Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Looking for the perfect rifle

So not sure if what im looking for is out there or i am going to have to build one but wanted to get some input from others. I am looking for a perfect do all rifle out to 700yds or so. Will be used on whitetails and below. Want to be able to be mobile with it also. Prefer it to be stainless as everytime i get a nice blued gun it ends up staying at the house because i dont want to scratch it. Right now im kinda recoil restricted as well, rolled my 4 wheeler in march and broke my collar bone into 5 pieces and still have a plate in. Any suggestions or ideas would be appreciated.

8 or 9 twist 243. Thats what I did

I'd keep it really simple and get a Tikka T3 6.5 creedmoor. If you handload I'd go 6.5X55 swede


Trystan

Lots of us here built ours up 30-40 years ago when metallurgy and optics were excellent, cost was no object, and we thought that we would be young and vital forever. The rifles and optics are still here, but the youth and vitality isn't. Watch the classifieds. Bargains are and will be out there.

A do-all rifle for 700yd deer...don't drink the CMKoolaid if actual 700yd shots are likely. The 6.5 cal is likely a good choice, but not the small-capacity CM case. If most of your shots will be closer, and you'd like the option of maybe learning how to shoot animals to 700, then the CM is not a bad choice, with the right bullets. A 700 yd shot in OK is not Creedmoor-friendly, in my opinion. You'll need more speed.

And there are a lot of great off-the-shelf options for rifles now, like the Tikka, or for a bit more money, the Barrett Fieldcraft. A lot of guys think these two constitute the perfect hunting rifle. Just make sure you are pushing enough lead if your goal is actually 700yd hunting. I hunt and shoot in the mountains at higher altitudes where the air is less dense, and even mild wind gets pretty difficult to call at 600yds, which is the farthest I practice. I'd not hunt a CM at 700yd for big animals.

Sounds like you`re looking for a 243 or 25-06.

https://www.savagearms.com/firearms/centerfire/model-110/110-storm

700 is quite a poke, I'd have to walk 4 football fields first.

I wonder why all the firearm makers don't chamber the 250 Savage in their lineup. A great caliber for deer and below using the right bullet.

I just got a Barrett Fieldcraft in 243. In come with 1/7 twist barrel and is as accurate a rifle as I’ve shot. Haven’t gotten past 400 yards but it does well to that distance with Barnes and Hornady handloads.

OP,


Jacked up collar bone and deer- 6mm Creedmoor, fast twist 243, or 6.5 Creedmoor. Easy.








There isn’t an issue at 700 with the Creedmoor and the right bullet. I don’t, and haven’t, had a problem at that range on elk and the 6.5 Creedmoor.


A bullet that impacts the animal with enough velocity to expand/upset will kill just fine. I get high hit rates past 900 with the CM, but the bullets do not have enough impact velocity to upset.

The little 250 Save with the 1/10 twist is the perfect youth cartridge using bullets from 100 gr to 117 gr.. Very light recoil and note as noisy as a 243...

Shooting 700 yds in 6mm, 6.5mm or 7mm I would put more research and stock into a $1,500+ scope.

That is what has kept this site afloat since 2000 AD...

I thought for sure someone would know.

I've kind of gone full circle and now I'm back to my 243 in 8 twist. RL 26 has given it a nice shot of Adrenalin too. But 700 yds.? Wow.

Fieldcraft 6.5 Creedmoor or Tikka stainless fluted in the same.

I had to be drug kicking and screaming into Creedmoor land, but now that I've spent some time here, I'm kinda liking it.

On paper at least the 6.5 CM still has the velocity, energy, and bullet mass to be effective at 700 yards. But not much more. For targets it'll get you way past 700. I can't shoot that far though, at least not yet. I've just enough time shooting at 600 to know it is beyond my comfort zone on game.

Hard to go wrong with a Tikka.

The perfect rifle dosent exist, but looking for it is fun! 700-yards is a loooonggg ways. It can be done, by a very few, sometimes....

To get bullet expansion on deer out to 700 yards at typical Oklahoma elevations with light recoil, I'd be looking at the 142 grain Nosler ABLR out of a .260 Rem, 6.5 CM, 6.5x55 or similar sized 6.5mm cartridge. Your 700 yd deer criterion really narrows your options below 5000 ft elevation.

Seven hundred yards is a long way, I couldn’t hit anything that far away.

I can... but I won't shoot game that far.