npaden
Well-known member
Okay, I'm looking into buying a new rifle.
Background:
I've had my Browning A-Bolt for 8 years now and it has performed well for me in that time. I've taken 6 bull elk, 4 mule deer bucks, 4 whitetail bucks, a couple antelope bucks, a mountain goat and several pigs and coyotes with it. Before this weekend I had only pulled the trigger once with it on a big game animal and missed, and that was an elk that I thought was 400 yards away but after shooting and missing I actually used my range finder and found out that the elk had actually been 550 yards away.
Last week I shot at and missed a good whitetail buck that was 250 yards away with a 20+ mph wind looking into a setting sun. The buck had been moving and stopped and I probably rushed the shot a little. Not an "easy" shot, but one that I fully expect to make all day every day. I felt good at the shot, but after looking for a down or fatally wounded deer ahead of where I had shot, instead I saw him standing there looking at me. Then before I could shoot again he trotted off. I did a grid search at the shot location and the entire section of my property and didn't see a drop of blood or any indication that I had hit him.
I took the rifle home and shot off a 100 yard bench and the first shot was 3" high and 3" right. I thought that might explain the miss, adjusted 12 clicks down and 12 clicks left and shot 2 more shots. They were 1" low and 3" left. That left me scratching my head, so I clicked 12 clicks back to the right and 4 clicks up. Shot 2 shots and both were good left to right but one was 4" high and one was 1" high. Shot more more shot without adjusting the scope and it was right next to the 4" high one. Clicked it down 8 clicks and fired off one last shot thinking that would be 2" high at 100 yards and we would call it good. Nope, it hit 1" low and 3" left.
The barrel was a bit warm for that last shot, but it sure left me scratching my head. I'll get back out there and shoot again sometime this week and hopefully it will be good enough to let me take it back to see if I can find that whitetail again this weekend, but this has helped me to decide to really look into a new rifle. At it's best I haven't been able to get the A-Bolt to group much better than 1 1/2 MOA. My Rock River Arms AR15 will shoot 1/2 MOA so I don't think it is all me although I'm sure that is part of it.
So, if I go to buy a new gun, what should I get?
I am thinking a .300 WSM for an all around rifle good for pretty much everything in North America including bear. My A-Bolt is 7mm Rem Mag and I don't notice the recoil with a good recoil pad on it. I don't want a muzzle brake as I don't wear ear plugs when hunting. I want it to be an all weather rifle. I would love to be able to shoot 600 yards with it, but not sure if I can do my part on that or not.
I looked at the Montana Rifle Company Extreme X2 rifles and they look pretty good and seem to get pretty good reviews. They seem to be pretty good bang for the buck. They do custom rifles as well but the price sure seems to jump up there pretty quickly. The high country series looks pretty close to what I'm looking for but they are $$.
I'm a tightwad and really don't want to spend more on a gun than I need to, but at the same time I would be willing to pay for a gun that will shoot. I do my share of backpack hunting and would like to do more so a lightweight gun is also a requirement. It doesn't have to be over the top and weigh under 6lbs but much over 7lbs is probably a deal breaker.
Last tidbit is that I have a long torso and prefer a long length of pull on a rifle. That's one of the reasons I went with the A-bolt.
I haven't ruled out Browning and have looked at the X-bolt in .300 WSM, but really am looking for something under 1 MOA if possible. That little RRA AR15 is amazing how will it shoots and I never have to adjust the scope on it.
Part of the problem on my A-bolt is the free floated barrel I think and sometimes I hold the stock and the barrel in my hand and squeeze them together. Of course I don't do it on purpose, but it sure messed up the groups when I do that. Have to think back on each shot to think whether I held the thing correctly or not.
Okay, a lot of stuff thrown out there, and if it sounds like I don't know what I'm talking about then I probably don't.
I'm pretty sure I can get my A-bolt shooting 1 1/2 MOA in time to take it hunting this weekend, but this whole process has about convinced me to buy a new gun.
I would appreciate any ideas or input on this.
Thanks, Nathan
Background:
I've had my Browning A-Bolt for 8 years now and it has performed well for me in that time. I've taken 6 bull elk, 4 mule deer bucks, 4 whitetail bucks, a couple antelope bucks, a mountain goat and several pigs and coyotes with it. Before this weekend I had only pulled the trigger once with it on a big game animal and missed, and that was an elk that I thought was 400 yards away but after shooting and missing I actually used my range finder and found out that the elk had actually been 550 yards away.
Last week I shot at and missed a good whitetail buck that was 250 yards away with a 20+ mph wind looking into a setting sun. The buck had been moving and stopped and I probably rushed the shot a little. Not an "easy" shot, but one that I fully expect to make all day every day. I felt good at the shot, but after looking for a down or fatally wounded deer ahead of where I had shot, instead I saw him standing there looking at me. Then before I could shoot again he trotted off. I did a grid search at the shot location and the entire section of my property and didn't see a drop of blood or any indication that I had hit him.
I took the rifle home and shot off a 100 yard bench and the first shot was 3" high and 3" right. I thought that might explain the miss, adjusted 12 clicks down and 12 clicks left and shot 2 more shots. They were 1" low and 3" left. That left me scratching my head, so I clicked 12 clicks back to the right and 4 clicks up. Shot 2 shots and both were good left to right but one was 4" high and one was 1" high. Shot more more shot without adjusting the scope and it was right next to the 4" high one. Clicked it down 8 clicks and fired off one last shot thinking that would be 2" high at 100 yards and we would call it good. Nope, it hit 1" low and 3" left.
The barrel was a bit warm for that last shot, but it sure left me scratching my head. I'll get back out there and shoot again sometime this week and hopefully it will be good enough to let me take it back to see if I can find that whitetail again this weekend, but this has helped me to decide to really look into a new rifle. At it's best I haven't been able to get the A-Bolt to group much better than 1 1/2 MOA. My Rock River Arms AR15 will shoot 1/2 MOA so I don't think it is all me although I'm sure that is part of it.
So, if I go to buy a new gun, what should I get?
I am thinking a .300 WSM for an all around rifle good for pretty much everything in North America including bear. My A-Bolt is 7mm Rem Mag and I don't notice the recoil with a good recoil pad on it. I don't want a muzzle brake as I don't wear ear plugs when hunting. I want it to be an all weather rifle. I would love to be able to shoot 600 yards with it, but not sure if I can do my part on that or not.
I looked at the Montana Rifle Company Extreme X2 rifles and they look pretty good and seem to get pretty good reviews. They seem to be pretty good bang for the buck. They do custom rifles as well but the price sure seems to jump up there pretty quickly. The high country series looks pretty close to what I'm looking for but they are $$.
I'm a tightwad and really don't want to spend more on a gun than I need to, but at the same time I would be willing to pay for a gun that will shoot. I do my share of backpack hunting and would like to do more so a lightweight gun is also a requirement. It doesn't have to be over the top and weigh under 6lbs but much over 7lbs is probably a deal breaker.
Last tidbit is that I have a long torso and prefer a long length of pull on a rifle. That's one of the reasons I went with the A-bolt.
I haven't ruled out Browning and have looked at the X-bolt in .300 WSM, but really am looking for something under 1 MOA if possible. That little RRA AR15 is amazing how will it shoots and I never have to adjust the scope on it.
Part of the problem on my A-bolt is the free floated barrel I think and sometimes I hold the stock and the barrel in my hand and squeeze them together. Of course I don't do it on purpose, but it sure messed up the groups when I do that. Have to think back on each shot to think whether I held the thing correctly or not.
Okay, a lot of stuff thrown out there, and if it sounds like I don't know what I'm talking about then I probably don't.
I'm pretty sure I can get my A-bolt shooting 1 1/2 MOA in time to take it hunting this weekend, but this whole process has about convinced me to buy a new gun.
I would appreciate any ideas or input on this.
Thanks, Nathan
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