[10-96]

Andrew- I don't have anything with a kevlar stock on it, but I do have both the Varmint and American models of the 527 in .223Rem. They shoot incredibly well! One question that pops into my noggin is: Do you reload?

The reason for that question is, well, I believe any difference between the models you're looking at won't become evident until you really set into developing a home rolled cartridge for it. Otherwise, you'll be at the mercy of the factory ammo selections IMHO.

For the most part, I find that I haul out my American model much more over the past couple of years because it just makes a better truck/pasture rifle than the Varmint. I do enjoy and strive for the longer shots when it comes to pasture poodles- and I thought the Varmint would be the greatest thing since white sliced bread. And, it is in it's own right, but it really doesn't perform any better than the other- and the American is just a bit handier to poke in and out of windows, up and down windmills, over fences, on and off implements, etc.

Anyway, got a bit off track. So I'd be inclined to suggest the laminate stocked (or plain stocked) Varmint model unless you can squeeze every last bit of benefit out of the kevlar stocked model by reloading. I honestly believe the difference isn't all that great.