too many options

[jason_iowa]

I would like to get a 30 cal high powered rifle. Around $1k after scope. Prefer bolt action. Capable of 800 yard shots. Something big enough for moose and elk but not to big for midwest deer. Can I do all that with one rifle in or around that price range? If so what brands and rounds should I be shopping for. 300 win mag and up gets pretty costly to shoot. 30-06 and 308 to small for moose and elk??

Thanks in advance

 

[Jim243]

Ahaaa, the age old question "is my gun big enough". This is going to be a personal choice question, some will say get the bigger gun and some will say get what you can shoot well.

Hunting is about getting the shot in the right place (shot placement) and using a bullet that will work well for the range and animal you are taking.

Everything else is hype and advertising. Do you need a 300 Win Mag - NO. Do you want a 300 Win Mag -Most likely.

It is expensive to shoot and the recoil will limit your use of the weapon. A 30-06 will kock down anything in north america that you can hit and has a very good selection of bullets to use.(you did say 30 cal)

If you are leaning toward the 308, I would suggest you look at a 270 Win in my opinion a much better caliber to shoot.

As to accurate rifles (again in my opinion) Savage with the Accutrigger is the only way to go and you will have plenty of dollars left over for a good scope.

Good Luck and Shoot Straight
Jim

 

[jmr40]

The 308, 30-06, and 300 mags all shoot the same bullets, just to faster velocities. Any of of them will kill anything in North America. You will just have to limit your range a little bit more with the 308, than the 300 mag.

The 30-06 would be a great compromise and would be my choice as about the perfect all round cartridge. Recoil is tolerable and it will do anthing the 300's will do on the larger game. The 300's will only give you an advntage if you are planning to shoot at ranges of 500 yards or more.

I'd pick a Wincester 70 Extreme Weather in 30-06 with a Zeiss Conquest 3-9X scope as the perfect out of the box do anything North American rifle. That rifle/scope combination is a little over your budget. If $1,000 is a hard line that cannot be crossed, I'd buy the rifle, put a less expensive scope on it for now and upgrade the scope later.

 

[Art Eatman]

I bought a Weatherby Mark V in 1970 in .30-'06. I got the option with the #2 profile, 26" barrel. My handloads seemingly ran a couple of hundred feet per second faster than most published numbers, due to the longer barrel. While I have never shot beyond 500 yards, I've been able to shoot sub-MOA groups.

Aside from my own deer killing, on loan to a friend it accounted for an elk.

Bunches of hunters kill elk with .308s. Quite a few people compete successfully with the .308 in 1,000-yard competition.

Yeah, the .300 Win Mag will do a tad better, but it's much less pleasant to shoot from the bench or from prone position. Not nearly as much fun, and not that much higher a percentage in actual performance.

I go along with jmr40's comment about buying a good rifle which fits--adding that a long barrel is desirable--and a decent scope. Yeah, you can always upgrade the optics.

After all, it takes a good bit of learning to be skilled at shots of 400 yards and more...

I know from experience on my range that 10X is plenty good for 500 yards.