followed the deer over. Good luck with what ever design you choose
Trade ex sells 98 actions if you want to build it up piece by piece. Action barrel stock ect
 
Great thread. Not something I'd personally ever build but I sure do love reading what some of you guys are doin'. Always lots to learn.

I really like that old school 700 in post #6. Something like that in your high speed/low drag varmint cartridge of your choice would be great.
 
shackleford said:
I've seen some nice Springfield 1903 builds with sporter barrels. A medium/heavy barrel swap would be easy since 25-06 is necked down 30-06, no?
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I'd be happy with a .25 Niedner meself in a classic Springfield sporter. Always had great fun with the 25-06. A magnum taper 24" tube would be right fer me.
Heck, I'd go with the older mounts and optic to keep 'er in the period style. Fudd City.:cool:

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SHELL SHUCKER said:
I'd be happy with a .25 Niedner meself in a classic Springfield sporter. Always had great fun with the 25-06. A magnum taper 24" tube would be right fer me.
Heck, I'd go with the older mounts and optic to keep 'er in the period style. Fudd City.:cool:

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Shucker, that's one of the ideal images I've had in my head, my only stumbling block there is finding a Springfield action to build on, or a .25-06 sporter for that matter, that's within my budget in Canadian pesos.
 
Shuckers' image is what I was picturing as well except for the Springfield aspect. P-17 can be profiled as a Savage but still very heavy, but is 30/06 for mag and bolt purposes.

Which I suppose leads me back to an earlier Mauser or Mauser Kurz in .257 Roberts.

That Springfield is just nice.
 
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Dogfish858 said:
Shuckers' image is what I was picturing as well except for the Springfield aspect. P-17 can be profiled as a Savage but still very heavy, but is 30/06 for mag and bolt purposes.

Which I suppose leads me back to an earlier Mauser or Mauser Kurz in .257 Roberts.

That Springfield is just nice.
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The P14/17's make for hefty rifles tis true. My old sporter in .458 Win was 11 lbs with a 1.5-4.5 Bushnell Scope Chief mounted on 'er. They can make for a stable & well made build though, and they be a lot easier to get in our neck of the woods than the Springfields. A 25-06 is an easy rebarrel on one of these.
 
In our area the Leach Jet was the rifle of the serious fox hunter back before my time (and I'm almost 60; most of these had been relegated to the closet and replaced by .222s in the late 50's through the 60's); these were built on .303 Lee-Enfileld rifles with the cases necked down to .22; his rifles were sold with dies for reforming brass and reloading.
 
The hi wall i picture earlier was chamber by leach in the 1958, when i got the gun it came with some information. It was built by Parkinson in London earlier and chamber for 219 then rechamber to the 22/303 reloading tools included
I also have a Ross action rifle in 6.5 /303 with a slow twist for light bullets that was built by Epps when they were in Clinton
 
The 220 swift .....and the 2506 can’t go wrong with either.........people think ....I need a bigger caliber or gun ....bull Cacca ,,,!,on that ......I have taken coyotes out to 400 meters with the 220 swift ....jesss a bullet traveling over 4400 fps!! ....you guess at what happens!,!
And the with my browning bar (the best there is lol).... I’ve taken deer out to 320 meters .....I only wish I’ve taken pictures to show the damage that 100gr barns tsx bullet did .....to prove a point
My point is you don’t need a big gun to do the job.....practice you’re shot placement
 
For me it's not a matter of larger or smaller caliber. I'm quite comfortable with using a .22 caliber on coyotes, for me it's filling the caliber gap between my .22LR and .280 AI. I just want a quarter-bore, and a varmint rifle, so the two happen to be merged for this project.

While a .22/303 would be a wickedly cool gun, I'd really like to push beyond .222 velocities since that's a rifle I already have access to, and the reloading tools would be like hen's teeth in my neck of the woods. A Ross would be great, but then it's to find someone who can make a barrel with the square threads and get a scope mounted!

Right now I've been looking at using an early Parker Hale M98 or a BSA M1917 sporter, screwing a .25-06 barrel on since they seem to be the most abundant actions at a reasonable (or more than) price point.
 
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The M98 would be the best to use as the M1917 also has square threads, i not sure if the M10 Ross action has square threads
But at the end triggers and other parts are easier to get for a M 98 mauser and the Parker Hale will be setup for a scope already
 
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