Unpopular and underrated older bolt rifles and cartridges?

[Gordon]

.35 rem. in a Mohawk 600 or a Rem 600. Mine is an honest 1/2 MOA rifle to 200 yards. It has light recoil not much blast even in 18" barrel and blow 3/4" holes thru two feet of flesh .

 

[trentcwwilson]

.35 rem. in a Mohawk 600 or a Rem 600. Mine is an honest 1/2 MOA rifle to 200 yards. It has light recoil not much blast even in 18" barrel and blow 3/4" holes thru two feet of flesh .

Oh buddy, oh buddy. My kind of shooter. 35 will absolutely hammer those rams. The 38/357 158s work well, but not like a 170 grain jhp(sierra because I already had them). 35 grains of 2520 with a hard crimp. My oh my how that runs in my 336.

 

[Takem406]

I've got an old 222, honestly in a bolt gun I'd take that 222 over a 223.

 

[trentcwwilson]

I've been looking at a 222. Can be extremely accurate.

 

[denton]

One interesting old rifle is the Stevens/Savage 325 or 340 bolt action 30-30. They are pretty cheap, and they are pretty cheap to shoot if you use cast bullets. Recoil is mild. You can run through 50 rounds, and be wishing you had brought more.

They originally sold for $99.95 at Western Auto. They go for nearly twice that now.

Put a Lyman peep sight on one, and the new LeverRevolution powder and Hornady flex tip bullet make it a very good 200 yard big game rifle.

Yes, the 7x57 is also an outstanding choice. In a strong action in good condition, it will push a 162 grain bullet to 2750 FPS. And it's a classy round. But some days I like 6.5x55 better.....

The Rem 600 is very nice, but just try to touch one for under $600 these days. Still, if you can find one in 222 or 35, grab it.

Schmidt-Rubin, 303 Brit, etc. are all very cool, so you have lots of good choices.

 

[Traffer]

You have a lot of options. My advise would be to make a list of potential guns. Watch youtube videos of them and decide what YOU want. Most older bolt action military surplus guns have substantial recoil that is somewhat stabilized by the heavy weight of the gun. Personally I would be inclined to get a US military surplus rifle. a M1903 or a M1917. Both are 30-06. They are very powerful, heavy and expensive so that might make them undesirable to you. One to consider is the British Lee Enfield. Sergeant Instructor Snoxall— placed 38 rounds into a 12-inch-wide (300 mm) target at 300 yards (270 m) in one minute with this rifle. (Just think about that for a minute.) There are many variations of this gun. Make sure you know what you are getting if you buy one. One variant made in India at the Ishapur factory is chambered in the popular.308. Another possible consideration might be a M1 Carbine. It is not a bolt. It is a semi-auto. But it is relatively light, much less recoil. People who have them love them for plinking.

 

[stiab]

A .358 Winchester would be my first pick.

Me too, except the vintage production guns are soooooooooo expensive: $1500 for a Savage 99, $1000 for a Ruger 77, $3500 for a Winchester 88, $4000 for a Winchester 70, etc. Lots of rifles converted to .358 are out there for less of course.

 

[akarguy]

Based on at I saw on store shelves during the last run, 30.06 is the way to go. In the height of the 9mm/223/762/22 drought insanity, 30.06 was still plentiful and never really changed in price.

Unpopular- Check.
109 years old give or take- Check.

There you go, old and unpopular- yet availbale.

 

[trentcwwilson]

Based on at I saw on store shelves during the last run, 30.06 is the way to go. In the height of the 9mm/223/762/22 drought insanity, 30.06 was still plentiful and never really changed in price.

Unpopular- Check.
109 years old give or take- Check.

There you go, old and unpopular- yet availbale.

How much is '06 now? I checked last week in local stores and $23/20 is the best price I've found.

 

[Rockrivr1]

I'm surprised someone hasn't mentioned a Savage 99 yet. They came in a plethora of different calibers and tens of thousands were made over the years. Personally I like my 99 in 300 Savage. The ammo's a little expensive but once you have enough brass it's easy to reload.

 

[CB900F]

Vanitas;

If you want old, and extremely unpopular, why check into the .280 Ross. The cartridge itself was fine, the rifle, well it had problems. It was a Canadian military item in the very early 1900's. The cartridge would propel a 140 grain bullet to approximately 2900 fps with the powders of the day. I'd expect that better performance could be had these days.

The problem was the rifle. It had the odd little quirk of allowing the bolt to separate from the action upon firing. The bolt then tended to rapidly move into the head of the person firing the gun. This caused complaints from the troops. It seems that after the gun was cleaned it was really rather easy to make a mistake in reassembly that would allow the deadly condition.

I can take pretty long odds that you'll be the only one on any range to be shooting the .280 Ross.

900F

 

[trentcwwilson]

Vanitas;

If you want old, and extremely unpopular, why check into the .280 Ross. The cartridge itself was fine, the rifle, well it had problems. It was a Canadian military item in the very early 1900's. The cartridge would propel a 140 grain bullet to approximately 2900 fps with the powders of the day. I'd expect that better performance could be had these days.

The problem was the rifle. It had the odd little quirk of allowing the bolt to separate from the action upon firing. The bolt then tended to rapidly move into the head of the person firing the gun. This caused complaints from the troops. It seems that after the gun was cleaned it was really rather easy to make a mistake in reassembly that would allow the deadly condition.

I can take pretty long odds that you'll be the only one on any range to be shooting the .280 Ross.

900F

Got a buddy this happened to. Got lucky, caught him in the jaw and the scar alone gets onlookers wherever he goes.

 

[tahoe2]

old & under rated

7.65x53 Mauser from 1889 Belgian to 1909 Argentine and many more countries at the turn of the last Century (1900), it has 308 ballistics with less pressure.
31 Caliber (.311" -.313") bullets from 150 to 215 grns @ 2700-2200 fps, and as accurate as any other bottle neck cartridge. Just sayin.
The guns are Mauser's, not sure they are under rated though, they are the only type/brand of bolt guns I own.