Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles New rifle recommendation

I’m looking to add another rifle to my current setup: 270 Remington blued 700 adl that I’ve had since I was 12 with a Burris 4x15 scope and a tikka T3 338 with Leupold vx3 2.5x8 scope and muzzle break. Neither are particularly accurate and are typically 1.5 to 2 MOA despite trying numerous different types of factory loads over the years (I don’t hand load). I’ve had both rifles for over 20 years and they both have sentimental value as the people that gave them to me got meinto hunting and are no longer here. I’ve killed more than a dozen deer and antelope with the 270 and a half dozen elk with the 338. Most elk have dropped in their tracks. I understand there’s really not a need, but I’m tired of dealing with rust issues on the 270 and the 338 still has an impressive recoil despite the muzzle break, limbsaver pad, and dropping down to 210 grain bullets.

I’m looking for an all around stainless steel rifle for deer, antelope, and elk. Also hoping to do some Alaskan mountain goat and sheep hunts at some point in the future. Shots would be limited to 500 at the at absolutele max and most within 300 yards based on past experience. I’m looking at various stainless cooper rifles. It’s not uncommon to hike more than 10 miles/day in steep country. I don’t mind a muzzle break to help with recoil. I’m considering a cooper backcountry or timberline in 7 mm or 30-06 with 3-15 leupold or swaro scope and hoping to never buy another rifle. Thanks for the input!

Interesting. What burris scope is that? Never saw a 4x15 before. Used plenty of 4.5-14x42 burris scopes though. As far as accuracy goes, both of those rifles should shoot better than that. Hard to make a suggestion, as my first thought was 7mm08 and lots of practice. Tikka would also be my best suggestion. Im thinking a cooper is not the ticket, but proper fundamentals of marksmanship should be considered. Not all practice is good practice, if you are throwing in bad habits.

Sorry about that, you’re correct. It’s a Burris fullfield II 4.5x42 scope I upgraded from the original junk bushnell that came with it around year 2000. Certainly could be more operator error than anything at the bench. Admittedly, I typically only shoot a couple times a year at the bench. I would guess I’ve shot over 20 antelope, 15 deer, and a half dozen bull elk in my 20 years of hunting. You’re also welcome to tell me I’m a fool and to stick with what works

You just described a Kimber Hunter in either 6.5CM or 7mm-08.....
Much lighter than any Cooper, that I’m aware of.
Paint or dip the stock to suit and add your vision of the perfect scope. Done.

Tikka T3X Lite (or Super-lite) in .270 Win. or 30-06.

Generally pretty accurate, fairly light, & stainless.

Money saved by not getting a Cooper can be spent on practice ammo and/or a Tikka T1X 22LR to work on your shooting fundamentals (if need be).

The T3's are relatively light, so I have no doubt one in .338 would be a bit more sporty than I'd care for.

Jerry

The 308 tends to be very accurate, especially in a Tikka, but I'm not sure that you can expect better than 1.5-2 MOA if you only shoot once or twice a year.


Okie John

You could invest a little money in that .270 and make it an all around rifle. A 2000 model ADL is synthetic stocked and can usually shoot decent, but the stock is a weak link. A B&C stock in their #2951 Alaskan TI ADL for $300 would be a vast improvement over the current stock without adding a lot of weight. Greyboe Outlander would be another decent option, but you'll have to convert to a BDL trigger guard.

Once you have your rifle properly bedded in a new stock take it out and shoot it and see if you can shrink those groups. If you can shrink those groups from the bench, 1.5-2 MOA from field positions isn't horrible. Then send the barreled action off for a bead blast and some Cerakote, and that'll cure your rust problems.

Then I'd look at switching to a bullet like the 129 grain LRX and go kill everything.

Another vote to invest in the current .270. Sell the .338 sans scope. McMillan Edge-fill stock of choice, professionally bedded. Timney trigger. Mount the 2.5x8 Leupold in Talley LW Lows. Cerakote the barreled action. Rock on...

Invest in a hand loading setup and learn how to so you can absolutely know whether your guns need upgrading or your skills. (You don't shoot enough) mb

Most people have trouble using a light hunting sporter off a bench. It's the rest and technique. It takes time and paying attention to what is going on to figure it out. Its little things that make people look at you funny when you talk about it even though they see your groups are a third the size of theirs. This does not directly relate to shooting from field positions.

Shooting a extraordinarily light rifle to distance is a whole 'nother set of tricks. On the other hand, a 9# 7mm mag makes up for a lot and to me would be worth carrying if I really felt I would have to hit at 500 in a hurry. I find a long action with a magnum contour barrel an easy shooter, generally. Never had a Cooper.

Dude, if you want a Cooper, get ya' a Cooper.

Except for the fact that the OP isn't shooting either rifle he owns better than 1.5-2 MOA. It could be the rifles, it could be the OP, or it could be a combination of both. A lot of factory ammunition will turn in groups smaller than what the OP is shooting, and a lot of factory rifles will too especially Tikka rifles.

A person can kill a lot of big game with a .270 Win and .338 Win Mag. Buying an expensive rifle in .30-06 or 7mm isn't going to kill anything better. However, buying an expensive rifle and it not shooting better than 1.5-2 MOA isn't going to make you very happy.

So I'd spend a little money in upgrades and trigger time behind the .270 Win the OP has, and see if the OP can't shrink his groups. That way when the OP does invest in a $3,000+ rifle and if issues arrive, you'll know how to diagnose them. It'll make owning a Cooper a lot more enjoyable.

Modifying a rifle with sentimental value may lead to regret. It's good to just have a rifle the same way you just have picture albums.

Is a Cooper the kind of rig you can remove the action from, wipe it off and torque back down without losing zero? Is it all stainless or corrosion proof or just the parts you can see? The Timberline with the Leupold looks to finish up about 8.5# if you believe their stats. A brake on a 7mm RM may be found unnecessary.

Thanks for all the great feedback so far. I’m leaning towards leaving the 700 the way it is. If I ended up putting a new stock, trigger, barrel costing etc I would be stripping the originality. It’s not worth much on the market and is the lowest tier Remington 700 ADL. Assuming my groups are closer to the 1.5 inch mark, this doesn’t seem that far off from typical accuracy out of this rifle without any modifications from my understanding. I don’t think Remington would have declared bankruptcy if all of their rifles were still shooting 1 MOA accuracy out of the box with only reducing the trigger pull down to 2.5 lbs. It sounds like the action is outstanding, but a lot people scrap the rest of the rifle. The tikka on the other hand shoot be able to get to 1 MOA any day based on what I’ve read. I will say that I was originally given 250 grain nosler partition hand loads for it that I could shoot 1 MOA, but have always been closer to 1.5 with any factory loads. It’s possible the rifle just prefers heavy bullets, but as I mentioned before, I’ve strayed away from the 250 grain loads as the recoil is significantly worse compared to the 210 grain Barnes TTSX and Nosler Partitions I’ve used on 6 bull elk.

I shot a friend’s Cooper in 270 that I can reliably shoot sub MOA which leads me to believe it’s more of a rifle/ammo issue more than poor shooting technique, but I’ll be the first to admit I need to put more time in at the range. I’m also looking at Kimber primarily for weight reasons, but this would obviously lead to increased recoil, so I would consider going to a 308 or smaller caliber. I weight 160 and am becoming less fond of recoil as I get older, but also want to balance that with using enough gun to the job done on elk within 400 yards. Thanks again all!

My unsolicited comment as follows. I sold some stuff last year and bought the least expensive Blaser in 257 Weatherby. Felt recoil seems negligible, I was surprised. It groups the 100 grain SP under dime size at 100 yds. My LGS guy, also a gunsmith, says he has never seen any group poorly. My renter has 3 and swears by them. The attractive part is you can switch bbls and tailor your cartridge to your hunt. Seems to me a 30-06 or a 300 Win Mag will do anything you want.

A Cooper 92 Backcountry will be within a couple ounces of a Kimber Hunter, and lighter than any rifle Tikka ever made.

The Cooper brake is extremely effective, and a Backcountry in 7Mag or 30-06 is very comfortable to shoot, even off the bench.

It's a quality rifle that will last a lifetime.

You owe yourself a Cooper.

I would look at Winchester Model 70's or Kimber. Handle both rifles and go with the rifle that fits.

As far as cartridge, many will work. Personally I would go with 270 which would be an easy button, but a slew of other cartridges would work just fine.

If you are hankering for a different cartridge 7mm-08, 6.5 PRC, 6.8 Western, 280(AI), 30-06, 308, WSM's, etc.

Ammo availability favor 308, 30-06, and 270. I want to stick with the more common calibers. Ballistics wise I just can’t get over how nice the 7 mm looks on paper, but I doubt this would have any significant difference for hunting applications.

Winchester 70 EW, 270 or 308, or maybe 7mm-08.

2nd a Winchester ew. Get it in 30-06, sell the 338, and put the 270 in the safe or give it to a family member.