first time to the plate.

[jeff@princegeorge]

Good afternoon, I'm writing from central British Columbia, Prince George to be exact. That puts me about seven hours from the ocean, ten from the Washington border and about.... twenty from the Yukon border. This is in the wetter foothills of the north end of the rockies. Good moose country and a mix of white and mule deer. There are frequent reports of elk overrunning territory this way from Alberta and NE BC but I'll believe it when I see it.

I live on the dege of this city and can walk off or ski away from the house dressed in camoflage, gun in hand. That feels pretty weird after growing up a preservationist from a city of two million.

I have one rifle, a Browning A bolt 30-06 . I've found that I love calling coyotes, all year and our little farm is frequently "under attack". There are plenty of logging clearcuts in this area and I head out lots.
I like it so much that I intend to by a second gun, likely a 243 which will be able to manage deer as well as coyotes.
My dilemma, and thats why I'm here is to decide whether its worth the weight and cost to get an actual varmint rifle...a Remington 700 SPS. My basic understanding is that a longer barel will give longer burn and acceleration to hotter loads. For a while I'll just be using factory loads I'm sure.

So is this heavier barrel worth it for accuracy and range or is a lighter gun more of an advantage for my two children. They're 10 and 8 so its early.

Any advice would be gratefully accepted.

Jeff

 

[Buffalobob]

A lighter barrel is more difficult to shoot accurately but not by a whole lot. A 243 would be very nice for the kids and unless I was planning on buying a separate gun for them I would get a lightwieght short barreled 243 with a wood stock that could be cut down and then doweled back on later. There is a technique for doing this.

Over in the upper right corner of your draft post before you submit it is a little square with two "A"s in it. After you cut and paste you write up into the box you can click on the square and it will automatically convert it to the same size and font as every other post.