New (Old?) Elk Rifle

[nhenry]

This sounds pretty neat, any more details? Where did you buy the barrel?

I did it as a full build off of a tikka receiver, but you can do it with the factory stock, and bottom metal.

Tikkas are held to such tight tolerances that you can just screw on any Tikka barrel and it'll headspace correctly. All you do is buy a barrel, pop off the old one, and put the new one on (provided that the bolt face is correct).

I bought mine from Preferred Barrel Blanks, who now offers a contour that matches pretty close to what factory barrels have so that people can use their stocks still. McGowen also does that. Both brands shoot fairly well from what I gather.



If you did a 280 Ackley on a Tikka, I'd advise getting a billet mag so that you have more room for seating bullets, but the factory magazine works just fine. It did for me when I had my 280 Ackley barrel for it.

 

[bob_dobalina]

I did it as a full build off of a tikka receiver, but you can do it with the factory stock, and bottom metal.

Tikkas are held to such tight tolerances that you can just screw on any Tikka barrel and it'll headspace correctly. All you do is buy a barrel, pop off the old one, and put the new one on (provided that the bolt face is correct).

I bought mine from Preferred Barrel Blanks, who now offers a contour that matches pretty close to what factory barrels have so that people can use their stocks still. McGowen also does that. Both brands shoot fairly well from what I gather.

View attachment 18098

If you did a 280 Ackley on a Tikka, I'd advise getting a billet mag so that you have more room for seating bullets, but the factory magazine works just fine. It did for me when I had my 280 Ackley barrel for it.

Very nice. Can you reach the lands with the billet mag and the 280 AI?

 

[nhenry]

Very nice. Can you reach the lands with the billet mag and the 280 AI?

I was able to with TTSX in mine. That's all I tried in it. If you want to seat even longer, a couple companies make AICS mag compatible bottom metals for Tikkas.

 

[wbm43]

I have the bug for picking a new mellower rifle

Then forget about the 30cal "pumpkin rollers" and get something in a 6.5.

 

[NYDAN]

That's no fun I guess my discussion is more I have the bug for picking a new mellower rifle, not that I want to get rid of the wsm. And I'm burning the load I have for that til I run out of powder haha

Ah! Now I understand. "Bug ___ for ___ a new ___ rifle". Go for whatever tickles your fancy and can afford.

 

[Firebird]

Raise your hand if you actually notice recoil when shooting at an animal. And practicing on the range you can use
Light loads. I would load the .30-06 with 165 or 180 Accubonds and never look back. But I would t abandon the .300 wm or wsm either. . .

 

[Dr. Vette]

From my own personal experience, 30-06 vs 300WSM is noticeable. I do use a limbsaver pad. Chuckhawks lists 30-06 with 180s at 20.3 ft/lb recoil, 300 WSM with 23.8, so a 15% difference? (definitely check my math ) Plus the 300wsm is .25 lb heavier. But I hear you - not as noticeable as other choices.

I do have both 30-06 and 300WSM, and notice a bit of difference but never find it to be huge. My thought was that it if recoil is the main factor in your choice then I'd suggest smaller than the 30-06.

 

[wbm43]

Raise your hand if you actually notice recoil when shooting at an animal. And practicing on the range you can use

lol! Hundreds of thousands of hands go up! Hence the well known terms "flinch, jerk, etc."
That's why are there are so many muzzle brake vendors?

 

[bob_dobalina]

Raise your hand if you actually notice recoil when shooting at an animal. And practicing on the range you can use
Light loads. I would load the .30-06 with 165 or 180 Accubonds and never look back. But I would t abandon the .300 wm or wsm either. . .

No, I don't notice recoil when shooting an animal. I have taken a lot of elk with a 300 wby too and didn't notice the recoil anywhere but the range either. I only shoot my hunting load at the range, I don't have a "range load." Some may say the wsm and wby are too small of a change to be worth it too but I appreciate the difference and own both, why not an 06 as well, call me crazy!

 

[PJGunner]

On recoil when shooting at game; One time when on a elk hunt I was using my .300 Win. Mag. I got a shot at a cow elk that lasered out to 530 yards. The area is very open and that was as close as I could get I held over her back and took the shot. She went down, kicked a bit and was still. Now comes the weird part. At the shot, I felt absolutely no recoil. At best it felt like a very slight push. Next weird thing was the report of the rifle. It sounded like a quiet, "poof". My minds is saying I just had a squib load but my eyes were seeing that elk drop on the spot. After some time thinking about it I came to the conclusion that I was concentrating so hard on making that shot that I completely blanked out the effects of the recoil and noise of the shot. Maybe the terrain had something to do with it, being a very large wide open flat probably a mile or so wide and several miles long. I can remember this happening once before on a private ranch in California. Another very large open area. The rifle that time was a 30-06 with a stiff 150 gr bullet load to an estimate 3,000+ FPS. Probably right around 1958 or 59 IIRC. The 300 Win. was loaded with a 200 gr. Speer Hot Core at 2800+ FPS, FWIW.
Paul B.

 

[Guy Miner]

On recoil when shooting at game; One time when on a elk hunt I was using my .300 Win. Mag. I got a shot at a cow elk that lasered out to 530 yards. The area is very open and that was as close as I could get I held over her back and took the shot. She went down, kicked a bit and was still. Now comes the weird part. At the shot, I felt absolutely no recoil. At best it felt like a very slight push. Next weird thing was the report of the rifle. It sounded like a quiet, "poof". My minds is saying I just had a squib load but my eyes were seeing that elk drop on the spot. After some time thinking about it I came to the conclusion that I was concentrating so hard on making that shot that I completely blanked out the effects of the recoil and noise of the shot. Maybe the terrain had something to do with it, being a very large wide open flat probably a mile or so wide and several miles long. I can remember this happening once before on a private ranch in California. Another very large open area. The rifle that time was a 30-06 with a stiff 150 gr bullet load to an estimate 3,000+ FPS. Probably right around 1958 or 59 IIRC. The 300 Win. was loaded with a 200 gr. Speer Hot Core at 2800+ FPS, FWIW.
Paul B.

There's a well known phenomena called "audio exclusion" - in which the shooter, all amped up in a shootout - can barely hear, or not hear at all - the shots from the firearms.

That doesn't mean that the noise wasn't there, or that it didn't do hearing damage, just that at the time, the shooter's brain needed to filter out input, to concentrate on what was important. And audio input about the shots apparently wasn't important.

I suspect that similar stuff happens re feeling the recoil.

We hunters may well have experienced a lot of both, 'cause I rarely recall the shot being particularly hard kicking or noisy when I shoot in the field.

At the range? Oh my goodness yes! Guns are noisy and kick!

Regards, Guy

 

[RL338]

No, I don't notice recoil when shooting an animal. I have taken a lot of elk with a 300 wby too and didn't notice the recoil anywhere but the range either. I only shoot my hunting load at the range, I don't have a "range load." Some may say the wsm and wby are too small of a change to be worth it too but I appreciate the difference and own both, why not an 06 as well, call me crazy!

I’ve taken deer with my 300 Wby without a brake and the recoil is not all that bad. The stock design has a lot to do with felt recoil in my opinion.

 

[DrMike]

I can't recall ever feeling recoil in the field. And I don't ever recall experiencing pain in my ears when I was pulling the trigger. When a partner had a muzzle brake on his 7RM, well that's a different story. I suspect that Guy is correct in that there is something like a neurological exclusion that is effected when you are the one pulling the trigger. I can tell you after years of pulling the trigger on some big firearms at the bench that recoil is real as is muzzle blast. In the field? Not so much when you are pulling the trigger.

 

[wbm43]

But you don't learn to shoot in "the field". How many PH's have I listened to that talk about how many guys show up, especially Americans, with high recoil firearms they cannot shoot. How many hunters have I watched that begin to pull away from the scope in anticipation of recoil? A bunch! So while there are some shooters that seem to be "numb" the majority are anything but. To assert otherwise is just....well not realistic.

 

[SJB358]

A good 30-06 with todays higher BC bullets like the ABLR, ELD, etc is a force to be reckoned with. Recoil of my O6 in the McMillan feels like I’m cheating when compared to my Mashburn or RUM.

 

[KinleyWater]

I'm just confused why you're not already using a Whelen...

 

[Ridge_Runner]

put a good brake on it!

 

[Ridge_Runner]

Raise your hand if you actually notice recoil when shooting at an animal. And practicing on the range you can use
Light loads. I would load the .30-06 with 165 or 180 Accubonds and never look back. But I would t abandon the .300 wm or wsm either. . .

ever shoot a remington 660 in 350 rem mag at game? you notice it, trust me!

 

[Firebird]

No-I’ve shot a .375 wby a good deal tho. . . I dont mean that comment to be rude or as a negative, it’s just that recoil gets way too much consideration when selecting a rifle/caliber for hunting.
I would stay with the .300 but like I said previously, the .30-06 with a 165 or 180 AccuBond would fit nicely into the op’s game plan. Just my opinions

 

[cloverleaf]

There's a well known phenomena called "audio exclusion" - in which the shooter, all amped up in a shootout - can barely hear, or not hear at all - the shots from the firearms.

That doesn't mean that the noise wasn't there, or that it didn't do hearing damage, just that at the time, the shooter's brain needed to filter out input, to concentrate on what was important. And audio input about the shots apparently wasn't important.

I suspect that similar stuff happens re feeling the recoil.

We hunters may well have experienced a lot of both, 'cause I rarely recall the shot being particularly hard kicking or noisy when I shoot in the field.

At the range? Oh my goodness yes! Guns are noisy and kick!

Regards, Guy

Yup - what Guy is suggesting is definitely true for me. So much so, that I dont shoot at indoor ranges. I could go into a long explanation of how damage to the cerebral cortex makes this particularly apparent in my case, but its not needed, unless you are the guy trying to shoot cloverleaf groups at the range. One of the biggest changes I ever made to my shooting routine was hearing protection. CL