Hi All,
This old thread again!
Just thought I'd let you know that I've finally got the hunting rifle I was after (Yay!
).
It's a Remington 700 SPS stainless/synthetic in .308 with a Weaver V9 3-9x38mm scope. It came as a package and I may upgrade the scope to a Leupold when dollars allow, but I think Weaver is a pretty good make.
I picked it up today and haven't had a chance to fire it yet, but will do in a few days, when I'm back at work.
Needless to say - I'm well chuffed!
Thanks for all the input to this thread guys. :You_Rock_
Cheers,
J
That's a good rifle choice. I've hunted a lot of game since I was a young kid using a wide variety of firearms and other weapons. For years my favorite has been a .308 custom built on a 98 Mauser action. It's a very versatile round if you have a well built and accurate rifle. It has the range and power that in the hands of a good shot and modern ammo you can kill game as big as elk. I liked it's range versus other popular American rounds, like the .30-30. Out in places like Arizona you have the opportunity to get in long range shots which are rare in other locations.
You seem new to using a scoped centerfire out in the field. If I may suggest, I've always liked Butler Creek flip up scope covers and good, US military style sling (also useful as a shooting aid).
I know that in places like NZ, pistols are more restricted than in the US. When out in the field in the US when I have larger bore centerfire rifle, I've preferred when I could to also carry a stainless, Ruger MkII .22LR caliber pistol with a 4-3/4" barrel and fixed sights. Those pistols are the proverbial Timex watch of firearms. Extremely accurate and virtually indestructible to everything from immersion, human sweat, dropping from a moving vehicle, you name it.
I've also done a lot of hunting with other firearms, like the 5.56mm AR-15 and the 5.56mm Ruger Mini-14. Both work great on game like deer and javelina but not at the ranges you can nail them with a .308 at. However, you hit a mule deer in the head with a 5.56mm AR-15 at 200m and you'll blow the opposite side of it's head off.
I've also hunted with my Kalashnikov's, but I've only had one, a 7.62x39mm Chinese Polytech AKM that was really accurate enough for my tastes. Military style AKM's can vary wildly on their accuracy, depending greatly upon where they were made at. Most are not that accurate. For hunting with 7.62x39mm, European or American ammo is the best, but I have known people who were short on resources and needed the meat, to bring down deer with their $75 SKS and a single round of el-cheapo Chinese military FMJ ammo.
As with anything, it's shot placement and the skill of the hunter that matter above all else. For example, I've seen footage of an Eskimo in Alaska kill a whale from shore with a Browning BLR lever action rifle, which was an impressive feat (he said that the timing was to catch it on the inhale so the carcass wouldn't sink). One of the most reknown elephant hunters of colonial Africa killed a lot of his elephants with a 6.5x54mm Mannlicher-Schönauer, not exactly what many would consider a stereotypical 'elephant gun'. In the eastern US 100 years ago, a .32-20 was considered an adequate deer cartridge. I know several people that have killed many deer with a .22LR or a .22 Hornet. I know for a first hand fact that you can kill a deer with a .22LR pistol if you are a skilled hunter and a good shot.
The AR-15 is a real tack driver. Due to it's lack of an op-rod and it's Swedish designed direct impingement gas system, is an extremely accurate rifle for an automatic. The inherent accuracy of a properly built AR-15 and AR-10 approaches or equals that of a bolt action rifle.
I've also hunted with more primitive weapons like black powder and bow and arrow, and both can get you into the field for an extra season each in many states.
I really like the 6.5x55mm Swede, which wasn't too popular here in the States until the Swedish military adopted a version of the 5.56mm FNC and moved their 7.62mm HK G3 rifles into reserve. They then dumped the bulk of their entire 6.5x55mm reserve arsenal into the US commercial market and you could get a pristine condition, 100 year old M96 Mauser in 6.5x55mm for a low as $35 at one point of the surplus rifle tidal wave during the early to mid 90's (Swedes, Mosin Nagants, various Mausers, Brit & Aussie .303's, you name it, it came in). They were so cheap that I got introduced to the round when a buddy of mine just gave me a spare M96 that he had laying around simply to prove his point on accurate that they were.
Nowadays a round that's growing in popularity in the States is the .260 Remington, which is a .308 necked down to 6.5mm. The 6.5x55mm Swede introduced to a wide variety of shooters in US to the fact that 6.5mm bullets are in a ballistic sweet spot. The .260 Remington was an old, homemade wildcat round, the 6.5-08, that Remington adopted as a standard factory cartridge in 1997.
The .260Rem has almost identical ballistics to the 6.5x55mm but it can be chambered in the popular short actions, which the 6.5x55mm cannot. In fact, any rifle made for the .308 can be made to fire the .260 with just a barrel change. It's also common for the .260 to be loaded a tad hotter than the 6.5x55mm.
Ballistically the .260 has it all over the .308, and it's gaining wide acceptence in the long range marksmanship competitions. The .260 has the punch of a .308, the recoil of a .243, and the ballistic trajectory of the .300 WinMag. You can also make the brass if you have to out of .308 or .243 brass.
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