Yep, I get that now. That's a helpful description. When I started out in my bolt action journey, I had originally envisioned a "scout-like/practical" rifle, but it morphed somewhat into a crossover into the mild precision arena.Originally Posted by msstate56
I don't own anything larger than a .223 and have never had a bolt gun in a caliber above .22.
I can get .450 Bushmaster relatively inexpensive and somewhat plentiful locally. Plus I can get one of those new Ruger Scout rifles in .450 very inexpensively.
I am starting to think this is a pretty good idea. Mainly for fun but also for four legged predators 250 yards and in. I'd probably just put an Aimpoint on it too for ...reasons.
That Ruger is the first big bore rifle I've seen in a long time to get me excited about a larger caliber. I want a SCAR 17 but the Ruger would be a fraction of the price.
Well, I thought more on the 6.8 SPC, to the extent that I very nearly added the 6.8 SPC LMT barrel and 6.8-specific bolt assembly to my Primary Arms shopping cart this morning, along with the LMT rifle upper receiver and 5.56 stainless barrel that were already in the cart. I think that I will still want to try 6.8 SPC, and that the LMT barrel will suffice, for my situation. Hand-loading and hot-rodding are not anticipated.
I do, of course, very much appreciate your information.
Edited to add: My buying the LMT upper receiver and barrel, this morning, has certainly diminished the prospect that I will be adding any scout-ish turn-bolt rifles, in the foreseeable future.
Last edited by Rex G; 10-02-2020 at 09:59 AM.
Retar’d LE. Kinesthetic dufus.
Don’t tread on volcanos!
Let me know how it goes (maybe in it's own thread?). I've talked myself into and then out of a 6.8 barrel for my upper a couple times already
Ammo panic buying is in full swing as showcased by the almost complete and total lack of handgun ammo, exactly 0 .223/5.56 ammo, and .308 is now getting difficult to find in any flavor. Two calibers that I have actually been able to find, however, and with quite plentiful stock, are .243 Win and .270 Win.
Just as a general thought experiment, it strikes me as maybe something that could work in a pinch as a general practical “scout” rifle chambered in one of these two? A lightweight, handy, bolt gun, with an LPVO, and actual ammo you can find is better than an empty gun in .308 or 5.56?
Those are both excellent cartridges, but likely to be a hair blasty with a shorter barrel. I'd lean toward an intermediate cartridge like the 7.62x39 if I wanted a really compact rifle.
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Not another dime.
The real lesson is to stock up on ammo and components when times are good so your cartridge choice doesn’t matter.
Cooper didn’t insist on the 308. He said that a general-purpose cartridge should be able to cleanly take game up to 400kg at 300m. The 308 and 7-08 do that very well in short, light rifles but the Scout that Cooper built for his daughter was a 30-06. For me, that could be anything from the 6.5 Swede to the 375 H&H, but not a 243.
I think that some of the ammo shortage is seasonal. Deer season here opens on Saturday and elk season opens in three weeks. Big-box stores near me usually stock 20-25 different 30-06 loads and 12-15 in 308. That normally starts to get thin in late September but this year it got thin in July and vanished in September. They have trace amounts of 243, 30-30, 25-06, 300 WSM, 300 WM, and 338 WM but selection is poor. Stocks of 7 Mag and 270 are not lavish but they offer the most choices. You can find oddballs like 7x57, 32-20, and 30-40 Krag but I wouldn’t bet on it getting replenished any time soon once it’s gone.
The 270 is a fine choice for a general-purpose rifle. Based on the craziness, I might even buy myself one for Christmas this year.
Okie John
“The reliability of the 30-06 on most of the world’s non-dangerous game is so well established as to be beyond intelligent dispute.” Finn Aagaard
"Don't fuck with it" seems to prevent the vast majority of reported issues." BehindBlueI's
Plenty of .223/5.56 ammo is being delivered, but there are plenty of buyers who are on e-mail alert lists. I just bought my dealer-imposed ration of ten boxes of 77-grain open-tip match ammo, specifically for my long-barreled AR15, this morning, immediately after I awakened to see an e-mail alert. This is the second week in a row I have been able to order ten boxes of that load. I am up to 400 rounds. Life is good. (Newly-acquired LMT 20” barrel and LMT upper, so I had not already put-back a supply of this type of ammo.)
Late sleepers miss these alerts, until it is too late to buy. Folks who do not know to sign-up for such alerts think that there is no .223/5.56 ammo. There is; the manufacturers are loading it as fast as they can.
As for .308, I accumulated quite a bit of fresh .308 Winchester, during 2020, a little at a time. I did not use e-mail alerts.
Having said that, I have long had an urge to add a .270 or .30-06 bolt rifle, and .270 is looking like a best choice, right now, with .270 Winchester ammo, and the rifles that shoot it, are both at decent in-stock levels, including left-hand versions, which fit my left-eye-dominance. I reckon that this urge started in the Nineties, when I starting reading references about Jack O’Connor, and then started reading some of his writings.
Last edited by Rex G; 10-14-2020 at 02:49 PM.
Retar’d LE. Kinesthetic dufus.
Don’t tread on volcanos!
I reckon there's a LH .270 Tikka for you out there somewhere...
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Not another dime.
Both have been popular hunting cartridges for a long time. I don't know that I would buy one just for the sake of being able to buy ammo, but I've bought guns for worse reasons. I have a couple .243's just because I was looking for a model of rifle and I happened to find them in .243.
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