Merry Christmas all!
While I was over at my parents house for Christmas my uncle gave me a Bushnell Legend 2-7x32 scope (not even my christmas present from him - he just didn't use it so he gave it to me - what a guy!). Chatting with him, one thing lead to another and it looks like I am going to try and go Elk hunting with him this coming year.
The only problem is I don't have an Elk rifle. So being a glass-half-full type this is looking like a great oppurtunity to pick up another rifle.
My current meager rifle collection is an AR15 and a Savage 340 in 30-30. The Savage has a worn ejector that I never bothered to fix, and only ejects the spent cartridge about 50% of the time. The hunt will take place in Eastern Oregon and given the possbility of longer shots I just don't think the 30-30 would be a good choice for Elk.
From reading through the archives I see that most people are recommending .308 or .30-06 for an Elk rifle. Here comes the difficult part. I really don't want your basic remington or savage hunting rifle. I just don't find them particularly interesting, and probably wouldn't shoot them outside of this hunting trip. I'd much rather get something that I liked and would use on a regular basis, rather then a nice hunting rifle that spent it's entire life sitting in a safe. Which has me thinking that some sort of military pattern rifle would be a better choice for me.
So what would you pick? Ideally it should be a military pattern weapon. I'm not terribly picky as far as semi vs. bolt action. Cheap surplus ammo would be a big plus, as I would shoot it a lot more. I want to mount the scope on it, so that is also a factor.
While I was over at my parents house for Christmas my uncle gave me a Bushnell Legend 2-7x32 scope (not even my christmas present from him - he just didn't use it so he gave it to me - what a guy!). Chatting with him, one thing lead to another and it looks like I am going to try and go Elk hunting with him this coming year.
The only problem is I don't have an Elk rifle. So being a glass-half-full type this is looking like a great oppurtunity to pick up another rifle.
My current meager rifle collection is an AR15 and a Savage 340 in 30-30. The Savage has a worn ejector that I never bothered to fix, and only ejects the spent cartridge about 50% of the time. The hunt will take place in Eastern Oregon and given the possbility of longer shots I just don't think the 30-30 would be a good choice for Elk.
From reading through the archives I see that most people are recommending .308 or .30-06 for an Elk rifle. Here comes the difficult part. I really don't want your basic remington or savage hunting rifle. I just don't find them particularly interesting, and probably wouldn't shoot them outside of this hunting trip. I'd much rather get something that I liked and would use on a regular basis, rather then a nice hunting rifle that spent it's entire life sitting in a safe. Which has me thinking that some sort of military pattern rifle would be a better choice for me.
So what would you pick? Ideally it should be a military pattern weapon. I'm not terribly picky as far as semi vs. bolt action. Cheap surplus ammo would be a big plus, as I would shoot it a lot more. I want to mount the scope on it, so that is also a factor.
