I have decided on a new .270 as my choice for deer/antelope. Have it narrowed down to the Remington 700 BDL or the Ruger M77 (the new Hawkeye that came out in Feb or so). Any opinions on one vs. the other? Or is there another model you love that I should consider. Plan to outfit it with a Leupold 3-9X40 VXI or VXII.

Thanks for your input!

TK

 

I prefer the Model 70 Winchester(With a boss) if you can find one.The Winchester model 70 was voted the best bolt action rifle of the 20th century,by Shooting Times magazine.The Classic model 70 with the clawfoot extractor and three position safety,is paramount.I have several of them chambered in weatherby ammo. 257 and 300 magnums.....the 257 weatherby is one of the best rifles ever made.Flat shooting and highly accurate.A 270 is a good round,but want compete with the 257 or 270 weatherby.....Just my thoughts on a rifle.Scopes are a matter of money,if I could only afford American made scopes, I would use Leupold,but I use Swarovski which is high end and very expensive.

 

Check out www.gunbroker.com and look under "model 70 boss".

 

The Remington or Ruger are both fine rifles as are several others on the current market. My personal preference runs more to the older Winchester Model 70's and the Weatherbys. If you don't have an allergy to used rifles there are always nearly new ones on the racks in most gun shops. Saves a few bucks and if you have done the research you can find an older model that is superior to many of the current offerings.

Congratulations, by the way, on your calibre choice. Many folks are falling into the trap of the newer short and super short cartridges which have very limited advantages and, IMO, several drawbacks. But that is a whole nother topic.

As to the glass you have listed. Take a look thru several different scopes before settling on a 3-9. Nothing wrong with that choice but I have found for my use about 7 power is as much as I want for general hunting. I do have more powerful scopes including a 24 power on a 6 MM wildcat but that is for coyotes and groundhogs. Most of the glass I use is Leopold as I see very little difference between it and the much more expensive brands. Leopold has always taken care of any repairs I've needed promptly and at reasonable cost. Never had a warrantee claim as one has never failed due to defect, only damage.

A really good place to read about new and old rifles and see reasonable comparisons of various makes is "Guns and Shooting Online". Chuck Hawks has built a really informative web site and offers good information on many subjects.

 

Thanks for the input. Looked a little more tonight and heard a lot of good talk on the Tikka T3 Lite. They tried to talk me into the WSM, but I don't see enough of an advantage there as you said. Also, looked through a Monarch UCC scope and was impressed with it.

I have been reading a lot online today and have spent the majority of that time reading the articles and reviews of Chuck Hawks, what a ton of information!!

Thanks again.

TK

 

Glad I could help a bit. If you really want to learn a bit about internal and external ballistics and how there is really nothing new about most of the "new" stuff being touted by the gun rags take a look at P. O. Ackley's "Handbook for Shooters and Reloaders". You can find both volumes at most libraries. The information is getting to be a bit dated but the story of how we got to where we are today with smokeless powder is worth knowing for anyone that is really interested in the shooting sports.

EDIT:
Forgot to comment on the WSM cartridges. Nothing really wrong with this old "new" concept of a short, fat cartridge and I would probably consider playing around with the ones that have recently introduced but I never met a rebated rim cartridge I really liked. There always seems to be feeding problems that, tho they seldom occur, are bothersome and could be disastrous if a needed follow up shot is lost. I know lots of folks will disagree with my point of view but experience has brought me to this conclusion and it works for me.

Let us know how your search turns out.

 

i wouldn't rule out the 270 wsm. my buddy bought one this year before deer season and he loves it, if you go through and look at the ballistics the wsm outperforms the 270 in every category. the powder burns more evenly and cleanly because of the shorter cartridge. i have a 7mm short mag and once again it outperforms the 7mm mag in every category. oh and i have the new leupold VX-L scope the 4x12x50 and i love it. it sits as low as the 40 mm scopes so you don't need the high rise scope mounts thus making you more of an accurate shooter. leupold makes a great scope but if you are gonna buy a new rifle don't cheap out on the scope. if you go to the store and look athe the vx1 vx2 and vx3's you will deffinately see the advantages of getting good optics. you can make any gun accurate but whats the point if you cheap out on a scope?

 

wees440 is happy with his choices and has bought what he wants. I will take exception to his downgrading of Leopold scopes as being a "cheap out". Over the years I have owned and used a lot of different brands of scopes. Even had the pleasure of target shooting with the old external adjust Unertal 3/4" tubes. Now there was a limited field of view for you. At any rate to downgrade the current Leopold offerings is, IMO, a disservice to a good company. I have had many excellent scopes on a number of rifles and have never found a scope that will allow a shooter to do better than they can with the high end Leopolds. Not to say the Leopolds are better than other scopes but a cheap POS they are not.

Throwing lots of money at equipment will never replace practice and knowledge of the external ballistics of the rifle you are shooting.

 

tencubed i am sorry if you took what i said about the leupold as being negative. my mom has a leupold vx2 and it is a good scope, i wouldn't mind using one for myself. i was just stating that compared to the vx3 or the vxL it doesn't compare. when it comes to optics you get what you pay for usually. the clarity is absolutely wonderful with the vxL the vx2 isn't as clear but still a all around good scope for the money. oh and don't rule out the burris scopes either. they have a good field of vision and all the parts and scope itself is all made in the USA. my dad has a burris and they are a good clear scope.

 

The vx scope line is good stuff no doubt. Never really noticed the difference in clarity or brightness with them however. Have used them but usually pass them along to one of the kids as they seem to like them very well. As to the Burris scopes, I have never had one that I could get the parallax to go away to an acceptable degree. Only bought three of them but don't consider them to be target quality. Make for good tough short range hunting scopes however. They seem to gather light well.