Which rifle in .308 Win?

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canoetrpr

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I'm doing some research to determine what the best bet is for a .308 Winchester rifle.

Intended uses:
- Mostly shooting a bit at the range
- Hunting if I ever take it up - deer
- Collect it and pass it down to the kids

So far the Tikka T3s have caught my eye. I handled one at LeBaron's today with a laminated stock and stainless. Very nice rifle.

Synthetic is cheaper and practical but I find it ugly. Am I right in thinking that walnut and a blued barrel should be out since I'm hoping to hunt with it some day and don't want to have to baby sit it?

What other rifles in this (or lower) price range do you think I should consider / keep an eye out for?
 
For one to pass down to the kids, I'd look at something in blued steel and wood...maybe a M70 Featherweight or a used Kimber 84M...

The T3 will shoot better though...:p
 
canoetrpr said:
I apologize if this is a silly question but why would a laminated wood / stainless not hold its value as well as walnut / blued steel?
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probably would be the same, just when I think of heirloom rifles, I think wood/blued. besides, the value is in the sentiment...

Also a couple nice ones would be the Ruger RSI or CZ550 FS...
 
I wonder if it is worth bothering paying the extra for the laminated / stainless over wood / blued?

What do you guys think? Just would be nice to not be worried about the rifle if I was out in the woods hunting with it someday. Reality is that most of the time it will see the range more than anything else.
 
How much do you want to spend on the rifle ?

Blargon makes a good point with the CZ's ..... VERY nice rifles with the 'Lux' stocks for the sub $1000 pricetags !

I am going to make my Marlin 45-70 all custom'd out and pass it down to my kids - make one like this but with my own style:
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blargon said:
probably would be the same, just when I think of heirloom rifles, I think wood/blued. besides, the value is in the sentiment...

Also a couple nice ones would be the Ruger RSI or CZ550 FS...
Click to expand...
 
I had a T3 lite in stainless in 308win and it shot extremely well. I've never seen the laminate version. I'd think that would be a lot nicer to look at. There's a lot of other wood stocked bolt actions that look good too, but I'm not sure as high a percentage of them shoot like the Tikka T3's. Nothings a guaranteed tack driver, but a lot of us got lucky with our T3's and got a rifle that shot very, very well. I ended up selling it after buying a Sako A7 in 300wsm. Very similar rifle, but a few upgrades in design.
 
If mainly target shooting is your choice - bolt action is the way to go and I wouldn't get hung up on stainless. Just get a quality bluing finish (not sps) and you'll be fine.
 
Tikkas are ugly, no matter what you do to them. And if your planning on handing them down to your kids, give em wood and bluing. A nice Win M70, or a Remington CDL are beautiful to look at! As mentioned by the previous poster, aBLR would also fill the role quite nicely. I hunt with lots of wood and blue rifles and shotguns. Yes sometimes they get dinged, but your kids can look at those marks and know Dad made em!
 
Buy a tikka and shoot sub moa all day long. Mine is for hunting and I prefer synthetic for the durability and I don't care if it scratches or dings. When it's time to pass on to the next gen buy a wood stock.
 
Yeah, Tikka's are ugly, plasticy things but you cant argue with their performance! My 6.5 Tikka is the most accurate rifle I have ever owned.

Having said that lots of other wood stocked and well priced rifles can be super accurate. I once owned an economy class .30-06 built by Mugrave Arms in South Africa. It was a simple piece built on a milsurp Mauser 98 (a Vz24 IIRC) with a Musgrave barrel. All I did was fit a Timney trigger and bed the action. That thing was a handsome walnut stocked rifle (I got luck with the stock) aside from being a tack driver, rugged and a very dependable in the field.

Most CZ's shoot very well and to me are very attractive.

Winchester M70 Featherweight is another very good looking rifle that will fit you needs well.

Depending on your budget a Cooper, Sako Bavarian or Kimber 84L Classic would be fine pieces as well.
 
canoetrpr said:
I'm doing some research to determine what the best bet is for a .308 Winchester rifle.

Intended uses:
- Mostly shooting a bit at the range
- Hunting if I ever take it up - deer
- Collect it and pass it down to the kids

Synthetic is cheaper and practical but I find it ugly. Am I right in thinking that walnut and a blued barrel should be out since I'm hoping to hunt with it some day and don't want to have to baby sit it? What other rifles in this (or lower) price range do you think I should consider / keep an eye out for?
Click to expand...

Blued/walnut isn't out for hunting, although it will need some extra care...you probably can't baby it enough to keep it pristine however, so you'll just have to accept some wear. One rifle to look at might be the Ruger Scout. It has a variety of sight options [irons, forward LER scope, standard scope] and it's 'interesting', despite being stainless/laminate in construction. Allegedly it's the 'do it all' rifle, and I can see a lot of them being around for a very long time.
 
Tikka T3 hunter in 300 wsm. That's what I got and figured one of my boys will love it. I got a .270 husky from my gramps when he passed away. It was wood and been hunted and has a mark here and there the blueing is wearing off of the tip of muzzle, but it doesn't matter to me I still treat it like new and I don't have to babysit it when hunting and all those marks where put on by who I always thought was the best hunter ever. Character marks. So don't worry about wood and just pick what suits you and your budget.
 
Another vote for a blued walnut Featherweight. I've only been hunting for 40yrs with wood/blued guns so what do I know, the only rifle that gave me a problem in the field was a wood stock on a Savage that twisted the forearm in hours. This was a wet snow day pushing bush. Way too much is made of stainless synthetic for field use, maybe if you were on the coast or very high humidity all the time. Too each there own, but for me a nice blued steel, set in some nice wood is the way to go. I picked up a beauty of a little Husky carbine in 308, the ideal rifle in my eyes for a hunting 308.
 
I'll throw my two cents in for what it is worth, the reason wood and blued steel has more heirloom value for one thing is the trees that produce beautiful wood stocks are becoming more and more rare. Stock blanks that used to sell for 99 bucks now bring several hundred and the several hundred dollar blanks of old are now fetching into the thousands.
Stainless steel, plastic and laminated wood are utilitarian and carry very little asthetic value, and in my opinion it is the asthetic value of a firearm that makes it an heirloom or causes it to retain, or even increase it's value.

No need to worry about hunting with it either, I have hunted many weeks with blued/wood rifles and they are not "fragile princesses" as too many believe. A modicum of care and they retain their finish just fine. I mean you change the oil in your car and wash it occasionally, right?
The other beauty of a wood stock is if you get a scratch on the stock out on a hunt it isn't the end of the world either. It is a reminder of a hunt that you will always remember and can relate to your kids and grandkids when they ask "Grampa, how did you get that scatch on the rifle?".

My vote would go to a Rem Model 7 CDL or 700 CDL, a Ruger RSI or a Win feather weight in blue/wood. All fine looking, fine working rifles and within your expressed budget. I doubt the T3 shoots any better than these rifles, within my family we have all 4 and they all shoot MOA or less with handloads.
 
Took my wood stocked/blued Weatherby .308 Vanguard out for the first time this weekend and after sighting in my scope it was shooting sub MOA.

Three of us were shooting it; my hunting partner and 19 year old son (both of whom are excellent shots) and myself (I consider myself an average to good shooter).

I bought the rifle for less than $600 a few months ago, there are still some out there at a decent price, since the new Vanguard model is out. Hope this helps.
 
Personally I'd go with a Winchester model 70. I handled both and found the Winchester to have nicer wood and feel better. Ended up with a featherweight in 30-06. The BLR is also a good suggestion, love mine.
 
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