Need suggestions......
 

I am bored and in need of a new gun/project. I am open to most anything, with the following criteria.

Don' t really have a need for a magnum, I shoot too much, I would just mess up the barrel.


Other than that, I am open to whatever. Lever, Bolt. Any caliber. I am not going to spend more than, say 700-800 dollars on the whole thing. So, if you have any recommendations, let me know!

RE: Need suggestions......
 

have you considered getting an old bolt action military mauser and sporterizing it ??

or getting an old lever rifle and upgrading it to a high grade ( fancy wood or an all weather laminate , , rich blueing or parkerized finish , maybe even a new barrel in a wildcat caliber made for a lever action , etc... )

the list could go on and on , can you be more specific ??? ;);):D:D

RE: Need suggestions......
 

How ' bout one of those Pennsylvania blackpowder rifles. You know, the one Davy Crockett used that is about 3/4 mile long and the pretty full length wood stock? Buy the kit and build it.

RE: Need suggestions......
 

what about a 35whelen or 8mm-06?

RE: Need suggestions......
 

Based on your username I am going to guess you like big bores. Have you considered a .376 Steyr on a Mauser action? Plenty of big bore performance but not what is normally considered " magnum velocity" . It is however a very effective cartridge even without the excessive velocity and resultant wear on the barrel. It is beginning to garner a following with African professionals! (Needless to say a very effective cartridge on all of the largest North American game....and with some savy reloading a great " reduced" load cartridge for smaller American game. Great killing power without all of the bloodshot meat!)

P.S. I may have one of these in my very near future!

RE: Need suggestions......
 

Those are all ideas I had not even thought about! I am going to look into all of those, because they all sound like awesome guns and might be fun to hunt with. Do any of you have any experience hunting with one of them?

RE: Need suggestions......
 

I haven' t hunted with the .376 Steyr yet. But here are a few of the sites with information I have found concerning it:

http://www.african-hunter.com/the__376_steyr.htm

www.chuckhawks.com from this site go to Rifle Cartridges and look
for .376 Steyr

also there is information to be found at Google.com under " .376 Steyr"


Hornady factory loads for this cartridge, so cases and ammo are available. There is also a very good selection of .375 bullets for the reloader. The .376 Steyr provides near .375 H&H performance from a standard length action. And should be a very good " Dangerous Game" gun in a Mauser action. Of course it would be no problem at all to develop reduced loads for any medium sized game in the Americas. (And with a well shaped bullet " ie. 250 grain Sierra or a 260 Nosler should be fairly flat shooting for all medium game. Speer also makes a 235 grain semi-spitzer that could be used to work a good " deer" load.)

Lots of possibilities!

RE: Need suggestions......
 

I' m reading a book " Building double rifles on Shotgun Actions"

Now there' s a project!!!

RE: Need suggestions......
 

if i had money to spend id definently invest it into a good mauser action and build a gun off of it in a great caliber for what i want to do and make a beautiful tackdriver....but being 16 i rather save for a truck.....but then again i also already have half of my dream gun....i just dont like the barrel and id like it in a diffrent caliber.....not that i dont love the 3006 or anything...

RE: Need suggestions......
 

bigbore,
the .35 whelen is an excellent round , and it will handle all of north america' s big game if loaded properly , some here say that it kicks but , my whelen a remington model 700 classic doesn' t seem to kick at all , in fact my ' 06 gives a stiffer push in my opinion.

another good round would be the .338-06

or you could go all the way wildcat and go for a .400 whelen,
i think rcbs even makes dies for it ( but don' t quote me on that ) , it' s a .40 caliber based on the ' 06 shell , it' s not a magnum but will be enough gun for north american game :D:D

RE: Need suggestions......
 

I think a .338-06 would make a good project. So would a 6.5mm/.284.

RE: Need suggestions......
 

Whelen 36 is right about the .35 Whelen not being difficult to shoot, (recoil is not any more severe than the .30-06 with heavy bullet loads). I owned a .35 Whelen in a Remington 7600 that I carried off and on over a five year period in Alaska. I never found the recoil abusive but had every confidence in its ability to protect me in the unlikely event of bear trouble. I would have carried it more often but I preferred a stainless synthetic stocked rifle when riding the ATV and using a gun boot.

The .400 Whelen is a good cartridge and more information can be found on it, (and many other big bores) in a book titled " Big Bores" . Many have been concerned about proper headspacing with the .400 Whelen, (rightfully so), as there is a nearly nonexistent shoulder. One way to solve the problem is to have the chamber cut for the .240 Weatherby case. (Which is no more than a .30-06 case with a belt.) Now I can hear the traditionalist screaming now. But even men like Elmer Keith admitted that headspacing was an issue with the .400 Whelen and moved on to other calibers for most of his experimenting and use. The belt on the .240 Weatherby case provides for certain headspacing thus eliminating any issues of set back on the shoulder. The only real disadvantages are some modifications are usually needed in the feed rails of the magazine and cases are more expensive. There is also the issue of multiple steps when resizing the necks. But to a dedicated wildcatter these are usually just " part of the fun" .

As long as we are talking about Whelen cartridges you may as well also look into the .375 Whelen and don' t forget to consider the Ackley Improved versions in all of the calibers. (The Ackley Improved provides a more positive shoulder for headspacing, slightly increases powder capacity, and in the event of the .35 Whelen and the .338-06 A-Square you simply fire factory cartridges in the chamber to " fire form" the new " Improved" cases. (And the fire forming process does not have to be considered a waste of ammo either. There is a usual loss of about 100 fps during fire forming but simply sight your rifle and use it like any other time during the fire forming. It will have absolutely no other effect than that slight loss of velocity. After your cases have been fire formed you reload them with new data, rezero for the changed load and back to the hunt! In the event you are ever seperated from you ammo you just rezero again for the standard factory loads and off you go! All part of the fun of wildcatting!!!) RCBS does indeed provide dies for all of these calibers...standards....and Improved.

You didn' t happen to mention if you happened to have one of the Browning reproductions of the Model 71 Winchester on hand. If you have one of those in .348 Winchester there are some very interesting wildcatting options. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, if you happen to have an original Winchester 71....DO NOT wildcat it! (You will cause a least 1000 dead Winchester lovers to roll over in their graves!) Possibly a few live ones as well!!!!

Keep us posted on what you decide.

RE: Need suggestions......
 

Thanks for the suggestions guys, they all sound like great projects. I am going to wade through some info on all of them, and then do one of them. Should make for a really interesting hunting rig!;)

RE: Need suggestions......
 

let us know what you decide on there bigbore , ok bud :D:D:D