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Choosing your first centrefire rifle

Choosing your first centrefire rifle

I thought it would be a good idea to talk about a dilemma faced by many new firearms certificate holders. Just how do you go about choosing your first centrefire (CF) rifle and its calibre? I recently had the pleasure of going through this process myself and there were a lot of questions that needed answering before I would part with my hard earned cash! In this article I will talk about my decision making process and what I ended up getting.

RESEARCH:

My advice is first to try and increase your knowledge of CF rifles and the available calibres as much as possible. Now this may seem obvious but I soon found myself exploring twist rates, ballistics, reloading, upgrades such as chassis systems amongst common upgrades etc. All of which helped me build up a much better picture of what rifle/calibre combo I would be looking for and what makes them shoot well. Now I am lucky in that I get to see reviews and read a lot of information on all the various rifles available to the UK shooter on a daily basis. I also get to pick the brains of all sorts of people who know significantly more than me! For the average consumer there are plenty of sources of information out there in print and online.

WHAT CALIBRE?

I was on the hunt for one rifle, in a calibre that could be used for fox shooting, varminting and range work. For this task I looked at the .22 Hornet, .204 Ruger, .222 & 223 Remington and .243 Winchester. This selection was chosen quite simply because they all meet the guidelines that most police forces follow when it comes down to my primary use, fox shooting. The .243 just scrapes into the selection here and may well be a bit trickier to get for this use. By choosing one of these it also meant it was more likely I would actually get granted a licence. If I was not shooting Charlie and just after a target calibre then the list would be much larger!

I decided that to begin with I would be using factory ammunition rather than reloading, due to lack of space where I live. A quick scout about on the internet soon put .223 Remington at the top of the list, the simple reason being that it is a calibre with a huge following. There are a lot of factory loads to choose from including full metal jacket (FMJ) and expanding variants and very importantly- it’s also affordable! When I was doing research on the selection of factory ammo in other calibres, I found the choice was very poor if not non-existent, especially for range use! Overall the choice of calibre was sort of made for me!

CALIBRE CAPABILITIES

Once you have made your decision on a calibre, it is worth doing further research on its capabilities and particular rifle specs that may affect its performance in relation to the sorts of shooting you want to do. It is important to understand the effects of barrel length and twist rate when choosing a rifle. The former is easy; a short tube will reduce weight, improve handling and balance once a moderator is fitted. The trade-off is the loss of velocity, which in my mind is a valuable commodity. I simply decided that I would go for something longer, then I could always have it chopped down at a later date!

Twist rate was the next consideration and I am going to try my best to simplify the subject as much as possible. When shooting foxes or varmints you want a nice flat trajectory to make things a simple as possible, with a point and shoot ability out to say 200m, with useable performance out to 400m. This is achieved with a bullets weighing in at anywhere from 40 to 55-grains and these rounds utilise a twist rate of 1-12. This is probably the most common for a 223 sporter, with what are standard weight bullets. So, if you want a .223 for just fox/varmint shooting, then go for this!

The requirement for a different twist rate comes when longer range shooting is likely, whether this is varmint or target. The reason being is that heavier bullets work much better at range, such as 62-grain GGG NATO spec or 69 or 75-grain match projectiles. They will however require a faster twist rate to stabilize them i.e. 1-7, 1-8 or 1-9.

From my research I discovered that each twist rate has a band of bullet weights that it works with best. It therefore became apparent that 1-7 would not be suitable, 1-8 however can be quite generous, handling weights from 55-75-grains! 1-9 however was perfect, apparently capable of working with 50 up to 62/69-grains, so decision made, fox, varmint and target all catered for!

BUDGET REQUIREMENTS

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The budget is obviously down to the individual at the end of the day but I was banking on the fact modern rifles are well made and you don’t necessarily need to spend big bucks! My aim was simple; I wanted something that was able to shoot 1” or better at 100m with factory ammo. I also wanted to make £1000 go as far as possible. Ideally I wanted a rifle, scope, mounts and moderator for my money. I knew it was ambitious and I would probably go over but not by too much!

This is an area worth considering, as most shooters I know like to change, swap and upgrade their kit. There are a lot of rifles out there, which due to their popularity have a huge range of modifications available. These can include box magazine conversion kits, triggers, chassis systems, stocks, scope mounts, tactical bolt handles etc. So make sure you do some research, as upgrading components is a nice option to have when you are on a budget.

DECISIONS DECISIONS:

The first rifle that I considered was a Howa 1500 based on my own previous experience, a capable design and more shootable than many more expensive makes! Their range is all about choice, you can pick from a selection of barrels, stocks including the excellent GRS laminate range. Plus box magazine conversions and trigger upgrades too. You can essentially start at around £500 and work your way up! At the time the only option was a 1-12 barrel which meant the Howa was out. I do believe a 1-9 twist barrel has since appeared on the scene.

Next up was the Browning X-bolt, a very nicely put together rifle. Unfortunately the one I liked was the Eclipse varmint and the cheapest I found was £790! Even putting that aside, the twist rate was not what I was after, nor was there much choice for modification at a later date. The X-Bolt was not to be!

Tikka T3; I wish it had been in my budget, I have recently had a lot of experience with them and the out of the box accuracy is impressive. There is a good selection of models, from light, super varmints to full on tactical. The sheer number of aftermarket stocks and accessories impressed me as well. 1-8 twist in .223 was available, with a lot of reviews stating 55gr + worked very well, so I would have given it a go. Unfortunately I just could not stretch to over £800; shame!

Finally and all the way from America, the Mossberg MVP Varmint, which is in fact the rifle that I ended up choosing. My research indicated that it was very well thought of over in the USA and priced at £640 from the Saddlery and Gunroom it had to be worth a look! With a 24” 1-9 barrel the MVP had my attention. Plus it runs on AR15-type box magazines, which sounded good! The trigger was good for something in this price range too. To top it off there is also a few chassis systems from MDT to choose from.

CONCLUSION

I am pleased that I found a rifle that met my criteria for fox, varmint and range work and I like to think I am not the only person out there who would like one gun that does all. I wasn’t too far from my budget in the end, the MVP, a Wildcat EVO10 moderator, Vortex scope and mounts all for around £1200.

There is a lot of information and choice out there and it can be difficult for a first time buyer. Hopefully my process of choosing a rifle will help your choice!

CONTACT:
Mossberg - Saddlery & Gun Room 01959 573089 www.mossberg.com
Howa – Highland Outdoors 0845 0990252 highlandoutdoors.co.uk
Tikka – GMK Ltd 01489 579999 www.tikka.fi
Browning - BWM (Browning UK) 01235 514550 www.browning.eu

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