Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles What .223 Rem?

Since Kimber isn’t making the Montana in .223 Rem anymore, what should I consider instead? I would love a light weight .223 with similar quality to the Montana.

I’m not real interested in the fieldcraft.

Whittakers still shows the Kimber 223 in stock. Shy of that I like the Tikka for no nonsense.

Simple...Tikka Superlight in .223 with an 8 twist




Will handle a wide variety of bullets and no " Kimber roulette"...stone cold shooters...

That’s good advice.







Unless you like uncertainty and drama.




P

Second the vote for the Tikka SL. 3 consecutive 3 shot groups at 100 yards with 3 different types of factory ammo, with the most expensive being hornady black.

Nice!

I have no problems with Tikka except they just don't fit me. I know there are ways to fix that but...

Tom...it might be easier-and definitely cheaper- to "fix" the fit on a Tikka than fix the issues with a Kimber...

Someone please tell me the draw to a 223 in a bolt gun? I own one and its fun, but do not see the high desirabilty.

Economical as hell to shoot with both handloads and factory ammo. Can be loaded to effectively and efficiently take everything from rabbits and squirrels to deer. All that and WAAAAY better carryability/ handling and FAR, FAR, FAAAAAR less ugly than a stinkin' AR.

Very practical. Ok

Tikka T-3, no drama - just pick a good factory load or your favorite hand-load, put a scope on it and proceed to shoot small groups.

Pretty? - NO!
Effective - Yes!

The only thing you need to be aware of is that early T-3's were a 12 twist, some later ones are a 10 twist, and it seems that most of them are now an 8 twist. Depending on what bullet weight you are planning to shoot you may want to be sure of the twist rate for that bullet. I have owned them all and since I shoot primarily 40 and occassionaly 50 gr bullets I am shooting a 10 twist which gives me the ability to go to a heavier bullet should I desire to.

drover

Is the Tikka 223 a long action?

I love it. It hammers deer as well as anything else I've killed them with. It SIMPLE (even for me) to load for. Or just to run in and grab a box of ammo if you need to. It's relatively quiet, has almost no recoil, tons of bullets available.

That very well may be the case. I will say the Kimber Hunter was damn near perfect. Not made in a .223 or I'd have one.

All Tikka T3 and T3x rifles are built on the same length action, but there are different length bolt stops limiting travel appropriately for .223, short action (.308 based) and standard long action cartridges.

the 50 ct of hornady 55 g soft point ammo is so cheap and effective i havent loaded a .223 round in months.

Yep, I shoot alot of those 50 ct. Hornady's. Have killed a half dozen deer and a mountain of woodchucks with them.

Nab a Darrik Montucky.

Hint...…………………….

I think a .223 is one of my favorite calibers. It's very effective around the yard on coyote, groundhogs, etc. It's also the most economical caliber to load for when factoring in 5.56 brass can be had for close to free.

The recommendation of the Tikka SL is a good one for sure. Another potential option, depending on what weight bullets you plan to shoot, would be a Remington model 7 predator. I have one that has a 12 twist barrel which has had the Hart accurizing package done to it. It shoots 40 and 50 grain bullets well and is a nice handy rifle. I have not tried any heavier bullets because for what I wanted it for 50 grain and less bullets work fine. I know Remington made some of the model 7 predators with a twist rate other than 1:12 so if you looked around a little I'm sure you could find one with a faster twist if you so desired.