Ge600/MEC/Unique/Esprit Carabine. Free floating barrel???

[tim s]

If you are buying new the KK500 is a strong choice. The design is more advanced the the Anschutz 54.30 (really a t*rted up 1913),and looks less fiddly than the new FWB 2800. I think it was built to emulate the very rigid and short Bleiker and G&E actions, without the eye-watering price tag. That it seems to do very well.

There's nothing wrong with the Anschutz 54.30; if you already had an Anschutz, you could buy just the barrel-action. But comparing complete rifles, the Walther has a technical edge.

Other new factory options are the FWB 2700 (solid and reliable), and the Tesro SBR100. I've yet to see one of these in the flesh. Izhmash, Salva, Tanner, Turbo, and Vaskent don't have a UK importer, and consequently are unobtanium.

If you're buying used, you will see more Anschutz than any other brand. Walther and FWB didn't really become popular until the late '90s so are scarcer. There's nothing wrong with a Match 54; these are accurate, durable, and comfortable rifles. If you don't want something unusual, Match 54s work, as do BSAs. If you want to go off the beaten track, what about a Valmet, or a Hammerli. There's also Barnet, Borlov, Centre-10, Diana, Furter, Jurek, Remington, Schultz & Larsen, S&N, Suhl (DDR Haenel & Merkel),Toz, Unique, Vickers, Weihrauch, and Winchester.

China did make an Olympic-winning Smallbore, but I've never heard of one in the UK.