OK, guys, I am still on my quest for my walking around rifle for P-dogs...but only because the sale on my Mom's house hasn't closed yet...legal issues with one of my sisters who owns a 20% share...which I hope DOESN'T screw up the deal...
The frontrunner is still the .222 Sako with the 12x Leupold...I stopped in last week and he still has it at $1000...
...so when I have the cash I could make him a low offer and work from there, but don't want to seem TOO interested...
But I have been hitting every shop I see on my travels, and except for a SWEET Model 12 takedown modified that fit me like a glove and is one gun that I have always wanted for $400 that had me salivating...
But would still leave me looking for a light 100-200 yd varmint rifle...
I have found nothing to challenge the Sako or the Remingtom .222 with the same Leupold as choice #2 at $875 which seems high....
But yesterday I drove past a billboard for a gunshop in some small town I must have driven past 8000 times over the past 10 years and punched it in the GPS and I was 8.5 miles away with an hour or so to kill...
SOooo...not much that caught my eye EXCEPT a sweet used Savage bull barrel Stainless 17 HMR, with accutrigger, and the brown laminated thumbhole stock that fit me well, with a bipod (caldwell I think) but with an intriguing 6x24X Bushnell Illuminated Retical scope on it, with mil-dots AND some wierd windage or elivation reverse triangle stuff in the lower scope which must be some kind of BDC.
Everything like new condition, fit me like a glove, I know it is "Over scoped" but I DID like the image in the scope...
$471. (ALL his guns end in "1" like the S&W Governor he had was $681 not $689 like everyone else, so I know where to go to save $8....
)
I could buy IT and then the Model 12 and spend about the same money...
Does the Savage sound like a good deal?
Advantages: I already know the .17 HMR will kill P-Dogs impressively out to 150+ as long as you call the wind, and my buddy's Savage is accurate as heck...
Advantage: I don't have to find the time to handload for the .222, much less work up a load
Advantage: Though I like to be different, and my buddy already has a laminated 17 Stainless Savage (Gray, and not thumbhole, and his trigger kind of sucks and he kicks himself for not waiting a year for the accu-trigger so I could get mileage out of that
) Plus the scope....
Advantage: I could still buy the Model 12 for the same outlay of cash....
Disadvantages: The 17 gr .17 in that South Dakota Wind versus the 45-50 grain .222....
Disadvantage: There are a couple of Savages with us already but no SAKOs...
Disadvantage: No sentimental mileage with my wife....and her memories of shooting her Grandpa's .222...
Disadvantage: I LIKE old rounds and have always liked the.222 or the Hornet (BESIDES the Swift) and the .17HMR is still "newfangled....."
Tell me what YOU would do in the same boat.