New hunting rifle $3000 or less??

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Dogeman

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Look at buying an X-Bolt Pro tungsten in 30-06. Loved my other xbolt, is the pro much of an upgrade?

Is there a different gun I should be looking at?

Looking to go with a Swaro Z5 or Z6 with a BT.

Trying to have the best all around rig for under $5k.

Is spending near $3k not really getting much more in return over a $1k xbolt?

Really would appreciate some feedback.
 
Under $3000 I'd be going with a Model 70 personally. But If wood's not your thing, then nothing wrong with an X-bolt, or something like a Tikka t3x.
 
In new rifles, I am really partial to Tikka T3x... they will do everything you need. If plastic is not your thing, and if you like old school quality, have a look at Sako 85. Based on what I know now, I would also have a look at the myriad of very nice rifles being sold on EE (you'll still have to sift through the fodder). I picked up a Brno model 21H, added a nice piece of made-in-Japan Bushnell glass, and treated myself to some colour case hardening, some new bluing, and a custom leather buttstock cover. It all came to just under $3000 (that price includes 120 rounds of commercial ammo, 2 sets of rings and 40 pieces of quality brass), and it is just perfect for me. I am also upgrading to Z5 glass as well, and that will still leave me under $4000.
 
I'll bet that of the hundreds of thousands of game animals killed over the years by every single member of CGN, very very few were killed by +$3000 guns. Maybe a few thousand? Most hunters start with very simple, reliable, and serviceable rifles and shotguns. Few ever have to disposable income to afford a +$3000 firearm.

Think of your question this way. Hunting guns with handtools. Sometimes the tool store has hammers with beautiful sleek, varnished hardwood handles. The heads are magnificent and well balanced. They swing beautifully. But two aisles over are 16oz forged steel claw hammers with fibreglass handles or even tubular steel handles. Which would you prefer to drop out of a canoe, or scuff slipping on a wet rock, or scrape on a black spruce tree trunk? Yup, the second ones. My preferred hunting guns are rugged and reliable. I want them to go bang every time. I want them to trouble free and worry free.
 
I would be looking for a quality rifle in a stable synthetic stock. This is simply for a more complete effort to weather resistance and resistance to scuffing and dings to the stock. This rifle would be a true 1 MOA rifle. Meaning in the right hands it actually shoots well within the MOA marker with the chosen load. It would have solid ring and base combo with a variable power optic in the lower end of the power range. This would look like a 1-8, 2-10, 4-12 being high end (for me). This keeps good close quarter or bush hinting capabilities while being able to stretch out easily for long range shots.

My current set up reflects this. It’s a Sako black bear in .308, topped with a 2.5- 10 Nightforce sitting in Leupold QD rings. In my opinion these are two reliable platforms proving to be adequately accurate, quite rugged and a reasonable weight. Completely loaded up ... bipod, cheek saddle, minor service parts in cheek pouch, loaded mag and the three spare rounds in the saddle is 10.1 lbs. it can be stripped down to under 8 pounds loaded or optic dropped for iron sight use.

You can easily accomplish 80% of what I have here for less than half the budget. I simply picked what felt best in my hands within the windows of what I was looking for.
 
I hunt with a guy who has on average of 6k into most of his "hunting" rifles. Seemed like alot to me, but then I remembered he makes 500k a year.

I love my Winchester model 70 and it's mauser action.
 
The way I look at this is if you like your current X-Bolt, then go ahead and upgrade to the Pro Tungsten.
I think that rifle combined with a Swaro Z5 or Z6 would be a great package.
Decide for yourself as you will hear all sorts of other's personal preferences. You do you...
 
Personally I feel like once you hit around the $1500 mark for a hunting rifle you're mostly paying for style and fit and finish(competition target grade is a different story..). Modern CNC machining has really narrowed the accuracy window between high and low end rifles. Same goes for glass. As long as you're keeping it at hunting magnifications, anything after $1000 you're not really gaining much unless you have some really damned good eyes.
 
That’s pretty true except for the optics part. For optical clarity, maybe true, but internally ...They do matter if you use turrets and move the magnifying and focus around a lot. Not meaning that to be a “typical hunting optic”. If it did all over again, id be putting a 1500.00 optic on a 500.00 rifle and be happy about it. The rifle can be tuned in various cheap ways to get accuracy out of it (bedding, trigger, load) the optic simply cannot.
 
Thanks for the feedback so far everyone.

I really love the feel of my xbolt stainless stalker. It has a swaro z3 mounted.

All the hunting I’ve done has been spot and stalk, no shots from under 280 yards. Lots of steep climbing.

I wanted to upgrade just the scope at first for a little more magnifications and a ballistic turret. Then I figured if I did that, maybe I should look at an upgraded rifle. I am fortunate to have some disposable income to spend on a new gun but I’m relatively inexperienced with the nitty gritty of the rifle world. I should be clear that I have a top end comfort range of $3k for the rifle alone, optic separate.

I have seen a bit of rust forming on my bolt also so this is another reason I was leaning towards something with a cerakote. I know I could solve this with a bit more regular maintenance but hey I’m a little lazy and honest with myself!

I did shoulder the Tikka when I first bought my xbolt but I preferred the feel of the latter. Is the Sako basically a fancier tikka?

Keep the advice coming!
 
Dogeman said:
Thanks for the feedback so far everyone.

I really love the feel of my xbolt stainless stalker. It has a swaro z3 mounted.

All the hunting I’ve done has been spot and stalk, no shots from under 280 yards. Lots of steep climbing.

I wanted to upgrade just the scope at first for a little more magnifications and a ballistic turret. Then I figured if I did that, maybe I should look at an upgraded rifle. I am fortunate to have some disposable income to spend on a new gun but I’m relatively inexperienced with the nitty gritty of the rifle world. I should be clear that I have a top end comfort range of $3k for the rifle alone, optic separate.

I have seen a bit of rust forming on my bolt also so this is another reason I was leaning towards something with a cerakote. I know I could solve this with a bit more regular maintenance but hey I’m a little lazy and honest with myself!

I did shoulder the Tikka when I first bought my xbolt but I preferred the feel of the latter. Is the Sako basically a fancier tikka?

Keep the advice coming!
Click to expand...

Tikka has been owned and run by sako since the early 80's. Either company will have some really good light rifles that are close to if not better then the Xbolt. They are also now part of the Beretta Holding company. Honestly if you like your Xbolt there is no reason not to get another one, other then it's nice too have different kinds of firearms in the safe.
 
Dogeman said:
Thanks for the feedback so far everyone.

I really love the feel of my xbolt stainless stalker. It has a swaro z3 mounted.

All the hunting I’ve done has been spot and stalk, no shots from under 280 yards. Lots of steep climbing.

I wanted to upgrade just the scope at first for a little more magnifications and a ballistic turret. Then I figured if I did that, maybe I should look at an upgraded rifle. I am fortunate to have some disposable income to spend on a new gun but I’m relatively inexperienced with the nitty gritty of the rifle world. I should be clear that I have a top end comfort range of $3k for the rifle alone, optic separate.

I have seen a bit of rust forming on my bolt also so this is another reason I was leaning towards something with a cerakote. I know I could solve this with a bit more regular maintenance but hey I’m a little lazy and honest with myself!

I did shoulder the Tikka when I first bought my xbolt but I preferred the feel of the latter. Is the Sako basically a fancier tikka?

Keep the advice coming!
Click to expand...

I looked at the Tikka Bautte when checking out my black bear. It was almost as good. To be honest, my true selling was that the Sako action had a wee bit less “slop” in it and the stock felt awesome comparatively. There were clear differences in the way each rifle accomplished what is essentially, the same purpose. I think you could easily buy a Tikka and be happy with it, and maybe wonder what the Sako would be like. I seriously doubt wether you’d buy the Sako and be wondering what your missing with the tikka.....

If that makes any sense to you.

With your budget, there are many many opportunities.
 
Before you do anything, go shoulder a Kimber Montana 84L. If your doing lots of steep climbing, you need to check these rifles out. Both are super light for mountain hunting. Another rifle to look at is a Barret Fieldcraft. You can find both these rifle's on Precision Optics website.
 
Dogeman said:
Look at buying an X-Bolt Pro tungsten in 30-06. Loved my other xbolt, is the pro much of an upgrade?

Is there a different gun I should be looking at?

Looking to go with a Swaro Z5 or Z6 with a BT.

Trying to have the best all around rig for under $5k.

Is spending near $3k not really getting much more in return over a $1k xbolt?

Really would appreciate some feedback.
Click to expand...

You can't BUY anything GOOD for that little money ! Time to get a loan ! jmo RJ

Gunwerks.com
 
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