Rifle Opinions Needed

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For serious big game ,,long distances.
I repeat myself

Weatherby 270 Magnum.

I have one and it drives nails at 500 yards.

Go with a Savage. Whoever said you need to spend hundreds on gunsmithing a trigger, etc on a new rifle is deluded. A savage out of the box will out shoot 95% of shooters on the planet. A Trigger job doesnt cost much if you want to lower the pull some. But otherwise no need to mess with a savage, they are tack drivers.

As for Glass, go with Nikon, Burris, OR even the higher end bushnell. If you can afford Leupold, then by all means go with leaupold, they are great scopes. I prefer Nikon myself.

A harris bipod would help with accuracy over anything else, and its inexpensive. Most elk shootin is out to 200 yards or so, so you don't need pinpoint accuracy, just proper barrel break in and good shooting technique is all needed


my choice would be a 30'06



but if you want a bit more stopping power move up to a magnum

300 win mag would be as high as i would go for elk.




the harris bipod will help his shooting alot in prone or mounted.

and just because im a surplus collector, a video of a mosin shooting out to 1000 yards(dont buy a mosin, i just wanted to post this video lol)

ahh dont forget CZ USA, they make amazing rifles

[link to cz-usa.com]

this rifle, chambered in .300 Winchester Magnum
[link to www.remington.com]

plus, this scope
[link to www.leupold.com]

A 1 MOA rifle (a rifle that shoots about 1 inch groups at 100 yards) is a very accurate one.

Under field conditions, there are very, very few shooters who can consistently hold a 2 inch group at 100 yards, no matter what they say they can do and no matter what the rifle can do.

In the past a 1 MOA rifle would cost nearly $1,500, with another $500 added for every 1/4 smaller group at 100 yards.

Savage rifles today consistently shoot 1 moa and it has been proven over and over again.

Rem 700 testing has shown them to be about a 2 MOA shooter off the shelf.

The Win mod 70 standard is about the same.

Ruger is hit or miss, I have seen them shoot from 2 moa to 4 moa off the shelf.

Most military type bolt guns shoot from 3-5 moa.

Weatherby/Howa/Sako/Tikka are considered higher class rifles and will shoot from 1.5 to 2 moa. IF name branding is important to him, get one of the them.

Savage will still, most likely, shoot better groups. The money saved over a custom can be spent on a great scope and mounting it, the rifle will more than likely shoot better than he is capable of shooting.

That being said, under field conditions, all of those rifles have and will continue to take game all over the world.

For a solid shooting rifle that you can get a ding in and not cry, Savage, Weatherby/Howa or Tikka in .338 win mag will not disappoint.

The rest is personal taste. People get sentimental or money crazy about guns, but after working on them and with them for more than 40 years, the above sums up the mechanical reality of the issue.

His rifle is fine. Give him a 44mag S$W 29 6" barrel and a holster. If he comes across a bear it will be at short range and a bolt gun would be to difficult to swing and shoot more than onc shot. Invest in good SD ammo for it too.

On the end of the world gun question. MSAR STG556 or Steyr AUG. Mostly plastic so its light, short over all length but still has a 16" barrel and uses .223 ammo which is used by our military. You won't have a problem find bullets to shoot in it. and its reliable. AR15s are common but complicated to the non-gun person. Whatever gun you buy, get at least 6-8 30rd mags more if you can afford it. Invest in a good camo finish for it. If you pull up a black rifle, you'll be easy to see and the first one to die.


IMAGE ( [link to i7.photobucket.com] )

"On the end of the world gun question. MSAR STG556 or Steyr AUG. Mostly plastic so its light, short over all length but still has a 16" barrel and uses .223 ammo which is used by our military. You won't have a problem find bullets to shoot in it. and its reliable. AR15s are common but complicated to the non-gun person. Whatever gun you buy, get at least 6-8 30rd mags more if you can afford it."

That has got to be one of the most ignorant gun posts EVER.

The Military does NOT USE .223 ammo. NATO and the US military use the 5.56 ammo, it is not the same.

The Steyr/MSAR is a way more complicated gun than the Stoner AR style rifle. Parts and magazines would be impossible to find in a "end of the world" situation.

The AR is the most common currently issued rifle in NATO forces, thus, it can be found anywhere in the world, only surpassed by the AK47 style rifle.

You got sold a load of crap by some gun store clerk wanting to rid you of your cash. Please, an expensive gun does not mean it is anything but expensive.

Try a FN TSR in .308 or .300WSM. It is built to military specs and is a great rifle.

It is built on a pre '64 Winchester receiver. Very robust, comes with a nice stock that'll take the weather and provides good recoil management. A joy to shoot.

Yes its a little heavier than a Remington, but not too bad and it helps with the recoil. You can pick one up for $1000 and it will out perform most shooters. It is a joy to shoot!

Spen the rest of the money on good glass and rings. DO NOT GO CHEAP HERE! A good scope will make a mediocre rifle perorm well. Leupold is good, Schmidt & Bender is fantastic (and expensive). Nightforce makes a great scope and can be found in the $1500-2000 range.

The importance of a good scope cannot be understated. You want something with good clear optics all the way to the edge. The larger the objective (front end)the better the low light performance.

With what you are looking to spend I think you will find that he is going to be a happy guy no matter what.

.....................you hunting folk crack me up;
don't you realize it's NOT A SPORT unless the animals have guns, too?????????????????????

I always put an unregistered pistol it its hand and claim self defense...

...7mm mag....

Did someone say .325 WSM (Winchester Short Magnum)?

I still don't understand why the savage is so much cheaper.

I think he would really like this, thanks!

And the tree hugging vegans just have to chime in. Great.

D...this are some huge and powerful weapons with the possibility of putting smaller people off their footing.

For all size people...The Ruger mini-14 .223 weapon....nice weapon good up to deer.....elk or bear don't miss that kill spot.

He's capable of handling the .45-70 that knocked me on my butt. Could a magnum caliber rifle be much worse?

after spending a bunch of money on different rifles,my go to is my wilson combat 6.8 recon.

For elk at long distances?

An Elk? I would assume a larger caliber would be appropriate and investing in quality ammunition. You wouldn't want it to suffer.

This. I'm getting a long range rifle for him.

to d's pet:

good calibers for elk are 270, 300 winchester mag, 300 weatherby mag

when considering the price of the rifle, 270 is usually cheapest, followed by the 300 winch mag, then 300 weath is most expensive.

a lot of people mentioned some other calibers like the .338 lapua. you will be hard pressed to go into a sporting store and find .338 lapua. it will also probably cost your a fortune. the same goes for 7mm and other strange calibers mentioned.

someone mentioned a 6.8, that is probably a little lite for elk.

with the above mentioned calibers, 270 is fairly common and least expensive (remington corelokt 130 gr is about $20 for 20 rounds), 300 winchester is next, and i would bet 300 weatherby is the most expensive and hardest to find (although a lot of stores tend to carry it).

270 packs a decent amount of punch and will take down an elk. however if he wants a flat shooting round that can be also used for bear in a pinch go with the 300 winchester and 300 weatherby -- both are excellent. A connoisseur with the money to spend would go with the weatherby. 300 winchester is the poor man's weatherby.

hope this helps

LOL just what the woods need another city fuck throwing inaccurate rounds down range. Shooting way beyond their capablities not the rifles. #1 reason I went to archery 15 years ago, that and the season was way longer which was the #2 reason, the #3 being it's more way more challenging ghosting up on a herd to get within bow range.

Your guy owns a .30-06? Buy him a couple boxes of Premium ammo loaded with 180gr Nosler Partition or Barnes Triple X bullets and he will be fine for Elk...

Gonna buy him a "longrange rifle"? Nice, but usually they are about 12lbs or more when rigged with a good scope. Most "longrange hunters" don't hunt in a classical mode. Many of them drive to the edge of a canyon in an SUV and setup a shooting table. Their rifles often weigh more than 16lbs and have 30" long heavy match barrels and lead weighted stocks. The guys are looking for a game animal to shoot at 800yds or more. More like sniping than hunting.

The real thing is, buying a new rifle requires lots of practice time. Anyone expecting to get decent results from a longrange rifle needs to handload their ammunition or have a gunsmith make the rifle to match chamber with a specific bullet and bullet length.

Big cartridges are exciting to shooters, yet they often require a muzzlebrake to reduce recoil to a tolerable level. For many guys, the .30-06 is about the threshold of recoil that is comfortable. If shooting a big magnum in the field, with muzzlebrake and no hearing protection, the brake can deafen you. Who needs that? Who can hunt with hearing protection?

Gonna shoot long distance? Takes a lot of training and practice. At 1000yds the .30-06 is a very good performing cartridge, but needs a heavy barrel and special stock for best accuracy; plus handloaded ammunition.

I have owned .30-378, .338 ultra mag, .300 ultra mag, and 7mm rem mag, plus .300 win mag longrange rifles. The regular magnums are more than enough for elk. Elk are not very heavy or extremely hardy animals. A .30-06 is more than adequate to kill one. All depends on if your guy can really shoot. If he can't shoot the .30-06 from standing offhand with a sling and keep 5 shots in a 4" circle at 100yds with an 06, he won't be able to do it with a magnum.

About the easiest to shoot "longrange" rifle is going to be either the 6.5x55 Swedish or 6.5/284. Load either with 140gr Nosler partition bullets and elk will be easy to hit at longrange and still will die.

A lot of expert hunters like the .257 Weatherby Magnum.
A .300 Weatherby Magnum in one of their Accumark rifles would be a great Big Game hunting rifle for everything but the heaviest African game animals.

You can browse www.gunbroker.com and get an idea on what competitive prices are. Try this link:
www.gunbroker.com/Auction/Browse.aspx?Cat=3022

Might want to look at www.longrangehunting.com to see what gear that crowd likes. Would be hard to go wrong with a Remington 700 Sendero stainless fluted, a Winchester Model 70 Laredo, or Weatherby Accumark. If you can find a new or hardly used Sako A5 with synthetic stock, it would be my choice unless he wants a heavy, fluted barrel gun to work on longrange shooting with. Sako A5 is about the nicest production rifle ever made with McMillan stock and all the usual Sako excellence. The Sako TRG-S is also superb.

He's already got a quality .30-06 with good glass so he's all set. It'll reach out as far as he needs.

Use your wiles and smalltalk his trip to see what he's planning. He may be looking foreward to taking an elk with his trusty old .30-06. Then again, you may find he really wants a lightweight stainless mountain rifle or some such.

You know how to get the info out of him on the sly.

Good luck.


R.

Edit to add - Lester beat me.

Last Edited by Reality420 on 11/10/2010 12:43 AM

I went to Turner's today and bought him an elk rifle. I went with the Weatherby in .300 Winchester Magnum.

I took the advice on the gunsmithing, and it will be ready in two weeks.

Hopefully he will be happy with it.

Thanks for all the advice, GLP!

Last Edited by D's Pet on 11/13/2010 10:47 PM

Its a 7.62 that wishes it had as much power as a 30.06 godd assualt round for my fn-fal.

He already has onea 30.06 a .270 is a necked dowm 30.06 case meaning less power same with a 7 mag .

Good call nice bushnell sportview and some 180 failsafes cant go wrong . Ithink were dealing w/ posers an their fancy shuuting irons. My 7400 remington w/180 and my 10 round clip will take care anything. C ant beat a savage cut my teeth on a 110. have you tried there monster smkeless muzzleloader it uses smokeless rifle powder and I talking about that pyrodex crap.