Favorite or go-to .308 or 30.06 rifle for hunting?

I have 2 in 308 a 700 (keeper) and a BLR I took in trade. The 700 is there if I ever need it. I use to hunt with a 77 in 280, still have it just don't hunt BG. I have never keep a 06 for very long. keep a 300wm for years and did not mind the recoil, but find 06 unpleasant.
 
My favorite .308 is easy to pick since I only have two. Its an Anschutz 1576, a little Euro lookin', easy carrying, slick actioned shooter. It would be perfect if it wasn't a .308, I never quite forgave it for that. I wish I could find more mags for it, then it would get more use. There was even an extended mag made once, though I've never seen one.


My favorite 30-06 a 700 LSS fitted with a 26" Benchmark barrel and 10 shot Quik Klips. Sends 180s out at 2850 fps. I've got a Cooper that I would like more if there were extended magazines available. Its a good gun, but with 3 shot mags it just isn't that much good to me.
 
Find a Weatherby Vanguard S2 or used Backcountry depending on budget. Back country are a bit pricey new but used on EE can be quite affordable (800-1000$). S2 regular synthetic blued or stainless are very affordable, most accurate and will take a beating. You won't go wrong with any companies line of rifles now but found the Vanguards most consistent of any and I have owned them all. Pick what fits you best but I recommend the Vanguards in S2 or backcounty
 
I currently have owned .308's in M70, M700 , and Tikka (LSA55). I've loved them all. Right now I've got an M70 in .243 and an M700 in .260 Rem. I love them both. I still have a soft spot for that Tikka LSA55 since it was my deer rifle all through undergrad years at the Univ of Alberta in Edmonton. :)

All 3 of them are more accurate than I could ever hold them. :wave:

Hey, why not go with fondle factor since we all spend more time carrying and sitting with the rifles than we do shooting them...


Cheers,
Barney

PS>>> good luck choosing! They are all great choices
 
Steyr Scout in 308win

I keep thinking I can find something better and try new stuff but end up back with the scout every time....... It really is a complete package with it's built in bipod and spare magazine
 
I want to say the OP should go with a Model 70 Win, but it would be hypocritical ... as my go-to '06 is a Rem 700 stainless, detachable mag with a HS Precision sporter stock. As the years roll on, it looks more and more like the poor cousin to the other gals that grace my gun collection ... but it's shot more critters, ranging from small to big, and from near to far, than any other rifle I've hunted with.

In the end, I'm not sure it really matters, so long as the rifle fits well and you shoot it well. It's funny how success begets confidence which in turn begets more success. The opposite is true as well.
 
Thanks all.

I have tried some of the others mentioned. Wasn't into the S2. I liked it, solid rifle for the price but nope.
I have some savages and I appreciate them.. Just not looking at adding any more to the rack right now.

I will look into the Steyr. Don't know too much about them.
I do like the Howas as well.

Anyone know where to shop for the Model 70s? I see the Gun dealer in NB has them listed on their site. Anyone have any other Win dealers they use? Cant seem to find any out west, from the site sponsors.
 
I sold my Stevens 200 earlier this year not because it was inaccurate (far from it), but because it was lacking in the je ne sais quoi department. That left me without a 30-06 rifle, an intolerable position (well, except my Garand, but we'll overlook that). But let's back up a little.

When I was 16 my father laid out his hunting rifles on his workbench and gave me, and my brother, our pick of his rifles for my birthday. Oddly enough we both picked 30-06s, him a ABolt Stainless Stalker and me a Sako AIII (can you see the Fudd shining through?). Of course, I decided after a couple of years that I needed more horsepower and traded Dad for his M70 Classic Super Grade 300WM. I never shot the rifle exceedingly well from the bench though it was my primary hunting rifle over the years I spent in the Chilcotin taking my best Mule Deer (stop clapping, I've only shot two) and my first moose (clap now, it was offhand at 300 yards...the first two shots were merely warning messages that the evil was lurking). Eventually Dad's efforts to work up a load and my efforts at becoming a more proficient shooter wore the barrel out and I sent it off to ATRS to be built for LR shooting.

Enter the previously mentioned Stevens. I had moved North and wanted a beater that I could strap on an ATV, throw in a boat or lash to a komatik without breaking down into tears every time I went over a bump. The 300 had a scorched barrel and my only other sporting bolt rifle was my 416 Rigby which I didn't want to treat like a rental car. The Stevens seemed like the perfect candidate. I topped it with the 3-9x Burris that came off the 300WM and started brewing up handloads to test. I was saddened and a little bored to find that the bargain-basement rifle would crowd three 180 grain Partitions into just under a half-inch when I could keep the coffee jitters down. Boring. shot the rifle that way for about 6 years before I sold it. When I jerked the scope off I found that the rear scope mount (I was using Talley Lightweights) was flopping around loose yet the rifle still printed tight groups. This was after numerous trips on the land and 4 physical relocations with all the bumps and bruises associated. I haven't heard from the new owner so the rifle must be chugging right along.

So there I was, with nothing but a Garand and several thousand component bullets that required launching. Now, you might point out that I do have the 300WM as well as a Pre 64 M70 in 300 H&H. This is entirely true. I also have a Savage 308. So I really wasn't gagging for another 30 caliber rifle. But two years ago my brother gave me a framed photo of my father standing with a caribou he had just shot on one of his winter excursions near Yellowknife (remember when there were caribou on the Ingraham Trail and you were allowed to shoot them?). Well the rifle he was holding in that photo was none other than that old AIII that I had picked off the bench 20 years prior. So I hatched a plan. You should always have a plan. Several years ago my brother developed a fetish for the long, tapered king of the medium bores, the 375 H&H. He somehow borrowed the Old Man's Whitworth 375 and had used it for years to shoot such ferocious megafauna as whitetail deer and coyotes. Somehow the rifle had never made it's way back to Saskatchewan and came to reside in the basement of a subdivision home in Southern Calgary. Pops had pretty much quit hunting a few years ago and I seized upon this opportunity, not to sewer my little brother, but to tip the scales of justice back into equilibrium. I suggested to Dad that it might be fair and just to let sleeping 375s lie and to send the old 30-06 out East to live with his firstborn. It took a couple of months but he suggested to me last month that I should have, again, the Sako. Well, Hannibal Smith couldn't have said it better..."I love it when a plan comes together". Now, in the spirit of full disclosure, before I absconded with the '06 I told my brother that it was going to happen. His initial comment was "I somehow feel like I'm getting screwed". Much brotherly reassurance ensued and I convinced him (and I actually believe this to be true) that the two rifles were pretty much of a muchness and that no one was coming out ahead of the other. Dad actually suggested to me that he thought the 375 might be worth more. I'm fine with that. Turns out the Sako (according to it's serial number which I just checked tonight) was likely made in 1978, the same year I was born, and purchased new by my father (probably from Reliable Gun and Tackle in Vancouver). Couple that with the fact that it was his primary hunting rifle for the last few years he hunted in BC and all the time up North until he bought that ABolt, and it was far and away the rifle that I wanted to fill my 30-06 vacancy.

So like Johnn, Clarke and probably a schwack of other folks on this board, I've got an heirloom 30-06 that I'll never part with. I would suggest, senor MackForce, that you search for the same. And if you don't find yourself in a situation where an heirloom is nearby, buy yourself an heirloom that you'd be proud to pass on to your firstborn.

Thus endeth the sermon.
 
Last edited:
BigUglyMan said:
I sold my Stevens 200 earlier this year not because it was inaccurate (far from it), but because it was lacking in the je ne sais quoi department. That left me without a 30-06 rifle, an intolerable position (well, except my Garand, but we'll overlook that). But let's back up a little.

When I was 16 my father laid out his hunting rifles on his workbench and gave me, and my brother, our pick of his rifles for my birthday. Oddly enough we both picked 30-06s, him a ABolt Stainless Stalker and me a Sako AIII (can you see the Fudd shining through?). Of course, I decided after a couple of years that I needed more horsepower and traded Dad for his M700 Classic Super Grade 300WM. I never shot the rifle exceedingly well from the bench though it was my primary hunting rifle over the years I spent in the Chilcotin taking my best Mule Deer (stop clapping, I've only shot two) and my first moose (clap now, it was offhand at 300 yards...the first two shots were merely warning messages that the evil was lurking). Eventually Dad's efforts to work up a load and my efforts at becoming a more proficient shooter wore the barrel out and I sent it off to ATRS to be built for LR shooting.

Enter the previously mentioned Stevens. I had moved North and wanted a beater that I could strap on an ATV, throw in a boat or lash to a komatik without breaking down into tears every time I went over a bump. The 300 had a scorched barrel and my only other sporting bolt rifle was my 416 Rigby which I didn't want to treat like a rental car. The Stevens seemed like the perfect candidate. I topped it with the 3-9x Burris that came off the 300WM and started brewing up handloads to test. I was saddened and a little bored to find that the bargain-basement rifle would crowd three 180 grain Partitions into just under a half-inch when I could keep the coffee jitters down. Boring. shot the rifle that way for about 6 years before I sold it. When I jerked the scope off I found that the rear scope mount (I was using Talley Lightweights) was flopping around loose yet the rifle still printed tight groups. This was after numerous trips on the land and 4 physical relocations with all the bumps and bruises associated. I haven't heard from the new owner so the rifle must be chugging right along.

So there I was, with nothing but a Garand and several thousand component bullets that required launching. Now, you might point out that I do have the 300WM as well as a Pre 64 M70 in 300 H&H. This is entirely true. I also have a Savage 308. So I really wasn't gagging for another 30 caliber rifle. But two years ago my brother gave me a framed photo of my father standing with a caribou he had just shot on one of his winter excursions near Yellowknife (remember when there were caribou on the Ingraham Trail and you were allowed to shoot them?). Well the rifle he was holding in that photo was none other than that old AIII that I had picked off the bench 20 years prior. So I hatched a plan. You should always have a plan. Several years ago my brother developed a fetish for the long, tapered king of the medium bores, the 375 H&H. He somehow borrowed the Old Man's Whitworth 375 and had used it for years to shoot such ferocious megafauna as whitetail deer and coyotes. Somehow the rifle had never made it's way back to Saskatchewan and came to reside in the basement of a subdivision home in Southern Calgary. Pops had pretty much quit hunting a few years ago and I seized upon this opportunity, not to sewer my little brother, but to tip the scales of justice back into equilibrium. I suggested to Dad that it might be fair and just to let sleeping 375s lie and to send the old 30-06 out East to live with his firstborn. It took a couple of months but he suggested to me last month that I should have, again, the Sako. Well, Hannibal Smith couldn't have said it better..."I love it when a plan comes together". Now, in the spirit of full disclosure, before I absconded with the '06 I told my brother that it was going to happen. His initial comment was "I somehow feel like I'm getting screwed". Much brotherly reassurance ensued and I convinced him (and I actually believe this to be true) that the two rifles were pretty much of a muchness and that no one was coming out ahead of the other. Dad actually suggested to me that he thought the 375 might be worth more. I'm fine with that. Turns out the Sako (according to it's serial number which I just checked tonight) was likely made in 1978, the same year I was born, and purchased new by my father (probably from Reliable Gun and Tackle in Vancouver). Couple that with the fact that it was his primary hunting rifle for the last few years he hunted in BC and all the time up North until he bought that ABolt, and it was far and away the rifle that I wanted to fill my 30-06 vacancy.

So like Johnn, Clarke and probably a schwack of other folks on this board, I've got an heirloom 30-06 that I'll never part with. I would suggest, senor MackForce, that you search for the same. And if you don't find yourself in a situation where an heirloom is nearby, buy yourself an heirloom that you'd be proud to pass on to your firstborn.

Thus endeth the sermon.
Click to expand...

Great story.:) Loved it.:rockOn:
 
Of the three rifles you named as possible choices, I d make the following comments.
- Win M70: controlled round feed, good all round rifle
- Tika: best out-of-the-box trigger in this price range, push feed, good all round rifle
- Rem M700: push feed, good all round rifle.

I would pick either a T3 or M70 from the three rifles you suggested but there is no bad choice in the group. They are all capable and reliable rifles.
I would take 30-06 because I like 30-06 and I like shooting heavier bullets. But choosing a 308 wouldn't be a handicap.

Go and handle each of the rifles and you'll know which one you prefer. Internet advice is worth considering but don't let it influence you completely and remember most of the experts on these and other forums learned everything they know on a forum and not behind a rifle. There are notable exceptions to this, of course. Have fun and good luck choosing a rifle.
 
BigUglyMan said:
I sold my Stevens 200 earlier this year not because it was inaccurate (far from it), but because it was lacking in the je ne sais quoi department. That left me without a 30-06 rifle, an intolerable position (well, except my Garand, but we'll overlook that). But let's back up a little.

When I was 16 my father laid out his hunting rifles on his workbench and gave me, and my brother, our pick of his rifles for my birthday. Oddly enough we both picked 30-06s, him a ABolt Stainless Stalker and me a Sako AIII (can you see the Fudd shining through?). Of course, I decided after a couple of years that I needed more horsepower and traded Dad for his M700 Classic Super Grade 300WM. I never shot the rifle exceedingly well from the bench though it was my primary hunting rifle over the years I spent in the Chilcotin taking my best Mule Deer (stop clapping, I've only shot two) and my first moose (clap now, it was offhand at 300 yards...the first two shots were merely warning messages that the evil was lurking). Eventually Dad's efforts to work up a load and my efforts at becoming a more proficient shooter wore the barrel out and I sent it off to ATRS to be built for LR shooting.

Enter the previously mentioned Stevens. I had moved North and wanted a beater that I could strap on an ATV, throw in a boat or lash to a komatik without breaking down into tears every time I went over a bump. The 300 had a scorched barrel and my only other sporting bolt rifle was my 416 Rigby which I didn't want to treat like a rental car. The Stevens seemed like the perfect candidate. I topped it with the 3-9x Burris that came off the 300WM and started brewing up handloads to test. I was saddened and a little bored to find that the bargain-basement rifle would crowd three 180 grain Partitions into just under a half-inch when I could keep the coffee jitters down. Boring. shot the rifle that way for about 6 years before I sold it. When I jerked the scope off I found that the rear scope mount (I was using Talley Lightweights) was flopping around loose yet the rifle still printed tight groups. This was after numerous trips on the land and 4 physical relocations with all the bumps and bruises associated. I haven't heard from the new owner so the rifle must be chugging right along.

So there I was, with nothing but a Garand and several thousand component bullets that required launching. Now, you might point out that I do have the 300WM as well as a Pre 64 M70 in 300 H&H. This is entirely true. I also have a Savage 308. So I really wasn't gagging for another 30 caliber rifle. But two years ago my brother gave me a framed photo of my father standing with a caribou he had just shot on one of his winter excursions near Yellowknife (remember when there were caribou on the Ingraham Trail and you were allowed to shoot them?). Well the rifle he was holding in that photo was none other than that old AIII that I had picked off the bench 20 years prior. So I hatched a plan. You should always have a plan. Several years ago my brother developed a fetish for the long, tapered king of the medium bores, the 375 H&H. He somehow borrowed the Old Man's Whitworth 375 and had used it for years to shoot such ferocious megafauna as whitetail deer and coyotes. Somehow the rifle had never made it's way back to Saskatchewan and came to reside in the basement of a subdivision home in Southern Calgary. Pops had pretty much quit hunting a few years ago and I seized upon this opportunity, not to sewer my little brother, but to tip the scales of justice back into equilibrium. I suggested to Dad that it might be fair and just to let sleeping 375s lie and to send the old 30-06 out East to live with his firstborn. It took a couple of months but he suggested to me last month that I should have, again, the Sako. Well, Hannibal Smith couldn't have said it better..."I love it when a plan comes together". Now, in the spirit of full disclosure, before I absconded with the '06 I told my brother that it was going to happen. His initial comment was "I somehow feel like I'm getting screwed". Much brotherly reassurance ensued and I convinced him (and I actually believe this to be true) that the two rifles were pretty much of a muchness and that no one was coming out ahead of the other. Dad actually suggested to me that he thought the 375 might be worth more. I'm fine with that. Turns out the Sako (according to it's serial number which I just checked tonight) was likely made in 1978, the same year I was born, and purchased new by my father (probably from Reliable Gun and Tackle in Vancouver). Couple that with the fact that it was his primary hunting rifle for the last few years he hunted in BC and all the time up North until he bought that ABolt, and it was far and away the rifle that I wanted to fill my 30-06 vacancy.

So like Johnn, Clarke and probably a schwack of other folks on this board, I've got an heirloom 30-06 that I'll never part with. I would suggest, senor MackForce, that you search for the same. And if you don't find yourself in a situation where an heirloom is nearby, buy yourself an heirloom that you'd be proud to pass on to your firstborn.

Thus endeth the sermon.
Click to expand...

Thanks Big.

I was thinking something along those lines. As a $3000-5000 set up is not in the cards right now, I felt this hunting rifle would be the keeper. I think I will go Win 70 this time around and start there.

Thanks for the insight.
 
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