Lucky Strike
Member
Been using my uncles old M77 30-06 for the past 4 years (when i started elk hunting....i'm currently 0 for 4) and think it's time to get my own .30 cal rifle. At first I was thinking of getting an AR-10 as I love my AR-15 and liked the idea of staying with a similar platform. However after some thinking I'm now wanting a bolt action since I can get a light weight one which would be nice for elk hunting.
Just have to make a decision on what caliber (then i can move on to which rifle) to get....I've narrowed it down to .30-06 and .308 due to their availability/cost. Any opinions on which would serve me better given my needs would be appreciated. Also any rifle suggestions that you want to throw in would be nice too.
The terrain we hunt in is a mixture of fir forest and bald ridges similar to this picture that usually make me curse the elk under my breath hiking up and down them while my ankles and lungs beg for mercy
For distance, personally I think 400yds is about my upper limit on distance of where I'd feel ok about taking a shot. I've yet to shoot an elk but have gotten within "shootable distances" for me to various cow elk (we've only had spike or branch bull tags) over the past four years. These distances are in the 100 to 300 yard range.....if I ever do shoot a bull elk it'd most likely be in that range. For paper punching my local range's max distance is 600yds so that'd be the limit for target shooting.
I want to shoot throughout the year...this is the main reason I narrowed it to .30-06 and .308 (relatively cheap). I love taking out my AR15 a couple weekends a month and would hopefully like to do the same with this rifle. I don't want it to be a similar situation to my cousin who has a .300wby mag that he only shoots like once a year (like 10 rounds to sight the thing in before elk season) due to recoil...if I'm going to put money into this thing I want to be able to shoot it often. I don't hunt any other animals so basically it'll be 1 week a year using it for elk hunting and the other 51 as a range gun.
Something I don't know is what the "minimum" barrel length is to get the most out of these rounds. For example if one is getting the most out of it's powder at 20" and the other needs 24" to burn everything then obviously the shorter would be preferred.
Anyway, any suggestions are much appreciated, thanks.
Just have to make a decision on what caliber (then i can move on to which rifle) to get....I've narrowed it down to .30-06 and .308 due to their availability/cost. Any opinions on which would serve me better given my needs would be appreciated. Also any rifle suggestions that you want to throw in would be nice too.
The terrain we hunt in is a mixture of fir forest and bald ridges similar to this picture that usually make me curse the elk under my breath hiking up and down them while my ankles and lungs beg for mercy
For distance, personally I think 400yds is about my upper limit on distance of where I'd feel ok about taking a shot. I've yet to shoot an elk but have gotten within "shootable distances" for me to various cow elk (we've only had spike or branch bull tags) over the past four years. These distances are in the 100 to 300 yard range.....if I ever do shoot a bull elk it'd most likely be in that range. For paper punching my local range's max distance is 600yds so that'd be the limit for target shooting.
I want to shoot throughout the year...this is the main reason I narrowed it to .30-06 and .308 (relatively cheap). I love taking out my AR15 a couple weekends a month and would hopefully like to do the same with this rifle. I don't want it to be a similar situation to my cousin who has a .300wby mag that he only shoots like once a year (like 10 rounds to sight the thing in before elk season) due to recoil...if I'm going to put money into this thing I want to be able to shoot it often. I don't hunt any other animals so basically it'll be 1 week a year using it for elk hunting and the other 51 as a range gun.
Something I don't know is what the "minimum" barrel length is to get the most out of these rounds. For example if one is getting the most out of it's powder at 20" and the other needs 24" to burn everything then obviously the shorter would be preferred.
Anyway, any suggestions are much appreciated, thanks.