Most accurate Bolt Action rifle?

[fourbore]

Tikka and Sako are very closely related. Poor man's Sako, IMHO.

[JJ45]

I think in that price range a M700 is your best bet for finding a MOA rifle with factory or hand loads that THAT PARTICULAR RIFLE LIKES....This has been my experience and apparently the military's also, if you research bolt action sniper rifles.

I have no experience with the Savage 110 platform but it seems highly regarded.

Talking garden variety, production guns you can always find a lemon but also a peach

Factory M700, Sav 110, Ruger 77, Win M70 and others are all capable of 1" 3 shot groups at 100 yards unless there is some defect such as poor bedding, dinged muzzle crown, lousy trigger, etc.

One thing I have found is you can adjust the triggers yourself on the 700, Ruger Tang 77, Win 70 to be as good a some of the after market triggers like Timney or Canjar etc,...if you do some studying and find out how to do it correctly

[Picher]

Life's too short to not have a Tikka...or two. I have two and may just get another.

[1stmar]

Cabelas has savage 12 on sale for $369 with $100 savage rebate. One thing i know for sure you wont beat that rifle for $269.

[agtman]

SAKO.

[Chaparral]

Folks I have owned many rifles over the years and my mind keeps going back to the good old Remington 788 you can pick up at any gun show for $499-$599. I have that gun in 308, 6mm, & 222. Very reliable, accurate (I reload), & proven. Yes there are 100s of other rifles that I could speak of, but for the price, accuracy, and dependability the 788 is awesome.

[supercub99]

The question that keeps on giving.....

I think there are far too many variables to say one is better than the other without narrowing down what you want to do. If you're going to shoot deer at 30 yards, well, that would be one thing, 200 yards would be a completely different need. and if your desire is to shoot predators then what's behind door number 3 might be your choice.

All that said, I would be inclined to say, these are the guns I would avoid....

Remington in any of the ultra mag cal's if I was going into bear country. The mag feeding problems are rampant and I have seen a few which is one too many. Any other Remington's are fine as long as you can accept a mediocre trigger at best or plan on replacing it.

Tikka, The price of parts if you can get them are more than a lot of guns cost...bolts for $400+, I don't think so. Of course, you shouldn't need to replace a bolt but none the less. A number of gun smiths won't work on them as it's too hard to get any parts for them. This may vary, I would check it out first.

Any low end plastic stocked gun that you can't get a decent aftermarket or equivalent for stock for it would be a no for me as well. I would buy those only if I was going to buy a upgraded stock. This would be especially true in the larger and mag calibers.
The Savage 12fv mentioned in a reply for $269 is a deal of the year, all short chamber caliber's though. These will shoot under an inch easily as is but they are varmint calibers and it's a heavy barrel. If you want to shoot tiny holes, plan on a good stock.

I see some of the Ruger and Savage intro rifles in mag calibers with the same stock and it will kick the living crap out of you. That will discourage shooting it which is what you should be doing in the off season. This applies to all those pre packaged scope/gun combo's meant for hunting.

Bottom line is get the best you can afford for what you intend to do with it and has both factory and aftermarket parts support. And one you will want to and enjoy shooting!

[JJ45]

Chaparral...agree on the 788. For generic choice a Remington 700.... I don't know how the new ones stack up but many a military sniper platform is based on this action.

[Road_Clam]

Your average out of the box R700 SPS varmint has an excellent barrel and action. Certainly sub moa with tuned handloads. However the baseline SPS flexi-boing composite stock is absolute garbage for any consistent precision work. If you want consistent sub moa at 100 yds from a entry R700 SPS you WILL need to spend another $500+ on a quality stock and you will need to handload. I like the Bell & Carelson Tac 5 stocks (I have 2 ). Great value, minimal finish fitting and rock solid. So now you have a $550 base rifle that's now up to $1050 (and you don't even have an optic yet). This is where I see the true advantage of the Savage 12 FTR and BR's. They are about $1100 and they come from the factory with a blueprinted action and a hand straightened barrel. You also get a top quality free floated stock. Spent over a year testing loads for my R700 and found some outstanding sub moa loads but I still chase month to month consistency with my R700. My Savage 12 on the other hand seems more consistent staying inside the "sub moa" window of precision. The advantage of the R700's is the aftermarket support for all the tatci-cool components. Savage 10/12's are more limited.

[kraigwy]

We all have our pets, Winchester Model 70s are mine. I have a Ruger Precision Rifle in 6.5 that was super accurate from the get go, then I got a Ruger American Preditor in 6.5. Its just as accurate as the Precision 6.5 at 1/3 the cost. Picked up two more RAPs, on in 223, one in 204 Ruger, they are dern accurate also.

The US Model 1903a3 action has made the most accurate models I have seen. To the point that the Army used that action to make their Mann devices, a super heavy, match barrel attached to the action, to test their ammo.

But in reality, the SHOOTER makes the most accurate rifles. Except for the Mann Device (which in fired for a v-block vice set up with no input from the shooter), any well made rifle can be accurate if the shooter can shoot.

[flashhole]

Learn a lot more and come back and ask the question a different way.

[BeeShooter]

Savage 12 FCV

[Tallest]

flashhole

Learn a lot more and come back and ask the question a different way.

I'm curious, how would you have asked the question?

[Glockgreat23]

I have owned literally dozens of rifles both factory and expensive handmade jobs. My thompson center venture in 30-06 is the best shooter of all of them, much to my chagrin. It will put 5 rounds in a 3/4 inch clover all day shooting hand loaded 168 gr Barnes tipped bullets and 4350 powder. Other than handloading I have not done a thing to it. Having said all that, my current favorite rifles are my tikkas. I like the wood models with the rollover cheekpiece because it lines my eyes up better. All of them will shoot a 3 shot one inch group with regularity
And I might add, Bergerac is interesting to me but I don’t own one, but weatherby vanguard 2, Winchester 70, CZ, all are very good rifles. Oddly enough, I have never had luck with the savages I have owned, but currently own a 308 which I have not shot yet

[Water-Man]

Through my experience, it's the Tikka.

[JeepHammer]

WOW!
Loaded question!
Like your wife asking if these pants make her butt look big...

Without doing ANYTHING other than pulling it off the rack & shooting it, Savage accutrigger models do a pretty good job... But that's a long way from definitive!

Ruger American needs trigger adjustments, which isn't off the shelf & shoot, but it's not expensive or difficult.

A Rem 700 leaves money on the table for a reasonable trigger.
The latest factory triggers are horrible and take a ton of work to be mediocre.

The answer for your wife is "You Look Great, Honey!"
The TRUTH about your wife is, your butt IS BIG, the pants are innocent bystanders like I am!

[tobnpr]

For what application??
Target? Hunting (what type)?

What type of accuracy?
Cold-bore is one thing, being able to shoot long strings for target without groups scattering like a shotgun is another.

A Tikka T3x is a great hunting rifle, lousy choice for benchrest target shooting, nor would you want to to pack a heavy-barrel 700 into the mountains for a 3-day hunt.

[jimsouth]

I still shoot the 03 Springfield; one of 4 my father bought after WW2 ( $35. each & still in cosmoline ). Hell of a rifle. The sabot rounds hit 4,000+ fps.; but they are light & can wander on windy days. Some trivia. If you ever use any ancient ,30 caliber ball, surplus military rounds, remember, many had very hot primers ( Mercury fulminate ) and those primers were very corrosive. So a good scrubbing is in order if you use any of that ammunition.

[cw308]

Mine , Rem 700 trued , bedded with a RockCreek match barrel.

[jimsouth]

With my 03 Springfield, the trick was finding a topnotch gunsmith who could mount the Kahles Competition Telescopic sight , without drilling. So far ( and it's been years ), the mount is holding steady. I rarely need to tune in the sight. Ironic that the Kahles scope cost many many many Xs more than the rifle. Kahles telescopic sights are the cat's ass.

[joed]

Originally Posted by T. O'Heir

Far too many variables, but the acknowledged "best bang for the buck" out of the box is a Savage. Which model doesn't matter.
Even then, if you're not reloading you'll have to try a box of as many brands and bullet weights as you can to find the ammo that that particular rifle shoots best. Rimfire or center fire, doesn't matter and neither does the price of that ammo.

I'm probably the exception with Savage. Owned 2, a 10 fp in .223 and a 12 VSS in .22-250. The 10 fp was extremely accurate for a stock gun but it was a crap shoot if the next round would enter the chamber. Fifty percent of the time the next round would not enter the chamber. The 12 VSS, was the most inaccurate rifle I ever owned. As the barrel warmed up the POI would change by at least 1". I tried for 6 months to make it accurate but gave up in the end.

Remington was always the best for me. They always needed bedding work to shoot but they were accurate.

Winchester was the same as Remington except for recent production. All the new ones I've owned needed nothing to be accurate.

[RC20]

I don't see the OP answered

Hunting? Target?

[Rifletom]

I'm with agtman here: Sako. Mine is a 1963 Finnbear .270 Win that I would never think of selling. The new Sako's are mighty fine rifles. Just not at $800.00 tho.
And to Chaparrel: those 788's were awesome rifles. Not very elegant, but, tack drivers.
As to the most accurate, hmm, I've heard some good things about those Bergara's.

[RC20]

So the Op drops the question and then leaves.

Why waste electrons ?

[agtman]

RC20 So the Op drops the question and then leaves.
Why waste electrons ?

101 posts since 2014 ...

Short attention span, that one.