Saw some cool rifles up there. I think having so many years to obsess over it leads to that. My favorite was a full custom 6.5 CM in a McMillan, about the same profile as my Bartlein #3 but with a Lilja, custom Remington-pattern action, forget which one, and a big Nightforce SHV. He liked my build (the fauX) a lot too; we could've traded and both been happy. ...
Nice rifles are, well, nice. But not necessarily necessary.
My tang-safety Ruger in .257 Roberts has been getting the job done for years and years. Not much special about it except it shoots great. Most special thing about it is the Leupold 3.5-10xAO Vari-X III mounted on top. Bought the rifle and scope separately, both used. A couple years ago I had Leupold install their Varmint hunter (or whatever they call it) reticle and vertical knob, so I now have quite a bit more in the scope (about $500) than I do in the rifle.
Last year I used my $295 used Savage FXP3 (synthetic stock/blue) and a 95g SST. Homely/ugly with a pretty plain scope (Burris FF-II 3-9x Ballistic Plex). But, dang – that thing can shoot! Same scope is on my All Weather Ruger Hawkeye in .280 Rem, which is what I used two years ago. Nothing special about that rifle either except it is also a very good shooter.
Don’t know which of the three I’ll take this year, but I’ll probably be obsessing on that until right before we go. Hell, obsessing is half the fun – and that fun often lasts a lot longer than the hunt itself. Congrats on your rifle, though – it sounds really nice.
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Also saw (and heard) the usual rifle stupidity. Guys taking "500 yard!" shots... with no rangefinder. Rifles with wack-ass scopes on them mounted all weird. Etc.
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Some guys are totally clueless. Right after the Ruger Scouts came out we met a guy in WY that claimed he had just taken his antelope with a’ 400-yard shot’ using his 5.56 Ruger Scout. When I asked about the hold-over he said he aimed ‘right at it’. This was before the Scouts with the ‘long’ 18” barrel were available, so it had to be the 16.1” version. When I asked what ammo he was using he got completely flustered - he had no idea about that, either.
If my .308 Scout shot that flat I could get rid of all my other rifles.
Congrats on your buck.
Thanks CH!
Yeah, rifle loonyism is pretty funny sometimes. I'm screwed in that I now have the equipment and skills to do my own work, so I'm in danger of really spinning off into the ether with this stuff <grin>.
I actually would never have traded him. His McStock was nice but my Manners SL is slap-yo-momma awesome. The 6.5 CM is cool (I'm guessing) but the 6.5 SAUM is better yet at least in rifles with a little heft to them like these both had. Etc. BTW- all I did was clone the GAP Extreme Hunter, so all credit goes to GAP for the superb recipe.
