Topic: The Best Mid-Priced Hunting Rifles Put to the Test (Read 31 times)
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Topic: The Best Mid-Priced Hunting Rifles Put to the Test (Read 31 times)
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Why It Made the Cut
The Tikka T3X Lite is our Great Buy Award winner not only because it’s one of the most affordable in its class, but because it’s an exceptional rifle for the price. It’s more accurate and uses higher-quality parts, and has a better trigger than several pricier rifles in this review.
Key Features
Pros
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Product Description
The Tikka T3X family has a cult-like following, especially here in Alaska. These rifles are affordable, accurate, and dependable. They aren’t ultralight, but aren’t too heavy either. The Finnish rifles have a proven track record and are never a bad option for someone looking for a mid-priced hunting rifle.
The T3X Lite is a sleek and simple rifle. It’s like a budget rifle, only nicer in just about every way. It features a closed-top action and simple two-lug stainless-steel bolt. It has a short bolt throw for a two-lug action, and it’s exceptionally crisp and smooth for its class. The bolt features a metal rear shroud, and the bolt handle is dovetailed into the bolt body.
The stock is a simple black injection-molded polymer but has excellent texturing on the fore-end and interchangeable grip. It fits the action and barrel nicely. The trigger guard and bottom plate are polymer, and the single-stack polymer magazine extends below the bottom of the stock without impeding single-handed carry.
The rifle is plain but shows good craftsmanship and attention to detail. Even the small textured portion of the bolt release button matches the texture pattern of the stock—a nice touch. Overall, the T3X Lite is a very sleek and clean rifle, with no sloppy machine work or tool marks. It’s very well-balanced for an all-around hunting rifle. The only co*plaint I could co*e up with is that the blued sample I have has a finish that is very susceptible to surface rust, so keep it oiled up or pick the stainless model for $190 more!
Shooting the Tikka T3X Lite
Of all the rifles that the internet lauds with unrealistic accuracy expectations, it’s the Tikka. However, it’s not enchanted with the bullet-stacking accuracy of something like the Alterra Arms Mountain Shadow Steel like some folks will insist. The T3X Lite is what it is—an excellent rifle for the price.
The T3X Lite has a great factory trigger that is crisp with virtually no take-up or overtravel. That plus the rifle’s good balance, and the co*fortable grip make it co*fortable to shoot for a sporter-weight rifle. I tested 11 different factory loads in my T3X Lite, focusing my efforts on loads that it shot better, to see its full accuracy potential.
Like some of the other rifles, I noted that with several loads, the Tikka would print the first 3 shots in a tight group, under an inch on average. Also, like other rifles in its class, groups consistently began opening up by rounds four and five.
The T3X Lite is a fast rifle to run, and very co*fortable in field positions. The plunger ejector spits out empties robustly, and the bolt closes and locks effortlessly.
Why It Made the Cut
The Browning X-Bolt Western Hunter LR is far-and-above the best choice in this set for long-range shooting and hunters who might have to make a shot at long distance. The rifle is still light enough to pack around the hills, but the adjustable cheek piece and heavier barrel are well-suited for accurate and consistent shooting at long range. It shot the best groups of the test.
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Product Description
The Browning X-Bolt is a highly popular flagship model rifle, and for good reason. They’re generally accurate, dependable, and co*e in a variety of configurations. Many of their configurations pushes them beyond the category of mid-priced hunting rifles, but the X-Bolt Western Hunter LR can be found at retailers for under $1,200.
The X-Bolt is a three-lug push-feed action that’s fed from a rotary magazine with a rounded bottom, which sits flush with the profile of the stock. It uses an M-16-style extractor and single plunger ejector. It has a two-position safety on the tang that locks the bolt closed when engaged, but the bolt has an override button to allow the shooter to open the bolt or unload while the rifle is on “safe.” The cheek piece is co*fortable, and the pistol grip aids with consistent hand placement and trigger pull.
This rifle is a middle ground between more standard sporter-weight and lightweight rifles like the Speed and Mountain Pro, and some of their heavier target models. As the name implies, the Western Hunter LR is designed to be a rifle that’s handy enough to pack around, but capable of shooting game at longer distances.
To hit that middle ground, the standard X-Bolt action is fitted with a medium-heavy 24-inch threaded barrel and sits in a standard-sized stock like you might see on the X-Bolt Speed. However, this stock includes an adjustable cheek piece, and the action co*es fitted with a 20-MOA Picatinny rail. The metal is all blued finish, and the camo stock is now being made in Browning’s OVIX pattern, although mine is in ATACS.
Shooting the Browning X-Bolt Western Hunter LR
Within this price bracket, there is some wiggle room for hunting rifle features, and the Western Hunter LR leans toward the slightly heavier, long-range features. Because of that, it was unsurprisingly the most accurate rifle in this test group.
My sample is chambered in the relatively new 6.8 Western cartridge, and I did my test firing with a thread protector rather than a muzzle brake. Ammunition choices are more limited than with the .308 Win. rifles, so I had four loads to work with. The two most accurate loads were Winchester’s Expedition Long Range with 160-grain Nosler Long-Range Accubond, and Browning’s Long Range Pro Hunter with 175-grain Sierra Tipped Game King bullets. The Browning LRP load generally carries more energy across the board than the 6.5 PRC and surpasses the energy of factory .300 Win. Mag. loads like the Barnes 180-grain Vor-Tx TTSX at about 400 yards. It’s got some pep.
The Western Hunter LR shot each load I tried consistently. The average of the top groups came in at under an inch, and the best five-shot group was 0.69 inches. That group was with the Winchester 160-grain ABLR load, but I had only half a box, so the sample size was small. Over half my groups (12 exactly) were with the Browning 175-grain LRP load, and the standard deviation in group size was only .38 inches.
Key Features
Pros
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Product Description
The Winchester Model 70 Featherweight is one of the longest-running mid-priced hunting rifles that’s still in production. The featherweight was first released in 1952, and the signature “Featherweight” stock was introduced in 1982. The rifle has seen some changes, but the current production model has a pre-64-style controlled-feed action that Model 70 fans love.
The Featherweight was a lightweight rifle for its time and introduced in the brand new .308 W.C.F. cartridge of 1952 (what we now know as the .308 Win.). That’s what I tested the current production model in, and with the post-1982 Schnabel fore-end and signature checkering, it’s an authentic Featherweight.
The controlled-feed action features a two-lug bolt and Mauser-style claw extractor, as well as a coned breech for feeding reliability. It also uses a blade ejector rather than a spring-loaded plunger. The blade ejector ejects cases with a force proportional to how hard the bolt is pulled to the rear. Need to reload in a hurry? Grip it and rip it. On the bench though, you can slowly pull the bolt to the rear and hand-pluck your spent case from the bolt face. Because the claw extractor grabs and controls the cartridge as soon as it’s stripped from the magazine, you don’t have to close the bolt to withdraw the cartridge from the chamber like you do with most push-feed rifles.
The wood stock is warm and co*fortable and features good wood-to-metal fit with only a couple uneven spots on my sample. Unlike older models, the stock features bedding around the recoil lug and at the tang to help reinforce the wood and provide a more stable connection. My only co*plaint with the stock is that it’s slightly thicker and blockier than older model Featherweights, particularly in the grip and around the magazine floorplate.
The metal on the rifle features a nice satin blued finish, and the muzzle has a recessed target crown that’s well-protected. An older Model 70 Featherweight I have possesses only a slightly contoured crown, and the muzzle shows some wear from riding around on the floorboards of a pickup.
Shooting the Model 70 Featherweight
The Featherweight in .308 Win. is a well-balanced hunting rifle that is more of an average-weight rifle today. The geometry of the stock and the Pachmayr recoil pad make it co*fortable to shoot, and Winchester’s MOA trigger system is crisp and not too heavy.
For accuracy, the Featherweight came in about how I expected—acceptable, but not exceptional. Across a wide variety of factory ammo, there weren’t any loads that shot lights-out, but for a production wood-stocked rifle with a lightweight barrel, it’s not bad. Most deer certainly wouldn’t notice. As with several rifles in this category, there’s a notable difference in the accuracy the rifle can hold for three shots versus five.
For a walking hunting rifle, or for anyone who still loves the classic wood-stocked feel, it’s a great choice. The Featherweight is very co*fortable and reliable in handling drills and rapid cycling. It’s also a plus that the magazine holds a whole 5-rounds—something that isn’t as co*mon anymore.
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Product Description
The Howa 1500 is another long-running hunting rifle that has models in the $600-$1,200 price range. The Model 1500 has been in production since 1979, and it’s been a staple, affordable rifle for many hunters. I killed my first coyote with a 1500 in .223 that my dad bought when I was a kid, and one of the most accurate rifles I’ve ever owned was a heavy-barreled Model 1500 with a laminated thumbhole stock in .308 Win.
Like many rifles, the 1500 co*es in a variety of configurations and price ranges—including carbon-fiber barrels and high-end stocks. One of the base models that fits this category perfectly is the Kuiu Verde in .308 Win. The rifle features a tactical gray Cerakote finish, sporter-weight barrel, and a Hogue Kuiu-camo stock with a wide fore-end, meaty grip, and soft recoil pad.
The Howa Model 1500 action is a simple two-lug push-feed action—much like the Remington 700. Unlike the 700, it features an M-16-style extractor, but does have a single plunger ejector on the bolt face. The recoil lug is machined into the action, and Howa’s trigger group is attached to the action with a single Allen screw.
Sitting in the stock, the barrel channel is even, and the barrel is free floated co*pletely back to the receiver. The stock is beefy, but co*fortable to shoot. It has a wide fore-end, and a thick, nearly vertical grip which makes a perpendicular pull on the trigger easy.
The barrel has a slightly recessed crown, and the muzzle is threaded, although it’s notable that the thread pitch is ½-inch x 28 (a threading that is most co*mon with .22-caliber chamberings) rather than the more co*mon 5/8-inch x 24. The muzzle is ready to be fitted with either a brake or suppressor. Because the barrel is a relatively light sporter weight, expect major point-of-impact shifts when adding a can.
Shooting the Howa Model 1500 Kuiu Verde
The Model 1500 Kuiu Verde is a very easy hunting rifle to shoot. Its weight and stock ergonomics provide a stable platform, and the light two-stage trigger breaks very crisply. Often, two-stage triggers feel lighter than they are because a portion of the weight is taken up before hitting the rigid stop at the second stage. A little more weight added breaks the trigger over. This one pulls at less than three pounds on my Lyman trigger pull gauge, and it feels exceptionally light for a factory production hunting rifle.
I felt confident in my shooting with this hunting rifle, but accuracy wasn’t fantastic. I tried 10 different factory loads, and there weren’t any standouts. A couple of loads the rifle really didn’t like dinged its overall average group size, but most ammunition averaged between 1.5 and 1.75 inches. The two most accurate loads were Remington’s 150-grain Core-Lokt Tipped, and Federal Premium 180-grain Trophy Bonded Tip.
The rifle fired and cycled reliably, but I did notice that the ejector tended to flip the case neck into the rear portion of the receiver, nicking the Cerakote finish. This is something I’ve noticed on another Model 1500 as well.
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Product Description
The Savage Model 110 is a stalwart of the mid-priced hunting rifle category and has been since its introduction in 1963. In-fact, it was one of the major co*petitors that pushed Winchester to adopt a push-feed design for the Model 70 in 1964, according to Jack O’Connor’s writings at the time.
The Model 110 is a simple push-feed, bolt-action rifle that features a second set of lugs behind the forward set. This could still be considered a two-lug bolt because only the forward lugs rotate and lock into the receiver, but the rear ones spin freely around the bolt body and remain in the raceways while the bolt is locked into battery. The bolt handle is cast, and the bolt features a small plunger ejector and an extractor that’s fitted into the right-hand lug (something the push-feed Winchester Model 70 used as well).
The Savage Model 110 is a hunting rifle that was designed to be affordable and accurate, and it carries a reputation for both. The Model 110 Storm that I tested features a stainless-steel receiver and barrel, and a detachable 4-round magazine. I like the design of the magazine because it’s durable, but I did notice that the stainless-finish bottom plate has picked up some surface spot rusting simply from the ambient humidity. The loaded magazine takes firm pressure to insert into the rifle, but it springs free with authority when the magazine release is pressed.
The rifle features a 3-position tang safety that locks the bolt in its most rearward position. It also uses Savage’s Accutrigger—a user-adjustable trigger with a center safety tab. It’s a well-liked and crisp-breaking trigger that certainly aids with the shootability of the rifle.
Savage has made great improvements in their synthetic stocks in the last few years. They were often cheap-feeling with flimsy fore-ends, but the one on the Storm is well-executed, and has an internal bedding block. The floated barrel fits evenly in the barrel channel, the stock’s lines are clean, and it has an excellent rubberized grip texture on the fore-end and grip. The stock adjusts for co*b height and length of pull.
Shooting the Savage Model 110 Storm
My only significant co*plaint with my sample M110 Storm is that the bore on my sample has excessive tooling chatter marks that run perpendicular to the rifling. I noticed it after an initial firing and cleaning of the rifle. The marks are noticeable to the naked eye, and I could feel them by running a dental pick lightly along the inside of the bore. It’s not the norm on rifles that I’ve seen from Savage, but it’s something that I will be careful to look for in the future.
Regardless, I wanted to see what this rifle would do, and it shot damn well (all things considered). I fired 24 groups total, with seven different types of ammunition. Most of the ammunition didn’t shoot well, averaging 2.58 inches. There were a few good groups, but accuracy was erratic. One load that the rifle did like was the Remington 150-grain Core-Lokt Tipped. Ten groups with that ammunition yielded an average of 1.61 inches, and many of the larger groups were spoiled by a single erratic impact.
The bore certainly didn’t do this rifle any favors for accuracy, but the average of 1.46 inches for the top 10 of 24 groups isn’t bad for a hunting rifle of this class. Frankly, it’s remarkable that it shot as well as it did. The rifle functioned reliably, although the M110 has a stiff bolt lift, and the slightly rough stainless finish in the raceways gave my sample a gritty feeling when operating the bolt.
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Product Description
If you notice the resemblance between the Weatherby Vanguard series and the Howa 1500, it’s because they are very similar. Howa makes the barreled actions for the Vanguard line, though Weatherby finishes them in Sheridan, Wyo. by adding the stock, trigger, barrel fluting, finishes, etc. The Vanguard series was introduced in 1970 to offer a lower-priced option than the premium Mark V line, and firmly fits the bill for a quality mid-priced hunting rifle.
Like the Model 1500, the Vanguard is a two-lug push-feed action—nearly identical except for a few differences. One is that the Vanguard’s bolt features three small gas vent holes that are visible on the ejecting side when the bolt is closed. The Model 1500 only has the forward hole. Additionally, the Model 1500 has three larger vent holes in the bolt body that point down towards the magazine when the bolt is closed. The Vanguard only has one.
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