I can't make up my mind on a 223 rifle. I am leaning towards a bolt but have been going round and round. Controlled or push feed? Blind mag, bottom metal(aluminum), or magazine? Remington 7 or CZ or Tikka or, or, or... I shoot left handed so a LH action would be nice but not absolute, light weight is a must though. I will most likely install a new barrel so factory accuracy isn't a deciding factor. What's your favorite and why?

PF, SUCKS or Howa

I while back I thought I saw a pic of yours with a dead deer and a 223 AI.

Hawkeye.....I keep liking that lil rifle a lil more each time I shoot the darn thing.

Remington 700 SA; ADL or BDL format is up to you.
McSwirley MR pattern.
Barrel from the vendor of your choice in the LVSF format anywhere from 20" to 23", whatever balances the best for you.
Talleys.
Leupold 3-9x40 MK2 Hunter with turrets.

Take a look at todbartell's 700 in 260 and you won't need to look any farther for a pattern to copy.

Jeff

It's been known to kill a deer.

I found a remington 700 sps, adjusted the trigger and slapped a laminated stock on it and it can do this with Hornady 55 garin v-max. It's pretty heavy though. I'm ready to slay some hogs with it. Five shot group at 100 of course!!

Is that a Remmy or Boyd's stock?

It's a remington.

That would be the one. What does it weigh?

What are you guys getting out of your AI guns with different bullet weights?

very nice!!

Try to get a .223 most like your larger centerfire rifles, for sake of practice and familiarity carrying over.

Remington 700
Remington Model 7
Browning A-Bolt II and X-Bolt

I own a Howa 1500, nice walnut and blue, a full-sized .223.
It wears the same scope as a bunch of my others, a 6x42mm.

My next .223 bolt action is a CZ 527 Lux.

Just to put a turd in the punch bowl...

I really like my CAR-15. Easy to carry, tough, accurate. But you could probable buy a bolt gun with a European scope for the current price of an AR.

Can't see a reason to "need" CRF on a 223.

Would simply buy one from any number of makers - Ruger, Howa, SUCKS or Sako Vixen if you find one bubba'd up.

Send it out - quality barrel and good trigger and shoot.

If I were going to build a 223, it would be on a NICE flattop AR platform with a top-shelf match barrel! That would be fun!

Did you notice he missed with every shot?

Yep, I missed the bullseye five times. I really don't know what she weighs. Very solid though. I've never really had a small caliber heavy barrel, until now. I like it. I've had a remmington .308 PSS, Weatherby accumark .300 wbmag, remington 700 bullbarrel 7stw, Ruger varmint .243. This is my favorite heavy barreled rifle to date. I was also thinking about getting a remington LVSF .223, that would a easier packing rifle, but if I want to pack soemthing lighter I'll just take another rifle!!

tikka tikka tikka tikka tikka, did I say tikka, no other rifle will give you the best chance at awesome out of the box accuracy, an allen wrench adjusts the pull, just adjust it all the way down, put it back in the stock and then go shoot sub MOA, after all the rifle is guaranteed to do it, no remington ruger or CZ has that guarantee

just get a silver 2 stock, high grade, ZTR-95 Tripple X .223 magnum, with a spider optics 3-9x40 silver bullet scope. that will do ya some good animal slaughtering. only cost ya around $38.50.

Your handle should be Sub-IQ

Without a doubt my favorite .223 bolt gun is my Tikka T3 Lite stainless. It shoots like a typical Tikka which is amazing. I have had heavy barrel "precision" .223 Remingtons that would not hold a candle to the skinny barreled Tikka.

It is a joy to carry and shoot.

LV SF

Tikka T3 Lite synthetic - blued or stainless

And eastplace, 'Sub-IQ' LMAO

LV SF - the way I went...tack-driver out of the box and nice looking to boot.

I almost bought a T3. I ordered one for a friend and they are really good rifles but I have a couple issues with them (for my purposes). They are a long action used for larger cartridges, so they could be lighter with a smaller action. The magazine is long but the COL is limited by the opening. I would like to seat the heavier bullets out a little farther so they could be closer to the rifling. I could single shot them but the tikka is harder to load thru the port than most rifle actions.

I want to end up with a "survival" type rifle. That means different things to different people I know but for me it would be a light rifle I could carry all day every day. A cartridge small enough to stretch a limited powder supply yet fulfill lifes requirements.

Remington Model 7 stainless synthetic, with iron sights added.
Remington 700 SPS, barrel cut to 20 inches.
One-piece Picatinny Rail or something similar for scope in QD rings.

A Tikka T3 weighs 6 lbs, same as a Model 7, and has a much heavier and a 2.5 inch longer barrel, because the T3 stock is so light.
And you can order it with open sights, or buy the sights as parts and have them added.

If AR, the one in the middle weighs about 7.5#'s

If bolt gun, I'd build up something similar to these with a 1/8 twist. Rem Mountain Guides.

They weigh just over 7#'s
Or I'd buy a Kimber Montana.

Funny this question would come up. With a Mini-14 and two AR's in the safe I decided I needed a .223 bolt gun. Yesterday I drug one home. It's a Remmy 700 XCR compact tactical rifle. Kinda neat, just wish they'd call it something other than "tactical." Maybe, "compact truck rifle". I put a Leupie 1.75-6 on it, figure it will mostly be used for deer and called predators. Hope to get a chance to shoot it soon.

In your case, I wouldn't recommend a bolt gun. A .223 bolt gun is a luxury for the guy who already has an AR (or a few.)

the real reason to seat bullets out close or touching the rifling is to help compensate for a slightly off chamber, my tikka t3 30-06 shoots bullets that are a mile a way from the lands I just seat to comfortable mag length, this gun shoot so accurately the only gun that I own more accurate is a full on remington custom with mcmillan stock, much heavier krieger barrel and all put together by a well known gunsmith not to mention it took a ladder tested tailored load to beat it at that!!! where as this tikka shoots a much wider array of bullets well than even the custom does, bottom line is you grab the custom, then my tikka throw a random factory load in it, I would be willing to bet the tikka would out shoot it, I never have really tried to make a tailored load for the tikka, but rather picked some good looking factory loads out of the book and proceeded to agg 4 different bullets with 3 different powders in the mid .5's I stopped load development at that point. I bought an extra set of rings from a guy off here one of these days I am gonna mount the 6.5-20 on it and ladder test it to really see what it will do

That was one of my initial concerns, but it has proved to be a non-issue, I simply load so that the cartridge just fits in the mag. All my handloads (tried 63 and 65 gn Sierra projectiles so far) shoot into 1/2 inch at 100 yards. Factory loads shoot into 1 inch.

T3's don't seem to care how far the projectile is from the rifling, they just shoot.

When I start working with the new Remmy (see earlier post, this thread) I won't even worry about distance off the lands. I won't load anything longer than what works through the magazines of my Mini-14 and AR's. Maybe if I were shooting benchrest I'd feel different, but it seems to me that, in recent years, good loads shoot in good rifles (of recent production) no matter how far (within reason) they are off the rifling. I've been flat-out amazed at how easy it's been to get some recent rifles to shoot.

T3's don't seem to care how far the projectile is from the rifling, they just shoot.

I want to be able to seat the heavier bullets out farther so they don't take up powder space. The 223 has a short neck and small case so any extra case capacity is welcome.

Those tikka's sure do shoot. I've worked on a bunch and sold a few and you can tell Sako makes those barrels.

I'm still open to the AR platform. Especially after .458's article in the last rifle mag. I have a sig 556 and may rebarrel it but that heavy piston tests a shooters nerves. Maybe a LWRC with a Lilja 1-8 or 9

Pink Yosemite Sams, an over ripe banana-flavored Sucks and some dead deer. Pretty comfy combo.

Two friends had pretty neat 223s that I coveted. One was a unique little M77 w/SS pencil barrel and very nice, very dark walnut. The other was a plain vanilla M700ADL synthetic.

Both were very accurate, even with cheap American Eagle ammo.

Shooting a Rem 700 VTR (with the triangle barrel) and a Tikka T3 Heavy barrel.

The 700 VTR shoot 52 gr in a bug hole at 100 all day long, tolerates increased barrel temps, and the trigger is decent out of the box (gunsmith adjustable). Nice light weight rifle,

The Tikka is heavy, awesome trigger, shoots 55gr FMJ bulk factory loads in a quarter size group and 52gr handloads in a bug hole. Stock fits great, weight is a consideration.

Have a CZ .223, on the for sale pile now, did not like the rifle as much as the Rem 700 VTR or the Tikka. The CZ shot about as good as the others, not my favorite to take out....

I like my T3 .223 especially the trigger and the versatility of the 8" twist.