Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire which would you buy?

Is this the wrong country / continent for the Blaser?
Why do so many not like it?
Tradition? Rigidity to change, suspicion for new tech?
Is it many cannot afford it?
Envy?
I could understand that.
Seriously, objectivity please, somebody...I can afford it but I also am not into wasting money for no good reason. Seems these rifles have a lot going for them, and proven technology?
Is it that most hunters, old timers, whatever are so resistant to change or advancement?
What?

Whatever dude...but that don't sound like what I said. If you like ugly stuff that cost too much, good for you. Why do you need it to be okay with us?

Ya gonna get that Korth feller talkin' chit again.

Hi sig45elite,

Many of us have hunted many years. We know what works well under conditions in which we hunt. Most of us use traditional bolt actions, although I do have a semiauto; however, I have never hunted with it.

I have never cast aspersions upon any hunter for rifle and cartridge s/he; e.g mule deer, used. Buying a rifle and selecting a cartridge is a personal decision.

I don't think envy or fear of technology come into play. I think it has more to do with personal experience.

About a decade ago I hunted with a neophyte. He was a nice guy. In his middle age he wanted to take up big game hunting. He bought relatively expensive rifles: one a .300 Win Mag for medium big game; e.g., mule deer, and the other was a .375 H&H that he intended to use for really big North American big game. He had done more reading hunting magazines than talking to actual hunters. On the one big game hunt he had gone on with me, he told me that my 7MM Rem Mag was not enough gun for elk. I just agreed with him.

When he actually experienced the Rocky Mountains and learned that hunting Rocky Mountain Mule Deer was not easy, he had gone on his last big game hunt. Prior to that he had booked an Alaskan moose hunt. He didn't get a moose. However, I had heard that he had told Alaskan hunters what they needed to kill Alaskan big game.

While this obviously does not apply to you, had my buddy had asked hunters what was necessary to kill game he intended to hunt, he could have save a lot of money. He could have bought a .308 Win/'06 class rifle and would have been good-to-go.

This is an excellent forum. While I have hunted for nigh on 40 years, I have learned things I did not know from posters here who have experienced things I haven't. Learning is a lifelong process. I know that there is far more that I don't know than that which I think I know. How someone explains something to me ain't nearly as important as accuracy of information conveyed.

I wish you the best in your pending rifle purchase.


Best of luck,

R

Personally, I would buy a fairly high-grade pair of rifles from either the Remington or Winchester custom shop. Have a a long heart-to-heart talk with the Custom Shop Representitive and order the rifles to match each other as closely as their recoil numbers will let you.

Personally, I'd go for synthetic stocks and stainless metal.

Calibers? .30-'06 and .375 H&H. Basically, critters under 1,500 pounds may be cleanly killed with the .30-'06; critters weighing in excess of 1,500 pounds pretty much need the .375 H&H (although I am guilty of killing an eland that weighed 2,352-pounds with my .30-'06 and a SINGLE 180-grain Hornady Spire Point Interlocked bullet ... cup-and core ... horrors!!!)

If lots of American praire hunting is on your schedule, add a .25-'06 or .257 Weatherby .... same stats as the .30-'06 and the .375.

Scopes? Your choice. Personally, I'd buy Leupolds; 3.5-10s on the low recoilling rifles and a 2.5-8 on the .375.

Mounts: Leupold QRs work well and if you want to throw some money away, matching scope backups, each with QR rings will ease any concerns.

Ammo. Personally, I'd handload. Otherwise, premium factory ammo with Nol=sler Partition bullets.

Have I hunted a lot and killed a great many animals, here and in Canada and in Afrika? YES.

And take all the extra money and get oodles and oodles of TRIGGER TIME. I cannot tell you how many rich men I had show up in camp (I guided for elk hunters for many years) ... they had a brand new $5,000 rifle and they'd never shot it and I ended up killing his bull for him.

The most notable was a fella, nice guy actually, who showed up in elk camp with a .416 Rigby with a 6.5-20 Leupold on it. Gorgeous $10,000 rifle that he'd never shot. I got him on a good bull and he planted the ocular lens of his scope in the middle of his forehead (bled like a fuggin' stuck hog) and gutshot the bull. Hey, it was NOT Pete's fault, he threw lots of greenbacks at the pretty rifle and had no idea about what he was doing. So, dammit, I ended up killing the gorgeous 320 bull with my lowly .308 Winchester.

My finest return hunter used a well-worn Remington 700 in .308 Winchester and killed quite efficently with 150-grain Remington Pointed Core Lokt bullets and (later) the Hornady 150-grain Spire Point Interlocked. He would NEVER shoot over 200 yards and he shot both lungs ... he was a guide's dream ... never rushed the shot, killed well and held legs with the best of them.

Trigger time, being totally familiar with your rifle, is incredibly important. A really good rifle, a good scope, decent bullets and an adequate cartridge is all you need.

You cannot buy marksmanship ... you must earn it. Trigger time is invaluable. Place a decent bullet through both lungs of an elk, moose or Cape buffalo and he's gonna die quickly ... you do not need the latest hard-kicking mega cartridge to kill, what you need is moderation and lots of time behind the scope.

May God Bless You and may you choose well,

Steve

The Blaser has good points for it's intended uses. Take down, compact portability, switch barrel/cartridge ect. However all that can be had with a rifle that actually looks like a rifle. Mauser M03. It can be had with a synthetic or wood stock of various grades. Best of all you won't have to warm up to that ugly ass Blaser!

Larry Root rides again...

sig45elite,

Just my thoughts.
Still value all of yours, out there 'round the FIRE, as long as they are on-topic to OP.
Thanks!