Up here in Alaska I use a BAR .300 win mag with the BOSS and a 4x12 Leupold A/O scope. I shoot 180 gr. FailSafe's. It is great and I use it for everything from Moose to Caribou to Grizzly to Wolves. I perfer it to a short mag because of the kick, and the short mags (not sure about RUM, mut for sure the WSM) don't come in a 24" barrel (the Browning anyways). I love it and up here we do make 400+ yard shots. More common up here is the .338. I do like the .300 Weatherby mag, however, it heats up three time greater then the .300 win mag. Weatherby guarentee's the accuracy but only on a COLD barrel. I also have never been able to shot a bolt action. Weird huh. Oh, the other one to look at is the 7mm STW. That gets good reviews. Check out this web site www.chuckhawks.com for some info, he is a smart guy. You can spend hours on the shooting pages. Let us know what you get. Oh, they are right though, it doesn't matter what gun you have if you can't shoot. I am sure a lot of guys can out shoot me with a 30-06 on long range targets as I am no expert. WOW, this might be my longest post yet! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif[/img]

 

you guys are really smart
i can only dream of a .17 HMR or a .22LR

 

I shoot the new .300wsm it has proven itself to me, speed and accuracy. The best ammo I found is the Winchester supreme 150 grain silver ballistic tip.

 

I bought the Remington 700 BDL Stainless in 7mm RUM. It's one heck of a gun. Wasn't too sure about it after I bought it, but after the two shots I made this year I wouldn't trade it for any.

 

Here is a little info on the 300 rum, I personally own one and i can tell you from experience that jave doesnt know what the hell hes talking about. I own the rem 700 ps 26" 300 rum and i love it, i had a custom brake installed and a trigger job that took it to 2 lbs and i reload 180 gr nosler ballistic tips with 95 grs of rl-25 and at 100 yard im shooting an easy .70 group size, at 200yds im shooting 1.23group size
and at 300yrds im shooting 2.50 group size . my gun is zeroed at 100yds and at 300 yrds the bullet drop is 7 inches, the ballistics speak for themselves ! i dont know where he is getting 13 inches from. well just email me back if you have any questions.

 

Newbeatle:

I agree with you on the big bore rifles. I also shoot a 45-70 on a TC frame. Mine has the 16" BBL and tends to jump just a tad. I also shoot an original Sharps in 50-70 that is lots of fun.

I tend to stay with the '06 for elk or deer in open country as I find it has plenty of knock down. The majority of my game shooting is 400 yds and under so I seldom take any of the larger rifles hunting. Too much meat damage in most cases.

For really long range coyote or varment shooting I have a wildcat 6MM that reaches out better than the Swift or 22-250 and has become a real favorite. Trouble with the real hot rod calibres is the short barrel life. I have found most of them start to open their groups after about 1500 to 2000 rounds. The old big bores seem to last forever, have one Trapdoor in 45-70 that must have had a ton of lead shot thru it and still going strong.

 

CUBED... yes I love them big bores... I can use a handgun, here is southern Minnesota, instead of a shotgun, for deer hunting ... so for years "up north"( rifle zone ), or around here, I've been using my TC with a 14" hunter barrel in 45-70 ... with any kind of rest, I can put 3 shots touching with this cannon, at 75 yards, so it works real well for me... I also like the 50 A.E. ... I have an auto mag 5, & a custom converted Marlin lever action, & a scrap of the barrel left over from that rifle, made into a TC barrel... switching the Marlin over from 44 Mag, to 50 A.E., turned that "***** cat" of a rifle into a beast... the 50 A.E. really becomes usefull when you can run cast bullets through it ( which you can't do with the Desert Eagle ( the gun the cartrige was originally chambered for ), because of the gas operated system ) ... even though I don't have time to handload ( at this stage in my life ), I've always bought the loading dies etc., & save all my brass... for a later date... unfortuneatly guns like my Automag 4 in 10mm magnum, force me to reload occasionally, if I want to shoot them at all... I'm familiar with the 50-70, & I'm sure that that is a real blast to shoot... it's funny, that when I was younger, I enjoyed the "faster" shooting guns, but the older I get, the less I like looking for spent brass from a semi auto, & the more I enjoy shooting the single shots... although, there is still nothing more fun that a "big" clip on flat topped AR, with a 20 power scope, popping P.dogs, about as fast as you can pull the trigger...

 

Newbeatle:

You must have some mighty stout wrists to shoot that cannon off a rest. I have the carbine and the recoil, using fairly stout loads, is "invigorating" to say the least. I have seen experianced shooters try this thing once and want no more of it.

You will enjoy the reloading when you have time to get into it. The big bores do very well with cast bullets and handloads. You have probably read about working up loads fo a particular rifle and it's all true. You can tailor cast bullets to perform as you need them to at the velocities your shooting. I have a 50-110, a reproduction, not original, that lends itself to great accuracy with several bullet weights and no sight changes. One bit of advice, avoid wheel weight metal like the plague, it eats up barrels.

I haven't bought any factory loaded ammo for over 40 years now with the exception of 22 rimfire and shotgun shells. Never got into the scatterguns that much.

 

a buddy of mine has a ranch and he is a big hunter. He hunts elk, moose, cougar, and one time a bear with his 270. they are pretty darn fast and they shoot really flat. plus if you want even faster shooting. winchester has the 270 super short magnum. and they are awsome. they shoot extremly flat and far. Plus they are a good all around gun. you can hunt almost enything with them and they arent as exspensive as those 300 winschesters that you guys are talking about

 

depending on the size of the game the BMG .50 supplies great knock down power...lol....but rounds are a little pricey.