Oh don't get me wrong Elkamp, I love my custom. I just love taking it out and throwing it up. But this is a luxury. I too am 6'3" and I rarely find a gun that has the length of pull I need. But I have a champagne taste for guns and beer budget. If I had my choice all of em would be fitted to me. Now for eye relieve that is an easy one. I buy leupold, (now buying conquest), and that takes care of that problem. I do all my own scope mounting/lapping, so I make sure it fits me.

I guess what you are talking about is when these guys buys these combos, and don't take the time to adjust scope. I agree there. But all of us can't have a stock catered to us.

Length of stock is key.

The fix doesn't have to be pretty, just effective.

A $15 slip on (rubber or velcro) recoil pad with spacers can fix the problem easily; once the proper length is figured out a good "attached" recoil pad (with spacers if necessary) and ground down to flow into the stock is not expensive and not beyond most folks ability. (IF THEY WOULD JUST DO IT.) Or just leave the "temporary" recoil pad on it --- I have a couple with the rubber slip ons that have been on for years. If it already has a recoil pad on it, then don't take it off, just slip the add on recoil pad right over it.

Regarding Leupold, you are right, Leupold is very good at providing ample eye relief which helps greatly in allowing one to get by with a certain amount of "slop factor"; however, if the stock is too short, the scope is clear forward and parallax still intrudes one is going to be playing "bob and weave" while the elk leave.

At MagFest2003 our instructor added and subtracted stock length for each person for each rifle "on the fly". It only took seconds with a velcro add on recoil pad with spacers. We worked through rifles from 7mmRemMag to 500 Nitro Express and pretty much everything in between with a group of shooters ranging from 160 pounds and shorter to 230 pounds and 6'5". No one got "hurt" and everyone was amazed at how recoil "just wasn't that big of a deal."

It ain't rocket science but one does have to know what to look for and then actually DO IT in order for it to work. Cheap too!

Again, figure out how wide a bullet, how heavy, and how fast you want it to go, pick one, make sure the rifle fits and if your box of ammo has the word "magnum" on it then fine, if it don't say magnum (say 30-06 or 416 Rigby or whatever) then that is fine too.

Mag or No Mag? Much ado over nothing in my opine. Little tools for little jobs, bigger tools for bigger jobs and let the "labels" fall where they may.

EKM

Its true Mugnum is just a name or maybe selling point. Be it cars guns or tools. When it comes down to it, you put more in, you get more out. To a point that is. Its all in the ballistics that you want or need as EKM said. With the calibers we have available to day you can tailor a round to do exactly what you need it to do. Some of the Magnums offer advantages in some areas and will come with a cost be it recoil or muzzle blast. Use what you need and keep in mind that regardless of caliber, shot placement is everything and there is no substitute for it.

hunter338 I think there is some wisdom in your choices, although alot of guys give up the shoulder canons as they get older, but we also tend to get smarter and more patient as we age, which translates into more selective shots. Also many shooting skills improve over the years, all of which allows guys who are older to be just as ,if not more effective w/ smaller calibers. MAKE MINE A MAG

The cal frist minchiond in this post would be some good cals to use hunting.

But the draw back is simple.
The 338-06 was a wild cat not to long ago and so was the 35w.

Most hunters are hunters not shoters/gun nuts so a wildcat or hard to find round is not going to sell as good as a easly found mag.

I started out a few years ago looking for a 35w i could not find one on the other hand i knew where there was 4 338 win mags so i got one.

I handle the recoil fine and shoot it ok.

I use it on deer.

I am one to belive you can not be over gunned {AS LONG AS YOU CAN SHOT OK WITH THE ROUND IN ?}

I persionly use the 338 and 45-70 on deer.
yes the little Fl deer.

do i fill over guned not at all.

I belive the larger cals and heaver bullets are a better killer.

My helth limets my abilty to track most of the time.

with My chosen cal and loads i dont have to track much.

Depending on my stand set up deticates the cal.
where i can not see over 100yds i use the 45-70 and over 100yds i use the 338.

so far with thoes tow guns and loads i have not lost a deer.

Amazing the amount of powder and muzzle blast you get to have a trajectory a few inches flatter at 300 yards. But then, if I lived in the Dakotas or Montana, I would have a 300 winmag too. It is 60 miles between towns anyway.

The 338 and 45-70 will certainly work for deer. However it is not the big bullet or the velocity or anything but shot placement that insures a quick clean kill. I have never had a deer so much as take a step after being hit with my 257 Roberts with 100 grain bullets. It does not have the bullet weight or oversized bullet to do the work. However when shot placement is perfect or near to it then its the best deer rifle I could hope to have. The same goes for the 6.5x55 mauser that I have taken the most big game with. I pick my shots, no body says I have to shoot a critter with an iffy shot. Take a deer an elk a moose or any other critter you like. Many calibers from 25-06 on up will drop them in there tracks with good shot placement. I have never shot a deer with a 338 but I can second your choice of the 45-70.

JB

I never had the deer drop with the 30-06 and 7mm mag
Shotting in the same place they all ways ran.

Normaly not far and normaly with a good blood trail.
but the ran.
with my legs like they are is why i went to the big bullets. they seam to work.

"at least i have the conifince in thgem to work"

now that 45-70 i love the way it puts them down it looks like a rug has been pulled from under them.

My cousion uses a 338 rem ultra mag.
he has long shot though. I hear about out west but try looking over a Fl. penut fild or soybeans.

they offer some long shots.

I have to go with ELKampMaster on this one. But I will also say sometimes a mag is the only way to go here in the west. I took a friend from Virigina bowhunting elk here in Idaho last year. He kept saying he couldn't believe the size of the country. He said most people from back east wouldn't believe how big, and the amount of space there is here in the west. He shot at, and missed a bull elk with his bow. After the hunt he was asking me questions about rifle hunting elk. He owns guns is several different calibers from the standards to the ultra mags. I told him to use his .300 RUM, he said why because he was only 20 yards away when he missed his bull with his bow. I tried telling him that the general rifle bull elk hunt is a totaly different ball game. Lots more hunters, the elk have been chased around by bowhunters, and depending on the unit some early draw rifle hunts. Also some early cow hunts before the bull hunts. Anyway to make my point the elk are spooked and skittsh by the time general season rolls around. Now you might see a bull elk at 400- 600 yards away, and yes during bow season it is easy to get close. But depending on the situation, sometimes during the "gereral gun hunts" thats as close as you are going to get. And the only chance you are going to have during that hunt. A magnum might mean the difference between shooting and killing a bull and going home empty handed. Now should a hunter shoot a magnum well? And practice a lot so it doesn't matter if he is shooting a .243 or .338, meaning you can put any gun in his hands, and he can shoots it good? Well of course you should practice and shoot any gun accurately be it standard or magnum!

Hey paparock...

You said that you now live in Ark. Just where abouts do you live?
I grew up in Ark and still go there every year to hunt Hogs and Whitetail...
(In a little town called Timbo).

Just woundering where and to see if you might want to hunt in a different part of Ark...


I now live in NM and love the different types of game that it has to offer for hunts..

hunter338