Id say just buy a Savage 12 FVSS in 223 or 22-250. I have one in 223 with a tasco 10-40x scope and it shoots under half inch with white box winchester ammo, with handloads it shoots 1/4 inch no problem. those mini-14s will shoot groups that look like a shotgun pattern and a 7400 isn't a whole lot better for varmint hunting. If you want to hunt varmints i think you should buy a bolt action or an AR-15 of some sort. whatever your choice is itll be a lot of fun.