Rifle for Foxing

Tawny Owl

Looking to buy a Rifle this Season to add to the Shotgun I have what do I go for and what price am I looking at I know I will have the Paperwork to fill out and an extra Licence but what type Gun to start I wll need the full set up Scope included need to keep it a cheap as possible Thanks.

daithi55

depends on your budget mate cant go wrong with a .223 or i think others on here recommend a .222 ive had a .223 and couldnt fault it

also cheap as possible is not the way to go

TriggerPL

if ya want cheap, the 22 hornet is a cheap way into fox shooting the bullets are i think about 40 euro for 50 , you will pick up a hornet for 400 easy .

.223 is the way to go if ya have the cash .

session savage

.223 is the only job for foxes IMO. Ammo is cheap enough too. Your probably gonna have to spend around 1000 to get set up though!

oats 2

rem .223 is wat i ave. absoutely deadly accurate gun.great killer.
lucky enough to ave zeiss scope mounted on top but this is expensive.im sure you would be just as happy wit less expensive scope.

if you can afford it at all dont spend money on any other fox rifle imo.

Gonzor

I actually shot my first hornet last month and Im sorry I never done so sooner. If I was only shooting foxes and rabbits Id go for the hornet quicker than the 223 because of the money you would save.

When I was shooting 223 I was paying 30euro for a box of 20 bullets. But the hornet is only 35 euro for 50 bullets.

And as somone else said, the 223 is great if you have the money for it. Unfortunately its not getting any cheaper...

daithi55

a .223 sold on here a few weeks back for 300 euro with mounts and a swift scope went for like 100 dont panic and buy ****e season is as good as over for foxes now anyway
rifle http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056436636

Spunk84

daithi55 wrote: »

a .223 sold on here a few weeks back for 300 euro with mounts and a swift scope went for like 100 dont panic and buy ****e season is as good as over for foxes now anyway
rifle http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056436636

It did and it's a fierce gun.

Erk

Gonzor wrote: »

When I was shooting 223 I was paying 30euro for a box of 20 bullets. But the hornet is only 35 euro for 50 bullets.
(

Where are you buying them from may i ask? That's very good for them. Usually 50 for 50 here.

Gonzor

Erk wrote: »

Where are you buying them from may i ask? That's very good for them. Usually 50 for 50 here.

PM..

Gonzor

I was in your position years ago Tawny, all these different calibers and your not sure which one does what, and then to make it worse you have some lads swearing that one round is gods gift to us, while another lad saying its rubbish. Ive tried to give an "on the fence" review on each of these. Hopefully it will help you out a bit.


22 magnum.. cheap and cheerful and does the job. Just make sure you only take close range shots.



17hmr.. again cheap and cheerful, I know literally hundreds of lads who swear by 17hmr for foxing. As matter of fact Im very suprised nobody has already mentioned it. It is a very nice round and one I would definitely seriously look into if I was you.



22 hornet.. any of the older lads will tell you this is a cracking round. You dont see too many of them around these days, but its a great round. I only tried it recently enough and like I said already, if all I was doing was rabbits and foxes and wanted to do it cheap, this is what Id be looking at. Probably even more so then the 17hmr.



223.. Since your looking for something cheap Id advise you stay away from 223, and heres why.

As one of boys pointed out you can buy a cheap 223 rifle easy enough, but you can buy a cheap rifle in any caliber easy enough. So dont let that fool you.

Its the ammo is the problem. Obviously you can buy dirt cheap wolf ammo and all those other types but your not going to have much luck with them. They're more for putting into an AR15 type rifle. And they arent even hunting rounds either, so you will have a lot of wounded foxes running around if you use that stuff.

SO for a decent hunting round your looking at v-max or v-shock or something along those lines.

I used to use v-shock myself when I had the 223.

Lucky for the boys that still have a 223 sportsden is giving a very very good deal at the minute on v-shocks. They are given 80 rounds for 100 euro. So thats going to cost you €6.25 every time you empty the magazine. ANd dont forget thats special offer prices. The regular, non special offer price is actually €7.45 a magazine.

If you went for say a 17hmr on the other hand, you would be looking at €4.45 every time you empty a mag. <--- And thats regular price.


So if your after a cheap setup, Id avoid 223 like the plague. And Id seriously consider either the hmr or the hornet.

Its up to you what you go for, but best of luck with it either way.

declan1980

If you're going between eithe the hmr or the hornet, you should go for the hornet. It's the minimum caliber that should be used for a dedicated fox gun

Tawny Owl

Gonzor thanks very much for writing such good approch to buying a Rifle I have spoken to an Uncle of mine as I said before he has been shooting since he was 16 he is now in his late 60's lots of experience shooting Deer and he does not like the .223 says the grouping from distance is terrible he will bring me again to pick out the right Gun that will suit the shooting I'am going to do thanks everyone but having over 50 years shooting behind him I cant go wrong as both his Sons shoot as well Thanks

Tawny Owl

Chopperdog 2

Tawny Owl wrote: »

Gonzor thanks very much for writing such good approch to buying a Rifle I have spoken to an Uncle of mine as I said before he has been shooting since he was 16 he is now in his late 60's lots of experience shooting Deer and he does not like the .223 says the grouping from distance is terrible he will bring me again to pick out the right Gun that will suit the shooting I'am going to do thanks everyone but having over 50 years shooting behind him I cant go wrong as both his Sons shoot as well Thanks

Tawny Owl

I have a hornet on the Market, pm me if you are interested.

4200fps

Tawny Owl wrote: »

Gonzor thanks very much for writing such good approch to buying a Rifle I have spoken to an Uncle of mine as I said before he has been shooting since he was 16 he is now in his late 60's lots of experience shooting Deer and he does not like the .223 says the grouping from distance is terrible he will bring me again to pick out the right Gun that will suit the shooting I'am going to do thanks everyone but having over 50 years shooting behind him I cant go wrong as both his Sons shoot as well Thanks

Tawny Owl

I personally think the .223 is ahead of the hornet for accuracy at range and also it will produce three times the energy and its also a faster round than the .22 hornet. The hornet is a good fox round but the .223 would be miles ahead and also very accurate but .22 hornet would be cheaper to run. The most accurate hornet is the 17 hornet . My opinion would be stick with a .22 hornet if you want a good cheap fox rifle. Everyone has there favourtes

virminhunter

Tawny Owl wrote: »

Gonzor thanks very much for writing such good approch to buying a Rifle I have spoken to an Uncle of mine as I said before he has been shooting since he was 16 he is now in his late 60's lots of experience shooting Deer and he does not like the .223 says the grouping from distance is terrible he will bring me again to pick out the right Gun that will suit the shooting I'am going to do thanks everyone but having over 50 years shooting behind him I cant go wrong as both his Sons shoot as well Thanks

Tawny Owl

How far is "from distance"? sorry tawny don't want to sound cheeky or anything but I've had a couple of .223's that'd disagree with your uncle:o unless he's comparing it to deer calibers, which wouldn't be a fair comparison.

4200fps

http://youtu.be/gHDDIbA1bNA
Theres your new rifle i'd love to fire one
Bullet drop is -6.5inch at 300yards as far as i know,now that's flat shooting,but a calm day be a help

Gonzor

4200fps wrote: »

http://youtu.be/gHDDIbA1bNA
Theres your new rifle i'd love to fire one
Bullet drop is -6.5inch at 300yards as far as i know,now that's flat shooting,but a calm day be a help

THat 17 hornet looks to be the right job 4200. THat was a cracker of a shot at 1:10 Would love to see what it does to a rabbit at 100...

4200fps

Gonzor wrote: »

THat 17 hornet looks to be the right job 4200. THat was a cracker of a shot at 1:10 Would love to see what it does to a rabbit at 100...

I'd like to see it come to the market over here, you would pop rabbits at ease at 200 yards. Very low recoil they said and it supposed to be laser accurate. .17cal is always more accurate than .22cal in rimfire, centerfire and even in air rifles as far as i know.
http://www.rifleshootermag.com/files/2011/11/17-hornet-trajectory-comparison.jpg
Its just as flat as the .223
More info http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/2011/11/savage-will-offer-model-25s-chambered-in-17-hornet/

pugw

.223 or the hornet would be the way to go! You would definately get a hornet with scope and mounts for 300quid but a .223 with scope would be a bit more! (If you think your going to be shooting rabbits go for the hmr), but you will get frustrated when you start meeting foxes that are staying just out of range but when a fox is moving out to 250 plus away from you you could still have a crack with a .223! I think a lot of quality ammo for either the .223 or the hornet will be around a euro a pop but if you were getting a nice rifle for handy money i would go for it! Keep in mind the .220 swift or a 22-250! http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=72941537 like look at this for €700 a serious rifle and a right good scope! Swift bullets would be areond 35e a box and 25 for a 22-250 They are like lasers!

alandublin33

anything larger than a 22 magnum

4200fps

pugw wrote: »

.223 or the hornet would be the way to go! You would definately get a hornet with scope and mounts for 300quid but a .223 with scope would be a bit more! (If you think your going to be shooting rabbits go for the hmr), but you will get frustrated when you start meeting foxes that are staying just out of range but when a fox is moving out to 250 plus away from you you could still have a crack with a .223! I think a lot of quality ammo for either the .223 or the hornet will be around a euro a pop but if you were getting a nice rifle for handy money i would go for it! Keep in mind the .220 swift or a 22-250! http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=72941537 like look at this for €700 a serious rifle and a right good scope! Swift bullets would be areond 35e a box and 25 for a 22-250 They are like lasers!

250 yards for a 22-250 or a 220swift is an easy kill :pac:

4200fps

alandublin33 wrote: »

anything larger than a 22 magnum

I don't think the 22magnum is a humane round for foxs at all. At the least a .17hmr i recon

alandublin33

4200fps wrote: »

I don't think the 22magnum is a humane round for foxs at all. At the least a .17hmr i recon

thats why I said larger than.......

4200fps

4200fps wrote: »

http://youtu.be/gHDDIbA1bNA
Theres your new rifle i'd love to fire one
Bullet drop is -6.5inch at 300yards as far as i know,now that's flat shooting,but a calm day be a help

Look at 1.05mins tis funny, give's a fair sting for .17 lol :P
It's class :cool:

4200fps

alandublin33 wrote: »

thats why I said larger than.......

Oh sorry lad my mistake,half asleep i am lol.

alandublin33

4200fps wrote: »

Oh sorry lad my mistake,half asleep i am lol.

no bother , i did the same myself at times

clivej

223 all the time and you won't want for any other caliber until you go deer stalking. Its a fox killer round. You can get American Eagal hollow point ammo at about €15/20 rounds and are very accurate in my CZ varmint 223.

The 223 will shoot sub MOA out to 500 and I'm not talking about target rifles. My CZ varmint will shoot under 2" at 300m with VMax 40gr ammo.

garv123

Tawny Owl wrote: »

Gonzor thanks very much for writing such good approch to buying a Rifle I have spoken to an Uncle of mine as I said before he has been shooting since he was 16 he is now in his late 60's lots of experience shooting Deer and he does not like the .223 says the grouping from distance is terrible he will bring me again to pick out the right Gun that will suit the shooting I'am going to do thanks everyone but having over 50 years shooting behind him I cant go wrong as both his Sons shoot as well Thanks

Tawny Owl

No matter how experienced he is, I'm afraid the above in bold is bullsh1t.

Have a look at the thread on here where the lads post photos of their groups at 100-300 yards and see for yourself how accurate the gun is.

There must of been something seriously wrong with the gun/shooter when he saw one in action. Even a factory CZ is accurate

Vegeta

4200fps wrote: »

I don't think the 22magnum is a humane round for foxs at all. At the least a .17hmr i recon

Read the part about energy in this link.

http://www.chuckhawks.com/compared_17HMR_22WMR.htm

It wasn't me!

4200fps wrote: »

I don't think the 22magnum is a humane round for foxs at all. At the least a .17hmr i recon

You do know that the .17 HMR is exactly the same case as a .22 WMR, necked down to take a smaller bullet, right? Hardly a step up...