Need (my) perfect hunting rifle.

A

Advoc

Regular
EE Expired
Rating - 100%
7   0   0
Location
Lethbridge Alberta
Hi guys,

This Christmas I'm re-taking my classes (my FAC has been expired for about 9 years). And I hope to finally get back to hunting next season with my Dad and Grandpa.
I've only been about twice the last 10 years and I really miss it.

All my life though I've used hand-me-down rifles or borrowed from either dad or gramps. And while I'm happy with my rifle that I've used since I was 15, I would really like to go shopping for my own hunting rifle. I thought I'd come to you guys for a bit of advice.

My current rifle is a .243 Winchester, I believe it is a Mauser of some sort, but I would have to go take a look at it, Dad has it at his place, I'll take pics when I get the chance. It's an amazing rifle, either for a beginner or somebody just hunting deer. Amazingly flat trajectory within a couple hundred metres, so much so that I often shot it high. It's not the gun for longer shots though, and not for anything bigger if I want to reliably put the animal down quickly and minimize it's suffering.

Dad prefers his .25-06 and .270. And Gramps is just an insane old MF and uses his .300 Wby Mag for everything, even deer. Although he also has a .264 Mag that is grandmas gun which he doesn't use much anymore, since she doesn't hunt anymore. As well as a Lee Enfield .303 that he never fires.

I really like the .270, I've fired my dads as well as a friends.

I was talking to Dad the other day about getting ready for next year and about my first rifle purchase.
I considered a .308 but he says it's not as great for hunting (since it was made for killing people). He obviously recommended a .25-06 because he likes his so much, but he also said I should possibly think about a 7mm, something that I never really had on my radar. I thought maybe I should go with a popular caliber so that ammo would be easy to get and *relatively* inexpensive. Looked at a .338 Lapua since they seem to be all the rage this decade, but one look at the price of a cartridge had me throwing that idea out the window very quickly.

Im not sure who's gun I'd want to buy, I might just go the Remington 700 route to get a nice tested and true platform, but I'm still not sure on the Calibre.

TL;DR
Most of my experience is with a .243 win and a .270 win. I'd like something for the Elk and Moose that will put the animal down quickly and that I can reliably reach out and touch with up to 500 yards.

What are your recommendations?
 
308 is over rated anyway. Yup I said it. Pick up a 270 win in a winchester model 70 and live happily ever after. That will be the only gun you ever need for big game. Use a good bullet like say the nosler partition and no problems with moose
 
Advoc said:
I was talking to Dad the other day about getting ready for next year and about my first rifle purchase.
I considered a .308 but he says it's not as great for hunting (since it was made for killing people).
What are your recommendations?
Click to expand...

I'd recommend that Dad be losin' the hate for the three-oh-eight.
 
Last edited:
I've never heard of a .280. Apparently there are several different versions. Which are you talking about? .280 Remington?

I have a few purchases I'm saving up for when I can legally do it and I really wanted an M14, or maybe one of the norc m305s just for fun. But I wondered if it would be a good idea to use one as a hunting rifle, thus the .308. (that and inexpensive ammo). We've got dies for all the guns we own collectively, which is a big push for the .270. But I can't imagine a .308 die would be prohibitively expensive. Mostly we're shooting our own reloads.

I haven't fired enough bolt action rifles to have much of an opinion on a manufacturer either, unfortunately. Only the ones we own, and I don't even know who made them all.
 
.25'06, .270, .280, 30'06 are all fine. I prefer the .270 because I've shot about 5 deer with one. It works very well. My 6.5x55 also works very well, but if you are serious about 500 yard moose shots, a 7mm rem mag might be the one you are looking for. It still has quite a bit of energy left at 500.
 
To me if you are serious about out to 500 yard shooting on elk and moose(that's a looong shot under field conditions) the .300 magnums are the way to go. I have shot a few moose but never hunted elk and I am told they are tougher than moose. I would think the .300 magnum would be the minimum power level at that extended range as long as you are not recoil sensitive. All the power in the world does you no good if you flinch while shooting.
 
We hunt in mostly open areas with a lot of coulees. So we usually see them from far and have quite a good vantage as we're usually above. The last deer I took was at about 450 yards with the .25-06. I'm used to shots like that. I still haven't actually had the chance to hunt moose or elk yet on my own tag. I was in the Moose draw for 8 years before I finally got my tag, and gramps got his tag the same year. Turns out the section we applied for, only just that year was marked no vehicles by Alberta Wildlife. We drove up there with the camper and were turned away by the conservation officers. Weren't equipped for hand bombing a damn moose. 8 years on the draw wasted. They actually suggested we rent a horse. (wtf?)

In any case. Not sure that hunting moose will be taking longer shots like that since I know we hunt them in different areas than we usually hunt our deer, I just wanted to be prepared.
 
I'll take another tack and say there are a lot of calibers that will be great (has nobody mentioned 30-06 yet?). There are endless avenues to go down looking for the elusive "perfect" caliber, and by all mean have fun exploring. At the end of the day, you'll pick one, start using it, and it'll be awesome.

I'm in a similar spot except I don't have a .243 already :D, it has been a lot of years since I shot much and I had to pick something for deer hunting where I live. I thought about a lot of factors, one of which you already mentioned: readily available ammo. A trip to a local Canadian Tire reminded me that some of the more newfangled cartridges aren't always at hand.

I also thought a lot about the rifle: what is my budget? do I want a wood stock? what kind of action do I want? aesthetics played a role, too, I wanted a rifle that I "liked" the look and feel of.

Enjoy!
 
Advoc said:
Hi guys,

This Christmas I'm re-taking my classes (my FAC has been expired for about 9 years). And I hope to finally get back to hunting next season with my Dad and Grandpa.
I've only been about twice the last 10 years and I really miss it.

All my life though I've used hand-me-down rifles or borrowed from either dad or gramps. And while I'm happy with my rifle that I've used since I was 15, I would really like to go shopping for my own hunting rifle. I thought I'd come to you guys for a bit of advice.

My current rifle is a .243 Winchester, I believe it is a Mauser of some sort, but I would have to go take a look at it, Dad has it at his place, I'll take pics when I get the chance. It's an amazing rifle, either for a beginner or somebody just hunting deer. Amazingly flat trajectory within a couple hundred metres, so much so that I often shot it high. It's not the gun for longer shots though, and not for anything bigger if I want to reliably put the animal down quickly and minimize it's suffering.

Dad prefers his .25-06 and .270. And Gramps is just an insane old MF and uses his .300 Wby Mag for everything, even deer. Although he also has a .264 Mag that is grandmas gun which he doesn't use much anymore, since she doesn't hunt anymore. As well as a Lee Enfield .303 that he never fires.

I really like the .270, I've fired my dads as well as a friends.

I was talking to Dad the other day about getting ready for next year and about my first rifle purchase.
I considered a .308 but he says it's not as great for hunting (since it was made for killing people). He obviously recommended a .25-06 because he likes his so much, but he also said I should possibly think about a 7mm, something that I never really had on my radar. I thought maybe I should go with a popular caliber so that ammo would be easy to get and *relatively* inexpensive. Looked at a .338 Lapua since they seem to be all the rage this decade, but one look at the price of a cartridge had me throwing that idea out the window very quickly.

Im not sure who's gun I'd want to buy, I might just go the Remington 700 route to get a nice tested and true platform, but I'm still not sure on the Calibre.

TL;DR
Most of my experience is with a .243 win and a .270 win. I'd like something for the Elk and Moose that will put the animal down quickly and that I can reliably reach out and touch with up to 500 yards.

What are your recommendations?
Click to expand...

The .30/06 was designed for war, as were the 7X57, 8X57, 6.5X55, .303 Brit, and later the .308. All of these cartridges have been extremely effective and popular in game fields around the world, as civilian popularity is the nature of military cartridges. Much that went into the design of turn of the 20th Century military cartridges, makes them great hunting cartridges as the two fields are not unrelated. The problem is how to kill effectively at a distance, and all of these cartridges answer that question.
 
Advoc said:
I considered a .308 but he says it's not as great for hunting (since it was made for killing people).
Click to expand...
I wasn't going to make any recommendations, but first, I'll second Boomer's post above about the military cartridges. For my hunting I'm looking at shorter ranges than you are describing, and I wanted a shorter, more "handy" rifle in general. I thought about 30-30 lever guns, 7.62x39 in the Mini-30 and 7mm-08 in the BLR. I ended up choosing a .308 Ruger Gunsite Scout. I'm still waiting on delivery from Arma-coat. Barrett, if you are listening... :D
 
Open areas with lots of coulees, I'd look hard at the 7mm Rem Mag.

The .308 is a great cartridge, been using it for years, but in the open prairie type areas, a flatter shooting cartridge makes more sense. A 7mm RM with a 140TTSX would be a great combo...
 
If your mind is stock around the .270, take juste a step up and go with .270WSM. IMO it will give you that small edge over the .270 allowing to hunt anything that you want to.
Good luck!
 
The .270 caliber rifle will do all you will ever likely need. From target, gophers to elk and moose. Great variety of bullet combinations and weights as well as a light recoil.
 
Get a Browning BLR in lightweight takedown

30-06, 270, 7mm mag

Stay away from the short mags they are on the way out and increasingly hard and expensive to find
 
I would recommend a .270 as well, esp., since you are already set up to reload it. Nothing wrong with the cart. A buddy just bought a rifle in .270WSM and THEN found out the cost of the rounds. He has now borrowed a press and started lading his own.

Short magnums don't offer enough difference compared to the price to offset in my book.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom