Help me spend $2500

fishbone821 said:

Yeah but treasury notes don't go boom and make me smile! I put plenty of money towards my retirement. This is out of my fun fund.

That being said…I may have to just learn to love a Seekins Element. Hard to hate a rifle that has 99% great reviews.

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Seekins is coming out with a whole new and improved line-up. However, I second @wvbearhunter. I have a couple Zermatts and about 10 barrels now between them. Get a barrel vice, action wrench and torque wrench and you can have multiple cartridges. You can get prefit barrels from most competent gunsmiths without sending your action out. Just a thought. I mean, tl3 long action and a barrel leaves you money for cheaper stock. All you need is a trigger. If you can live with a standard rem 700 trigger, I may have one to donate.

Those things are incredibly smooth
.

fishbone821 said:

Looking for a new rifle. I want it to be chambered in 7 PRC and would prefer a 22" barrel so I can run a suppressor. Shooting will probably be mid range by most of your standards but would like to be able to be confident to make shots in hunting situations to 600 yards or so. I realize this takes practice. Not a big fan of Seekins as I don't like the feel of their stocks. What other rifles should I be looking at?

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This would be a good option… Just picked this beauty up yesterday for my 14 year old daughter. Mark V Deluxe in Roy's favorite 257. Built in 2003 and has never been fired. Called Weatherby to get info and to my surprise, she has a Krieger barrel.

I'm sure the newest MkV's are better, but I've owned 5 and only 2 were legitimate sub MOA for 5 shots; and those 2 were finicky. None liked heat and had to have the shots spaced out in order to squeeze the best accuracy out of them. The ones I had were produced early 90's to early 2000's. Smooth working, beautiful rifles, though, and certainly they were all sufficiently minute of deer to as far out as I used them. To be fair, it seems that all rifles have gotten more precise these days, but I'll just say that the MkV's I had/have couldn't quite hang with many of the Tikkas, 700's or X and A-bolts I had/have from the same vintage.

As far as the OP, for hunting rifles I greatly prefer low bolt throws and safeties that lock the bolt down. As such, I'd buy a Tikka action from JE, pick up a pre shouldered 7 PRC barrel from maker of choice and then select the stock that best fits your sensibilities. Triggers are generally good as is with a little adjustment and or a new spring. IME, the Tikkas group as tight as anything out there and they are exceedingly tough and reliable. Spend the rest on ammo and get to hammering away!

I watched some vids on the new Seekins ph3 last night. Guns America has the details. Very impressive rifle and under your budget.

Window said:

This would be a good option… View attachment 640913Just picked this beauty up yesterday for my 14 year old daughter. Mark V Deluxe in Roy's favorite 257. Built in 2003 and has never been fired. Called Weatherby to get info and to my surprise, she has a Krieger barrel.

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Beautiful rig.

I have one in 7mm RM that looks very similar. It was my dad's. I was with him as a boy when he bought it and when he used it for many hunts. He's in his 80's now and no longer hunts, but he was a big MkV guy and owned a number of them through the years. I'll have to make a point to get it out and hopefully get some game with it while he's still around to enjoy the story and some fresh back straps.

Anyway, I can't see my kids treating my SS, synthetic stocked "tools" as family heirlooms like I do with a few of my dad's and grandfather's walnut/blued rifles. They are truly works of art, blending natural beauty and excellent craftsmanship.

I vote buy a Seekins and if you find you don't like the stock, replace it with something different.

Starbuck said:

I'm sure the newest MkV's are better, but I've owned 5 and only 2 were legitimate sub MOA for 5 shots; and those 2 were finicky. None liked heat and had to have the shots spaced out in order to squeeze the best accuracy out of them. The ones I had were produced early 90's to early 2000's. Smooth working, beautiful rifles, though, and certainly they were all sufficiently minute of deer to as far out as I used them. To be fair, it seems that all rifles have gotten more precise these days, but I'll just say that the MkV's I had/have couldn't quite hang with many of the Tikkas, 700's or X and A-bolts I had/have from the same vintage.

As far as the OP, for hunting rifles I greatly prefer low bolt throws and safeties that lock the bolt down. As such, I'd buy a Tikka action from JE, pick up a pre shouldered 7 PRC barrel from maker of choice and then select the stock that best fits your sensibilities. Triggers are generally good as is with a little adjustment and or a new spring. IME, the Tikkas group as tight as anything out there and they are exceedingly tough and reliable. Spend the rest on ammo and get to hammering away!

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It was in 2005 I believe weatherby announced a sub MOA guarantee. I forget now what they changed to do that but their accuracy has certainly improved since then. Especially in the non super overbore rounds that are hard to tune for. I've yet to see a weatherby 6.5 creed that wasn't .6 MOA or less once you found the ammo it likes.

As someone else mentioned, they use Krieger barrels now, and their newer triggers are pretty darn good.

They have some mark V's with heavier contour barrels now. Nothing super heavy, but heavier than the ultra pencil's on some of the hunting ultralights.

They have some carbon barrels too that I've heard are super nice and tolerate third and fourth shots without fliers if you don't let it cool too much. But I've never actually seen one in person unlike the others so take that with a grain of salt.

I wouldn't buy a Fierce after the issues a buddy had with the rifle, and their CS.

He bought a 6.5PRC Fierce Carbon Rogue for his Dad, and asked me to work up a load for it.

Lapya brass, I tried 6 different bullets, 4 different powders, 7 different primers, 2 different scopes, checked crown, checked torque on everything, cleaned twice. After 160 rounds, it was sent back, as nothing met their "accuracy guarentee". I had two groups that were under .5 MOA, but they would not repeat.

It was sent in to Fierce. It took MONTHS for them to look at it. They test fired it with every ammo they had per the representative I personally talked to. A single group shot .650", and they said it met their accuracy guarantee and were going to send it back. I asked if it would repeat that group, so back into the rotation for another test. Not sure how many more times it was fired, but 6+ months later, it was deemed to meet their accuracy guarantee. My buddy had to pay almost $400 for this "service" to even get his rifle shipped back. They shipped the target back with the rifle...with a 4 shot group that measures over 1". The "flier" marked as "clean bore fouler shot" and 3 more in a .650" group. Must be nice to be able to throw out a bad shot and still say the group is sub-MOA. 1.063" or 1.015 MOA.

It was sent to Fierce in Nov 2023, It took over 13 months to get the rifle back. I just got it back last week.

If Seekins is really out of the question then I'd get a Tikka and use the extra money for better optics.

lancetkenyon said:

They shipped the target back with the rifle...with a 4 shot group that measures over 1". The "flier" marked as "clean bore fouler shot" and 3 more in a .650" group. Must be nice to be able to throw out a bad shot and still say the group is sub-MOA. 1.063" or 1.015 MOA.

It was sent to Fierce in Nov 2023, It took over 13 months to get the rifle back. I just got it back last week.

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Man, that has to be THE worst customer service I've heard of in a long time. Enough for me to put them on the 'never buy' list.

My dad and I got my mom a Seekins element in 7prc for Xmas. While I'm not a huge fan of the stock, it shoots lights out. Reloading 180 bergers over n568 shooting 5 shot groups under .5" at 100 yards. It's probably the most accurate factory rifle I've seen.