6.5x55 or 270 Winchester

i will second the .308win. if you dont reload you can easly find any kind of ammo for it and buy surpluss ammo for like $0.10 a round so it would be cheap to shoot al day long as well. that would be my chioce.

good luck on the class and the rifle what evr your chioce is.

Consider the 7mm-08.

man cool project, what action, and barrel blank will you use, on the caliber i would build something you don't have or have access to, all the ideas mentioned sound good, the 280, 260, 270. 6.5X55, but i think i would build a wsm cal. myself, since i don't own one now and thats what you'll have to have in the future if you want to kill anything,

best of luck, whens school start, keep us up to date on the project

you may not hand load now but if you're going to be a gunsmith, you're going to have to start... not everyone shoots the off the shelf calibers and you'll need ammo to test your work with...

with that being said, may I suggest the 280 AI, it'll shoot off the shelf 280's, blowing them out to the AI version... save them and when you start reloading you can turn them up a notch and equal 7mag velocities with the lighter bullets, and still be able to load 160-175 for the larger game... if for some reason you never reload, pack them up and send'em to ole Uncle Dale... I'll take good care of them for you...

i dont know, the barrle blanks are at the school i herd there form some place in montana. the action i will ahve to go find a old gun and take that action and build off it.

I dont plan on being a gunsmith i just would like to take the course and build my own rifle.

not sure first i will have to get some money to pay for the classes and all the parts. but if i get into it ill deffinatly post pics.

Ive been looking and the 270 wsm looks very interesting. its only $6 more for box of shells and it performs well. i think i may take the course with my brother inlaw who wants to build a 300 wsm.