should i buy a m305? or something else, give me your knowledge!

I can so relate to your post Derek LOL
The love/hate relationship with these rifles and the compulsive disorder that consumes me hahaha

As for hunting, I've trimmed down a rifle to 18.5" and into a collapseable composite stock and she's not too heavy to carry. In fact, not much heavier than a couple of my other "hunting rifles".
I've NEVER in my life reloaded for these rifles and in over 2 decades shooting these rifles have had zero issues with federal powershok 150 gr and vital shok 168gr (or is it 165?)
And as a bonus, both make for fine hunting ammo for the 4 legged critters ;)
 
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45ACPKING said:
Do yourself a favour and buy a bolt gun for deer.
An m305 for a hobby.... That you may or may not hunt with.
Some might be surprised at that response from me but I'm just tryin to keep it real for the new guy ;) (to the m305)
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Fabulous advice. I'm rocking a .260 in an M700 Remmy platform for deer and moose rifle this coming season. My M25 LRB is heavy with a Leupold Mark 4 LR/T 3.5 x 10 x 40mm M1 turrets, but it will be my back up rifle. I keep a Marlin 336 for a second back up around our hunt camp. The M25 LRB will be set up with Hornady 150 gr SST's. The Marlin is shooting Winnie 150 gr round nose factory loads, and they shoot well out of the 336 barrel.

Back to 45ACPKing's advice... keep the bolt gun for your primary go-to hunter. Keep the M305 for poops and giggles and hobbies and later when you are finished with your tweaking, then feel free like many other M305 owners to use it for you primary deer or moose or quad or truck or bear or zombie rifle! :)

It's so easy to get your bolt and optics combination shooting well compared to getting / coaxing / tweaking / cajoling your M305 into a reliable / accurate/ trustworthy rig. Well, my Remmy 700 in .260 sure was easy to dial in! So was it's scope that's a Leupold Mark 4 4.5 x 14 x 40mm with target turrets, 30mm tube with ARMS #22 rings.

Here it is all ready (just unscrew the bipod) for deer / moose season. And yes it's a switch barrel, so I also have 22-250, .308, and .223 capability.... :cool:




Here's the voice(s) of a couple of M14 geeks speaking for the bolt gun! :wave: And remember that we really do love our M14 rifles. Hey, maybe I should hunt with my Beretta M1 Garand... :eek:


Cheers,
Barney
 
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45ACPKING said:
Do yourself a favour and buy a bolt gun for deer.
An m305 for a hobby.... That you may or may not hunt with.
Some might be surprised at that response from me but I'm just tryin to keep it real for the new guy ;) (to the m305)
Click to expand...

Heh, going to chime in and agree here.

M305 is a good rifle (ignore the Norinco haters), but it's a hobby rifle. It isn't a SHTF rifle, there are better options, it isn't a hunting rifle, there are better options, it isn't a DMR without a lot of work on it, there are better options.

Can it be made to do all those things? Yes. But in any given category, there are better options.

I'd call the M14 platform, in general, the rifle that can become a "one rifle" rifle, after years of using it and getting to know it inside and out. But starting out? You're better off with a good solid bolt action, that's accurate and reliable out of the box. You'll master the bolt gun much more quickly, and it will do Yeoman service for you while you build up the skills and knowledge base of the M14/M305 needed to run it effectively, and modify it to suit your needs.
 
My favorite thing to do with my rifles of this type is what we call "ground skeet" LOL
Usually played with the kids and to unwind once the meat is down in hunt camp.

Find a good shootin spot with some gradual slope up into a good backstop and randomly disperse orange clays within sightline. We also will put markers out at each 50 yard increment.
Then, it's standing position only for the shooter and we all sit back and call clays for the shooter to hit.
Fun times ;)
Sometimes we mix it up with some tannerite hehehe
I also enjoy hunting occasionally with mine ;)
 
Shooting benchrest can be frustrating when getting 3 or 4 MOA after some accuracy tune up...
but when I brought one of my friend to the range and decided to shoot offhand at the milk jug it was a blast.
 
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Got mine back when they had the $599 m305/520rnd deal. Not sure if I'd buy it again. So heavy even to the range compare to a bolt.
Great fun for sending clays everywhere but can't see lugging it around hunting.
 
I guess these rifles are really hit or miss but I love mine. That being said, I dropped a shwack of cash on modding it. USGI gas system, SAI muzzle brake, NM spring guide, USGI stock, USGI rear sights, ARMS 18 mount, Leupy Mark IV 3.5-10 M1 in ARMS 22 rings, tac mag and bolt release. Other than the spring guide, I don't think any of those mods really did much for accuracy. The things I learned from Barney(Hungry) and Thomas(45acpking) are what tightened her up: peening the barrel where the oprod guide sits, indexing the barrel, relieving the hand guard so it doesn't contact the stock, stiffening up the stock with fibreglass, all the stuff you learn at the clinics and on this forum. Also, reloading is key. With the loads she likes, I'll consistently be around the 1.5MOA at 100 mark with precision bullets (Amax or BTHPs). With bulk SPs, more like 2ish MOA. No tac driver out of the box for sure but super fun to tinker with and quite the obsession, I must admit. Have one of 45ACPking's awesome stocks inbound and a being kit from Brownell's, gonna see what else I can wring out of her before I pick up a new bolt and med weight barrel.
 
bdiddlez said:
hey guys,

I'm wanting a semi auto, in a caliber that is north american and can be used for hunting deer as a minimum. something as close to an AR kinda rifle (price is a big factor) so far all I can find for 1,000 or under is the m305

are these hard to get minute of deer vitals at 200 yrd?

I reload, but wondering if there is still cheap surplus kickin around (plinking rounds)

will the upgrades i will need to the m305 nickle and dime me to the point I should just buy a robinson xcr?

my gun smithing skills are shmeh....as in i can take things apart and put them back together no prob, but never tried much else except the odd trigger job.

let me know i look forward to your answers
Click to expand...

You have to decide what you want to do. The M305, right out of the box, is a piker's gun. (I'm sorry fellas...but it IS). Those guns have to be tweaked by somebody that knows what they're doing to shoot. I live in Alberta and the M14 gurus were too far away to do me any good so I bit the bullet and bought the M1A match gun - they were a smidge over $2K back then.

I might get egged for this too but - the M14 really isn't meant to be scoped. Oh sure, the boys at M14.CA make bullet proof mounts and any number of manufacturers offer top quality glass...but then you need to raise your cheek rest and some methods of doing that are pretty hokey. Even after all the tweaking and tuning...very few of these guns will go under MOA. If you haven't got a good bolt gun now is the time to buy one.

And - after having said all that...I scoped my M1A, got rid of my deer guns and have gone into semi-retirement with the Springfield. This gun has romance, character ... and soul. It is the perfect rifle for the crabby old fart with bad eyes making his last stand, or for the sharp eyed senior sportsman pottering about in formal high power rifle matches.

It is a niche gun and not for everyone.
 
rugbydave said:
I guess these rifles are really hit or miss but I love mine. That being said, I dropped a shwack of cash on modding it. USGI gas system, SAI muzzle brake, NM spring guide, USGI stock, USGI rear sights, ARMS 18 mount, Leupy Mark IV 3.5-10 M1 in ARMS 22 rings, tac mag and bolt release. Other than the spring guide, I don't think any of those mods really did much for accuracy. The things I learned from Barney(Hungry) and Thomas(45acpking) are what tightened her up: peening the barrel where the oprod guide sits, indexing the barrel, relieving the hand guard so it doesn't contact the stock, stiffening up the stock with fibreglass, all the stuff you learn at the clinics and on this forum. Also, reloading is key. With the loads she likes, I'll consistently be around the 1.5MOA at 100 mark with precision bullets (Amax or BTHPs). With bulk SPs, more like 2ish MOA. No tac driver out of the box for sure but super fun to tinker with and quite the obsession, I must admit. Have one of 45ACPking's awesome stocks inbound and a being kit from Brownell's, gonna see what else I can wring out of her before I pick up a new bolt and med weight barrel.
Click to expand...

Just what the heck is wrong with 2" groups.
 
TacticalTeacher said:
Fabulous advice. I'm rocking a .260 in an M700 Remmy platform for deer and moose rifle this coming season. My M25 LRB is heavy with a Leupold Mark 4 LR/T 3.5 x 10 x 40mm M1 turrets, but it will be my back up rifle. I keep a Marlin 336 for a second back up around our hunt camp. The M25 LRB will be set up with Hornady 150 gr SST's. The Marlin is shooting Winnie 150 gr round nose factory loads, and they shoot well out of the 336 barrel.

Back to 45ACPKing's advice... keep the bolt gun for your primary go-to hunter. Keep the M305 for poops and giggles and hobbies and later when you are finished with your tweaking, then feel free like many other M305 owners to use it for you primary deer or moose or quad or truck or bear or zombie rifle! :)

It's so easy to get your bolt and optics combination shooting well compared to getting / coaxing / tweaking / cajoling your M305 into a reliable / accurate/ trustworthy rig. Well, my Remmy 700 in .260 sure was easy to dial in! So was it's scope that's a Leupold Mark 4 4.5 x 14 x 40mm with target turrets, 30mm tube with ARMS #22 rings.

Here it is all ready (just unscrew the bipod) for deer / moose season. And yes it's a switch barrel, so I also have 22-250, .308, and .223 capability.... :cool:




Here's the voice(s) of a couple of M14 geeks speaking for the bolt gun! :wave: And remember that we really do love our M14 rifles. Hey, maybe I should hunt with my Beretta M1 Garand... :eek:


Cheers,
Barney
Click to expand...

That is one cool looking hunting rifle.
 
My M305 shoots minute of deer and moose out of the box with just a scope and mount installed. Although Barney told me that I lucked out on my trigger. Guess it's got a better pull than the typical 305 out of the box.
 
My da socom 18 was fairly squared away. I drop it in a bf stock and a m14. Ca op tod spring guide to get 1.3 moa with Remington accutip 168 gr.
 
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