Poll: First Gun - All Purpose Caliber: .308 or .270?

[Spitpatch]

Geez, Will.

Ya got all these .308 and .270 guys all fired up, the .308 guys stomped on the .270 guys in the poll, (as a .270 guy, I had to admit they had the points), ya had one real smart guy go 7mm (but not the 7mm you were considering---he went with the ones that made perfect sense), and a couple of us even complimented you on comfortably arriving at a question it literally took us decades to arrive at: .308 or .270?

And now you fall to the belted magnum fever? Well, all I can say is, I will not disparage the 7mm Remington Magnum. I will say it is way too much for deer, unless he is the biggest monster muley ever seen on the planet. It is good for elk. It is a good long range cartridge: for years it held the 1000 yard group record. Amongst all the belted magnums, it perhaps makes the best sense (give the poor 7-08/.280 Remington guy credit for at least telling you the very absolute best bullet diameter).

But you had us all believing that a new guy could sort out all the crap and arrive at ".270 or .308?" With your decision to go, 7mm Magnum, all I can say is "You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din!"

 

[ehunter]

Most magnumb guys come back to the normal calibers after they realize that they don't kill any faster but are heavier to carry around and punish you at the range and are more expensive to shoot. A 7mm is a nice caliber for elk over kill for deer and to really use it effectivly you will need to put a 1000 rounds down the tube to be effective at over 400 plus yards where this gun shines.

 

[doobee8]

Give Burris and Nikon a good look. They are excellent values for the money and have superior specs for the same prices, or less, as leupold. The Nikon prostaff and buckmaster line are great quality as are the fullfield line for Burris. Great scopes in those categories for under $300.00 Lifetime warranties as well. Service centers in the U.S.A. for both.

 

[Samurai]

I don't want to sound insulting, but I think a 7mm Magnum would be wasted on you at this point. If you are coming to the game late, as you say in your original post, I think you would be better off starting with a more general purpose rifle. I voted for .308 because it would be cheaper in the long run to get you where you want to be. You can start with an inexpensive Remington or Savage, find a stock that fits you, drop a decent scope on it in the 2-10 power range and go shoot until you're sick of it. That's where your money is going to pay off, shooting itty bitty groups, dot drills, moving targets, alternate positions.... This stuff has been mentioned in other posts, but I want to hammer the point home. You should look at it as earning that 7mm Mag. A .308 is going to be lighter and easier recoiling so you can focus on technique. Also, you will get good at reading wind if you take a .308 past 400 yards, and you will need that skill even with a 7mm. After you shoot out a barrel in .308, you will have learned a lot, including what you want out of your next rifle.

 

[Will_Power]

Thanks all for the very matter of fact input.

 

[Will_Power]

Thought I'd put an epilogue on all this and move on.

Got a great deal at the gun show last weekend on a used Remington 700 ADL (blued with wood stock, so one of the older ones before the ADLs became the cheaper Wal-Mart only synthetic stock guns). I did in fact end up going with the 7mm Remington Magnum. I feel it ultimately is my best bet as an all around hunting rifle for deer on up: flat shooting, capable of long-range shots, knockdown power (yeah, shot placement, I know), wide range of factory loads, popular caliber so ammo will be widely available.

Tri-County Gun Club had a $5 sight in day Saturday, so I picked up two boxes of cheap-o Core-Lokts and my good friend who's been my semi-official firearm & hunting consultant throughout all this, and we went to the range.

As it turns out, the range member who was assigned to me to get the rifle sighted in at 100yrds also has primarily shot a 7mm Rem Mag for the past thirty years, so that was reassuring.

The rifle's got a cheapo Tasco scope (yeah, I know. cheap glass), but we were able to get her sighted in pretty dang well. And all the fear mongering about the 7mm kicking like a mule, being an elephant gun, and making me think my arm's about to fall off due to soreness or me developing a flinch that would render me unable to hit the broadside of a barn is absolutely untrue, at least for me. I shot about 25 rounds (not a lot, granted), and I wasn't sore at all afterwords or the next day and was getting consistent groups around 2 inches from the get go without the scope being dialed in and pretty smaller once we got it on the money (being the first time I've shot a firearm in about 4 years, I was plenty happy with) from the bench & bags. Forgive me as I'm unfamiliar with the proper targetting terminology such as MOA and the like...

I'm very pleased about my purchase. Now, start to get comfortable with my shots at different ranges and from the knee and standing up. I like the setup at TCGC, but the $335 total buy in for yearly dues, initiation fees, and NRA membership isn't something I can do for the foreseeable future, so I'll be looking for free shooting sports to improve.

My very next step will be saving up for better glass.

Thanks again for all your guys' input; been a real learning experience.

 

[hendrixfan]

Congrats on the new gun...I have a new Redfield Revolution 4-12 that I just used today for the first time. I am quite happy with it, and with Leupolds service seems to be a good scope for just over $200.