Take a look at Gun Trade News’ top picks for best sporting rifles
Best sporting rifles: Howa Bravo
First in the list of best sporting rifles is the Howa Bravo provides essential chassis benefits combined with conventional target and varmint ergonomics. This rifle features a precision machined bedding area, full length rigid aluminium backbone that will not allow the forend to flex – but does allow design modularity with all compatible KRG accessories.
The ergonomics are designed to fit your frame so you can pull off the difficult shots and is AICS detachable magazine compatible. With options for 20”, 24” and 26” barrels, the Bravo also features quick comb height adjustment, underside storage and is QM-Lok compatible.
SRP: from £1395.99
Highland Outdoors
0845 0999 0252
www.highlandoutdoors.co.uk
Best sporting rifles: Tikka T3X Cerakote
It doesn’t just make our best sporting rifles list, but it was also the Great British Shooting Awards Rifle of the Year, the T3X Cerakote features a super tough stainless matt black Cerakoted barrel and action and a durable ODG synthetic green stock.
Other features include a super smooth Teflon coated bolt and an oversized bolt handle for better grip and easier follow up shots. Introduced as a limited edition rifle, the T3X Cerakote is available in four calibres .223 Remington, .243 Winchester, .270 Winchester and .308 Winchester.
RRP: £1445
GMK
01489 579999
www.gmk.co.uk
Best sporting rifles: ATA Turqua
ATA Arms launched the first Turkish Bolt Action Rifle last year. A rifle built to stand out from the crowd, the Turqua features a three-stage safety, a two-stage adjustable trigger and a 60-degree bolt lift for faster loading and follow-up shots.
A free-floating button rifled barrel with uniform stock spacing ensures consistent three-shot accuracy of sub MOA. Completing the package is an ergonomic Turkish Walnut stock designed for performance, accuracy and comfort.
RRP: £480.00
Sportsman Gun Centre
01392 354854
www.sportsmanguncentre.co.uk
Best sporting rifles: Bergara HMR
The HMR is one of the most popular Bergara rifles for a reason; built to offer a rifle for both hunters and competition shooters that can perform incredibly in either situation. It’s outfitted with a Bergara curved trigger, designed to guarantee a crisp, clean pull every time you fire the rifle.
The stock features integrated QD flush cup mounts for easy sling attachment, an adjustable cheekpiece, and length of pull spacers to adjust from 14.5″ at the longest to 12.25″ at the shortest. The winner of multiple awards worldwide, the HMR is available in a variety of calibres including 6.5 Creedmoor and .308 Win.
SRP from: £1,130
RUAG
01579 362319
www.ruag.co.uk
Best sporting rifles: Mauser M18
The Mauser M18 continues in the ‘House of Mauser’ tradition. Robustness and accuracy are delivered via a sub MOA performance guarantee, a cold-forge hammered barrel and a crisp, adjustable trigger. The M18 was announced by Mauser at IWA 2018 and has gone on to establish it’s reputation as “The People’s Rifle’ in the past two years. Blaser brands are all offered via Selected Dealer arrangements.
RRP: £766
Blaser
01483 917412
www.blaser-sporting.com
Best sporting rifles: Sabatti Saphire
The Saphire is the latest hunting rifle to come out of this Italian factory. It features Sabatti’s Multi Radial Rifling (MRR) giving higher bullet speed, less barrel wear and improved grouping. It features a one-piece action, is threaded for ½” UNF with thread protector and has a 2-position safety.
The rifle has a three-lug bolt that gives a reduced lift angle of 60° with feed from a three-shot, single column detachable magazine. It’s a lot slicker than previous models. Available in three stock options; Synthetic Sporter, Synthetic Thumbhole and Grade 4 Walnut.
RRP from: £975.00
Range Right Ltd
01423 881919
www.range-right.co.uk
Best sporting rifles: Browning X Bolt Max Long Range
Browning’s X-Bolt Max Long Range is tailored for long range accuracy. The adjustable comb allows the shooter to dial-in optimal eye-to-scope alignment and a flat-bottomed buttstock helps to keep the target in the scope so the shooter can watch for bullet impact, and a comfortable, upright pistol grip optimizes finger-to-trigger reach.
Featuring the award-winning X-Bolt action with a matte blued finish, drilled and tapped for scope mounts. An extended bolt handle makes it faster and easier to operate the bolt.
Browning
01235 514550
www.browning.eu
Best sporting rifles: Zoli Taiga
The Zoli Taiga is designed to meet the requirements of both traditional and modern hunters. Hand-finished at every stage of the manufacturing process, the Taiga has the appearance and quality of a custom built rifle, but not at custom-built prices.
Every part of the rifle has been designed to bring the shooter the best possible engineering excellence, such as a smartly redesigned trigger mechanism for consistent trigger pull. Available in two different finishes and a wide choice of calibers,
RRP: £2,653 (Rifle Only)
Edgar Brothers
01625 613177
www.edgarbrothers.com
Best sporting rifles: Haenel Jaeger 10 Creedmoor
The Jaeger 10 rifle is now available in the increasingly popular 6.5 Creedmoor calibre. Haenel added the long distance calibre 6.5 Creedmoor to the Jaeger 10 calibre range, due to increased interest in long-range shooting.
Developed as hunting and long distance ammunition, it excels through speed, a straight line of flight and low side-wind affection and combines high precision with mild recoil – thereby increasing precision even more.
RRP from: £1,236
Viking Arms
01423 780810
www.vikingshoot.com
Best sporting rifles: Remington Model 597
The Model 597 is an auto-loading rimfire rifle. It has a proprietary bolt-guidance system, which uses twin tool-steel guide rails for better stability, feeding reliability and out-of-the-box accuracy.
The bolt has a last-shot ‘hold open’ feature for added safety. The gun has nickel-Teflon plating on its hammer and sear and a rigid barrel attachment clamp. Its receivers are grooved for standard rimfire mounts and drilled for Weaver-style bases. Its patented ‘staggered-stack’ detachable magazine has a 10-shot capacity. This version has a 16.5” heavy contour barrel and a synthetic stock.
Click here to read the full Remington Model 597 review
SRP: £329
Raytrade
01635 253344
raytrade.co.uk
This article originally appeared in our sister publication Gun Trade News
Leave a Reply