Hunting to Tacticool or vice versa?

[jrcii]

Hello All,

After getting excellent feedback on my several questions on this forum, I've decided that my first bolt action rifle will be a 300 Win Mag.

My intended use for the rifle is basically punching paper to increasing distances. Actually, my intended use is hunting game and sniping should the S hit the F. But since that's not going to happen, it's going to be a target gun.

So, what would be the better idea?

1. Buy a hunting rifle (like a Weatherby Mark V) but use it as a sniper rifle if the situation arises.
or
2. Build a tacticool sniper rifle and press it into hunting service if the food supply chain collapses.

As I said, I don't think there is a realistic chance of the worst happening (but, Trump is a hot head and people seem to hate him, so who knows?) so it seems to me that option 1 makes more sense. I don't see why I couldn't practice long range shooting with a 'hunting' rifle.

Any thoughts?

Thanks again for all your help,

JRC

[jethroUSMC]

It depends.

One, the terrain you hunt in can help answer some of those questions. Mountains and steep rugged country and tactical rifles tend to not mix well because they are heavier rifles and two, you are more likely to need or want to hunt than to ever need to snipe in a SHTF scenario (unless you're on our Southern border with Mexico)

[Averageman]

After getting excellent feedback on my several questions on this forum, I've decided that my first bolt action rifle will be a 300 Win Mag.

My intended use for the rifle is basically punching paper to increasing distances. Actually, my intended use is hunting game and sniping should the S hit the F. But since that's not going to happen, it's going to be a target gun.

So, what would be the better idea?

1. Buy a hunting rifle (like a Weatherby Mark V) but use it as a sniper rifle if the situation arises.
or
2. Build a tacticool sniper rifle and press it into hunting service if the food supply chain collapses.

As I said, I don't think there is a realistic chance of the worst happening (but, Trump is a hot head and people seem to hate him, so who knows?) so it seems to me that option 1 makes more sense. I don't see why I couldn't practice long range shooting with a 'hunting' rifle.

Any thoughts?

Thanks again for all your help,

JRC

You're leaving out a lot of variables as jethroUSMC mentioned.
Where you hunt is important because in a lot of area's people are very successful hunters by simply planting themselves in a tree stand and waiting. Terrain is important as far as getting there and back and hauling meat is not going to be as easy as it is now. Distance and Transportation are also highly important questions also.
Those same variables will also effect your rifle, caliber, weight of your gear, barrel length etc.
A simple .308 in a light weight barrel configuration "might" be the most versatile and easy to use hunting rifle you would need, you can likely take 90% of North American game with it. It wont likely be firing more than one shot to take game, so the effects of a sustained rate of fire shouldn't effect you. The other side of that is OTB "Tactical Rifles" might have some options you can work with.
Here's the other end of the hunting in a SHTF scenario;
It's going to be very dangerous to fire a shot in the woods in such an event. Going out there in a group of less than two or three is going to be possibly a dangerous prospect because every knucklehead who ever thought they could learn the skills necessary to hunt, process and preserve game meat thinks the woods are a Supermarket. If they are hungry, armed and in the area, you might just get shot from your six while you stand over a steaming gut pile.
So if I'm correct about the above (And I'm not saying I have all of the answers by any means) consider this;
A) I would never hunt alone.
B) I would really consider a suppressor on my rifle.
C) I would scout the hell out of my AO now.
D) I would hunt my AO every time I got the chance.
E) I would practice a lot with that rifle and get to know it well.
F) I would consider and practice my routes in and out and figure on moving 70-100 pounds of meat and bone in what might be up to three additional trips back and forth to transportation, if you have a successful hunt.
Everybody's SHTF is different, so you have a lot of choices to make. If this was my decision to make here is a rifle I would seriously consider and sorry, no it's not 300 Win Mag.
https://www.remington.com/rifles/bol...hreaded-barrel
That and a suppressor and some really nice optics might be a happy medium when considering this situation.
When you say SHTF, that's actually kind of vague, so that's the best I can do for you.

[skywalkrNCSU]

If you really don't plan on hunting with it I wouldn't go the hunting rifle route just because a lightweight 300 WM is not going to be much fun to shoot. You don't have to go all tacticool but getting a heavier gun is going to be far more pleasurable for punching paper and ringing steel.

From what I gather from your post you only think about hunting in a SHTF scenario. I would not base my purchase of a long distance target shooting gun on that.

[gaijin]

If this is your FIRST bolt gun I assume you have limited centerfire rifle experience?

I'll offer one guarantee; your learning curve, hit probability will be exponentially easier starting with a .308.
A .308 is easily a 600-800 yd. cartridge. Do you have ready access to a 1,000 yd. range to exploit the .300 Win mags capabilities?
There will be a lot more trigger time per dollar with the .308 as well, even if you're a reloader.

Merely a suggestion.

[jrcii]

If this is your FIRST bolt gun I assume you have limited centerfire rifle experience?

I'll offer one guarantee; your learning curve, hit probability will be exponentially easier starting with a .308.
A .308 is easily a 600-800 yd. cartridge. Do you have ready access to a 1,000 yd. range to exploit the .300 Win mags capabilities?
There will be a lot more trigger time per dollar with the .308 as well, even if you're a reloader.

Merely a suggestion.

That is all very, very level headed advice. And, it's probably the right way to go. But, I'll tell you the truth. I had this idea that if things did go south, I'd want a rifle that could hunt anything in the Nortwest US. And, given that I'm not a hunter, but am am a slightly above average shot in general, a big magnum round would bring down game better than a .308 if I didn't put the round exactly where I want it.

Given that the odds are minuscule in the extreme that I'll ever be in that situation it's best that I start out with a .308 or a 30-06. The 300 Win Mag sure is sexier to goofballs like me though

JRC

[jrcii]

You're leaving out a lot of variables as jethroUSMC mentioned.
Where you hunt is important because in a lot of area's people are very successful hunters by simply planting themselves in a tree stand and waiting. Terrain is important as far as getting there and back and hauling meat is not going to be as easy as it is now. Distance and Transportation are also highly important questions also.
Those same variables will also effect your rifle, caliber, weight of your gear, barrel length etc.
A simple .308 in a light weight barrel configuration "might" be the most versatile and easy to use hunting rifle you would need, you can likely take 90% of North American game with it. It wont likely be firing more than one shot to take game, so the effects of a sustained rate of fire shouldn't effect you. The other side of that is OTB "Tactical Rifles" might have some options you can work with.
Here's the other end of the hunting in a SHTF scenario;
It's going to be very dangerous to fire a shot in the woods in such an event. Going out there in a group of less than two or three is going to be possibly a dangerous prospect because every knucklehead who ever thought they could learn the skills necessary to hunt, process and preserve game meat thinks the woods are a Supermarket. If they are hungry, armed and in the area, you might just get shot from your six while you stand over a steaming gut pile.
So if I'm correct about the above (And I'm not saying I have all of the answers by any means) consider this;
A) I would never hunt alone.
B) I would really consider a suppressor on my rifle.
C) I would scout the hell out of my AO now.
D) I would hunt my AO every time I got the chance.
E) I would practice a lot with that rifle and get to know it well.
F) I would consider and practice my routes in and out and figure on moving 70-100 pounds of meat and bone in what might be up to three additional trips back and forth to transportation, if you have a successful hunt.
Everybody's SHTF is different, so you have a lot of choices to make. If this was my decision to make here is a rifle I would seriously consider and sorry, no it's not 300 Win Mag.
https://www.remington.com/rifles/bol...hreaded-barrel
That and a suppressor and some really nice optics might be a happy medium when considering this situation.
When you say SHTF, that's actually kind of vague, so that's the best I can do for you.

Very, very good advice. I sure am wishy-washy because based on the advice from this thread, I'm swinging back to .308 or 30-06. I can tell you that regarding point B, I have several supressors in jail right now. And, I definitely need to follow C, D, E, and F. As far as your rifle recommendation, I was so close to clicking the button on an SPS in 30-06 when Remington had their rebate but I didn't do it. I'm kicking myself now.

Thanks again,

[jrcii]

If you really don't plan on hunting with it I wouldn't go the hunting rifle route just because a lightweight 300 WM is not going to be much fun to shoot. You don't have to go all tacticool but getting a heavier gun is going to be far more pleasurable for punching paper and ringing steel.

From what I gather from your post you only think about hunting in a SHTF scenario. I would not base my purchase of a long distance target shooting gun on that.

That was my way of thinking. And in an end of the world scenario I could always go hunting with an AR-10.

JRC

[jrcii]

It depends.

One, the terrain you hunt in can help answer some of those questions. Mountains and steep rugged country and tactical rifles tend to not mix well because they are heavier rifles and two, you are more likely to need or want to hunt than to ever need to snipe in a SHTF scenario (unless you're on our Southern border with Mexico)

That's true. I live in the Pacific Northwest. That would be my AO.

JRC

[twm134]

If this is your FIRST bolt gun I assume you have limited centerfire rifle experience?

I'll offer one guarantee; your learning curve, hit probability will be exponentially easier starting with a .308.
A .308 is easily a 600-800 yd. cartridge. Do you have ready access to a 1,000 yd. range to exploit the .300 Win mags capabilities?
There will be a lot more trigger time per dollar with the .308 as well, even if you're a reloader.

Merely a suggestion.

I strongly agree with all of this.

What are you hunting in the Pacific Northwest that you can't easily take down with a .308?