Who the Heck still makes a good gun ?
- Thread starter powdergun
- Start date
I have owned 6 Ruger semi-automatic firearms and my experience is that they are the most reliable guns I have or will ever own. They have always gone "bang" on demand. These include:
2 X Mini-14
2 X 10/22
2 X MarkIII
Never had an issue with any of them.
I just picked up a winchester /FN model 70 and think the fit and finish is first class. I had every intention of putting a bushnell scope on it but after looking over the gun I decided it was so nice I had to go the extra mile and buy a nice zeiss. I have sold all other hunting rifles I owned and plan to keep this one as my life long rifle. I have owned savage, remington etc and they were great shooting rifles but quality fit and finish doesn't hold a match to this new model 70.
polaris rider
Regular
- Location
- 100 mile house, bc
i agree i sold two 30/30 and one 44-40 levers to get my M70 Fwt and the new Bushnell scope and it was worth it for me, and have always been a lever guy, but the new .270 Winchester is a keeper for sure
I agree with AWOL,
My 2 M77s in .300 win. and 6mm Remington, my Mini-30, and my new #1 in .303 are great rifles. All are reliable and the M77s' bolts are butter smooth.
And my boy's Weatherby .300 mag is also a mighty fine rifle.
There are lots of nice rifles out there, just avoid the crap ones.
I have a Remington 700 and the only complaint I have is the J-lock, like a poster a few pages back.
The bolt is absolutely butter smooth. It's more accurate than I am.
I have asked many times on forums for people to point out what they think is wrong with Remington's quality in the 700s, so far nobody.
I do have an 870 "Express" 18" and I have a couple of complaints:
-The finish sucks, rusts easily
-Crudely finished
But it's a strong gun aside from those things, and guns with better finishes, etc. cost more money.
I haven't heard much negative press 'bout the Wingmaster.
I have a CZ 452 .22 LR moth-defense gun and it is built superbly, which makes me have great hope for their centerfire line!
The bolt is absolutely butter smooth. It's more accurate than I am.
I have asked many times on forums for people to point out what they think is wrong with Remington's quality in the 700s, so far nobody.
I do have an 870 "Express" 18" and I have a couple of complaints:
-The finish sucks, rusts easily
-Crudely finished
But it's a strong gun aside from those things, and guns with better finishes, etc. cost more money.
I haven't heard much negative press 'bout the Wingmaster.
I have a CZ 452 .22 LR moth-defense gun and it is built superbly, which makes me have great hope for their centerfire line!
Remington
I bought a new Remington 750 Woodsmaster thru the mail, when I got it home I spent about an hour looking it over and then packed it up and returned it. What an absolute piece of junk that is! Recoil pad wasn't on straight bolt cover (cheap flimsy plastic), sights were already showing rust. My 2006 Wingmaster 12 guage, the bluing on the barrel is allready getting spotty and showing marks, not on the receiver just the stupid barrel. This company has taken a nosedive badly, its sooo sad they bought Marlin and are gonna drag them down too!!! I loved Marlin... Remington post 2000 =
I bought a new Remington 750 Woodsmaster thru the mail, when I got it home I spent about an hour looking it over and then packed it up and returned it. What an absolute piece of junk that is! Recoil pad wasn't on straight bolt cover (cheap flimsy plastic), sights were already showing rust. My 2006 Wingmaster 12 guage, the bluing on the barrel is allready getting spotty and showing marks, not on the receiver just the stupid barrel. This company has taken a nosedive badly, its sooo sad they bought Marlin and are gonna drag them down too!!! I loved Marlin... Remington post 2000 =
sharp shooter
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Essex county (Ontario)
I can't believe people haven't hyped up the new model 70 more. I guess they really haven't had enough field testing yet. I scooped up a .30-06 supergrade and it feels first class in the hands and shoots sub moa no problem with good ammo. I am still waiting to get out with some hand loads for her but I'm sure I will get a tight groop with them. There has been a lot of threads about how much the new owners love them. I don't see that with too many other rifles out there and I don't see too many on EE. Just a ton of remingtons that are accurate as hell. Why the heck would someone want to sell an accurate hunting rifle?
I think one of the problems lately is that the information is a lot easier to come by. Back in the day you used to hang out at the gun counter and there were no "bad" guns, but nowadays it seems as though everyone knows "a guy" who has had a bad experience with brand X.
My experience has been different for the most part. Remington gets a bad reputation due to a few product recalls and some mostly unsubstantiated videos and biased reporting. The SPS line of rifles and Express shotguns get crapped on for poor finish, when they're clearly intended to be "entry-level" options and the functionality is unaffected. Yes, they're a step back in overall feel, but they're SUPPOSED to be a step back. The CDL and Wingmaster lines are still nicely finished and well-built as previous, and the safety of the design has never really been in doubt. Want tight groups of of the box? No problem.
Ruger IMO has only gone uphill since the original M77. I owned one, not bad. I owned two Mk II's, wasn't a huge fan of them are they weren't the most accurate or prettiest gun out there but they were solid and the scope mounting was excellent. The newer Hawkeyes have a better trigger out of the box and just handle a bit nicer. Continual improvement. The No. 1's are sweet pieces.
Savage as well has elevated itself from mere entry-level player. You used to buy a Savage because it was cheap, but the entry models have gotten better. The accu-trigger and accu-stock have made huge improvements in performance in their price range and they've started slapping some decent furniture on some of their models. Yeah, the bolt is still ugly but it works, it works well, the price is right, and the trigger and stock innovation is making regular shooters more consistent and more confident.
Winchester gets a bit of flak for not being identical to the original pre-'64, but speaking as someone who has used both old and new, I preferred the handling of the new. I preferred the wood on the new as well, yes, it is nicer, at least on my sporter compared to my Dad's. The metalwork shows less tooling marks, and the bluing is just as nice. Recoil pad is light-years ahead. It's more accurate. My trigger is nicer as well, albeit more complicated. Based on the overall quality of the gun, I have every confidence in the triggers ability not to explode into a thousand pieces should I require a backup shot on an angry bear, should I be so lucky.
Weatherby is an interesting one, since the Vanguard used to be the poor-man's option. The performance of the Vanguard however, is good enough that they cover it under their accuracy guarantee. My Vanguard trigger is probably one of the best out-of-the-box on any of my hunting rifles. Breaks like glass, super crisp. Mine shot just over MOA with factory 115gr. and 100gr. bullets. The range has expanded and shrunk depending on the market conditions and what's popular at the moment, but they seem to be great shooters and appear to be breaking out of the "poor man's Weatherby" stigma. If the stock fits (and you can deal with the weight of the thick barrel), wear it.
Marlin, not much experience but people are singing the praises of the XL7 and XS7 models as entry-level rifles, on par with Savages, which IMO is not bad company to keep in that price range. The people who've showed up at the range with them have been very happy with the performance per dollar, that's for damn sure.
My experience has been different for the most part. Remington gets a bad reputation due to a few product recalls and some mostly unsubstantiated videos and biased reporting. The SPS line of rifles and Express shotguns get crapped on for poor finish, when they're clearly intended to be "entry-level" options and the functionality is unaffected. Yes, they're a step back in overall feel, but they're SUPPOSED to be a step back. The CDL and Wingmaster lines are still nicely finished and well-built as previous, and the safety of the design has never really been in doubt. Want tight groups of of the box? No problem.
Ruger IMO has only gone uphill since the original M77. I owned one, not bad. I owned two Mk II's, wasn't a huge fan of them are they weren't the most accurate or prettiest gun out there but they were solid and the scope mounting was excellent. The newer Hawkeyes have a better trigger out of the box and just handle a bit nicer. Continual improvement. The No. 1's are sweet pieces.
Savage as well has elevated itself from mere entry-level player. You used to buy a Savage because it was cheap, but the entry models have gotten better. The accu-trigger and accu-stock have made huge improvements in performance in their price range and they've started slapping some decent furniture on some of their models. Yeah, the bolt is still ugly but it works, it works well, the price is right, and the trigger and stock innovation is making regular shooters more consistent and more confident.
Winchester gets a bit of flak for not being identical to the original pre-'64, but speaking as someone who has used both old and new, I preferred the handling of the new. I preferred the wood on the new as well, yes, it is nicer, at least on my sporter compared to my Dad's. The metalwork shows less tooling marks, and the bluing is just as nice. Recoil pad is light-years ahead. It's more accurate. My trigger is nicer as well, albeit more complicated. Based on the overall quality of the gun, I have every confidence in the triggers ability not to explode into a thousand pieces should I require a backup shot on an angry bear, should I be so lucky.
Weatherby is an interesting one, since the Vanguard used to be the poor-man's option. The performance of the Vanguard however, is good enough that they cover it under their accuracy guarantee. My Vanguard trigger is probably one of the best out-of-the-box on any of my hunting rifles. Breaks like glass, super crisp. Mine shot just over MOA with factory 115gr. and 100gr. bullets. The range has expanded and shrunk depending on the market conditions and what's popular at the moment, but they seem to be great shooters and appear to be breaking out of the "poor man's Weatherby" stigma. If the stock fits (and you can deal with the weight of the thick barrel), wear it.
Marlin, not much experience but people are singing the praises of the XL7 and XS7 models as entry-level rifles, on par with Savages, which IMO is not bad company to keep in that price range. The people who've showed up at the range with them have been very happy with the performance per dollar, that's for damn sure.
- Location
- Steel Town and The Peg
Bellero has it covered off. I will add pre-2008 Marlins and earlier Zastava's.
If you are fair and compare what the american rifles cost 40 years ago, and how many days a man had to work to pay for one, approximately two weeks, to get the same quality of rifle today, will cost you 2-3k. Quality has dropped as cost to buy $500 rifle is exaclty 1/10th of what it used to be. Either buy a good old one or a $2000 new one if you really want a quality piece.
pisces-guy
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- West Kelowna, B.C.
Sako 85...
longbranch*
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Victoria,BC.
New guns
I'm quite impressed with latest Winchester M70's. Especially Super-Grades.
Geoff
I'm quite impressed with latest Winchester M70's. Especially Super-Grades.
Geoff
+1 Geoff..... I bought the latest M70 SuperGrade in .270, and it is truly an exceptional rifle.
Sako's...
I picked up a pair of sako 75's last year. 300 wsm and a .260
One new and the other like new. Price paid I thought was very good.
There is a lot of choices out there in used sakos
The 300 wsm I have not tried yet.
Really like the .260
I picked up a pair of sako 75's last year. 300 wsm and a .260
One new and the other like new. Price paid I thought was very good.
There is a lot of choices out there in used sakos
The 300 wsm I have not tried yet.
Really like the .260
