What to do? Save for a year or a year and half to purchase a Tikka Tac A1 or PVA JH, or buy a Predator now and start learning how to shoot out to 1,000 yards, now? This would be my first bolt action that I would use to learn the fundamentals of marksmanship. What do you folks think? Thanks.
Ruger Predator 6.5 CM - good place to start learning precision shooting?
- Thread starter ViP
- Start date
The best rifle in the world can't make up for not having any trigger time and or lack of fundamentals and practice. If its in the price range you want and gets you out shooting I say go for it. The m700 or savage rifles are also good starter rifles.
Or save for a bit longer and go with a Tikka CTR. The barreled action is the same as the Tac A1. Look for one used even. Then as you grow as a shooter, upgrade the stock to whatever floats your boat. Smoke the barrel in a few years and now you have a legit semi-custom rifle.
Whatever works for you. 24" you'll get some more performance, 20" are pretty handy. Personally, I wouldn't feel handicapped by a 20" tube, especially if you plan on suppressing it at some point. You really have a slew of options out there, Tikka, RPR, Bergara, PVA's JH. Savage's shoot well, but I've had and seen, some bad experiences with reliability. I think it's hard to go wrong with the Tikka's. Last weekend I shot a local match with a guy that had a 24" CTR dropped in an XLR chassis, he hung with the rest of us shooting customs and semi-customs just fine. Good luck with the search, I'd cruise the px here, gunbroker, and local sources for used options, decent deals can be had. The same with optics, most of my optics, I've bought off the hide px.
This is what I did. After a year or so the rifle still out shoots me. Do I want PVA JH yes I do. But I am waiting for now and spending the saved money on bullets.
I'm a newbie shooter and decided to buy a Savage 10 in 6.5cm and shoot the hell out of it. Trigger time is worth a lot.
2500 rounds from now I'll think about a gun that costs 2X as much.
VooDoo
2500 rounds from now I'll think about a gun that costs 2X as much.
VooDoo
My experience with the low end Rugers is that you have a 50/50 shot at them functioning out of the box.
My Ruger Pred in 6 Creed seems to work great right out of the box with Factory Hornady ammo. These were the first 3 shots for a group after getting it zeroed. I will be putting it in a Magpul stock soon so I can use AICS mags. Bought it for the woman, but after seeing how well it shoots, I may just keep it for myself.
This was also shooting off a range bag up front for support with no rear bag. Im sure it can shoot a tad bit better than this.
This was also shooting off a range bag up front for support with no rear bag. Im sure it can shoot a tad bit better than this.
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