The rifles you buy when you're young and stupid

[Mills]

I think Sheryl Crow's song goes: "It's not getting what you want, it's wanting what you got."

Well, I currently own three rifles– two of which I wish I didn't. Not because they aren't nice rifles. But because they don't fit my style of hunting.

The rifles I speak of are my Remington .25-06 Sendero with a Nikon 3-9x40 and my Sako 75ss 7mmSTW with a Zeiss 5-15x42T. I wish I could slam these two together and get one rifle I THINK I'd be happy with (at least at this point in my life). Here's what I mean:

I love the .25-06 caliber for deer and antelope. Just not in the Sendero package. It's a great shooter, but it's just too big and heavy to carry all day. On the other hand, I love the feel/balance of my Sako STW, I just don't like the caliber. Don't know why I ever thought I needed a magnum. Ah to be 20 something again.

So now (at 40), I own two very nice rifles (that I worked and saved my butt off for) (and that most people would love to own) that I'm not perticlularly fond of.

I guess I would like to have a lightweight custom rifle that wasn't a magnum that I could use primarily for antelope, deer and once in a blue moon elk. I'd top it with Leupold 3-9x40.

Is it possible to use theses two rifles to purchase a new one...without getting bent over? Has anyone ever done this? Do custom gun builders ever take guns/scopes in trade on another? Is this all just stupid?

I'd appreciate any thoughts any of you might have, or any similar experience you've went through to get your ultimate rifle. And what is it?

Thanks for letting me whine.

[gspsonny03]

Mills, trading guns to a dealer is kind of like taking your car to trade for a new one. Not very profitable. Yes it can be done, but don't expect to much out of it. You would be better off selling them on your own or having someone sell them for you at a gun show. Sometimes a gun dealer will sell your gun for you on consignment, but even doing that you ususally have to pay him for doing it. Put a pic of them up on the swap forum here and see if anybody is interested. You might be surprised. Luck to you.

[M.T. Pockets]

I've traded guns in the past, you're trading in wholesale at best, and buying retail. Can't blame the gun dealers, they are running a business and need to keep the doors open. Personally, I won't trade a gun in again. I'd rather take my chances selling it outright for a reasonable price.

Have you thought about keeping one of your scopes ?

[hofts]

trade em both in or sell in paper. keep zeiss scope, get a 280 lightweight mountain rifle and never look back! you will lose a little but that is just how it goes. good luck!

[Rocky Raab]

I'd agree , but caution you to never sell a gun through the newspaper. At a minimum, never have people come to your house to see the gun.

You may as well ask the police to start filling out the burglary report if you do.

You can meet somebody somewhere else, but even then you risk a knot on the head and the loss of both your gun and your truck. Or worse.

Kinda makes the few dollars you lose in a trade-in seem cheap, huh? Or carry it around the next gun show with a For Sale sign in the barrel. Or list it on an online auction/sale site (May I suggest our own Swap&Shop?) and ship it through a dealer.

All are safer to you than exposing yourself needlessly to crooks.

[Mills]

Hofts...I see we're both from Sioux Falls! Could you tell a little more about .280. Not familiar with that at all. How's that do on an elk? Thanks.
mills

[Evan03]

Mills


shoot me a price on the 25.06.

that is one rifle id buy while im young and dumb


Evan

[MarkL]

Are you familiar with the .270? The .280 is the same except the bullet is .007 inches larger (ooooh, aaaaah). I think the SAAMI pressure spec is lower, but I should double-check that.

.270 = .277
.280 = .284 (true 7mm)

If you reload for your 7STW, any bullets you have would probably be usable in a .280.

I think most folks would recommend something a little heavier for elk, such as a 30-06.

[Mills]

Evan03. Check your private messages.
Mills

[Cal Sibley]

I detect the age old problem of accuracy vs weight in here. Years ago I decided to push for accuracy. I ended up with a half dozen rifles that are terrific from the bench, but too heavy to tote in the field with any kind of ease. Had I went in the opposite direction I would have some wonderfully light weight rifles that were delightful to carry but probably didn't shoot that well, certainly not from the bench. It's all a tradeoff. The same thing with caliber selection and recoil. A heavy rifle will likely eat up much of the recoil, but at the unwanted expense of carrying it around. I guess we just have to make very careful selections. They all involve tradeoffs. Just one mans opinion. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

[billy ahring]

A few years back I was enamoured with the the idea that bigger and faster is way better and that you can't go too big or too fast. And then my lust was fueled even further when I went to the mailbox one day and there it was right on the cover of Shooting Times! A Weatherby Accumark in 30-378!!!!!!!!!!! Holy bejesus!I gotta have one of them babies!

Well now I'm pushing 40 as well and I still have the big 30, it's even topped with a nice Leupold 4.5X14 Vari-X 3. The only problem is all I've ever done with that rifle is punch paper. It just doesn't make sense to use it where I hunt. I keep telling myself that someday I'm gonna go on hunt where it will be just the ticket but that day hasn't come yet and it just sits in the safe. I've considered selling it, have even had opportunities to sell it for what I've got in it. In fact one fella I shoot silhouette with has a standing offer on it for what I paid for it. He had one that he could not get to shoot 1" at 100 yards and he ended up sending it back to Weatherby and got his money back. Mine will shoot .25" inch groups, but I gotta say that it is a tough gun to shoot well, not very much enjoyment to be had in setting down for a bench session with.

For now I am going to keep it, I hate selling guns. I've only done it a couple times and I regret letting both of 'em go. Someday perhaps I will christen it in the field, but for now it is just not my first choice when I open the safe to grab a rifle to head off into the woods with


Billy

[Catfish]

Sounds to me like you need a good old .30-06 mountain rifle. It`s still the best alround cal. for the N. America continent. Makes a good varmint rifle with the Speer 130 gn. HP`s, and will take a moose with the .220 gn. bullets. Hit some gun shows and take your rifles with you, shouldn`t be hard to work a trade.
AND, as for bying guns you really have no use for when your young and dumb, I have a .411 Hawk. A wildcat on the 06 case blown out to .411 and it will push a 300 gn. bullet to the same velosity as a .375 H&H mag. Nothing to shoot with it here in Oh. but paper, but I was old and dumb when I bought this one. But I love it and would get ride of it on a bet, unless someone offered me twist what it`s worth,

[bigbrother]

If I had 2 guns and wanted a custom, I would sell off the 7STW privately. Then, I would take the Rem 700 to a competant gunsmith, have him true the action rebarrel it to a 280 Ackley (you didn't want a magnum but this will get you just about a 7mag without the extra powder and recoil) put a new stock on it and have the gun weigh a normal to light carry rifle weight. Now you still have the stock and the barrel off the 2506 that you can sell, or have the gunsmith sell for you....FYI sendero stocks alone will sell for 125 to 200 depending upon condition. Take off barrels will sell for around 50 to 100 bucks again depending upon condition (or how many rounds shot through it).

The only reason I mention this route, is that you already have a good action for a smith to build your custom gun on....that can save you a lot of money in the custom gun process. Of course you can tailor barrel countour, length, twist rate etc. and stock style, weight, type, etc. to your needs but it shouldn't cost you near as much to do. By going this route you have less to "trade offs" to worry about also. A good gunsmith can build a light weight rifle, capable of subminute accuracy and recommend stock style, brakes, or a host of things to keep the recoil to your tolerable level. For instance, don't think all brakes are the same. Some are horribly loud, some are not (to the shooter, never stand to the side of any brake) some reduce recoil more than others. Stock style also will make felt recoil intolerable or comfortable. Good luck in whatever you decide.

[Mills]

Big Brother
Excellent advice. I did think of that but wasn't sure it was possible to move a stock and a barrel. Is that fairly easy to do? Also, do you have a few names of gunsmiths that you'd recommend? I had a guy I found off this site (Josh Woods...went by the handle Headhunter) build me a .243 in 2002. Awesome rifle. I haven't been able to get a hold of him. Haven't seen his posts and his phone is disconnected. What are your thoughts on a .280 vs. a .280 Ackley? Not sure I want to get into the fireforming thing.
mills

[royinidaho]

Many years ago, 1966 in fact, I did what Bigbrother is suggesting. Though I started with a $36.00 army surplus 7MM Mauser (M98 action).

Immediately rebarrelled to 270 win am still using it. Until recently its the only large bore rifle I owned. Its been a dream.

For the once in a while Elk I'd consider going with the 280 or 280 AI. It may be only .007' difference but that sure seems like a bunch when it comes to performance.

A sugestion would be to keep the bbl at least 24" even better @ 26.

I have a win 70 in featherweight w/ a 22" bbl and it limits its performance quite a bit.

Just my $0.02