Sunday GunDay: Eight Great Forum Favorite Varmint Rifles

Spring is coming soon, and that means it’s time to get ready for early varmint season. Here are eight great rifles from our Shooters’ Forum Favorite Varmint Rifles Thread. You’ll see a variety of action types and stock designs, both custom and factory. And we’ve featured a wide range of chamberings, from 17 Fireball up to a .243 Super Rock Chucker (aka 6mm-06). The common factor is serious accuracy. All these rigs are great shooters that have brought smiles to their owners while bringing doom to varmints.

1. Rem 700 in 20-222 — with Birthday Gift Barrel from Dad

This is proof that you don’t have to spend a fortune to have a great varmint rig. Forum member JDS Holler posted: “Here’s my baby, ‘Plain Jane’. I took a $500 birthday check that my Dad gave me, and ordered a great barrel from PacNor, chambered in 20-222. I got busted up in a fall, and had four months down time to accumulate the components to add to my old .222 Rem 700 donor action. I couldn’t be happier with the outcome. That old Bushnell has been replaced by a Vortex Viper, and this rifle just flat shoots.”

2. 6 BRA with Krieger Barrel from Alex Wheeler

Alex Wheeler of Wheeler Accuracy knows a thing or two about accurate rifles, having built many match-winning benchrest rifles. For varmint work he likes the 6 BRA (BR Ackley) wildcat cartridge: “My favorite varmint setup is this 6mm rifle with BAT SV action in a Nesika bay varmint stock with a 1:8″-twist Krieger HV contour barrel chambered for 6 BRA. I like the 6mmBR and variants (Dasher, BRX, 6BRA) with zero freebores.” He gets great results with 55-60 grain Sierras and Noslers with H322 powder: “I shot 55 Sierra Blitzking, 55 Nosler Ballistic Tip, and 60gr Sierra Varminter HP. H322 was the best powder. Jam ‘em 10 thou in the rifling — and of them — and man they were like magic.” Alex also feels the 6mm rifles are easier to tune than 22-caliber varmint rigs and the 6mm barrel throats last longer. He often puts an older 6mm match barrel on a varmint gun and it still holds quarter-MOA.

Alex recommends sticking with a 1:8″-twist even when shooting light 6mm bullets. The extra RPM makes the bullets MUCH more explosive on critters: “I’ve done one 1:13.5″-twist and I’ll never do that again. I’m not kidding, with the 8-twist it’s twice as energetic. It can lift those ground squirrels 20 feet in the air. With the 13.5-twist it’s not half that.”

About the Suppressor — The rifle is wearing a “can” in the photo. However, Alex tells us that he now avoids suppressors for most varmint work: “I didn’t like the suppressor — it put off so much heat that the mirage was terrible. With the heat mirage, after 5-10 shots you couldn’t see. I learned my lesson. I pulled that sucker off after the first time I shot it.”

3. 6mm Dasher in Convertible Laminated Stock

The 6mm Dasher has won many benchest matches, and it’s also an ultra-accurate varminting cartridge. This Dasher belong to Forum member MTLager who posted: “Here’s my baby — 6 Dasher with BAT SV action. First one built. Serial number PT1.” This impressive rig features a tack-driving, 1:8″-twist Brux Heavy Varmint contour barrel. This rig is “Smokin the 75gr V-Maxs” reports MTLager. The stock is very interesting. MTLager explains: “This is a Richard Franklin laminated blank made into a stock by J.T. Barber. It has a 3″-wide fore-end for varmint shooting. But I can change the front to 4″-width and a rear section can be removed.” The angled rear “toe” of the buttstock can be taken off, allowing a flat, straight bottom for benchrest competition.

4. Slick 17 Fireball with BAT Action and Stunning Stock

This rifle is almost too pretty to carry out into the varmint fields. Look at that wood! This handsome small-caliber varminter belongs to Forum member “20 TAC”. Chambered for the 17 Fireball wildcat (.221 Fireball necked down), this rig features a BAT Action, Jewell Trigger, and a custom exhibition-grade walnut stock sporting a true ebony fore-end cap. The checkering is exceptional. Owner 20 Tac report this rig “shoots 20 grain V-Max bullets with H4198 very well.” That’s a Nightforce scope on top.

5. 6mmBR in McMillan Stock with Krieger Barrel

This website stated 17 years ago as 6mmBR.com, so we had to include a classic 6mmBR Norma in today’s varmint rifle line-up. Forum member Powderbrake posted: “Here is my favorite varmint rifle — [a 6BR with] Stiller Predator V RBLP action, bedded in a McMillan stock.” This accurate varminter features a 1:8″-twist 6mm Krieger barrel and Jewell trigger. Up top is a Nightforce NXS 8-32x56mm scope. Below are the owner’s key gear items: Leica Laser-Rangefinding Binoculars, Smartphone with Applied Ballistics software, and Kestrel Weather Meter. Powderbrake told us he recently upgraded to a Model 5700 Kestrel with ballistics software and LiNK. (Editor: The $399.00 Kestrel 5700 has ballistics software, but if you want the full Applied Ballistics suite, order the $699.00 Kestrel 5700 Elite).

6. Efficient 20 Vartarg for Prairie Dog Adventures

The .20 Vartarg is based on the .221 Fireball case, necked down to .204 and slightly modified for extra capacity. This very efficient cartridge offers low recoil and great accuracy. It’s one of our first choices for ground squirrels and P-dogs out to 300 yards. 20 Vartarg here belongs to Forum Member DogBuster, an avid varminter based in Utah. He posted: “If I recall, I had a hot spot in this location — probably kilt 150+ prairie dogs that morning. The hay wagon helped too, offering added elevation.”

7. Long-barrel SAKO Action Varminter in .243 Super Rock Chucker

Here is another .243 wildcat, chambered for the .243 “Super Rock Chucker”. This long-barreled rig belongs to Forum member MikeGaiz. The rifle features a SAKO action fitted with a 30″ Kreiger barrel chambered for the .243 Super Rock Chucker. From what we have read, the .243 Super Rock Chucker is a .25-06 cartridge necked down to .243 (6mm). Yes this is a barrel burner, but it can definitely “reach out and touch” varmints at VERY long range. Owner Mike reports hits at 1275 yards on prairie dogs in South Dakota. This cartridge drives Sierra 6mm 85gr HPBTs at 3440 FPS. That’s serious speed for an 85-grainer.

8. AR-10 Custom in .243 Winchester

Forum Member Urban Rifleman calls this .243 AR10-platform rifle the “Goblin Killer”. This Gen 2 DPMS rifle features a Craddock Precision Bartlein 1:8″-twist 5R barrel chambered in .243 Winchester with a Tubb assymmetrical muzzle brake. Up front is the unique Tubb Bipod which reduces hop. The buttstock is a Magpul PRS Gen 2. The scope is a Leupold VX-3i LRP 6.5-20x50mm FFP TMR. We’re told this rig “will easily shoot 1/2 MOA, sometimes much smaller”.

Urban Rifleman produces a variety of great gun accessories sold through TheUrbanRiflemanStore.com. That green grip is his Urban Rifleman/Tubb ergonomic grip.

Parting Shot from Groundhog Country, SW Pennsylvania

This nice tripod with rifle mount (and Rem 40XB 22-250 on top) belongs to Forum Member Snert.