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)

[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

[okie john]

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

I have lived and hunted in the Pacific Northwest for 30 years. Four of those years I was a long-tabber on active duty stationed at Ft. Lewis. A couple of thoughts on this post and on a couple of your other posts:
1. Learn to hunt before you need to hunt.
2. A 308 or 30-06 with 180-grain bullets is plenty around here, plus you can find ammo everywhere.
3. Put 100 rounds through a 300 WM before you buy one, especially a light one. Plenty of folks have trouble managing a lightweight 30-06, and a lightweight 300 WM will be a vicious bitch in the recoil department. It's easy to lie to yourself about recoil during the course of shooting up one box of ammo. Five boxes will cure you of that.
4. There's a reason that the typical hunting rifle sold in the US weighs about eight pounds--that's where the ability to hump it all day long intersects with the sweet spot for recoil management.
5. Binoculars are more important for the hunter than rifles. You'll put more meat on the table with $1,000 binos and a $200 rifle than the other way around.

Seriously, get a stainless/synthetic Ruger Hawkeye, Remington M-700, or Winchester Model 70 with a 22" barrel in 270, 308, or 30-06. Put a Leupold scope on it and you can hunt for the rest of your life.


Okie John

[gaijin]

^^Spot on.
In particular the tip on glass/binos and "learn how to hunt, before you need to hunt".

[Chipper78]

I have lived and hunted in the Pacific Northwest for 30 years. Four of those years I was a long-tabber on active duty stationed at Ft. Lewis. A couple of thoughts on this post and on a couple of your other posts:
1. Learn to hunt before you need to hunt.
2. A 308 or 30-06 with 180-grain bullets is plenty around here, plus you can find ammo everywhere.
3. Put 100 rounds through a 300 WM before you buy one, especially a light one. Plenty of folks have trouble managing a lightweight 30-06, and a lightweight 300 WM will be a vicious bitch in the recoil department. It's easy to lie to yourself about recoil during the course of shooting up one box of ammo. Five boxes will cure you of that.
4. There's a reason that the typical hunting rifle sold in the US weighs about eight pounds--that's where the ability to hump it all day long intersects with the sweet spot for recoil management.
5. Binoculars are more important for the hunter than rifles. You'll put more meat on the table with $1,000 binos and a $200 rifle than the other way around.

Seriously, get a stainless/synthetic Ruger Hawkeye, Remington M-700, or Winchester Model 70 with a 22" barrel in 270, 308, or 30-06. Put a Leupold scope on it and you can hunt for the rest of your life.


Okie John

There is so much great advice in this post. I would add that learning to hunt before you have to is probably the most important thing that was said. Killing an animal is easy, harvesting an animal, getting everything from it you can is not. I didn't grow up hunting, this last season was my eighth. The first thing I learned about hunting is that the work starts when you pull the trigger. Tracking, gutting, dragging(or quartering) the animal out is a lot of work. Then when you get it home you have to process and clean all of the meat, and portion it out accordingly. With modern conveniences like electricity, running water, and a vacuum sealer, processing takes me hours. I can't imagine trying it in a eotwawki situation. Just something else to think about while you consider your options.
Personally I have a 30-06 and a 270, I would feel comfortable with either one as a go to in a situation like you're considering.

[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.

[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,

[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.