Hunting bolt gun

[newyork]

For whatever reason I’m not finding a Tikka T3X lite stainless in 308 or 30-06 in stock anywhere.

Can’t find any 308 wilderness ridge Bergara either. Mostly the regular blued hunter and their heavyweight rifles and their wilderness series in calibers I’m not going after.

I also see a couple years ago Bergara had some qc issues. Idk if resolved but it seems they have had a great rep the past couple years.

There I was settled on the Bergara in 300wM. Now I’m lost again haha.

[okie john]

For whatever reason I’m not finding a Tikka T3X lite stainless in 308 or 30-06 in stock anywhere.

Patience, Grasshopper. It will be worth the wait.


Okie John

[Rick R]

Looking at your original post, if you’re mainly going to hunt eastern whitetail deer it would be hard to go wrong with a .308 bolt gun with a good quality 3-9X scope. I’ve been happy with rifles from Ruger, Remington and Winchester that were so chambered. Here where I live I’ve taken to using either a 1-4x or fixed 2.5x scope because shots are rarely more than 75 yards but 3-9x works too. I said I’d worry about carrying a lightweight rifle after I lost 20 pounds. I lost nearly 40 and now don’t think my rifles are heavy.

.308 ammo (and its older brother the 30-06) is usually plentiful and cheap, effective and shootable. If you think you’ll eventually go somewhere exotic and shoot something bigger then I’d suggest choosing a .308/.30-06 bolt rifle that offers a .300 or .338 magnum (or larger) option with the same controls and optics. Shoot the .308 for fun and venison then when you decide you like it buy a more powerful clone. Really there isn’t anything on the planet you couldn’t legally kill with a pair of rifles in .308 and .375 H&H, and probably find ammo if the baggage gorilla loses your ammo.

[newyork]

That makes a heck of a lot of sense. Now to only find a 308 model in stock.

Another I found but it’s too much is the Winchester model 70 Extreme Tue Timber VSX MB. A mouth full. I think it’s like $350 over budget.

I still wouldn’t scoff at an in stock tikka 308, or a weatherby high country, badlands or first lite. Bergara wilderness Ridge. The Sako A7 was available in 308 but its vaporware now, only see it in 6.5 creedmoor.

[newyork]

So, if I’m not doing 300 WM, but want to still keep Bergara in the running, I won’t need the brake the wilderness ridge has. It’d be nice but not needed nearly as much with 308 as opposed to 300. I also won’t need the extra weight. There’s a wilderness Hunter that’s $799. It’s like 7.1lbs. Cerakoted bbl and and such. .308. Sounds good. Down the road, like you said, if I go on western trips I could pick up the wilderness ridge with brake in 300.

[newyork]

Browning is another. Always forget to look at them.

Is the creedmoor enough? Is it common enough or cheap enough would be my other questions.

[OlongJohnson]

It's about 0.8 lb heavier than a Tikka, but that may be OK helping with recoil. NY doesn't have the Rocky Mountains in it. I'd still prefer a Tikka for reasons previously elaborated, but if you have to do this right now, the Bergara would likely be a very good rifle.

I'd read up on Bergara's soft touch and how well it lasts. Some manufacturers have had durability issues with soft touch stock finishes.

[newyork]

Doesn’t have to be Bergara. Money won’t be here til mid or late week. I want to make the right move despite wishing it could happen now.

The sako in 6.5 was more tempting before but I’m thinking maybe stick to 308/06.

[Paul D]

EuroOptics has a Sauer 100 Classic XT .30-06 Rifle for $800, a Mauser M18 in 6.5 Creedmoor for $550, a Tikka T3x Lite Compact 6.5 Creedmoor 24.3" for $700 and a Sako A7 Big Game 6.5 Creedmoor 24.4" 1:8" Fluted Barrel Rifle w/Roughtech Stock for $900.

They also have a Vortex Razor HD LH 2-10x40 HSR-4 Riflescope on close out sale for $430 (normally its about $799).

[BigT]

My go to bolt gun is a CZ550 in 7x64mm. Shoots everything Ive tried straight while still having a soul without costing the earth.

7x64 is of course the greatest plains game catridge in the world and this one has worked well on everything from Impala to Blue Wildebeest which are famously tough AF. It's also the rifle I grabbed when a croc hunt became a reality recently. I understand that ammo is an issue for these there, so I would likely build US battery around a 270 or a 6.5 Vegan.

Scope wise mine runs a Noblix 2-12×50 which covers me for any shots I'm likely to take.