Big Game Precision Rifle

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msg.drew

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I would like to make a precision big game rifle, I know its asking 1 gun to do the job of two.

Here is my criteria,

Like to use a Remington 700 action
Something either 30 cal or 338 leaning towards 300 Ultra Mag or 338

It cant be heavy you need to be able to carry it all day so varmint contour barrels are out, I am not lugging around a 700p or VLS like my varmint gun
26-28" barrel with effective muzzle break to reduce recoil of ultra mag rounds to recoil of a 308 rifle.

Want it to be a solid performer, 3/4" groups at 100yards 2" at 300yards 4" at 500yards and the potential for making shots to 1000 yards

What I am looking for is a target type rifle that I can practice with all year and for that 1 week a month take it big game hunting either moose elk bear and be able to shoot game up to 500 yards, in the right conditions

Optics are Leupold with BDC always wanted one of these figure now its time to give it a try.

Stock will be a macmillian adjustable

Do you think this is possible what other options do I have ?
 
The results you want are within the capabilities of most factory bolt guns. With hand loads, alsmost any factory gun should be able to give you the results you're after so pick a calibre and buy one.
 
What about recoil management in the big ultra mags ?

which would be the best hunting/target round 270. 270.WSM 7mm WSM 7mm Ultra, 308, 300WSM 300Ultra

I have been shooting ruger 10/22 for about 10 years now I am pretty good even at longrange I have a custom gun with barracuda stock, along with my stock 700VLS that I have been shooting for 6 years now, I shoot that up to about 400 yards, the light bullets don't work well after that point, I once shot it out to 600 yards and hit a 1.5x1.5 foot board. I have an 870 custom shop thumb hole, I can shoot that slug gun all day long, with out and discomfort my dad has a regular 870 and it got a lot more kick to it. I think the thumb hole cuts the recoil a bit along with the heavy shotgun barrel

Alot of people say a muzzle break can cut recoil by about 60% combined with A5 macmillian stock a 300 ultra should be manageable. Some say a 300 ultra destroys to much of big game animals just makes a big mess.

My dad uses .270 should I do the same ?
 
I think anything from .270 up would be good for all those animals. the 300 magnum class is a good start, very versatile, and don't kick as bad as the ultramag.
if you are going to be shooting it alot for fun, I would be thinking about ammo/reloading component cost, and recoil.
 
Build a 7wsm w/ a 22" magnum sporter contour, sit it in a macmillan classic stock, and call it good. I'd rather go with good stock design to take care of recoil instead of a brake, as I value my hearing. If you are going to do more target shooting than hunting, then build two rifles.
 
I will bet your A-5 McMillan stock and 26-28 inch barrel with a muzzle brake will weigh more than a 700P with the same scope.
As you plan to do a lot of practice with this rifle you won't make any new friends and could lose a few shooting with a muzzle brake. It might also be a good idea to find out if the range you plan to practice on will allow the calibers you have choosen.
Not sure what caliber your 700VLS is but I have seen these rifles shoot 1000 yards in .308 without a problem. You have shot 600 yards once and hit an 18 inch square target. The 600 yard bullseye on the mid-range targets is 12", thats a 2MOA bull the V Bull is 1/2 that size.
For target use most shooter do not use scopes with BDC. That is why target scope have those big knobs on top.
The big magnum calibers will not make you a better shot or compensate for a poor shot placement when hunting. Get a rifle in a caliber that is easy to shoot, cheap to load for and practice.
If this is coming off as a sort of rant, please don't take it that way.
 
Precision match rifles

I have built 2 rifles exactly for the purpose you have asked for. 1 is a heavy 9# moose/elk rifle in 338 WM and the another is a light 7# deer and light game rifle in 30-06. Both will shoot 1" minus groups at 200 meters.

You must decide what you need the rifle for and the game you are using it on IMHO. Heavy caliber rifles can be very accurate but require a great deal of additional shooting skill. They are not fun to shoot to acquire the skill set you need to hit game at extended ranges. Also, in calibers like the RUM's, they burn out barrrels quickly.

The secret to these rifles is not the caliber, action or barrel but the scope / cartridge combination. Both my rifles shoot their bullets at about 2800 fps. Their trajectories with my chosen loads exactly match the Leupold LR reticles in the 3 x 9 scopes mounted on them.

This reticle allows me to hit plastic pop or water bottles at 500 yards most of the time. 300 and 400 yards have simply become too boring to shoot them.

Match this performance with a good laser rangefinder and you can hit game to beyond ranges where bullets open up reliabily.

This combination of equipment actually eliminates the requirement for a heavy recoiling rifle unless you need the impacting power.

You might be better with a 30-06, Leupold's LR reticled scope, and decent loads that you can shoot extremely well than a cannon you cannot.

My 2 cents worth.

Steve
 
I own a good laser range finder, I don't shoot my rifles at a range only on my own property. My 700VLS is 223, 26" .820 dia barrel with Elite 4200 scope and bipod its probably 15lbs, I don't have the strength to shoot it off hand at long range. I like to learn the fundamentals without developing a flinch. Don't worry about sounding harsh I posted to here everyone's opinion I might just stick to .270 since it can be used on varmints in Southern Ontario.

A 700 Sendero with normal contour 26" barrel should be fine and light weight enough to carry and shoot offhand, and in .270 there is no need for a break since i have shot 700bdl .270 with 24" no problem

Looks like I can then buy that 700 police I wanted in 308 and macmillian stock.

The other thing is why is everyone against BDC's ??? if you want to shoot a different ranges quickly like 300 600 800, you can dial that on the knobs and go shoot no looking at ballistic charts and dialing 5 moa 20 moa. its doing it for you since its build by leupold for your exact cronographed round and corrected for elevation and temp
 
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Um, I think you are trying to combine two things into one. If you want a super magnum that you can shoot all year - I really think you should have a varmint contour and heavier weight stock. It would make shooting it more comfortable. If you want to occasionally hunt get a hunting rifle - that you can carry - there are some really cheap ones that will easily fill the bill. That being said - I don't have a hunting rifle. I used my custom 700 with 24" Hart barrel in 308 and I dropped 2 deer with it this year. I carried it around with a bipod and tactical scope. The weight didn't bother me. I figure for hunting 1 month of the year - I can live with my sniper rifle. It worked pretty darn well. I killed a doe at 196m (lased) and it was a one shot kill. The second doe was at a lased 46m and she dropped with one shot too. I shot her offhand and it wasn't a problem even with my 12lb rig. Unless you're hunting in a built up wooded area (where your LR rifle is no good anyway) you should have no problem setting up and firing. Just to give you an idea. The first doe this year I got I was walking back to the truck with my rifle slung (I figured that spot was dry) and as I was nearly at the truck I spotted two does grazing. They were about 100m from a Pumping station so they didn't even hear me. I setup my rifle on a rock and lased them I then dialed in on my BDC and held dead on. I nailed her and she dropped. BTW if you are going to shoot LR I doubt that you will ever shoot offhand (I mean 300m+ at an animal). At 200m the does stood there and didn't move. I don't think they get overly panicked until you are sub 100m in physical proximity to deer.
 
I hunt where you have to use shotgun on our property out of the 33 deer I saw I shot at none they all where too far away. Opening day I had a small doe 116 yards away but let it go. We saw 6 400 yards away in the field across the road beside where our property is, by the time we stalked them they went into a 300 acer bush that we didn't have permission to hunt on, my dad saw a nice 10-12 point again too far away to shoot from his tree stand.
I watched 2 stand on the road in the dark 200 yards in front of our truck and we approached them and got within 5 yards before they ran classic deer stuck in the headlights.

I also watched a gang of 15 to 20 guys push the 300 acer bush beside ours kick a deer directly too where I was standing 15 min earlier exactly inline with where they where standing the night before on the road. It was heavy cedars and I couldn't get a shot off. Then I could here them making fun of me because they saw me in the bush across from where they where doing there push and I heard the guy say look at that guy over there waiting for us to push something to him, I wanted to yell hey pal you let 1 deer run through 5 guys you had blocking and didn't even see it.


My deer rig, its probably pretty heavy since its got a heavy contour slug barrel
shotgun.jpg
 
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msg.drew said:
I would like to make a precision big game rifle, I know its asking 1 gun to do the job of two.

Here is my criteria,

Like to use a Remington 700 action
Something either 30 cal or 338 leaning towards 300 Ultra Mag or 338

It cant be heavy you need to be able to carry it all day so varmint contour barrels are out, I am not lugging around a 700p or VLS like my varmint gun
26-28" barrel with effective muzzle break to reduce recoil of ultra mag rounds to recoil of a 308 rifle.

Want it to be a solid performer, 3/4" groups at 100yards 2" at 300yards 4" at 500yards and the potential for making shots to 1000 yards

What I am looking for is a target type rifle that I can practice with all year and for that 1 week a month take it big game hunting either moose elk bear and be able to shoot game up to 500 yards, in the right conditions

Optics are Leupold with BDC always wanted one of these figure now its time to give it a try.

Stock will be a macmillian adjustable

Do you think this is possible what other options do I have ?
Click to expand...

msg.drew,

I have all of the calibers mentioned and for what you want to do I think the 300 Winchester loaded with 200gr Accubonds would be your best bet. The 300 Ultra will not make it easier for you to hit at 500 yards and the big fast 338's have way too much recoil for you to learn the long range craft.

The McMillan A-5 stock has a starting weight of 4 pounds-2 pounds more than the pss. The PSS stock isn't that bad off of a bipod......In fact a tuned up factory PSS is probably a good place to start.

Expect the gun to weight 10-13 pounds...Anything less will make hitting (and learning) more difficult.

For a hunting scope the Leupold VX3 4.5-14 Lr with B&C reticle works pretty good out to 450 yards (with the 300 Win. loaded as mentioned). For the other 11 months of the year there are better scope choices.

Despite what others have said, I think the brake is a good idea for your application.
If you are going to shoot with a brake make sure you remove it before hunting......They are that bad in the field!

In good hands and in good conditions a standard (accurate) hunting rifle will hit at 500 yards easily. All that is needed is a rock steady rest and some form of accurate trajectory compensation. The problem comes when the animal is poorly lit, is not standing broadside, is 40 degrees uphill, the wind is blowing hard, and the ground is uneven.......Understand what I am getting at?

Only experience will tell you whether you should shoot or not........



Good Luck!
 
Get a Remington LSS and put it in a Macmillan sporter stock if you want a good quality fiberglass. Not adjustable like the A-5, etc...however, but then again, its no where as heavy either. Besides, since you don't want a heavy barrel, dropping a rifle with a sporter/medium contour barrel into any of Macmillan's sniper stock A series isn't going to look right anyway. Unless you're a masochist, I'd stay away from the Ultra Mags. 7mm Rem Mag or .300 Win Mag should more than handle any hunting duties you might have, while not beating you up and allowing you tolerate longer shooting sessions than say the .300RUM or .338RUM..and without bankrupting you due to factory ammo prices!
 
mpwolf said:
Build a 7wsm w/ a 22" magnum sporter contour, sit it in a macmillan classic stock, and call it good. I'd rather go with good stock design to take care of recoil instead of a brake, as I value my hearing. If you are going to do more target shooting than hunting, then build two rifles.
Click to expand...

x2. Either build a hunting rifle or a target rifle, compromise is a mistake. Recoil management = 8.5 lb rifle with a straight stock and 270 win / 270 wsm / .308 / 30-06. Forget about muzzle brakes in a hunter.
 
My long range rifle is a short action Remington 700 with a Jewell trigger, a 28" Krieger barrel, a S&B 4-16X50 scope, PH bi-pod on a rail under a McMillan A-5 stock. This thing will kill mosquitoes at 500 yards, but it weighs 20 pounds. For all that, when shooting from field positions other than prone, I don't do any better with it than I do with my .375 carbine, in fact not as well. The only way that I can see that you would make use of a rig like that in the field is to be set up on a hill where you know game will be out to a measured half mile in front of you. Any other type of hunting means that you have a long, heavy, hard kicking (given your cartridge preference) rifle that will be difficult to shoot from field positions, will limit your shots to 300 yards, and could cause you to miss the close ones.

A hunting rifle must be light, quick, and accurate enough to hit a 12" target every time at what ever range you can manage to get first shot hits. There are no fouling shots when hunting. I'm a competent although not outstanding shot (at least by internet standards), and in the field I have to work to shoot up to a 2 MOA rifle. Off hand, a good day gets me 4 MOA.

It's your money and you can spend it any way you like, but I would rethink your parameters.
 
I built a 300 Wby mag on a 700 action, The biggest mistake I made was putting a muzzle break on it!
Its fine for the range but recoil in the field i really do not even notice.
I used it once in th efield and shot a little 4x4 that came down off the hilll in my stand. The muzzle blast with no muffs after the first shot, disoriented me so bad if i would have moved, well it sucked!!! big time.
I hit the deer well but was lucky a follow up was not needed.
I agree after builting a hunting rifle sure it fun, but a 700 sps off the shelf or a tikka lite will give you the results you seeking. I my self after building many will not do it again. Your value of that 1500.00 custom rifle it the same asa regular 700 in the end.
I have built most my customs on 700 actions or win 70 actions.
I would stick with a 300 win mag for doing what you want, pick up a used sendaro with a Bi-pod slap on a 6x20 vx 111 or a 4200 elite and go shoot out to 500 yards I would be very comfortable shooting to that range IF!!!
My scope was set up for that distance If I have my Moa clicks in a book with me at what power and what Moa from 100 0 was, if I knew the wind, and if i had the chance to walk the bullet path checking out for open terrain and wind shoots off the hill and a really good rangefinder with me.
My 300 win mag sendaro is capable energy and accuracy wise at that range.
And its not that heavy for a HB.
But #### my farthest kill was 300 steps of mine= about 300 yards!
So what the hell do I know about long distance kills?

But back on topic ya hell its possible to make what you want in a hunting cartridge/rifle combo. And ya its possible to shoot game to that distance with it.
 
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