Guy at the gunshop said its Too much of a rifle for me...

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4V50 Gary: I translate that as I don't have it in stock but let me sell you something else.
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Very good Gary. I'm happy that someone finally figured it out!! "Its not what I think!! or you should!!"-- Its about the OP and his wants and his disgust having to put up with a disappointing counter person that had upset him. Enough to make him not want to purchase that day. His ambition to purchase was crushed!! by someones insulting behavior. Op's Sales person used the excuse that this OPs physical build doesn't qualify him for ownership let alone the cost of its ammo. No one should be treated in a place of business that way. Physical build or appearance is not a requirement in the 2nd. Amendment of the Constitution. The OP came here for support. Did WE support him or that obnoxious store salesman's behavior or our own ideas and beliefs. 4V50 is probably more closer to the truth than all the rest of us.
Cudo's for Gary. :)
 
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Slappy

Ive never fired a 300 Win Mag with a break, but have been around one being fired, I was put off by the noise.
I do admit however that the 300 Win Mag has more potential for long range shooting than my Belovid .308. Ive nothing against the cartridge.
If the OP feels that this is the cartridge, that He/or She wants, Im all for it.
If I lived in a type of terrain that offered extreem distance shots, I may be an advocate for the 300 Win Mag, but in the area I live East Texas, trying to find a shot place to shoot like that is difficult today I had my daughter and a young friend, and 187 Yards was as far as we could get a safe shot.
My Young friend can hit a Paper Plate regularly with his 270 Win at that range.
I hit the paper plate at 133 Yards with my muzzle Loader, and with our 8x57 Mauser.
Then we shot .22 Rimfire.:)
 
Ive never fired a 300 Win Mag with a break, but have been around one being fired, I was put off by the noise.
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I agree 100% about the noise level. My brother in law hunts with one with no hearing protection. Like most brother in laws though, he is a little crazy. :) I think you would be surprised though by the mild recoil, especially in that heavy a rifle. I am in the same boat as you are as far as long distance shooting. The longest shot I have ever made hunting in Georgia was 176 yards and she was DRT with a M700 in .270. I have been hunting for the last 10 years with a .243 and have never failed to bring home the meat with a little 100gr Remington Core Lokt.
 
Physical build is not a requirement in the 2nd. Amendment of the Constitution.
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Really? Ya think? Of course, this wasn't a 2nd amendment issue. So why are you bringing up the 2nd amendment?

Op's Sales person used the excuse that his physical build doesn't qualify him for ownership let alone the cost of its ammo.
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This didn't occur either.

The sales guy was trying to be helpful with a customer who wasn't experienced. It is that simple. He was trying to help him make a better purchase decision. In no way did he refuse to sell him a rifle or proclaim that the guy wasn't qualified to have it.

That the suggestion that the caliber might be too much for the OP being enough to intimidate him does indicate a definite lack of familiarity with the caliber. The counter guy might not have been too far off the mark.
 
For the OP, I have a young friend of mine and my Sons, that has a Mossberg Bolt Action in 270 Its not an expensive rifle, but has a very nice crisp trigger, and at almost 200 yards he was able to regularly center punch a paper plate.
Actually 187 Yards. But the precision in inwhich he could hit led me to believe that his rifle would be perfectly capable at much longer ranges.
The recoil was mild and the muzzle blast was bearable.
This might be a good choice for long range shooting as well.
 
Thankfully someone finally used the "F" word. Flinch! Develop that and you won't hit a thing and the rifle will end up sitting in the closet. You do not yet know your tolerence for recoil. The guy at the gun shop was trying to do you a favor. Forget all the macho bull. At the least try someone elses 300 before you invest that much money in one. If you enjoy shooting it, then by all means go for it.
 
I read the first page and a half and then skipped to the end...as always you'll hear a million opinions on if the caliber is to much for you or not...who cares, if its what you want, get it.

I would suggest that (if you haven't already) study longe range shooting in depth before wasting $$$$$ slinging ammo down range trying to walk in every shot. I would invest in flags, and most important keep a log book.

Buy it, shoot it, love it!
 
For a salesman, his people skills are lacking.

'That's too much gun for you."

vs.

"I recommend starting with a smaller caliber and then working your way up."

I'm not really talking about the pros and cons of the theories for/against it. The "salesman" just worded it in what sounds like to me an arrogant tone.
 
Achilles11B

It could be, but it may also be that the Salesman, was messin with Him/Her just a little, and the OP may be overly sensitive. I know the crew I work with would hurt normal peoples feelings, unintentionally. Ofcourse, that is indicitive of bad people skills, its best to learn who can take a joke, and when joking turns to harrasment, and so forth. There is a reason Men dont drive to a shoe sale together talking about their feelings. :D
 
Why not get a 6.5 creedmoor or .260? Same trajectory as the .300, just a lot less recoil, cheaper to shoot and reload for. If you're just punching paper then the 6.5 would do the same job. A good rifle and pretty good scope could be yours for the price of just that rifle. Hornady puts their reloading data on the boxes of their ammo, so you could buy a pretty good reloading set-up and a decent amount of ammo (for the practice and brass) with that $800-1500 you saved on gun/scope combo. So for the $2500-$3000ish you'd of spent on a rifle and scope, you have rifle, scope, reloading set-up, and about $300 worth of bullets. That'd be around 10 boxes, or 200 bullets depending on how hard you looked. The 6.5M creedmoor was designed for 1000m shooting, is easy to reload, has very little kick or muzzle blast, and a near identical trajectory to the .300 win mag. Which means if you still want that beast later you can get it and all your training/practice will carry over. Even your dope sheets/holdovers would be almost the same.

I had a rem 700SPSS, it was the first gun I ever bought myself (admittedly, no break) shot it 17 times. (still have those last 3 rounds). Went to pick up a can of coke and couldn't lift it. Also gave me a horrible flinch. And I was a fairly experienced shooter. Been in the army a few years, trained in long range shooting, trained on the M14 with the dadgum steel butt plate. That .300 was just brutal. I think I weighed about 140lbs at the time.

If you have you mind made up, just get the gun you want. Maybe it'll work out great for you.
 
Odd...
I read the initial post, and don't see .300WM mentioned. But, that's where the thread went. Musta missed something...

I was at the 1000 yard range two weeks ago, one shooter had his .300WM and he was done (his words) after 30 rounds.

So my $.02 is this:

"Flinch"- anticipating recoil- is a BAD habit- and once you have it, very difficult to break. If any caliber will give a new shooter a flinch problem, it's the .300WM.
If you really feel you need to go that route, get a brake on it.

For new shooters-especially at the long range game, there is NO substitution for trigger time. The .300WM is very expensive to shoot- even if you handload (that's a crapload of powder being burned at every shot), and you're likely not going to be able to send 100 rounds downrange at a sitting.

Last, because of all these factors, and the fact that you're "only" shooting to 1000 yards, there are MANY calibers that will perform very well at that distance, with lower cost, far more comfort, and greater barrel life.

Personally, for a "first" rifle- and long range one at that- get a .260 Remington if you are going to handload, or a .308 if you are not.

You biggest concern at this point is shooting as much as you can. It takes a lot of trigger time/practice to dope the wind and shoot accurately at 1000 yards- not to mention that you have not even begun to learn proper shooting form and trigger control.

Walk, before you run.
 
I would start small and work your way up.....If you start off with a large caliber,you might get lucky and make out great...Having never shot a long range rifle,you will be lucky to hit paper at 500 yards let alone 1,000.....I think as well the guy was trying to help you,but used a bad choice of words....You aren't used to shooting so if you buy that large of a caliber,touch it off and it spooks you you will have a huge tendancy to flinch after that first or second shot,and once you develop a tendancy to flinch it is a VERY hard habit to break....Having said that I also support your idea for buying the rifle,it's your money afterall,I am a go-for-it guy myself and like a challenge so if that it what you want have at it and let us know how you make out....:) Just my 2 cents....
 
My suggestion for the OP is to read through all this thread and then begin a new thread with some information about existing knowledge and experience in shooting rifles.
 
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