Passing of the Torch - Deer Rifle

[usmarine0352_2005]

.

Well, I finally did it and bought my new deer rifle and had it customized with help from some of the folks on this board. My old rifle was bought for me by my father when I was in HS for an elk trip and has been my only deer rifle ever since. I've dropped many deer with this rifle and have many great memories. (And no, the .338 does not tear up meat at all.). This new rifle should be much lighter, easier to carry around and more maneuverable.


The Old Guard: Winchester Model 70 (with pre-'64 claw extractor) stainless, .338 Win Mag, Gentry muzzle brake, custom trigger job, Leupold V-XIII 3X9, Leupold dual dovetail rings. (At one time had Gentry 1 piece scope rings).




The New Guard: Browning X-Bolt stainless, .30-06, barrel chopped to 16.5", Zeiss Conquest 3X9, Talley Custom rings. (I've added a shell carrier on the buttstock, Butler Creek Neoprene sling, and Butler Creek Clear Blizzard Caps to protect the scope.)




The new rifle:






The old and new rifle:




The new and old rifle, notice the difference in length.

 

[Big_E]

Interesting. I noticed you chose .30-06 and have a 16.5'' bbl length. I would think that .308 would be a better choice for that length of barrel.

However, it is something different and I do kind of like how it looks. But be careful, that short bbl and synthetic stock w/ a .30-06 will have some muzzle blast and recoil. But you should be accustomed to that since you have a .338 Mag w/ muzzle brake.

Good hunting.

 

[heathen]

Nice rifles! How well does the X-bolt balance with the short barrel?

 

[bpl]

So, you made your 30-06 into a 30-30?

 

[grtwhthntr]

It's a very nice looking gun, but chopping the barrel off to 16.5" just defies logic. As others have posted, you have a very loud hard kicking 30-30 now.

 

[usmarine0352_2005]

.


It balances very nicely.




It lost about 110 fps, so it is still better then a .30-30.

.

 

[lloveless]

I'd have at least an 18 inch barrel. Still good portability with the added fps. It is your gun and obviously did what you wanted/needed. A bit radical though. Let us know how it works out. You might convince us.
ll

 

[FredT]

Short barrels never did anything for me. I like 22 to 24 inchers. I would sell a gun and get what I want before I would spend money to cut a good barrel back. I would never buy one if I knew the barrel was cut. That is just me.

 

[Abel]

Two odd choices for deer. A 338 Win Mag & a 30-06 with a 16.5" barrel. Whacky.

 

[critter]

I have a 30-06 with a shortened barrel. It is a tang safety Ruger M77. I love the thing. Nary a deer I've killed with it objected to the short barrel. 'Course, I don't shoot elephants with it nor do I shoot deer more than half a mile away either.

Do your own thing if it works for you.

 

[OYE]

You'll like carrying the new 30-06 a lot better I assure you. I was curious about the velocity loss on that length barrel ( that's not bad really). I have a model 70 Win. 30-06
bought new back in 1984 with a 20 inch barrel ( the carbine model ) (loses about 75 fps). Right out of the box it was the best shooting "hunting rifle" I've ever owned. It's been my main hunting gun as it handles well (on elk mainly). Two minor drawbacks. One was recoil, I use a slip on foam pad at the range, nothing in the field as it's not noticeable there. Bullets greater than 165 gr. with soft exposed lead will flatten the nose in the magazine ( they actually dent the front of the magazine well ). Bullet selection and a minor modification to the magazine and follower cured most of the issue. It shoots regularly less than .25 inch center to center 3 shot groups at the range. Yours looks like a real nice rig, you'll enjoy it !!!

 

[usmarine0352_2005]

Two odd choices for deer. A 338 Win Mag & a 30-06 with a 16.5" barrel. Whacky.

Well if you read the OP you'd see that the .338 was bought for elk hunting.


I've just never had the money or inclination to buy anything else since it worked so well on deer. (Each of those empty casings in the stock shell holder are from dead deer, and there's more then just those.) If it ain't broke, why fix it?




The .30-06 has amazingly light recoil, which I suspect is due to the material in the stock and the Inflex Technology recoil pad which appears to do a lot to tame the recoil. I thought it might have more recoil also, but it doesn't.

.

 

[OYE]

I expect that recoil pad makes a big difference. The one I have on the stock is pretty hard. I do use 190 grain bullets most of the time which certainly doesn't help any.

 

[usmarine0352_2005]

Short barrels never did anything for me. I like 22 to 24 inchers. I would sell a gun and get what I want before I would spend money to cut a good barrel back. I would never buy one if I knew the barrel was cut. That is just me.

I couldn't get what I want new, so I had to cut the barrel down.




And this rifle is for me, I don't plan on selling it.





Have you ever tried hunting with a shorter barreled rifle?


It works well.
.