Rifles, caliber's, scopes, and such

[bonz50]

couple questions......

I'm currently shooting a Remington 700BDL in 7mm Rem Mag with an older Bausch and Lomb scope (which is going to get replaced soon also as I'm not particularly fond of it)... here's the questions:

1. Suggestions on optics, personally i've been a fan of nikon optics, but have never used one of their scopes. not sure if i can afford the big buck swarovski stuff, probably about $400 is my max on rifle optics this year...

2. have been kickin around getting a custom rifle based on the Rem. 700 action, since i truly love shooting my 700bdl, it suits me well, however, i want something in synthetic stock as I want a gun i'm not afraid to scratch (I like my BDL enough that i paranoid about scratching it) but yet still shoots as well (or better) than my 7mag AND is a bit lighter than that big pig... i'm torn on caliber, but the .300's are appealing since i've got a "lighter" caliber with the 7mag but part of me wants a light deer load like a .260ish type round in a compact rifle for stalking and such... or would i be better served just getting another Remington like the model 7 in a light caliber... or should i just invest in a new custom stock for the trusty 7mag and call it a day???

thanks... bonz

 

[yammerhammer]

Leopold!!


If you are going to build a custom rifle, build a 7STW (shooting times westernier) It shoots real flat and can be loaded with a 150grn nosler
partition around 3800fps (don't quote me on that). Buy a Mauser 98
and go from there.

 

[squirrel]

ditto on the 7stw have one in a weatherby mark V and love it

 

[Highmarker]

I have Leopold on all of my guns. Great scope!! gathers a lot of light during dusk or dawn hours.

 

[bonz50]

if you look closely at the ballistic charts on the 7stw and the 7mag they are both VERY close... even out to 500yds, only about an inch or so difference... the STW has a slight edge at muzzle velocity and energy (150g bullet)... and i'd be willing to bet the STW ammo is a bit more expensive than RemMag as well... I'm not sure, based on the numbers, whether or not I could justify the limited availability or cost of the STW to get such a nominal improvement over the standard 7mag round... the difference simply doesn't seem great enough to make it a significant step up... just based on what i'm seeing on limited research of ballistic charts and such... mind you, i've never fired an stw gun before...

http://www.slatesafaris.com/7mm_remington_magnum_journal4.htm

 

[bonz50]

I have Leopold on all of my guns. Great scope!! gathers a lot of light during dusk or dawn hours.

leupold and nikon are my leading contenders, guess i'll have to get to the local bass pro and check them out after the holidays are over...

 

[MACH]

Leupold...


For the price you can't beat them. I shot my deer from 320 yards with about 5 minutes left of shooting. Personally I could barely see the damn deer it was so dark out but with the scope it was really lite, almost day!

I have the Leupold VX-II in silver now but when they come out with the VX-L in silver I will be stepping up to that. But for $300 go with the VX-II.

 

[Barnes]

Leupold all the way. Last spring I bought a Remington 700 .223 varmit rifle and decided that I didn't want to spend the $700+ dollars on a high powered VX-III so I bought a cheapo. Have regreted it ever since. Pain to sight in, not very clear at 18x. Everytime it gets in the pickup, I have to sight it in again. I think if i breathe on it wrong, it will loose its zero. Going to be getting rid of it asap.

 

[TWISTER]

leupold all the way. i picked up a 4x12x50 vx-II on ebay brand new for 290.00

Just pick up a new remington 700 adl in 7mm mag. same gun as yours only has a synthetic stock.

Rob

 

[JSCC]

Burris ballistic plex. Great buy for the money.

 

[summitone]

leupold all the way. i picked up a 4x12x50 vx-II on ebay brand new for 290.00

Just pick up a new remington 700 adl in 7mm mag. same gun as yours only has a synthetic stock.

Rob

Holy chit, for those 800 yrd shots?

 

[Makaveli_Rev]

30-378 Weatherby, 165 Gr. Hornady's, Leaupold Ballistic Plex. Nothing shoots faster, flattler, and has more knockdown power..... Other than a Lazeroni WarBird, thats if you really wanna show people whats up

 

[happylilcuss]

"30-378 Weatherby, 165 Gr. Hornady's, Leaupold Ballistic Plex. Nothing shoots faster, flattler, and has more knockdown power..... Other than a Lazeroni WarBird, thats if you really wanna show people whats up"

Yeah whats up with this if your 30-378 is so bad A$$??
http://www.cheytac.com/White Paper2007.pdf

 

[snow_knight]

I have been gunsmithing myself or 7 years now.. building custom rifles on rem 700, ruger tang saftey, and montana rifle actions... take your 700, put on ONLY a lija barrel, I shoot 7stw.. great all around caliber.. if you really want big boom.. go with 7.62 warbird... have a gunsmith fully accurize the action and barrel with target crown.. have them completly free float it on a stock of your choice.. the 700 trigger will also need some work.... put lapped rings on it... I'm personally not a leupold lover.. i prefer the burris black diamond scopes.. or zeiss.. but a leupold will get you bye..

 

[Nate]

I used to give my in-depth opinion on what we found works great. We have been building guns for a long time, and ive just come to the conclusion that just shoot what you think is best. Its not all about knock down power. Precision goes a long ways.

And the warbird isnt much to talk about, Its got more cons than pros, mainly that its limited and exspensive.

Have sent more leupolds back to the factory than any other scope.

and you cant beat the model 70 action, although the 700 is more versatile and shooter friendly.

its all in what you like. I will sacrifice knock down power for precision any day. We have moose on our wall that have been killed with 22-250's

 

[snow_knight]

^^^ Nates right.. if you can hit what your shooting at.. doesnt matter what caliber you are shooting..

One more thing that I will add is that $$$ can build you an accuate rifle/scope combo, however it doesnt make you a better hunter/shooter

 

[Makaveli_Rev]

"30-378 Weatherby, 165 Gr. Hornady's, Leaupold Ballistic Plex. Nothing shoots faster, flattler, and has more knockdown power..... Other than a Lazeroni WarBird, thats if you really wanna show people whats up"

Yeah whats up with this if your 30-378 is so bad A$$??
http://www.cheytac.com/White Paper2007.pdf

Oh ya, that'd be real "practical". I killed the dear in my avatar this year at 763 yards, dropped it in its tracks, Put my second line down on my Leaupold ballistic plex on the shoulder and squezzed the trigger. Rest was history, its my widest buck, BUT not my best scoring buck. Its just a hair under 34 7/8. 191 3/8

I'm tellin ya, the 7.62 WarBird is where it is at though, that is if your rich.... the 30-378 Aculee improved with a 150 grain custom is also pimpin! (Buddy shoots that combo) DEADLY!

 

[JSCC]

I used to give my in-depth opinion on what we found works great. We have been building guns for a long time, and ive just come to the conclusion that just shoot what you think is best. Its not all about knock down power. Precision goes a long ways.

And the warbird isnt much to talk about, Its got more cons than pros, mainly that its limited and exspensive.

Have sent more leupolds back to the factory than any other scope.

and you cant beat the model 70 action, although the 700 is more versatile and shooter friendly.

its all in what you like. I will sacrifice knock down power for precision any day. We have moose on our wall that have been killed with 22-250's

While this may be true for truly a great marksman, everyone thinks they are a great marksman. When the general consensus believes this, it gives us lost animals, and guys shooting Elk at 500 yrds with 243's. Take a look at any of the latest and greatest elk huntings vids. Guys shooting elk 4 times to knock them down. With the right caliber for the job, it should only take one.
Some will argue with right placement, it should only take one. This is true, but with a light caliber on a thick skinned animal, it may not get deep enough to do any damage.
This is one guys opinion anyhow.

 

[TravRMK]

Get one of these:

With the brake, it only kicks like a 12 guage shotgun. Ammo is a bit expensive in the 50BMG caliber though. In all seriousness though, I love my 300 short mag, not too much kick, flat and accurate.

 

[bonz50]

While this may be true for truly a great marksman, everyone thinks they are a great marksman. When the general consensus believes this, it gives us lost animals, and guys shooting Elk at 500 yrds with 243's. Take a look at any of the latest and greatest elk huntings vids. Guys shooting elk 4 times to knock them down. With the right caliber for the job, it should only take one.
Some will argue with right placement, it should only take one. This is true, but with a light caliber on a thick skinned animal, it may not get deep enough to do any damage.
This is one guys opinion anyhow.

this i would definitely agree with... while some people can take animals with really light loads, they are the exception, not the rule... i'd rather over-do the caliber than under-do it... for whitey's my 7mag is a bit over kill as my longest shot possible on the land I hunt is 288yds and there have been plenty of deer taken in that shooting lane with .260's and .270's... accuracy is certainly the most important aspect of any rifle, but having a little "hit" to it doesn't hurt either...

at any rate, much of this has me thinkin more along the lines of customizing the gun I've got now or picking up a cheap used Rem700 in whatever caliber I decide and building it up proper with a custom barrel, custom stock and blueprinted action set down to about 1.5-2lb pull... gonna sit down with a calculator and do the math on it figure out the best way... thanks guys, keep the ideas flowing, good stuff here...