GUNS!!!!!!!!

[Conundrum]

I would keep that .243 for deer. It is what I use for mulies and white tails. Fuck hauling around a magnum.

I should mention I have my great grandpa's pre 64 30-06 and my dad's Model 70 in the safe that I've been hunting deer with since high school both of which I'm comfortable with on accuracy. Both have far more sentimental value to me than the .243 and I would be happy shooting another deer with either.

I've been doing more backpack hunts and my 7 mag is also a T3 stainless lite and I've been getting pretty good accuracy with 139 gr. With the brake on it, the recoil is barely noticeably more than the .243. The 7 mag weighs 3 lbs less than the either of the '06s. I haven't actually shot a deer with it yet but it's what I've carried the last couple times I've gone out for deer.

I met an ex devgru guy in the neighborhood who is really into long range shooting. He has invited me to start joining him. He recommended a .300 wm to start. He has both a .300 and .338 Lapua. I'd be building a heavier .300 setup and think I would enjoy that much more than the AR and I'm having a really hard time justifying another $2-3k on a rifle just to shoot steel. Between my neighbor and Rev, I think I could have a really good time shooting with those guys and a rifle like this.

I would prefer to bow hunt anyway so if I do take a rifle elk hunting, I think the 7 mag in 162 gr would be fine. I'm really comfortable out to about 250 with that and wouldn't take a shot further out on an animal with my skills until I put in some significant trigger time.

I do like shooting the .243 but am out of justifiable funds for a hobby gun hence thinking about selling a couple.

[MagnificentUnicorn]

No, 300wm is expensive but affordable for the everyman if he saves for it. Like a Corvette.

Short Mags/AI/Nosler/Dakota wildcats are like Porsches.

So I did a little shopping around and it seems that cartridges for xxx WSMs are about the same as 300 WM when loaded with the same bullet. I'm too lazy to handload and have enough other things going on right now. I'm looking for a new hunting rifle. I was over a my buddy Scott's yesterday and he showed me his H&S Precision .270 WSM. That's a nice gun. He kills elk and deer with it using off the shelf cartridges. I don't have that much money lying around, so I'm looking at a Tikka T3 Lite in .270 WSM and left handed action. Scott also offered to loan me his old .06 if I didn't want to buy a gun. It's a 700 with a new H&S stock and converted to box mag. It's a right handed gun so I think I'll pass. Any thoughts on reasonably priced rifles with left hand actions other than the T3? Options seem limited.

[TAFKALVS]

Use the tikka action as a starting point for a short action PRS rifle build in .243, .260 or 6.5 Creed. If you're only shooting steel and paper with it, those rounds do everything a 300wm does trajectory wise inside of 1000 yards but without the punishing recoil, muzzle blast, cost to reload, etc.

300wm only makes sense if you want to push it past 1000 yards or kill stuff at that range.

[sb]

I luv my pre 64 Winchester Model 70 in 300win mag. With the BOSS system it fine tunes what ever load and bullet you want to use. Takes some time to dial it in as any rifle will do.

It certainly is not a shoot all day gun or is it inexpensive.

That Ruger Precision rifle in 6.5 creedmore looks dreamy.

[Conundrum]

Use the tikka action as a starting point for a short action PRS rifle build in .243, .260 or 6.5 Creed. If you're only shooting steel and paper with it, those rounds do everything a 300wm does trajectory wise inside of 1000 yards but without the punishing recoil, muzzle blast, cost to reload, etc.

300wm only makes sense if you want to push it past 1000 yards or kill stuff at that range.

This is the shit I'm looking for...any barrel and stock recs? Will put a decent Vortex or Leupold on it.

[TAFKALVS]

So I did a little shopping around and it seems that cartridges for xxx WSMs are about the same as 300 WM when loaded with the same bullet. I'm too lazy to handload and have enough other things going on right now. I'm looking for a new hunting rifle. I was over a my buddy Scott's yesterday and he showed me his H&S Precision .270 WSM. That's a nice gun. He kills elk and deer with it using off the shelf cartridges. I don't have that much money lying around, so I'm looking at a Tikka T3 Lite in .270 WSM and left handed action. Scott also offered to loan me his old .06 if I didn't want to buy a gun. It's a 700 with a new H&S stock and converted to box mag. It's a right handed gun so I think I'll pass. Any thoughts on reasonably priced rifles with left hand actions other than the T3? Options seem limited.

Aaron, what do you plan on hunting with it and where? I am assuming you don't plan on shooting an animal past 300 or 400 yards? (basing that on the terrain and vegetation we have around here.)

The three that are available at a reasonable cost - Savage 10/110, Tikka T3 and the Remington 700.

If I were you I'd get anyone of those 3 guns in .260 Remington or 7mm-08. Both those rounds are low recoil, good ballistics, good barrel life, relatively cheap to buy ammo and should serve you well. If you want a little more umph, .270 or 30.06 are good rounds with lots of factory hunting loads. All those rifles are going to shoot 1 moa or less at 100 yards.

The .260 and 7mm-08 are both derived from a necked down .308 cartridge, just with a smaller more efficient bullet. 30 cal bullets at 308 velocities kind of suck compared to a .260/6.5 or 7mm.

270 is a great hunting round. It's main drawback is lack of bullets for reloading with long range shooting in mind but for your purposes, you can be almost assured that every store in town will have something in stock for it. Recoil is harsher than the .260 or 7mm-08.

I personally don't like the WSMs, the barrel life is low and the muzzle blast is high. Plus the cost of factory ammo is high. With your history of shoulder injuries I would steer clear of any magnum as the recoil impulse from a short or standard magnum could start causing you issues if you spend a decent amount of time behind the gun getting it figured out. Either way, think about a muzzle brake, even in a short action round like the .260 - it will make shooting the gun far more pleasant.

[TAFKALVS]

This is the shit I'm looking for...any barrel and stock recs? Will put a decent Vortex or Leupold on it.

I said this in my email to you, but for discussions sake:

So first thing to decide is how much power you want/need and then go from there. 300wm is a lot of horsepower for ringing steel and punching paper.

If I was in your shoes and wanted a 300wm for long range, I’d buy a nice Remington 700 long action or a clone and build from there. (Yup, just the bare action.) I’d put it in a chassis (probably XLR) and get a threaded varmint profile barrel. I’d get a barrel that was 26” or 28” long. I’d put a good trigger in it and I’d put a high magnification Vortex Razor on it. I’d also get a brake from a company that makes a rifle silencer you want so down the road you can put a can on it. I’d get an atlas bipod also.

If you don’t need the power of a .300wm, get a Ruger Precision Rifle in .243 or 6.5 Creedmoor. Throw a Vortex Viper PST or Razor on it and call it good. I have a RPR in .243 and absolutely love it. I am running 107gr SMK with H4350 for a MV of 2950fps. So far have had it out to 600 yards in heavy winds (shooting across a canyon) and it performed on par with my 300wm. Cheap to shoot and load. Your tikka won’t shoot a bullet that heavy, the barrel twist is wrong unfortunately.

Either way if this gun is truly a long range target gun I would skip a stock and go for a chassis. They are better. If you like the tikka action and can stomach selling off all the parts, tikka actions are a good place to start for a short action build. But you'll need a new trigger, new stock/chassis, new barrel, bottom metal, 20moa scope base, etc and at that point you could have just bought a Ruger Precision Rifle.

[MagnificentUnicorn]

Aaron, what do you plan on hunting with it and where? I am assuming you don't plan on shooting an animal past 300 or 400 yards? (basing that on the terrain and vegetation we have around here.)

The three that are available at a reasonable cost - Savage 10/110, Tikka T3 and the Remington 700.

If I were you I'd get anyone of those 3 guns in .260 Remington or 7mm-08. Both those rounds are low recoil, good ballistics, good barrel life, relatively cheap to buy ammo and should serve you well. If you want a little more umph, .270 or 30.06 are good rounds with lots of factory hunting loads. All those rifles are going to shoot 1 moa or less at 100 yards.

The .260 and 7mm-08 are both derived from a necked down .308 cartridge, just with a smaller more efficient bullet. 30 cal bullets at 308 velocities kind of suck compared to a .260/6.5 or 7mm.

270 is a great hunting round. It's main drawback is lack of bullets for reloading with long range shooting in mind but for your purposes, you can be almost assured that every store in town will have something in stock for it. Recoil is harsher than the .260 or 7mm-08.

I personally don't like the WSMs, the barrel life is low and the muzzle blast is high. Plus the cost of factory ammo is high. With your history of shoulder injuries I would steer clear of any magnum as the recoil impulse from a short or standard magnum could start causing you issues if you spend a decent amount of time behind the gun getting it figured out. Either way, think about a muzzle brake, even in a short action round like the .260 - it will make shooting the gun far more pleasant.

I'm thinking mule deer and elk, might take a trip for antelope. I have a lot of contacts for good ground in the hills here and out in the basin.

Fortunately my shoulder injuries have all been on my right side and I'm a lefty. That's how I roll.

I would probably just spend a few days a month at the range to keep practiced for hunting.

[TAFKALVS]

I'm thinking mule deer and elk, might take a trip for antelope. I have a lot of contacts for good ground in the hills here and out in the basin.

Fortunately my shoulder injuries have all been on my right side and I'm a lefty. That's how I roll.

I would probably just spend a few days a month at the range to keep practiced for hunting.

Okay, a .260, .270 or 7mm-08 would be what I would grab. Probably lean toward the .270 honestly. I wouldn't get a magnum, all you would be gaining is more kick and more cost to shoot. For what you want, not really worth it. A friend of mine has a stock Savage 110 in .270 - he bought it from Walmart. Nothing fancy. Cheap Nikon scope. It shoots 1 moa groups with factory Federal Soft point ammo. He's shot it out to 440 yards and had no problems whatsoever hitting minute of deer... and he can also stop at any sporting goods store or gas station in the western US and get the load that shoots well in his rifle.

If you want you can come shoot with my Dad and I sometime soon. He's a lefty and has a bunch of guns in different calibers that I'm sure he'd be happy to let you shoot and get a feel for what you like. You could shoot a few of my bolt action rifles as well.

[mikey1299]

Looking at a lh Tikka T3 for elk, black bear and deer. Was thinking .270 but friend is trying to talk me into .308. Thoughts?

[Phall]

Just chiming in to say thank you to all you. This thread is solid entertainment and knowledge. All this pre-64 talk is making it uncomfortable to stand up at work.

[TAFKALVS]

Looking at a lh Tikka T3 for elk, black bear and deer. Was thinking .270 but friend is trying to talk me into .308. Thoughts?

.308 is a cool round in a semi-auto rifle like a FAL, SCAR or AR10 (a "battle rifle") but for hunting I think you can do better with a .260, .270, 7mm-08 etc. But that's a perspective from a guy who shoots a lot but doesn't really hunt. It's not like a .308 wouldn't kill any of those animals listed. It's just that .308 runs out of steam pretty quick compared to the more streamlined 6.5 and 7mm bullets which are traveling much faster with a flatter trajectory and less wind resistance (at the speeds a .308 pushes a bullet - nothing wrong with .30 cal bullets moving at faster velocities, at least from a trajectory perspective.) And with less recoil and muzzle blast to boot in the .260 and 7mm-08. .270 and .308 are about on par recoil wise, but the .270 is moving much much faster.

I have a Tikka T3 in .243 win for coyotes and deer. Tikka's have one of the smoothest actions in a budget gun. I like them a lot. The stock feels like plasticy garbage, but you can order a nice replacement from Boyds that's a laminate wood for $150, thinking about doing that on mine.

[sb]

Those Boyds thumb hole stocks are beautiful, you will not be disappointed. Money well spent.

+1 everything said bout.308, I luv that cartridge but there is better for huntin big game like a good old 30.06.

[TAFKALVS]

Those Boyds thumb hole stocks are beautiful, you will not be disappointed. Money well spent.

+1 everything said bout.308, I luv that cartridge but there is better for huntin big game like a good old 30.06.

Interestingly enough, it was our military's obsession with .30cal that got us the .308 - if our Nato partners had their way we would have a far superior 6.5mm or 7mm military round as standard issue. Oh well.

[Norseman]

Need a little direction here...

I have my dad's old Remington 760 Gamemaster in .270 Win.



There's a crack in the stock that's been there a long while, including the whole time I used the rifle growing up.



What do you guys think about the safety of the stock? The gun doesn't see regular use... maybe a dozen rounds per year. I don't remember ever seeing the crack grow, but as I look closely now, the crack tip looks a little crisper than the open end... might be opening up slowly.

I'm sentimental about the old wooden stock, but also thinking about replacing it with something a little lighter weight, perhaps synthetic.

Where do I begin?

[snoqpass]

Replace it, it's easy to do, take off the butt plate and unbolt it. You could try injecting epoxy and clamping it until it cures

[sb]

^^^ this

Should be easy enough, use a good epoxy, not that 5 minute crap.

[TNKen]

The Corvette of magnum calibers is the .338 Lapua. And at about $6.00 per round for accurate ammo, probably tops the chart on cost per shot as well.

[TAFKALVS]

My buddy had a shotgun do that, if you shoot it often it will get worse. If you mostly want it for sentimental reasons some epoxy would be fine. If you plan on hunting with it I would replace it with a laminate stock from boyds. The changes in humidity while out on the field will make the crack worse.

[Phall]

From someone who drives a corvette. ^

[irul&ublo]

The Corvette of magnum calibers is the .338 Lapua. And at about $6.00 per round for accurate ammo, probably tops the chart on cost per shot as well.

6.00/rd? Sounds more like a Rolls Royce

[irul&ublo]

I have a flat brim camo hunting ball cap.

Do you wear it sideways?

[TAFKALVS]

6.00/rd? Sounds more like a Rolls Royce

Yeah, Corvette is an affordable performance car. .338 Lapua is more like a Lambo or Ferrari.

[Norseman]

My buddy had a shotgun do that, if you shoot it often it will get worse. If you mostly want it for sentimental reasons some epoxy would be fine. If you plan on hunting with it I would replace it with a laminate stock from boyds. The changes in humidity while out on the field will make the crack worse.

Thanks.

I do plan to continue hunting with it, so I'll start looking at aftermarket stocks. Preliminary search suggests that the stocks are interchangeable between the 760, 7600, and 870 20ga shotguns... which I also have. Maybe I'll try the swap to check fit before proceeding.

Some of those Boyd's stocks look pretty nice. Is $80 reasonable for a quality stock? I'm a gun jong.

Can you recommend other brands to research?

[Conundrum]

Do you wear it sideways?

Only when the bill hits my bow string.