New Deer Rifle - Suggestions

[dave elliott]

hopefully you will get the chance to shoot a few of the mentioned calibers. ive personally shot a 270 wsm and have seen some great long range one shot kills with this caliber. the 280 ai is another fine big game round. sounds like youve done your homework. shooting down those long texas senderos sounds like fun.

 

[Dlewis82nd]

look into the remington sendero in a 7mm, top it with a vortex viper pst. you will be looking at maybe 2500 which will leave you 500 for a range finder and 1000 to get started in reloading. i think you would be verry happy with that combo. the 7mm is also one of the most proven long range hunting calibers

 

[tdoyka]

t/c encore, 26" mgm barrel, 6.5 creedmoor

 

[105amatt]

My vote is for the 300wm. Great bullet selection and easy to load for.

 

[deadlift]

Don't forget the 6.5 creedmoor, very easy to shoot and extremely deadly. You can buy factory rds for it or reload. I'm getting 2926 fps with the berger 130 VLD hunting out of a 24" tube. My personal second choice would be the 257 wsm (wildcat) again light recoil and devastating on game. Just my 2cents... Good luck on your choice and happy hunting!
Chris
Benchmark Barrels

 

[James Kiser]

7mm is a great round but my semi custom deer rifle is a
7mm STW.

Id get a STW built with a 30' barrel and never look back.

 

[JOHNNIE WALKER]

Before getting married, starting a family, and all that fun stuff, I used to hunt a lot. Traveled quite a bit, and have a lot of good memories. With a 4K budget you can get something pretty nice. One thing I learned the hard the hard way about about traveling on hunting trips, is to have a gun chambered in a very common caliber. Things happen along the way and its nice knowing that you can find ammo if needed. Trust me, it sucks if you cant. The 30/06 was my choice. If you want something bigger than that I would look at the 7mm rem or 300 win. Both are still very common. And very powerful.
There are a lot of nice rifles to chose from. You just have to find something that fits you and your needs. But try to find something with an accuracy guarantee. Cooper Arms of Montana is one nice example. Their Jackson Hunter and Excaliber are very nice rifles.

 

[HarryN]

Given that you already own a 270 win, I wonder if it makes sense to just put some effort into improving it a bit, along with some hand loading ? While the one you own is pretty good, it seems like nearly any gun can be improved with some effort.

It might even make sense to work with (pay) someone locally who has solid hand loading experience (and the equipment, various powders, etc.) to build up some loads before making all of the investment yourself. This might cut several months off of the effort.

I agree with the comments above though, perhaps if you are going through the effort of 700 yards, maybe it is worth thinking about 1 000 yards instead ?

 

[Creedmoor shooter]

Don't forget the 6.5 creedmoor, very easy to shoot and extremely deadly. You can buy factory rds for it or reload. I'm getting 2926 fps with the berger 130 VLD hunting out of a 24" tube. My personal second choice would be the 257 wsm (wildcat) again light recoil and devastating on game. Just my 2cents... Good luck on your choice and happy hunting!
Chris
Benchmark Barrels

+1 on the Creedmoor. I really like that caliber. light recoil, and devastation to whatever it hits. Anything from woodchucks to bear. Ive even seen an elk shot with one @ 600. Deadlift, What load is that your using for the Creed?

 

[JOHNNIE WALKER]

I really agree with HarryN. The 270 is fine caliber, and as you know its very deadly on deer.
What make and model is your rifle? Have you ever thought about sending it to the shop to be customized? A cheap factory rifle can be turned into a precision work of art. Sometimes this can be done cheaper than you think.
What ever you decide to do, just make sure you dont go cheap on a scope!

 

[Panchik]

270 win is great caliber for the purposes you mentioned. Therefore I would either improve what you have as advised above or take 270 wsm. I would also buy nightforce scope, good binoculars and rangefinder, for example leica-1600-b. The latter one is very good, with deadly accurate calculator and long range capacity. Good luck!

 

[deadlift]

44 grains of H4350, a CCI BR2 and Berger 130 hybrid .020 off the lands. Just had it out again, and it was just a hammer!

 

[Rustystud]

I have recently built rifles in 6.5 Remington Mag and .264 Win Mag both shoot great at 0-650 yards on deer.

Nat Lambeth