Hi everyone. I followed this forum since many years and i already posted a similar thread somewhere else but i finally managed to login here so i want to know your take on this guys!
so, until now i had a very prolific career hunting with a .308 here in Italy. That rifle, a bergara b14 with a 2-10x50i khales scope with a standard german IV type reticle, is intended to be used inside 250 yards and i built it in order to be as simple as possible, no need to worry about anything at that distances: from 200 yards below just point, shoot and the animal dies. I am currently using 170 gr geco teilmantel ammo (softpoint basically), which my gun shoots extremely well (0.3-0.4 MOA all day in range conditions). Now i want to try to reach a couple hundred meters further so i am looking at a tikka t3x lite in 300 WSM (but i am open to other calibers suggestions). I am still a bit undecided between a 300 wsm and a 7 rem mag but the possibility to have a shorter action and barrel, better barrel life and the fact that i like 30 cals make me lean towards the 300 wsm, despite the heavier recoil (luckily it seems that i just don't develope a flinch when i shoot, maybe until now ahah). And i would use a muzzlebrake anyway. So i wanna know what you think of this setup before starting buying stuff. Consider that i will hunt mainly roe deer (50 lbs), fellow deer (up to 240 lbs), wild boars (up to 380-400 lbs) and hunts outside my country are possible in the future (but this is not central in my choice now). Ranges would be from 10 to 500 meters (550 yards more or less), on average probably around 300 yards. I don't like the idea to shoot further because of the many variables that come into play and are more difficult to face at distances past 550 yards but i could change my mind in the future depending on the outcome of my future long shots. I do both stalking and still hunting, depending on the circumstances (50-50 i'd say). So:
-rifle: tikka t3x lite 300 wsm with 4-16 s&b scope (FFP, MIL reticle, uncapped turret for elevation, capped for windage and parallax adjustments) in a PSE composite e-lite stock with a bipod (still have to decide which one), sling and a muzzlebrake. Overall weight will be around 9.5-10 lbs.. a bit on the heavy side but i am young and in good phisical shape and a bit of weight will help with the actual shooting.
-ammo: no idea, i thought about 165 or 180 grains accubonds but i want your suggestions
My main questions are:
what about the caliber choice? I know i don't strictly need a magnum for this ranges and games but I think more power downrange is handy giving a little more more margin of error in regard to shot placement for long shots. There are calibers that have even better ballistic for sure but I think the 300 wsm has good ballistic anyway and I heard it's very accurate, pretty available here in my country, and packs a punch. Additionally it seems like this caliber is gonna stay pretty popular for many years to come and i love the longer barrel life in comparison to other faster calibers (in italy rebarreling is not easy for legal and practical reasons).
What do you think of this setup? What would you change?
What about the bullet? How would a 180 gr accubond perform on a small roe deer (50 lbs) at 50 meters and 400 meters? And what about a big 400 lbs wild boar at the same distances?
What about the scope?
What about the muzzlebrake? I have always shot without ear protections while hunting but whit that artillery piece i would do it. Any downside other than that and other than increasing weight and bulk of the rifle?
a couple pics for entartainment!
