Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Help me choose a custom hunting rifle.

I'd reconsider.....

Defiance or Borden action. Don't waste your money on a Stiller.

why would YOU reconsider???

Couple of reasons:

Because for me (and lots of people)a 7 pound 300 with a 22" barrel is going to be a pretty hard kicking rifle,noisy and tough to manage.I built a 300 win mag that weighed 7.5 pounds scoped.It was a mistake.

Second, if I wanted a 7 pound rifle, for the range of game you're going to hunt(mostly deer,an occaisional black bear and elk once in awhile),a 300 Mag is not required,or even close to being necessary.

There is nothing wrong with the 300 Win Mag;great caliber.And nothing wrong with 7 pound rifle....I just don't think they go very well together.

Just my 2 cents....

But if that's what you want,build it.

Bob, Agreed on all counts. If you have to have one though, here is a great deal.
http://www.gunsamerica.com/953061006/Guns/Rifles/Custom-Rifles/Bolt-Action/Rifles_Inc_300WinMag.htm

Great looking rigs, lightweight and already built. If you shoot it and decide that is what you have to have, trip it for little or no loss and build what you want. I bought a famous maker used custom a year or two back, shot it, decided it wasn't for me and sold it for a hundred dollar loss. Save me over a thousand dollars being less than satisfied with what I thought I wanted.

I agree 100%. Build something enjoyable to shoot & easy on the ears, shoulder,ect. 7-08 &.308 are perfect for a 22" barrel.

It does not take a 8" lift kit to drive thru a puddle of water.

BEFORE you decide, may I recommend Charlie Sisk's Book, "Selecting and Ordering a Custom Rifle"?
best $25 you'll ever spend.

Alot of input and opinions and alot of questions answered.

I have it and have read it twice.

guys i have two guns in 300 win mag and love them both.one is a thompson center encore and is very lite.i honestly dont think they kick bad at all.

WW22-
If you want CRF, why not have a Winchester Classic built?

I too wanted a CRF and Winchester was about the only route I was willing to look.

I wanted stainless steel too, that was easy enough to find in a Winchester classic.

I wanted corrosion resistance but with a blued rifles look, accomplished as closely as possible through using Cerakote.

I wanted a nice piece of Walnut but not so nice that it cost me in excess of my budget, so I opted for a new factory Winchester Super Grade Stock.

And I can tell you this, finding a gun smith that is willing to pick up the phone when you call, answer e-mails, entertain ideas and work with you through the entire process is worth more than the entire cost of a custom in the end.

Remember this, again, it needs to be ALL about what you want and desire. My first full blown custom was EXACTLY what "I" wanted and it took me several months of pondering to finalize the plans. I suggest you take your time, look through many build blue prints and then decide.

This is my end result of my first build; https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbth...DNECK_sorry_bud_but_if_you_c#Post4200846

dawn2dusk, very nice...i have been thinking about a winchester or kimber action too.

Very well said Bob, I'd only add that there isn't a thing I can do with a big 30 that I can't do with a big 7 and that brakes are for cars...grin

Dober

A couple of comments:

1) The very first NULA I ever shot and hunted with was also my very first .300 Winchester Magnum. It weighed right around 7 pounds with scope and I found it quite manageable--and a pleasure to carry up and down elk mountains. It would group into 1/2" with several loads.

Of course, I was in my early 30's then and my notions of acceptable recoil have changed--along with what is required in a general big game cartridge. Back then I really wanted to buy that .300--but it was Melvin Forbes "loaner" rifle at the time, the one he sent to gun writers interested in testing a NULA, and he wouldn't sell it. When I finally did settle on my own all-around NULA, I got a .30-06.

2)I once fooled around considerably with a 22" barreled .300 Winchester Magnum and couldn't see any practical difference between that length and a 24" barrel. Muzzle velocities were in the same range--maybe 50 fps slower, but that ain't enough to matter. It was easy to get 3000+ out of a 180, and that's what a .300 Magnum is all about, and plenty for any non-dangerous game on earth.

I never noticed any real difference in muzzle blast or flash, either, probably because in my experience ALL .300 magnums are not exactly unnoticeable in those areas, even .300 H&H's with 26" barrels.

Yeah,I remembered what JB had written before about the 300 NULA,and as I was typing my post above I said to myself...."JB's gonna mention that the NULA was manageable...",so I knew I was walking into it...

But I guess that, to me,I always found the 300's in a light rifle to occupy that very thin edge between "tolerable" and "too much" for some folks....these days me included.In light rifles I'd fire the first few shots and they are not bad at all,but as a range session went on,I'd find myself tensing up,concentrating more,and soon enough fatigue would set in and I'd had enough for the day.....

Fully aware that few shots are fired at game,unlike at the range,my 300's always worked real well for me in the field(I pretty firmly believe that we bring to the field habits we develop at the range;I don't believe in shooters that are bum target shots but hell on BG)....but after awhile,I figured ..."why put up with it at all...?"

And I found that one step down in either powder capacity(say 30/06),or caliber(say 7mm),made things more tolerable all the way around,and the game never noticed the difference.Of course I was younger then, too,and put up with recoil better than I do today,as JB stated.

Course this was all before the 300 WSM which is what I would think about if I were going to consider a 7 pound 30 cal rifle chambered for something with more capacity than a 30/06.....even then I'd like it better closer to 8.....

On the 300 magnum issue, I have two Model 70's that are only a few ounces apart in weight; both have McMillan stocks, both have 4x33 Leupold scopes, and both are post-64 Classic actions with factory sporter barrels.

One is a 300 WSM, the other a 30-06. The difference in recoil, with 180gr bullets at 2950fps and 2750fps, respectively, is neglible for the first few rounds. After about ten rounds the recoil of the 300 WSM begins to get tiring--I am not talking about bench shooting, which is the equivalent of sitting in front of the TV and having someone hit you with a baseball bat--but shooting from field positions, mainly sitting and off-hand. The muscular effort required to steady the 300WSM, to bring it down out of recoil while working the bolt and to bring the rifle back on target, becomes fatiguing faster than with the 30-06.

Now all that might mean nothing to someone who trundles their rifle from the benchrest to the tree-stand and who shoots a box of ammo a year; but if you shoot alot, the little differences add up. If I could have only one, it'd be the 30-06.

If Your Looking for a Ed Brown. And a 280 Will Work for You a Know Where a Nice One is.

Agree. If I wanted a light 22" rifle I'd go 308 Win. If LA then 30-06. Neither cartridge is my preference but in this light-rifle setting if you're set on 30 cal both work well. I'd go with 23" barrel, action of your choice, mine would be a NULA. Just an opinion.

Hay John.
You mean like this?.

and

300 WIN MAG, 22 incher.Just under 7 lbs.
ULA.
Its a handful.But it just works.

dave


Not all my rifles are 10 pound loads.......

very nice.
the one thing that im sure of is that it will be a 300 win mag,but im not dead set on the barrel lenght.i wouldnt care to have a 23 or even a 24 inch tube.

What will you be hunting?
And, have you shot a 300 Win Mag before?
Reason I ask about shooting a 300 Win Mag before is that chambering has far too much recoil for me.

AMEN !!