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Rugerboy50 wrote:Great feedback.

It's going to come down to the Remington 700 or Savage Varmint.

Leaning toward the 700 for upgrading options down the road.

If you get a 700, do yourself a big favor and drop another $146 into this Timney trigger: https://www.timneytriggers.com/shop/tim ... igger.aspx. You can select the pull weight you want when ordering, and it will come from the factory that way, but the pull weight is adjustable if you want to change it. I bought one with a 3 lb pull and put it on my VSF. Once installed, we (my son and I) set it to a 2.25 lb pull, and it is perfect. It is a literal drop in part that installs fairly easily. You will never regret the purchase. You can buy one of their more expensive triggers if you want (if I were building a ground-up custom rifle, I'd probably do that), but their $146 base model is WAY better than the factory trigger, and well worth the cost. You'll find that the improved trigger will be as big of a deal as the optic you choose. Lots of people spend money on glass, but not everyone spends money on a trigger; and yet it is as big of a deal as the glass.....maybe bigger.

I own and like a Remington 700 VSF in .308 that I would recommend......if they still made them. But pretty much any varmint configured R700 in .223 would be a pretty nice rifle. Also, Savage has the 12 F/TR model which looks like a real nice shooter, although it is double the cost of the Walking Varminter: https://www.savagearms.com/firearms/model/12FTR. I'd also take a look at the 10/110 Predator Hunter Max 1.

Ruger offers several models of their Gunsite Scout in .223/5.56 also. It's not as refined or as accurate as a nice varmint rifle, but it is short, handy, and is fairly accurate. MSRP is in the $1140-$1200 range, but nobody pays MSRP, so..... Also, Ruger offers a 5.56 version of their Ruger Precision Rifle.

Finally, Mossberg offers 5 or 6 models in their Predator / Varmint line: http://www.mossberg.com/product/mvp-var ... fle-27720/. MSRP is $754, but I don't know much about their quality. A friend of mine has a .308 MVP Patrol rifle that he likes and has used in various tactical competitions, but I don't think he's used it at any kind of extended ranges, so I can't speak to their accuracy.