General Purpose rifle

[C-grunt]

I'm thinking for my next rifle I want a general purpose bolt gun. By general purpose I'm talking something that can take big game (deer and elk size), accurate enough to stay on a silhouette out to 600 yards and easy to carry. Basically I want a hunting rifle that is also a "scout rifle".

I want a capable round that very easily found at any gun store. Therefor my thought is 308, 30-06 or 270. 308 is my favorite and I already load for it however the recent ammo crisis has made the 30-06 and 270 look very enticing.

I want a controlled round feed bolt and am mainly looking at the Model 70 with Ruger rifles being an option.

Optics is where I'm really kind of struggling deciding what I want. 1-4, 3-9 and 2.5-10 all have their appeal. I am pretty sure it will be a Vortex Viper though except if I go 3-9 then there are a few Leupolds I like. Though I also think a fixed 4 power would work as well.

What do you guys think? Anything to add or replace that might be a good option?

[sierra 223]

I agree on the 270 or 30/06 because of how scarce 308 is right now.

I could always find those 2 calibers but still sometimes cant find 308

[T2C]

30-06 would be the caliber I would choose. Once the recent scare started to die down, it was the first ammunition to show up at Wal-Mart and other box stores.

30-06 is versatile enough to shoot just about any game you might want to hunt. With good ammunition it is a sub 2 MOA round out of a good rifle.

[K.L. Davis]

30-06 would be the caliber I would choose. Once the recent scare started to die down, it was the first ammunition to show up at Wal-Mart and other box stores.

30-06 is versatile enough to shoot just about any game you might want to hunt. With good ammunition it is a sub 2 MOA round out of a good rifle.

I had an old 30-06 AI that was a very versatile gun, shooting formed AI hand loads, it was impressively accurate and there was an increase in MV.

The main advantage is of course that you can fire factory 30-06 (not formed AI) rounds from it with more than acceptable accuracy.

[BrigandTwoFour]

I'm also a fan of 30-06, especially if you reload.

There are guys that have loaded it up to 300 WM power in one load, or scaled it down to very light shooting rounds. Very versatile, and very common even when a scare is in progress.

I like the Ruger GSR, and it does serve a lot of potential needs for a general purpose rifle in 308, but it obviously does not come in 30-06.

A bolt action rifle with a light palma contour in 30-06 (or maybe 6.5x55 if you didn't mind going a little exotic) would be a great all around rifle for everything from target shooting to hunting up to elk sized game.

A scope with magnification in the 2.5-10 or 3-12 range would suit it nicely.

[jcshelto]

Gunsite Scout all the way; I have been able to buy hundreds, if not thousands, of 7.62 during the last few months. It is a great, versatile rifle that can be setup in virtually every configuration: conventional, scout, long range, close in, etc.

If you want to maintain the scout concept, Leupold makes a, I think, 2.5-5x VX-R scout scope. The eye relief isn't as good as the 2.5, which I absolutely love. 2.5x can take a lot living creatures on this earth.

I think if I were mounting it in a conventional setup, I would use a fixed 10x scope and make a true 'scoot and shoot' scout/sniper rifle.

[britishtq]

I would get an m1a from Springfield. It's a .308 if I'm not mistaken and I've seen it be accurate to 600 yards. It's also a semi auto if you need it. That's one competent multi use gun that I would rely on.

.308 isn't that hard to find and not priced TOO high.

Scope? Go scout mount on that baby with a long eye relief fixed power scope. That's how this rifle shines to me.

[mark5pt56]

Hard to beat the Ruger Gunsite right now for your purpose. They also have a 18" SS version. Of course, nothing wrong with a W70 series either. Keep it simple, no mag to loose forget, etc. The Shadow series is great and you can step up to the Extreme Weather series as well, but my experience is no difference in accuracy.

On the Ruger, PTG is releasing soon a replacement bottom metal in the "Stealth" model for the Ruger GSR. This will be aluminum and the Stealth extends below the stock for a tighter fit of mags.

There's a few options available to you, depending on the features you want. Weight, mag or not, etc.
The Winchester Compact Featherweight with a Leupold VX6 1-6 in Talley lightweight one piece rings is a nice package-

Thinking on the 600 threshold, If you can find an FN TSR XP, they are accurate and will go further in distance, not to heavy either. I have enroute a PBR-XP with STEEL floorplate, can't wait to get here up and running. FN has discontinued the TSR line, not sure of the replacement though. The progression was PBR, PBR-XP and TSR-XP. The Hogue stock supplied isn't the best, but it will work. And there is as one would expect, a difference in the Hogue stock used on the Rem and Win(other than fit) The Win/FN actually has aluminum rods in the forend while the rem does not.

I don't know about the Ruger, but they have a new model out comparable to the TSR. Replace that goofy FH with at least an A2. Unknown about the stock as mentioned with the rem/FN above used on the Ruger. Stocks for Rugers might be hard to find though.

http://www.ruger.com/products/m77Haw...al/models.html

[Chameleox]

Aside from other desires and projects, I always thought that either a Ruger Gunsite or a quality .270, with a 1-4 optic, would be a pretty versatile package, at least where I live.

IIRC, Cooper liked the .308 as well as the 7mm-08 for the Scout role. With hindsight towards the ammo scare, it would have been nice for Ruger to release the Gunsite in 7mm as well.

[1859sharps]

Aside from other desires and projects, I always thought that either a Ruger Gunsite or a quality .270, with a 1-4 optic, would be a pretty versatile package, at least where I live.

IIRC, Cooper liked the .308 as well as the 7mm-08 for the Scout role. With hindsight towards the ammo scare, it would have been nice for Ruger to release the Gunsite in 7mm as well.

His preference for 308 was because it was highly available world wide and was reliable for taking anything up to a certain weight...which I can't remember. the concession to other calibers was due to legal restrictions in some places.