Looking for a perfect hunting rifle

....you need to define ...."ish"....

Honestly everything off a shelf is going to be a some sort of compromise.

What's your budget?

and

What's your task/purpose? Hunting what?

Every time I've wanted "perfect for me" for "X" application, I ended up throwing money at the problem (and time). Custom doesn't normally lend it's self to most guys concept of "reasonable..ish". My last semi custom build went a little over $3K when all was said and done and that was actually reasonable. A simple re-barrel job is going to be around $700, custom stock $700 before bedding, Cerakote for just a barreled action is around $250 (I just had 2 rifles done).

If you didn’t want a dbm, I’d say Winchester model 70 featherweight. But you did, so there’s that.

Have you looked at the Ruger Hawkeye Hunter series?

I would build you a custom Win 70 - I'm swamped right now but find a good smith close to you if you can and spec out a rifle- if you don't go too wild you should be able to get something acceptable around $4k

A Kimber is maybe worth consideration.

It's control round fed, 3 pos safety, light and belive it can be had in wood, and with DBM.

Definitely light enough.

Robert said:

Weather proof metal but a wood stock makes no sense to me, I'd rather have stainless/composite for a true all weather rifle. But it's your build so go for it. But for pretty much everything on your list off the rack, look at one of the Winchester Model 70s like an Extreme Weather or Extreme Hunter.

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Those two things don`t really go together. Really like my Savage 110 Storm.

Controlled round feed would be a lot easier if you didn't have the weight limitation

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Lots of options under 8 lbs. Ruger Hawkeye and Winchester 70 in most configurations are closer to 7 1/2 lbs. Only the big bore magnums are over 8 lbs naked. Kimber makes one that is 5 lbs 2 oz.

Nobody makes that rifle. You ain't gonna find CRF and a short lift bolt. Pick one or the other and you might have a few options, although nothing will have everything you want. You're going to have to make some choices.

And as others have said a wood stock and weatherproof metal makes no sense. It should be the other way around. Even the best wood stock may fail at a moment's notice with no prior warning. Common blue metal may be a little harder to keep clean, but wet weather won't make it fail.

The Sako might come the closest although it isn't true CRF. Not sure about the bolt lift on that one. From what I've read the ejection issue has more to do with the scope you use. They eject more up than out and sometimes empty brass hits the scope and falls back into the action instead of onto the ground. Using a different scope, or rings, usually eliminates the problem

I have been looking for the perfect hunting rifle for years and settled on this about 10 years ago. It's a 1st year production Winchester 70 EW in 308. Sitting in a McMillan Edge stock. Weight with the Zeiss Conquest scope is 7 1/2 lbs. The stock is 1/2 lb lighter than the factory stock. It's pretty consistent at shooting MOA groups with just about any load I've tried and quite often closer to 1/2 MOA. You don't get DBM, but it is CRF with a 3-position safety

Everything you see was bought used and put together. The rifle, stock, and scope. I only have about $1000 invested in the whole package. To buy everything new would run closer to $2500 today.



My 2nd choice on a budget is a SS Tikka T3. I don't have a picture of my personal rifle so the link will have to do.

Choose | Tikka

They do make one with a wood stock, but I don't recommend it. The 3 round magazine does protrude slightly but is not noticeable. I use mine with 5 round mags that do protrude about 2". Not an issue for me. It isn't CRF and the safety is 2 position. But it does lock down the bolt when on. Weight scoped is about the same as my Winchester at about 7.5 lbs. Accuracy is about the same as well.

They are made by the same company as the Sako 85 and supposedly have the same barrels. Street price is around $600 in blue, $750 in SS. The Sako is a fine rifle, but not worth 3X as much money to me.

Controlled round feed with a 3 lug action… not a very long list. ARC Nucleus? Nobody else comes to mind. The Nucleus isn’t terribly light, but not really heavy either, a least not compared to Winchester, Ruger, or Mauser-clone actions. The Nucleus certainly is a good action, however. Doesn’t have a 3 position safety, however.

Lightweight CRF is kinda tough too - most aren’t. There ARE light complete rifles built using CRF actions, but Ruger M77 actions weigh over half a pound more than Rem 700’s, and Win 70’s and Mauser actions weigh a full pound more. The Sako L61 was 3/4lb heavier than an R700, and if memory serves, the 85 action is even heavier than the L61’s. This means to match rifle weight, lighter stocks and shorter or thinner barrels have to be used - and it also means the rifles will balance much more between the hands than those built on lighter actions; nice for portage, bad for stability on target. Again, the ARC Nucleus is the only “lightweight” action which comes to mind which is 3 lug and CRF. Defiance and LAW offer relatively light CRF’s, but they’re 2 lug.

@TSchwab25 - you’re going to have to prioritize a few of these selection criteria, because finding all of them in one package is likely to be an insurmountable challenge.

Flushfit DBM is likely going to stick you with some factory rifle with sub-optimal magazine reliability, so be careful what you wish for in this pursuit.

So I think you’re looking for a unicorn.

If you concede on the short throw bolt (three lug), then the Defiance Rebel, Ruckus, and Deviant all can do what you want. They’re already pretty light actions, R700 footprint, but can also have “AnTi” weight reducing cuts, have Win 70 style CRF option, AND have 3 position safety bolt shroud options available… so this might be the best option you’ll find.

If you give up the 3 position safety criteria, then the Sako meets the 3 lug and CRF criteria, as would the ARC Nucleus, with the ARC being lighter of the two - but these both only have 2 position safeties (the ARC using a R700 style trigger with 2 position safety).

I have been looking for the "perfect hunting rifle" for about the last 50 years. The problem is, my requirements keep changing. As Varminterror observed, you are likely on a unicorn hunt.

TSchwab25 said:

I learned about the sako 85 stainless hunter, but I've heard of problems with ejection clearance with scopes with big turrets, so that is a no go unless that problem has been solved.

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This may be of interest:



-Stan

Dr T said:

I have been looking for the "perfect hunting rifle" for about the last 50 years.

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Me too. Can't say I have many regrets about being on that "unicorn hunt" for 50 years though. I guess I might have more money in the bank (drawing almost 0 interest) if I wouldn't have swapped out as many different hunting rifles as I have over the years. But then again, maybe not - I'd have probably just found something else to spend my money on.

Some of your features that you want are sort of working against each other.

EG, wood stock and CRF are more traditional features, whereas weatherproof metal, short throw bolt, and detachable magazines are more modern features.

MOST manufacturers are going to pair the wood stock rifle with blued finish and most will have the cerakote or SS metal come with synthetic stocks, because the two feature sets compliment each other (eg, both blue and walnut tend to be the winner to most in appearance but synthetic stocks and SS/cerakote are the more practical and functional choice).

I think the closest I can find to meeting your specs would be the Browning X-Bolt White Gold Medallion. MSRP is $1679.

It meets every criteria except the controlled round feed and the magazine is polymer.

I don't know if there is such a gun. After 58 years of gun ownership and having owned and handled thousands of guns, (I have a FFL) I have yet to have found "THE" perfect gun. What you might deem perfect might be a dud in someone else's eye. I have several rifles that cover many different needs. One for small game, one for varmints, close range deer, long range game and one for big critters. Then there are backups for these. All work well for their purpose, but none do it all perfectly.

So the search goes on.