...this isn't academic.

For reasons too long to get into here I can pick any rifle any caliber anywhere for under $2500. I know what I'm leaning to but I thought I'd open this up to the brain trust of the campfire to maybe spark something that I haven't considered.

Ok, go.

Good luck...at $2500 you are on the very low end of any fine rifle worth having...
but at that end it would be a shooter and not a safe queen.

For what purpose?

What game?

What area?

Including optics?

Need way more info. What usage profile?

For me, if it’s a hunting rifle, I’d just get a factory Browning X-Bolt Hell’s Canyon Speed in 6.5 Creedmoor and mount a Zeiss HD5 3-15x42 with Rapid-Z 800 reticle in Talley Lightweights. I could do that whole rig all-up for $2.5k pretty easily.

I’d work up a load for both the 127gr Barnes LRX and the 143gr Hornady ELD-X and hunt everything with it.

No specific purpose

No specific game

Anywhere

Glass not included

That's the beauty of this, it can be anything. I keep going back to variations of the same theme that I already have in my safe, so I'm looking for something different. And everything I own gets used regardless of price point. It's like dreaming with pricing parameters, but that's all.

Let me save you alot of money and time....

If everything in your safe looks the same. Go with that the to extreme. I've owned alot, and lost alot of money in alot fo stuff that wasn't my wheelhouse. Spent big bucks on customs, and lost big bucks selling them. I like short, light, 3 positions safetys, and claw extractors. Anything else reguarless of it's real world virtues is dead to me. I've llearned that and I shop accordingly now. No doubt a nice Christensen, or Proof Research, Barrett or other semi custom can do great things, but they don't work for me as well as a kimber 84M, Winchester M70, or Montana 1999... just the facts for me... if your only fact is you have 2500 to blow... I've got 2 kids that could use some college funding =]

Listen brother, I've got 5 so they better have some latent athleticism if they want their school paid for. If I had the inclination to type out the story on this everyone would laugh.

I've got all kinds of crap in my safe as I hoard firearms, so I'm trying to think of something that I wouldn't buy except for this little event. It sounds dumb, but I'm flummoxed. I'm considering another .45 ACP from Sig, but I that doesn't excite me as much as a rifle.

Buy a Sako

I've got a few. Which flavor?

Bavarian Carbine is a great flavor. Get it in a metric cartridge, they fit better in rifle loony land.

A rifle that shoots bullets for less than 2,500 is my pick.

50 bmg in anything that costs around $2500

Weatherby Mark V .460 Wby.

Wow....a question such as this runs entirely to a matter of taste, it seems to me. Great problem to have!!!! New or "classic"? New, I have absolutely no idea....or interest. Classic...pre-war Mausers and pre-war Mannlicher/Schoenauers are never wrong. Fine old single shot rifles are available for that price if you shop or have any interest in them. A combination gun or drilling could be a consideration again, if you have any interest in them.

Were it me who was under the duress of such a difficulty I don't know what I'd choose but, I'd know it when I saw it!!!!

I'd pick a Barrett Fieldcraft, based on what I've seen so far. No crappy DM, light, and well-executed. Handsome too.

If used is on the table, I could think of a couple more.

I'd put the $2500 towards a GAPrecision, and pay the difference .

GAPrecision Base Custom Rifle

Lol.
A non-descript rifle, for a non-descript purpose, for non-descript game in a non-descript environment.

By George, I think you nailed it!






For $2500, I’d look at some 1895 Winchester’s.

I would find an older proven ULA or NULA in 308.

I've been reading about the new Seekins Precision Havak, seems interesting for an all around rifle that could be used for some hunting and some PRS style shooting. The reviews are good.

Seekins Havak

Prices run ~$2k, Cabela's has started carrying them. The chambering should of course be 6.5 Creedmoor.

If you can't think of something off the top of your head, then I'd put that money in your pocket and start hitting gun shops. Something will call to you, I promise.

I've seen a couple of nice older customs from no-name makers lately, well-executed with all the whistles and bells, for about that price.


Okie John

Good suggestion on the Bavarian, I agree so much I have it in Swede.

RDW, you're ideas are as good as mine.

I started the thread limiting the amount to $1K. But if you raise it to $2.5K, that makes it a whole new ball game. I need to think a little on this.

I have a Borden build in 300 WSM which I paid for as a barreled action only. Cost me $2495 delivered. Had the stock installed elsewhere.

I would build one on a Bighorn SR3 with a Brux or Proof barrel with a Jewel trigger drop it in a stock of your flavor and chamber in 6.5 creed.

I know the Borden is supposed to be in the small world of truly elite customs, I've never even seen one that I know of, and I get to look at a lot of nice rifles.

I could sell a couple of firearms and a child to make up the remaining $2K, but for some reason the idea of the constraint entertains me. Sub $1K, this is easy; over $3K, easier still.

Any game, anywhere has to be a 375.
Ruger Hawkeye Alaskan 20" in 375 Ruger, coated black, placed in a Mickey McWoody.


Otherwise, some sort of nice 308 like a NULA, Fieldcraft, or GAP in a medium weight hunting rig.

I did this when I was 15 years old in 1970 LNIB M700 ADL 7 mm Rem Mag with RCBS dies, 80 rds of brass and 2 boxes of bullets . Cost me $125 ,I was sure I got screwed. Put Weaver bases and rings on it with a 2.5x7 Weaver until 1977 when I went to a Redfield Jr 1 pc base and rings holding a brand new Vari X 3 2.5 x 8. $210 more on the $125. Many thousands of bullets and pounds of powder later it needed a new barrel after 42 years. A new Remington take off barrel and install another $150 .So I have not spent $500 on this rifle that will do everything, every time very well and YOU don't need to either to get the job done.
There are still a lot of nice looking good shooting rifles out there for sale for less than $1000, find one, buy it shoot the barrel off it. Spend the extra on better beer and gas for more hunting trips. You asked. Magnum Bob

That would be great advice if this was my first purchase. But I've got plenty of run of nice looking, good shooting rifles for less than $1K.

Like I said, the stipulation is a firearm for under $2500.

The guy in this thread has 3 unfired Bordens- he'll sell any of the rifles for $2k, sans the scope. Pretty good deal- https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/12447847/1

This, in 7-08.

I'd hit the bigger auctions, like Rock Island, and find a nice crisp Savage 99...

I'd buy the prettiest stocked Cooper Classic I could find.

Looks like they don't have sporter barrels. Too bad, looks like a screaming deal.

Tikka T3
308 Win
Sportsmatch mounts
McMillan Sako Hunter EDGE stock
2 extra magazines.


Better then most "custom actions" made and all US made rifles.

You could buy two nice 700’s, mounts and scopes for 2500.00

A real nice pre 64 model 70. It would appreciate in value if taken care of.

You could get another one that looks like all the other ones (since you gravitate there) and have a good stock maker do up a nice piece of walnut from scratch, to your specifications.

That would be different.

Have you considered a good deposit on a hunt? Seriously, sounds like you have some fine rifles with no particular "need". I'd send $2500 for a hunt of choice and sell a safe Queen or two to fund the rest.

Or you could buy a Barrett in the cartridge of your choice <G>

Winchester 52 Sporter.

Winchester 52 Sporter.

Half of a Merkel K3 Stutzen

I wish a hunt was in the discussion then I'd be shooting ducks in Saskatchewan next fall.

Barrett is really high in this discussion.

Or a third of a Highland Stalker in .275 Rigby which is what I'm really craving.

Cooper Excalibur M54 in 6.5x47 or 6.5 Creedmoor.

Ooh, that is nice. But you'll need to up the budget to get one of them fancy Scottish hunting hats too.