Mountain rifle

[ncfireman83]

I had a good friend that bought a Ridgeline and couldn't get it to shoot for anything. Sent it back to CA, they sent it back with nothing found and still wouldn't shoot under a minute and a half. I have several mild customs built on REM 700 actions, several Bergaras and love both avenues I chose there. I'm currently in the process of doing a custom 280 ackley build on a Defiance Ruckus action barreled to a Bartlein barrel. Going as light as possible, I went with a Mesa precision stock and with be putting A Leupold VX5 4-20x52 glass on it. Not a lot of options (if any) for loaded ammo for it but I reload so no problem there for me. Decided on the caliber for several reasons, I can accomplish very similar results ballistically as a 7mm with less recoil. And there will be a lot of people say quit being a whimp, the reasons for reduced recoil for me are the possible need for quick follow up shots AND my young daughter will want to shoot anything I buy or build so I take that into heavy consideration with everything I buy or build.

 

[tknuts103]

I am very new to long range shooting and am looking at building a mountain rifle for an elk hunt in the future. Everyone on here seems to know a lot and have good advice.
So to start out with I am left handed so that already is hard enough to find a rifle, I already have a tikka t3 .308 with an oryx chasis, shilien 1-10 heavy barrel shooting 175 grain nosler custom competition BTHP factory loads and I really like tikka actions so I kinda thought about getting a left hand tikka in a 300 WM and maybe one day when I get into reloading I might rebarrel it to a 7mm prc when things are more available, I also thought about just getting a CA ridgeline in 300wm. Does anyone on here have any other ideas? My budget is probably around $2000 for the rifle and that would bet me a tikka with a good stock and barrel I think but I'm open to ideas.

My vote is a Seekins Precision element chambered in 300 win mag. Light weight, 22 inch barrel so you can run a suppressor no problem if needed, trigger tech elite hunter trigger, and what I think is one of the best carbon composite stocks out there. I have a Seekins PH2 and the Element and I can honestly say I don't think there is a better rifle out there. If you look around you can find them 2300-2500 for the Element and around 1700 for the ph2. Both rifles are easy submoa rifles and there is almost zero movement while shooting them with a Browning recoil hawg muzzlebrake. It says it reduces the recoil up to 75 percent depending on the caliber and trust me...it does. Feels like I'm shooting a 243 when I'm shooting a super light 300 win

 

[BrentM]

You started off saying BUILDING a rifle, then said buying a rifle. Which is it? If you are building one, buy an action, a prefit barrel, a stock, set of rings, a scope, a trigger….. and assemble a rifle.

 

[Hoppsing55]

I am very new to long range shooting and am looking at building a mountain rifle for an elk hunt in the future. Everyone on here seems to know a lot and have good advice.
So to start out with I am left handed so that already is hard enough to find a rifle, I already have a tikka t3 .308 with an oryx chasis, shilien 1-10 heavy barrel shooting 175 grain nosler custom competition BTHP factory loads and I really like tikka actions so I kinda thought about getting a left hand tikka in a 300 WM and maybe one day when I get into reloading I might rebarrel it to a 7mm prc when things are more available, I also thought about just getting a CA ridgeline in 300wm. Does anyone on here have any other ideas? My budget is probably around $2000 for the rifle and that would bet me a tikka with a good stock and barrel I think but I'm open to ideas.

Welcome kameron, I think you are on the right track with a 7mm. It's proven to harvest elk, with good shot placement at reasonable - long distances. (700-800 yds +-) My elk rifle is a Savage 111 Long Range Hunter, 7mm Rem Mag. I reload and run 160 gr Accubonds at 3000fps = 1" moa or less, all day. This yields 1250+ft-lbs of energy at 800yds / 5000ft elevation. The gun is approx 11.5 lbs with scope. At 67 years I find this an acceptable mountain carry weight. This or similar setup with a good quality scope would run you about $2,000+-.

You mentioned the 300 win mag. Another great caliber. Both the 7mm rem mag and 300 win mag will typically have ammo available. Not so sure about the 7prc? You state, "don't have time to reload",,, or you don't reload??? You'll want to consider availability of ammo and or components, in either case.

Barrel swap? Savage rifles have an "easy" method of doing such, for a hobby - home gunsmith. In my experience, Savage makes very accurate "off the shelf" rifles! You'd have to do a little research on which manufacture's provide for your left hand requirement?

Not sure of your capability - desires for "hobby smithing"? But, you might also do some research with Northland Shooters Supply. They supply actions, barrels, and stocks you can put together.

Good luck! Welcome to the "rabbit hole" of Long Range shooting - hunting.

 

[teesquare]

My vote is a Seekins Precision element chambered in 300 win mag. Light weight, 22 inch barrel so you can run a suppressor no problem if needed, trigger tech elite hunter trigger, and what I think is one of the best carbon composite stocks out there. I have a Seekins PH2 and the Element and I can honestly say I don't think there is a better rifle out there. If you look around you can find them 2300-2500 for the Element and around 1700 for the ph2. Both rifles are easy submoa rifles and there is almost zero movement while shooting them with a Browning recoil hawg muzzlebrake. It says it reduces the recoil up to 75 percent depending on the caliber and trust me...it does. Feels like I'm shooting a 243 when I'm shooting a super light 300 win

You may have missed the critical part...LEFT HAND. As a left hander - can assure you that the OP would love to have all of the brands available to him. But we Left handers deal with this fact: ONLY 2% of all firearms are made for left handers

 

[tknuts103]

You may have missed the critical part...LEFT HAND. As a left hander - can assure you that the OP would love to have all of the brands available to him. But we Left handers deal with this fact: ONLY 2% of all firearms are made for left handers

You may have missed the critical part...LEFT HAND. As a left hander - can assure you that the OP would love to have all of the brands available to him. But we Left handers deal with this fact: ONLY 2% of all firearms are made for left handers

Sorry, rumor was a while ago that they would be producing left handed rifles and new colors. Maybe they were talking if you order through their custom shop instead. Not that it matters but I will email seekins to find out.

 

[teesquare]

I had a good friend that bought a Ridgeline and couldn't get it to shoot for anything. Sent it back to CA, they sent it back with nothing found and still wouldn't shoot under a minute and a half. I have several mild customs built on REM 700 actions, several Bergaras and love both avenues I chose there. I'm currently in the process of doing a custom 280 ackley build on a Defiance Ruckus action barreled to a Bartlein barrel. Going as light as possible, I went with a Mesa precision stock and with be putting A Leupold VX5 4-20x52 glass on it. Not a lot of options (if any) for loaded ammo for it but I reload so no problem there for me. Decided on the caliber for several reasons, I can accomplish very similar results ballistically as a 7mm with less recoil. And there will be a lot of people say quit being a whimp, the reasons for reduced recoil for me are the possible need for quick follow up shots AND my young daughter will want to shoot anything I buy or build so I take that into heavy consideration with everything I buy or build.

I just - finally - got my refund for a Ridgeline in 6.5PRC that was the WORST rifle I have ever owned. and the WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE experience of my life.
The rifle was accurate...when it would shoot. The bolt would jam and often it would not pick up the second round if the bolt did not jam. It went back 2 times and was not fixed. I told them I DO NOT want that rifle back.I needed them to replace it or even refund me. I would pay more to upgrade if that would help them - but I wanted them to replace the gun. I spent more on Hornaday 143 ELD-X than the rifle during break in and practice. I checked every round for correct length. I followed the Christensen break in process EXACTLY. I kept the rifle cleaned and properly lubed ( NOT over oiled like a rookie might).
But the reason I will NEVER EVER buy a Christensen Arms rifle was because of what the Customer Service Manager - ( Erich ) said to me. And I will agree to a lie detector, testify in church, or court, hand on the Bible and on the life of my kids that I am not fabricating or amplifying his statement:
" Clearly we can't make you happy - so we will refund your money. It is a functioning firearm - we can sell it to someone else ". I cannot emphasize how stunned I was to hear that cavalier attitude when the fault was not mine - but Christensen's.

I was so...dumbfounded by that statement that I asked him to repeat it. He did. At that point I said to him: " You have just confirmed for me that this is the right decision." He asked what I meant. I said- "Clearly YOUR ethics and idea of Customer Service and mine are completely different and there is NO WAY that yo could now ever convince me that the rifle in question was not someone else's piece of @#$%^ that was cleaned and shipped to me when I bought it." He did not even respond to refute or deny that.

So anytime a hinter asks me for rifle recommendations - there is only ONE brand that I will tell them to NEVER buy. Want to guess which one?
T

 

[teesquare]

Sorry, rumor was a while ago that they would be producing left handed rifles and new colors. Maybe they were talking if you order through their custom shop instead. Not that it matters but I will email seekins to find out.

Being left handed is a little like being color blind - it is one of those things that your friends forget or don't really understand. It it frustrates us that we dont have access to a lot of nice firearms. But - I hope you are right about them offering a Left version. Now...as long as they don't see it as an opportunity to stab us in the wallet for that....

 

[BillLarson]

TIKKA....

 

[dhbikerczar]

I would suggest 300 PRC if you are going for elk in the future. With that CA would be my last choice. I have a few friends that went with CA, in different models. Every one of them has pressure issues and poor accuracy with factory ammo. I have a Seekins PH2 in 300 PRC and I have some hand loads goes to 0.1 MOA (note, not statistically significant s it's my best 3 shot group ever, but I have several 5 shot groups at sub .4 MOA at 100 yards). I don't know about Seekins making a left hand bolt. Also, you might check and see if all you would need are different barrels for 300 PRC, 7mm PRC and 6.5 PRC. I'm sure there are a lot of 300 win mag fans that will argue against the 300 PRC, but I really like non belted cases and it seems inherently quite accurate. Also it's more modern and quickly supported.

 

[teesquare]

I am very new to long range shooting and am looking at building a mountain rifle for an elk hunt in the future. Everyone on here seems to know a lot and have good advice.
So to start out with I am left handed so that already is hard enough to find a rifle, I already have a tikka t3 .308 with an oryx chasis, shilien 1-10 heavy barrel shooting 175 grain nosler custom competition BTHP factory loads and I really like tikka actions so I kinda thought about getting a left hand tikka in a 300 WM and maybe one day when I get into reloading I might rebarrel it to a 7mm prc when things are more available, I also thought about just getting a CA ridgeline in 300wm. Does anyone on here have any other ideas? My budget is probably around $2000 for the rifle and that would bet me a tikka with a good stock and barrel I think but I'm open to ideas.

I feel your pain. Been LH and left eye dominant my whole life!. Read my post about Christensen please. And - there is hope....I bought a Savage 110 Ultralight Back Country that offered MORE in features tho the Christensen for about 1/2 the cost . And it shoots great. At 6 lbs. it is a little lighter too. And the money saved can go to a better scope for you!. I just bought a Leica Amplus 6 that may be the brightest and clearest glass of anything short of the Tangent Theta I have. And the price was surprisingly good for German glass of this quality. Hope that helps you

 

[Starbuck]

I'm with Lee. Buy a LH Tikka 7mm rem mag. As many say, Tikka is the "Easy Button" to owning a precision rifle capable of long range shooting. And they are exceedingly rugged. The 7mm RM is just about a ballistic twin to the PRC, so once/if you get into loading, you can shoot 175's just the same. I have a LH Tikka so equiped, and while the 1:9.5 isn't ideal for 175's, mine groups them tight at just about sea level. Likewise for several OEM Big green 7mm rem mags I had through the years. The extra velocity helps. If you want more COAL for heavies, it's no trick to get 3.6 out of a Tikka with a few simple modifications.

If/when you shoot the barrel out, screw a 7 PRC on there.

If you are set on a 300WM Tikka, I'd make sure to find one with a 1:10 vs the 1:11 they came with up until a couple years ago.

 

[Lee7588]

I'm with Lee. Buy a LH Tikka 7mm rem mag. It's just about a ballistic twin to the PRC, so once you get into loading, you can shoot 175's just the same. I have a LH Tikka so equiped, and while the 1:9.5 isn't ideal for 175's, mine groups them tight at just about sea level. Likewise for several OEM Big green 7mm rem mags I had through the years. If you want more COAL for heavies, it's no trick to get 3.6 out of a Tikka with a few simple modifications.

If/when you shoot the barrel out, screw a 7 PRC on there.

If you are set on a 300WM Tikka, I'd make sure to find one with a 1:10 vs the 1:11 they came with up until a couple years ago.

Nice thing about Tikkas is even the home gunsmith can get a prefit barrel and change them out

 

[Tommy T]

I am very new to long range shooting and am looking at building a mountain rifle for an elk hunt in the future. Everyone on here seems to know a lot and have good advice.
So to start out with I am left handed so that already is hard enough to find a rifle, I already have a tikka t3 .308 with an oryx chasis, shilien 1-10 heavy barrel shooting 175 grain nosler custom competition BTHP factory loads and I really like tikka actions so I kinda thought about getting a left hand tikka in a 300 WM and maybe one day when I get into reloading I might rebarrel it to a 7mm prc when things are more available, I also thought about just getting a CA ridgeline in 300wm. Does anyone on here have any other ideas? My budget is probably around $2000 for the rifle and that would bet me a tikka with a good stock and barrel I think but I'm open to ideas.

I use a 30 nosler custom made with 24" barrel 205 Berger hunting loaded with 83.6 gn.s of powder and it will drop anything you can shoot out to 800 yds. Easy running around 3140 fps. With 4100 pounds of energy it's good on elk moose deer what ever you want to shoot. Check out Alamo Percision rifles they do a pretty good job and they have pretty good prices .