My first custom rifle

[Lenny Foffa]

Both your choices are excellent Long Range hunting calibers, I happen to be a fan of the .300 Weatherby, and (Opinion) there is nothing wrong with the 300 Win mag either. I assume you are a hand loader . I find my Weatherby ( Norma ) Brass can be loaded many times. I think the 300 Win Brass may be the easiest Brass of all the 30's ,to find, once the drought is over. Whichever you choose lots of range time will be needed. I expect a lot of Large Rifle Mag Primers will get used. Good Luck Buddy

 

[Footsie80]

what twist rate?

1 in 10, definitely the slowest you'd want to go with that set up. No keyholing or stability issues witnessed to date.

 

[mnoland30]

A .30 caliber will hammer game, but so will a 7mm and a 6.5. The last two will hammer you a lot less, and cost less to shoot. With today's bullets, you can get by with much lighter bullets. The heaviest Berger bullets in 6.5 and 7mm have about the same sectional density as the 212 Hornady bullets.

 

[300 PRC CUSTOM SAKO]

Just a thought for you, since this is a custom rifle, I take it expense is not an issue, you may want to consider having two rifles in one. When I say this, I am referring to using a Terminus Zeus action with the quick change barrel feature. You could have a 6.5 PRC barrel in a long action and also have a 300 PRC barrel to swap out for larger game. You keep the stock and optics and would only change out barrels. The additional cost should only be the barrel. This way, if you decide 300 PRC is too big for Whitetails, you could drop down to the 6.5 and if you are heading into Alaska, install the 300 PRC barrel, you are already comfortable with the stock and scope. Just a thought.

Go with the Nexus model and you can swap barrels/calibers in field, etc without barrel vice -- two screws and done, total DIY.

 

[bultinkle]

I'm planning on having a 6.5prc barrel cut for my 300prc after hunting season.

Personally, while I enjoy it it's more than I need on most occasions. This leads to useless recoil. It also means I'm borderline wasting 215bergers that are hard to find and expensive. I also struggle to spot shots in a 9lb 300.

Those things mean I shoot it less. I want to burn barrels in my hunting rifle because it means I've got time and mileage on that rifle, it pays off when you're in high stress hunting situations.

Having a setup where you have 2 barrels, one for thin skinned hunting and practice and one for the biggest stuff is in my eyes a good idea. We will see how I like it. But I don't want to be the guy with the hunting rifle I've shot 200 times in 10 years. I want that number to be more like 2-4k or more

 

[Kmccord]

Go with the Nexus model and you can swap barrels/calibers in field, etc without barrel vice -- two screws and done, total DIY.

I believe the Terminus Zeus is the same with QC barrel.

 

[Rocketeer77]

IMO, there's a lot to unpack here. Don't take offense. If you're new to "long range" than a 30 cal magnum is the wrong choice. I'm all for buying good equipment, and I think purchasing a well built custom rifle is a good choice. HOWEVER, you also need to budget for a good scope & mounts, good accessories (rangefinder, bipod, rear bag, tripod, weather meter, chronograph, cleaning equipment, shot timer, etc., etc.). AND lots of ammo. You can get really far with focused & intentional dry firing, but you will need to get a lot of live fire reps in to become proficient. Depending on your overall budget, you might need to start making compromises somewhere.

In terms of barrel life, yeah barrels are tires & need to be changed, but to start out I think you should look for a moderate cartridge that will have +/- 3,000+ rounds of barrel life. Plan to shoot the same bullet and learn it. Starting out, look to get 2,000+ rounds down range your first year (which is only about 40 rounds a week) and probably 10x - 50x that in dry fire. It's not 'sexy', but focus a lot at shooting 100 yards on paper, take notes & pictures & track your data, and work on positional shooting (look up Kraft drill for an example). Take your weather meter everywhere. Guess wind speed/direction and then check with your weather meter to build your internal database. I'd also avoid reloading in the beginning as it just adds unnecessary variables, time, and cost (and most reloaders can't outshoot quality factory ammo anyways).

Who does 2,000 live rounds a year? The vast majority of us neither have the time nor the required funds. Let alone access to the facilities required! I guess rich owners of a ranch could....

 

[bultinkle]

The number may be lofty and I'm not going down the measuring contest but there is absolutely something to say for building around a cartridge you can practice extensively with both recoil wise and affordability wise.

 

[blvette75]

300 wm tried and true also...brass and ammo everywhere.......it works

Yes I agree, was wondering if I should switch to a Norma, or PRC or a Weatherby, it was hard for me to justify buying all of the dies, Brass and other stuff when I already have knowledge for reloads that have worked. But it is fun considering the possibilities. So the outcome of my pondering drill was I bought a Christensen Arms 300 WM replacing my BAR 300 WM.

 

[muleystalker]

Don't thin k you need to worry about barrel burning up unless you spend a lot of money shooting it very frequently.

If he plans on long range hunting with it and has no experience doing so he better plan on burning up at least one Barrel practicing before he starts trying to take game at LR distances, whether it's on that rifle or another.

 

[AkBirder300]

Good point lol - but honestly they are coming in stock very frequently if you look hard enough. I could have bought 215's within the last week at probably 5 or 6 different locations in both 100 counts and 250 counts. Berger is making them now through the beginning of next year and it is starting to show.

Man if you don't mind hooking a fellow up, please PM me. They're as scarce as a warm day up here in the frozen north! I'd love just a single 250 count box to tide me over through next years hunting season

 

[jfolanddvm]

Hey all,

I'm looking at my first custom rifle and I'm torn between 300 PRC and 300 Norma.
I'd like something light enough that I can pack it around the mountains with enough knockdown power that it can take pretty much any North American big game.
This is long range hunting.com, so I'd like to be able to reach out.
My understanding is the 300 Norma outperforms the PRC but will burn a barrel out. Anything else I should be aware of? What would you use?
Also, any issues with a carbon fiber barrel out in the brush?
I'm new to the world of custom rifles and long range anything. So I'll take any advice I can get. Thank you in advance.

Not sure if it was mentioned whether or not you feel you are an experienced shooter - just not a long range one. If you have lots of trigger time and know that recoil won't bother you, I would choose the PRC just because of availability of over the counter ammo. I personally like the 30 nosler better, but really, its just splitting hairs.
If you're not an experienced shooter, I would go with something with slightly less recoil that will still be adequate for anything in NA except maybe the large brown (or white) bears. I am partial to the 7 WSM, but there is minimal difference between it and the 7 saum, and it appears the saum may be overtaking the wsm in popularity. If I were building a mountain gun that could kill at extended distances, and I handloaded, I would look at one of these. In fact, it would be a 7 saum with a 20-22 inch barrel threaded for a suppressor.
If handloading is not an option, then the 6.5 PRC may be a good choice. I helped a friend sight in and get drops on his new custom 6.5 PRC and it shot really well with very manageable recoil. It would be good for almost any NA game at reasonably long distances.
Good luck in your quest, and let us know what you decide.

 

[Euler]

Who does 2,000 live rounds a year? The vast majority of us neither have the time nor the required funds. Let alone access to the facilities required! I guess rich owners of a ranch could....

We all make our own priorities.

 

[muleystalker]

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