I want a .35 Whelen for deer hunting in an area where the laws make this caliber one of the best options. I would not choose this caliber for deer hunting if not for the legal requirements. I'd like it to be deer hunting accurate, which I'll define as within 1 MOA at 300 yards. I'll be using it out to ~300, maybe 400 if I can improve my shooting. I don't currently handload, so I'd like to be able to do this with factory ammo.
I'm seeing no factory rifles available in that caliber. So, what do you think is the best (as in cost vs. value) route to get what I want? For budget, I'd just say that I'm trying to find the most cost effective route and then decide if I want to shell out the cash. If I can't get what I want for a price that I'm willing to pay then I'd just rather save the money. It's not a matter of I absolutely need one and so I want the best I can get for X budget. But I'd say I'm certainly hoping to get there for under $1500.
One reason I'm struggling is that there are two parts to it .... one is getting a .35 Whelen rifle ... the other is ending up with a rifle that is accurate. It seems like there are a lot of different possible routes to go after both of those two things. It sort of seems like I can either spend more on the rifle I buy or spend less on the rifle and more on the back-end (gunsmithing). One thing I have in mind is that since I'm shooting factory ammo and there aren't many factory ammo options for .35 Whelen, I probably need a rifle set up to shoot most ammo accurately.
I could buy a used rifle chambered in .35 Whelen but from what I'm seeing on GunBroker, good rifles tend to go for over ... or well over ... $1K, and any accurizing work that is needed on the back-end would just add to the price tag. I see there are some custom rifle places that seem fairly affordable. I could get a used 30-06 or .270 and take it into a smith, but I'd really like some advice here. I have a smith near me and he thought the best route would be getting a Krieger barrel in .35 Whelen and putting it on a 30-06, which would probably cost me around $800 between the barrel and labor. I originally thought the best route with a smith would be re-boring a 30-06's or 270's existing barrel (not sure if he thought that was a worse route or that it is just something he doesn't do). Whatever the case, I thought that if I'm already taking it into the smith for barrel/chambering work, it might be more cost-effective just to bundle that with accurizing work, and that would be most likely to produce an accurate rifle in the end.
I do have an old but nice Howa 1500 in 30-06, but the smith said he probably wouldn't be able to work with it because it's probably metric. So that means I'd have to send it out to another smith, which adds shipping. Also, not sure I want to lose my 30-06 (I have a lot of ammo). This makes me wonder whether it would be better just to get a newer Remington or Savage and go from there. Then again, if using the Howa is going to save me a lot of money, I could always just do that and then pick up another 30-06 later.
Last thing I'll throw out there in case it matters is that I don't want this to be an ultralight or even light rifle. I expect a lot of recoil from the Whelen, so I'd like something that is probably 7.5 lbs or heavier (8-9.5 lbs would be better).
