Hunting Rifles - Need a new one

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Tulsa Redhawk

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I've owned a lot of rifles, bolt, lever and semi, in a good range of calibers. There are two rifles that stand out as clear favorites in my years of experience: 7mm Rem Mag and the 300 Weatherby Mag. These are the flattest shooting rifles I've fired under field conditions. The 7mm will drop almost everything in North America (though I'd not intentionally take it for big bears) and I've taken whitetail at over 500 meters with it. The .300 wmag will kill anything pretty much worldwide, though I'd shy from intentionally hunting cape or elephant with it. However, it's a bit overpowered for much of North American game, unless your shooting extreme ranges. I'd recommend it for mule deer up to Kodak. With those two rifles, you're pretty much covered for everything from varmint to big, dangerous game (with the caveats mentioned above). The weatherby rounds are steeply priced, but the 7mm Rem Mag rounds can be had fairly reasonably. If you reload, the 7mm isn't expensive at all, and a great all-around caliber. Incidentally, I noticed a lot of folk speaking up for the .270. The 7mm is actually a .284 caliber with a magnum belted brass backing it, with many of characteristics of the .270, only a hotter and slightly flatter trajectory, with a bit more lead.
 

Sergeant82d

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From a power increase standpoint, I'd recommend a .300 Win Mag. It's the most popular 30 caliber magnum, lots of commercial ammo available as well as more different types of bullets than any other caliber for reloading. Rifles can be found used for a few hundred dollars, up to several thousand... And in weights and lengths to suit almost any preferences.

To me, it is a sensible addition to your armory; maintaining your string of 30 cals of different bullet weight and velocity.

Hope this helps.
 

OldGringo

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If nothing impresses you on Monday there's always the .257 Weatherby.

View attachment 105054
ditto on the 257 Weatherby, not legal for elk on Ft Sill, I don't think. Ft Sill only has 4 or 5 areas open to rifle hunting and the odds of drawing any elk gun tag are about 20% per year, but then the odds of drawing a rifle area are only about 10%. So, your 308 will be fine if you get that lucky. And the elk on Ft Sill are much smaller that out west. The biggest bull I saw last year was about 550 dressed, most are smaller. I have been hunting Ft Sill about 20 years as retired military. Success on big deer or elk are very poor, but it is a cheap place for military guys and retirees to hunt. And remember people come from all over the nation for the elk opportunity and there are lots of very good hunters at Ft Sill, so very few good deer survive, like the record archery deer last year. I hunted 5 days and 5 areas and the biggest deer I saw was a 100 lb 7 point that I shot the last day of BP season. Little guy or nothing. Now as to a new rifle, cannot have too many, just impossible. I have killed 100+ whitetail, muleys, antelope and 2 elk. Most have been with a 30-06 model 70 Winchester or Remington 7400. Killed another 7 point with the model 7400, 30-06 carbine at Ft Sill, at 460 yards. I have also killed a Boone and Crocket muley in Colorado with a 243, so really caliber does not matter much, shooting skill is the key. I have also killed antelope at 429 yards with a 243, so my opinion is caliber does not matter much. My personal choice now is the 257 Weatherby Vanguard, only killed 3 deer with it, a 10 pt muley at 403, a 9 pt muley at 196, and an 8 pt whitetail at about 150, did not measure that one. And remember you can form 257 Weatherby cases from 7mm mag and load them as cheap as any other caliber. That's my 2 cents.
 

dennishoddy

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. And the elk on Ft Sill are much smaller that out west. The biggest bull I saw last year was about 550 dressed, most are smaller. That's my 2 cents.
Agree. When my buddy drew the controlled elk hunt on the Refuge, there was a biologist taking tissue and tooth samples for study.
His comment was that the elk on the refuge were smaller because nothing was done to supplemental feed them. The grass is what it is and that is what they get to eat.
The elk that have escaped the refuge are typically 100+ lb heavier because they feed from the farmers fields of peanuts and alfalfa getting better nutrition.
 

OldGringo

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That may be true, but the SW Okahoma elk just do not grow as large as Rocky Mountain elk. In 20 years of hunting down there I have never seen one dressed over 550 pounds and that was rare. I have seen them in Colorado where they only get the high meadows grass above say 8,000 feet and they dress well over 700 pounds. Just don't think they have the genetics SW Oklahoma. I have seen huge racks come off the refuge and the deer may only weigh 135 pounds. I also hunt far NW Oklahoma and those same racks would be on 200 pound deer. And Ft Sill actually does plant all types of farm crops, in fact they have farmers who actually lease the land and plant crops, so the elk do get supplements. If you drive down I 44, just past Hwy 49, on the north edge of Fort Sill you can often see elk grazing there. I think it is planted in alfalfa now, so it may be genetics as much as food source. FWIW
 

dennishoddy

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That may be true, but the SW Okahoma elk just do not grow as large as Rocky Mountain elk. In 20 years of hunting down there I have never seen one dressed over 550 pounds and that was rare. I have seen them in Colorado where they only get the high meadows grass above say 8,000 feet and they dress well over 700 pounds. Just don't think they have the genetics SW Oklahoma. I have seen huge racks come off the refuge and the deer may only weigh 135 pounds. I also hunt far NW Oklahoma and those same racks would be on 200 pound deer. And Ft Sill actually does plant all types of farm crops, in fact they have farmers who actually lease the land and plant crops, so the elk do get supplements. If you drive down I 44, just past Hwy 49, on the north edge of Fort Sill you can often see elk grazing there. I think it is planted in alfalfa now, so it may be genetics as much as food source. FWIW
Just some more general information:
History of the Elk Herd
Elk, originally indigenous to the Wichita Mountains area of Oklahoma, were exterminated by the late 1800's.

It has been stated that the subspecies Merriam's elk originally inhabited the area. Other sources argue that it was actually the Manatoban elk subspecies. Whichever subspecies it actually was is of little consequence since by 1901, when the land which became the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge was set aside, no native elk remained and these two subspecies no longer existed.

In 1908, one bull elk of unknown origin was donated to the Preserve by the City of Wichita, Kansas. Then, in 1911, five Rocky Mountain elk, one bull and four cows, were transplanted from the National Elk Refuge herd in Jackson, Wyoming. In 1912, fifteen additional Rocky Mountain elk, three bulls and twelve cows, were received from the National Elk Refuge herd. Due to the success of these introductions, no further animals were brought into the herd and the elk now inhabiting the refuge and surrounding lands are descendants of these original animals.
https://www.fws.gov/refuge/Wichita_Mountains/wildlife/elk/about.html
 

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