So, as most people know, I' m sure, Bass Pro Shops has an annual hunting sale every August. A couple of months ago I started talking to my dad (just after I talked to you guys) about getting a bigger gun for elk hunting. At the time, it was just talk... I wasn' t going to go after elk for at least two years, so plenty of time to think it through, try out the Hornady Light Mags in my .270, etc.
My dad got the sale paper for the Bass Pro sale, and lo and behold, a Tikka Whitetail Hunter Magnum (7mm Rem Mag and .300 Win Mag) for cheap - less than 400 bucks. So we discuss things, how I' m about to start my first real, full-time job, etc.... and basically my dad puts aside the cash for this gun. Fast forward to Sunday......
We get in to Bass Pro at about noon, take a number for the
very busy gun counter, and start to look around. Finally, our turn, we head up to the counter and ask about the Tikka in the paper. We hear a couple of things ' aren' t we out of that?' ' I think we sold out yesterday' ' Look in the back.' So the guy goes to the back and comes back with the
only Tikka Whitetail Hunter Magnum left in the store, a .300 Win Mag, which is what I was looking for in the first place. Soon, I have it in my hands, and I' ll be damned if I was letting go of that gun unless I decided beyond the shadow of a doubt we weren' t buying it.
Oh. My. Lord. That gun feels
so right. The action works like greased butter, it' s light, well-balanced... Long story short, we bought it on the spot, and two minutes later we heard the guy next to us at the counter ask about the gun.
So my new hunting rig, when my .270 needs a break from the woods, or when I' m hunting something bigger and/or meaner than I am, is: a .300 Winchester Magnum loaded in the Tikka Whitetail Hunter Magnum M695, composite/blued, with a Pentax 3x9x50 on top. I' ll scan a pic of the gun and its first group to show y' all when I get it out to the range. [8D]
I bought it!
