New member looking to find the right spot to post/ask questions

[Big Bullet]

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I keep hearing how much Idahoans don't want any more CA transplants.

I hope one day I could get out there.

I don't know about that. I lived there for years. Half of N Idaho is from CA.

 

[Big Bullet]

Welcome to LRH and enjoy it! Be prepared to get inundated with responses/recommendations. A lot of good folks here with varying real-world hands-on experiences and personal opinions. You need to be able to synthesize the information that is being presented to you and its applicability to your situation - personal preference and intended purpose.

LRH/S does NOT happen overnight, take your time, and enjoy the learning process. As others noted, the venerable .30-06 is will serve your "current" purpose as well as an excellent learning tool. There are members here that shoot at 1500+ yards on target. Yes, magnums will have more recoil but today's muzzle brakes are very good in reducing felt recoil and muzzle rise, and you have plenty to choose from at very reasonable prices. The .300 WM (I have 3) remains "my" go-to chambering from antelope to elk size game up to 1K yards. With muzzle brakes, the felt recoil is approximately in the .243/.308 range, at least for me. The .300 WM is not an overkill. I harvested plenty of antelope and deer with 215 Bergers (yes, I understand you're from CA, sorry I couldn't resist ... my home of records is Fairfield (born in NAS North Island) but left in 1987 and never looked back) out of my .300 WM/WSM and even 225 NABs out of my .338 WM with very little meat damage. Shot placement is the key regardless of the type of hunting to go along with the limitation of the rifle/bullet set-up and the "NUT" behind the trigger.

Good luck and happy safe shooting/hunting.

You are spot on with the 300 Win Mag. I shoot a Winchester SS classic with Mauser action with a muzzle brake. Even hot 180 grains aren't bad. That seems to be the preferred load for the 300. Mine will shoot 1/2 to 5/8 MOA. You can drop the bullet wt. and charge to reduce coil even more. There are loads for 110 to 220 grains. You can take anything in N America with that.

 

[FEENIX]

You are spot on with the 300 Win Mag. I shoot a Winchester SS classic with Mauser action with a muzzle brake. Even hot 180 grains aren't bad. That seems to be the preferred load for the 300. Mine will shoot 1/2 to 5/8 MOA. You can drop the bullet wt. and charge to reduce coil even more. There are loads for 110 to 220 grains. You can take anything in N America with that.

Welcome to LRH and enjoy it!

All my .300 WMs shines with bullets 180 and heavier.

 

[LiveToHunt7]

Thank you all for the replies. I appreciate them. I'm going to take the 06 out and start becoming proficient.

Is there a website that allows me to input numbers and see bullet trajectories? Obviously that's in a vacuum, but just curious.

 

[25WSM]

Just put the program called Shooter in your phone. It has tons of features and is easy to use. Cost like 10 dollars.
There are a ton of free ballistic calculators on line. Just too easy to have in your phone. Give me a bullet and a scope height and I will post you a chart to look at. I will just guess at your speed in an 06 case. Scope height is center of barrel to center of scope.
Shep

 

[FEENIX]

Thank you all for the replies. I appreciate them. I'm going to take the 06 out and start becoming proficient.

Is there a website that allows me to input numbers and see bullet trajectories? Obviously that's in a vacuum, but just curious.

There are plenty, just depends on bullet/ammo manufacturer.

Berger >>> https://bergerbullets.com/ballistics-calculator/
Hornady >>> https://www.hornady.com/team-hornady/ballistic-calculators/#!/
Winchester >>> https://ballisticscalculator.winchester.com/#!/
Federal >>> https://www.federalpremium.com/Ballistics-Calculator

For phone apps, just go to the apps store and search for ballistic apps/calculator and you'll see plenty of free and for fee to download. For instance, Strelok is free and Strelok Pro is $9.99. Plenty to choose from.

 

[LiveToHunt7]

Which would y'all recommend as the best? Doesn't have to be free. For phone.

 

[FEENIX]

Which would y'all recommend as the best? Doesn't have to be free. For phone.

Go with Strelok for free as a starter. It will satisfy your basic needs at this time. As you gain more experience you will figure exactly which app is best for your personal needs/requirement.

 

[25WSM]

I've had great luck with shooter. All my customers put it in there phone that way I can help them set it up. Pretty easy to use. The free ones do the same thing for the most part just not as many features.
Shep

 

[mfk]

Thank you everyone.

Something that I have considered and is probably more than likely is I'll be selling the 06 to fund the reloading equipment/scope. I have narrowed down the scope to the Vortex Razor HD LTH with the Leupold VX-5HD narrowly behind. From what I've been reading about the tracking issues with the Leupold, I'm learning towards the Vortex. I also love their lifetime, no questions asked guarantee.

The shootability/recoil is a factor but based on the feedback a muzzle brake might make it plenty fine. From my point of view, it'll probably be a long time before I'm able to add to my safe.

Of the rifles listed, are there any ones within that price range that stand out over the others? Willing to buy used too. I would assume most, if not all, guys that have these types of rifles take great care of them so there isn't a big reservation about buying used.



Sorry, to clarify, you ended up with the 280 AI? That was the close 3rd along with the 28 Nosler. Could you elaborate on your decision? Thank you.




(BTW, yes, CA sucks. Don't doubt that in my lifetime hunting may be banned altogether in this state)

Sorry about the delay, Yes I did go with the 280AI. I like the efficiency of the cartridge and the fact that it is belt-less. I am not that experienced with reloading and have no experience with belted cartridges, so I did not want one more thing to worry about while reloading. 280AI gets me close to 7rm, fairly low recoil and great efficiency. your 30-06 is a great cartridge and the 280AI is based on that case. If you have a savage you have great rebarreling options for different cartridges too.

 

[nksmfamjp]

Which would y'all recommend as the best? Doesn't have to be free. For phone.

Well, I really like Ballistic AE for a basic supersonic ballistic app. Applied a Ballistics is the best solver, but you will get to that when you get into a Kestrel. THIS is a good deal on a Kestrel/Ballistic solver, but that may need to come later. Ballistic-X is a nice target measuring app. It does this:

You also need a Postimage.org account so you can share!

More important, you need to get from point A to point B. I find it funny helping People out with this stuff. There aren't really many shortcuts. You have to shoot to find out what is keeping you from shooting better. Optics can be a hard buy as they tend to drop value fairly quick, but sometimes you get a small boost in value when the6 raise price on the same sku. Still, you need to put money into optics, at least to the level where you see value. Again, if your turrets aren't holding up, you cannot see the further target or the reticle feels designed by a non-shooter, well, it is time to upgrade.

Start trying to get to 600yds easily. I would guess that will take a better scope.(not sure what you have now)

You may need to bed it or restock it. Just looking at pics online, it looks like that might be an injection molded stock. If so, look for a laminate take off on here or eBay....you can get these sometimes for $50. Laminate seems not state of the art, but it is the best way to get a solid/stiff stock on a rifle that you can work with. How do you know you need a new stock? When you get fliers and cannot get screws to stay torqued.

Some steel to shoot at. Maybe a chronograph. Join a range....or find a good place to shoot regularly.

Now is a good time to start reloading. Get a nice single stage press. Hornady Classic Kit is a good place to start. Sell the scale and dispenser online to buy a Hornady Dispenser. Get something like an RCBS Casemaster for checking cases and cartridges. Forster and Redding make great dies....Avoid bushing dies for now...they complicate things as they use a different datum scheme.

As you can

 

[Hhardrockminer]

Hey Live, Welcome to the site and I'll say just acople of things about your .06 is has killed countless amount of game and has one of the widest ranges for bullets on the market.
Just my .02 on the Ca. people moving to other states, it's not the people so much as it is the left side of the isle they tend to vote on. They want to get away from the Ca. taxes and laws but when they get to said state, they try and push what they just left and were teying to get away from.
I'm in SD and people traveling from your state make comments all the time about we need a tax for this or we should have more gov in our lives and as I see it we have to much of that already.
Hope you find the rifle you like, want and enjoy the shooting and freedoms we have as I really don't think they'll be here in the way we know them now. Lust my .02

 

[LiveToHunt7]

Man, I wish I was out of CA to get away from all of that. Can't believe that people have the audacity to try change what already is in a place that has long established what their values are. Hope places outside of CA never change and stay true to themselves. I'll say this my whole life but a country without God is a godless country. Sorry if this doesn't pertain to the shooting but hope most of you folks sympathize with that.

God Bless.

 

[25WSM]

In the 17 and 1800s people did all they could to get to CA. Now they do all they can to leave. It's a shame a few cities can ruin an entire state. CA is a beautiful place and I would love to live there. Same with NewYork state. Absolutely beautiful. Love the StLawrence river area. But the city kills that state badly. So sad.
Shep