Hi Dana et al:
I'm on my second V/T and still in love. First was a used .22/250 which would shoot 1/2 MOA when the old guy on the trigger was doing his part. Traded that for a .223, my real love, and this is the most accurate factory rifle I have ever seen. And, I'm one of the wacked-out guys that really likes the two-stage trigger set-up. It helps ham-fisted guys like me to adjust the trigger down to 1-lb. in a very safe way. I just mounted a Sightron 6-24x42mm scope on this one, to replace the Tasco 10-40x50mm that's been on it for a year or so. The Sightron seems to be a great scope and will work with the original low rings which I really like. 24x is no substitute for 40x, but I'm trying to adapt. After boresighting and the usual sighting-in, this rifle/scope combo has shot several sub .200" five-shot groups at 100 and a best of .395" for five shots at 200 using 40-gr. Hornady Vmax's with 25.5 gr. of H322. I fired 10 5-shot groups at 100 with this load, in front of witnesses, and the largest is .645" and the smallest is .185". Actually had 3 groups under .250" with the average around .350". This rifle also likes 52-gr. Sierra HPBT Match and 55-gr. Hornady V-Max's, both with 24.5 gr. of H322 or 26.0 gr. of Varget.
I'm also a fan of the newer Savage BVSS's and have one in .223 which shoots like a house-a-fire, but group for group it won't outshoot the Ruger. I'm hoping the Sightron will hold settings better than the Tasco so I can try some postal matches, but too early to tell. The Tasco has been a good scope, if you can sight it in and leave it alone. But if you start moving the turrets, it will dance around on you. The Sightron looks more stable, but only time will tell.