Need some guidance..

[Harvey Durham]

When I was looking into getting a custom rifle for shooting out West I was asked what the primary game animal was going to be. If Elk, I was told to go with 30 cal or larger, but since I said deer/antelope I was told that the 7mm was fine. And the 7mm that I was looking at (and ended up getting) shoots faster than the 28 Nosler.....

A .300 Norma mag .284 will put them all in the shade. The picture I attached is a 5 shot group at 1.038 yards with a 195 grain Berger bullet. @ 3,100 FPS I have a bulls eye cam and I just keep hitting show shot and it kept showing me the same hole and I drive down to check it out and that's the picture. The same right put two rounds through a 3,000 water buffalo in Argentina last spring! Try, beat it if you can, anyone would love the gun.

 

[Swatman05]

A .300 Norma mag .284 will put them all in the shade. The picture I attached is a 5 shot group at 1.038 yards with a 195 grain Berger bullet. @ 3,100 FPS I have a bulls eye cam and I just keep hitting show shot and it kept showing me the same hole and I drive down to check it out and that's the picture. The same right put two rounds through a 3,000 water buffalo in Argentina last spring! Try, beat it if you can, anyone would love the gun.

How do you make 300 Norma Brass? I have a gentleman who lives not to far from where I will be and has offered to help reload for me.

 

[WildRose]

How do you make 300 Norma Brass? I have a gentleman who lives not to far from where I will be and has offered to help reload for me.

You're going to have to get an action long enough and heavy enough for the RUM cartridges to chamber it.

It would not be simple but the parent case is the .416 Rigby so you could make the brass from it.

 

[WildRose]

A .300 Norma mag .284 will put them all in the shade. The picture I attached is a 5 shot group at 1.038 yards with a 195 grain Berger bullet. @ 3,100 FPS I have a bulls eye cam and I just keep hitting show shot and it kept showing me the same hole and I drive down to check it out and that's the picture. The same right put two rounds through a 3,000 water buffalo in Argentina last spring! Try, beat it if you can, anyone would love the gun.

Are you talking about a 7mm-.300 Norma Mag? The .300 Norma necked down to 7mm?

The barrel life on such a rig would be even shorter than the 7mm RUM so anyone building one better have quite a budget for replacements if they are going to do anything more than work up a load and shoot it sparingly on hunts.

 

[KyCarl]

A good action would be a Surgeon 1581 XL ! I'm getting one for a 338 LM. I'm getting the parts rounded up for. So it will work with a 300 Norma. A 1581 lists for $1470.00
so it will not be a cheap build!
https://surgeonrifles.com/product/1581-xl-action-repeater/

 

[Swatman05]

Are you talking about a 7mm-.300 Norma Mag? The .300 Norma necked down to 7mm?

The barrel life on such a rig would be even shorter than the 7mm RUM so anyone building one better have quite a budget for replacements if they are going to do anything more than work up a load and shoot it sparingly on hunts.

There are so many options out there.. I want something that components can easily be found and won't make my wallet cry.. Haha.. I've heard of most of these cartridges you gentlemen are talking about, but with me being new to this.. I don't want to get in over my head starting out.

 

[Swatman05]

A good action would be a Surgeon 1581 XL ! I'm getting one for a 338 LM. I'm getting the parts rounded up for. So it will work with a 300 Norma. A 1581 lists for $1470.00
so it will not be a cheap build!
https://surgeonrifles.com/product/1581-xl-action-repeater/

Dang.. You can get a Savage 338 Lapua with the HS Stock for around $900-$1,000. I've heard pretty good stories about that gun.

 

[Window]

]I will be moving to Utah from Oklahoma in March. I definitely will be getting into Elk hunting and I was told to go with a 6.5 Creedmore. My main goal is primarily to hunt Elk and do some long range shooting at a range with yardage up to 2,000yds. I was also contemplating building a 300WM and putting a good muzzle brake on it to help with recoil. With me being new to Elk hunting I told the gentleman I don't plan on shooting past 400-500yds. I'm just concerned with penetration with the 6.5 Creedmore on a large animal. Also, what would you guy's recommend for a good muzzle brake? Thanks for any input
I will be moving to Utah from Oklahoma in March. I definitely will be getting into Elk hunting and I was told to go with a 6.5 Creedmore. My main goal is primarily to hunt Elk and do some long range shooting at a range with yardage up to 2,000yds. I was also contemplating building a 300WM and putting a good muzzle brake on it to help with recoil. With me being new to Elk hunting I told the gentleman I don't plan on shooting past 400-500yds. I'm just concerned with penetration with the 6.5 Creedmore on a large animal. Also, what would you guy's recommend for a good muzzle brake? Thanks for any input gentlemen. I lived in Utah for a while, went to school there, married a Utah girl and lived there for a few years after I graduated. There is some good hunting - there. Go with the 300 wm and be done with it. I will be moving to Utah from Oklahoma in March. I definitely will be getting into Elk hunting and I was told to go with a 6.5 Creedmore. My main goal is primarily to hunt Elk and do some long range shooting at a range with yardage up to 2,000yds. I was also contemplating building a 300WM and putting a good muzzle brake on it to help with recoil. With me being new to Elk hunting I told the gentleman I don't plan on shooting past 400-500yds. I'm just concerned with penetration with the 6.5 Creedmore on a large animal. Also, what would you guy's recommend for a good muzzle brake? Thanks for any input gentlemen.

 

[CanardNoir]

Your gonna get a lot of opinions but if you wanna Elk hunt I would go 300WM as stated on other threads ammo everywhere and a lot of choices, im kinda of surprised whoever told you to get a 6.5 CM for elk...decide for yourself if you like a blended one with the profile of your barrel or a stepped one it may depend on the dia. of your barrel which style you can go with.

Just like boats, vehicles, women, and just about everything else - hunting rifles are a compilation of compromise. "Manageable recoil" would be my first personal concern; and "effective range" my second. As an older-professional-guide out West once quietly reminded me before a 400-yd shot with a .270 Win: "This is Big Country..." (not the Oklahoma distances you may be more accustom to)

To Sherm's point above:
1) At best, the 6.5CM (130gr) is a 400-yard elk round in the hands of a seasoned-High Country shooter;
2) The .300 WM (150gr) is an easy 500-yard elk round (2,000 fps/1.300 ft-pd of energy minimum); and
3) "Who told you..." the 6.5 CM was good a choice?

A word to the wise should be sufficient...

 

[Roughwater]

Felt recoil and recoil tolerance are as much about perception as they are about physics. To most people the 26 Nosler would be a "hard kicker" and the 28 certainly would be particularly with heavy for caliber bullets.

To those of us who've been shooting big magnums since we got out of diapers, not so much but we're the exception to the rule.

While there is truth to that statement but I promise you in my situation felt recoil isn't that bad at all. I have shot guns all my life and though I am used to a gun that has some recoil I haven't built up any immumity to it. I'm about to turn 69 and if the wind blows hard I feel it. That said, I'm not shooting heavy per caliber bullets either. I'm shooting a 143 gn bullet but it's flying at 3523 FPS. But I'm working on getting them to fly a little faster. I ordered some powder that should spin them up to 3600 something. I feel like it ought to kick hard and I really expected it to before I bought it but it just don't. My 06 thumps me harder than it does! If I had one of those old buttpads on it like I had in the corps that was steel or even one of those old nylon but pads I think it might hurt. But with the buttpad it came with I feel no pain and no serious push back. If you came here and fired it I think you would be suprised as well and your very welcome to come do that if you ever find your way to NC. Like I said I shot a model Remington 1100 semiauto shotgun which is only about a year old a few weeks back. It was a 12 ga and I was sighting it in for my Nephew in law for a Red dot scope I had installed on it. It was shooting high brass 00 buckshot. Not the most powerful load you can buy but up there. Now that sucker kickeD with a big D. LOL
It was like dang! That kinda kick. My 28 is not a heavy rifle either it's roughly 6lbs 10 oz without the scope. My scope is only a 42 MM scope and my rings are aluminum so not a lot of weight there either. I would think the same as you all do and assume it's a Butt kicker had I not shot it at least 50 times but I promise it's not.

 

[CanardNoir]

While there is truth to that statement but I promise you in my situation felt recoil isn't that bad at all. I have shot guns all my life and though I am used to a gun that has some recoil I haven't built up any immumity to it. I'm about to turn 69 and if the wind blows hard I feel it... I would think the same as you all do and assume it's a Butt kicker had I not shot it at least 50 times but I promise it's not.

To WidlRose & Roughwater's well placed points: Age does temper one's perceptions.

 

[rbTanzan]

Tikka's best elk round is the 338 Win Mag. Right out of the box, light, and easy on the pocket book.

 

[Wannab1]

You can spend a lot of money to buy a long range set up that you may not need to hunt elk in Utah. Unless you draw out you will be hunting spikes and cows. Most shots are less than 300 yards. Unfortunately even they can carry lead a long ways if you don't use enough bullet or shoot it poorly. Pick a rig that you can carry all day and fires a good bullet in the 165 - 200 grain range and pickup 6.5 for the range. We have some great precision rifle builders close to where you are going to be living.

 

[WildRose]

To WidlRose & Roughwater's well placed points: Age does temper one's perceptions.

Age, practice, and learning how to handle recoil as well. If you fight a sharp or hard recoiling rifle it's going to beat you up, if you allow your body to absorb the recoil somewhat passively you just ride it out.