Let's suppose a fellow desired one of these… and let's suppose his reasons are sound (to him, anyway) and graven in stone as far as caliber/action type is concerned.
From my limited research, the only COTS product- now that the Steyr Scout is no more- available is the Mossberg MVP. And I'm just not getting warm and fuzzy about it. Besides, it takes AR magazines, and an internal magazine (preferably stripper-clip capable) is desired. The Ruger American Ranch looks pretty good, but no way to forward-mount the scope without custom work, and what reviews I've read (believable ones… ones that weren't immediately apparent to be puff pieces) have been less than charitable concerning its accuracy potential; and it has no irons, nor a provision for them. More custom work...
A friend is getting me a line on a Remington Model Seven to look at. Anything else I have missed that might be a potential candidate? And can anyone recommend a good rifle board… i.e; one like this one? The ones I've looked at so far are either felony Fudd (yeah, I know, I'm in that age bracket. I've got the age, NOT the mind-set) or survivalist-bordering-on-tin-foil-hat types, whose solution to everything is a year's supply of hard red winter wheat… whatever THAT is.
Oh… guess I should 'splain what I expect this rifle to do. I want a general purpose rifle for medium game (both varieties) that gives me more reach than an 870 with bear balls, and it has to be something inoffensive to the hoplophobes and gendarmie, if you get my drift. I want the scope forward to keep the action clear for loading and/or clearing mis-feeds, etc. I don't have a lot of bolt gun experience, and expect to see a learning curve.
Any suggestions/recommendations (except ones to go bigger on the caliber, or a lever gun, etc.) will gratefully appreciated.
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Duh. I neglected to mention I checked out the Ruger GSR in .223; interesting, but not too thrilled with the dependence on a specific magazine…. and that sucker is HEAVY for a .223! That right there turned me off to it.
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