THE PERFECT DEER RIFLE

[Tommy Kelly]

I am a gun nut and lately have been thinking about the perfect deer rifle. I think I may have come up with what would satisfy my needs to a tee. I have been hunting and fooling with guns all my life. I have owned just about every hunting gun made. I have made the whole gammut from large calibers to small. And after putting thought to the ultimate hunting rifle I have decided on what I would want. The action would be a remington 700 short action. The barrel would be a 30 caliber #5 contour air gauged 1in 10 twist and chambered to 308 winchester. The barrel would be cut to 20" with no sights. The stock would be a full sized composite with a limb saver pad installed. The rifle would have a 3x9 leupold 40mm scope mounted as low as possible on leupold base and rings. The trigger would be set to 2#. In my opinion this would be the ultimate little hunting rifle short easy handling plenty powerful deer rifle. I have looked around and cant find a manufacturer that offers this type of rifle. I basically have what I want in a 700 youth with a full sized stock on it the only thing really different is my ideal rifle would have a heavier barrel. The main problem is that my rifle shoots too good to mess with. The last 5 deer I have killed with it were all head shot. I have a 4x12x40 leupold on it but a 3x9x40 would work fine. I may start gathering up the stuff to build what I want.

 

[Ladobe]

We only go around once, so you might as well build what you want.

I found my perfect mule deer, elk and pronghorn rifle in the early 70's, a Ruger 77R tang safety in 270 Win that was perfect for the wide open spaces of the west and the common long shots here. Just put a 4-12 scope on it, tuned some loads to it and called it good right out of the box. Killed a lot of big game with it before I stopped hunting big game. Added a target trigger and a 6-18 Leupold to it years latter, went to lighter bullets and used it some for long range predator and varmint hunting. It's retired now, but it sure served me well.

 

[308longdistance]

Sounds like a Remington Model 7 Synthetic.

 

[cruzerlou]

I had a Remingtion 700 SPS[composite stock,limbsaver recoil pad from the factory ]in .308 with the standard wight bbl,no sights ,a grteat factory trigger and a BSA Illumated rectaile scope mounted low like you say ,and that gun would shoot bench rersted 3/4" groups alll day long even with the bbl hot with Hornaday factory loaded SST 's 150 gr bullets .I had to trade it off to help pay for my M1A that I'd always wanted .If I had to do it over again I think I'd trade something else off and keept my M 700 .That thing was a shooting machine. I killed a deer at over 200 yards on a dead run with one shot with that rifle ,hit him right in the heart .But I really needed the money ,my layaway was running out on the M1A .My hope is to be able to afford another one one day .They sell for right at $600 bucks and I still have the scope .It was light , handy , and super accurate for a hunting weight bbl .The .308 is all the gun I'll ever need hunting wise .Maybew when we get back on our feet money wise I'll buy another and just hope it shoots as tight a group as my last one .Here's a pic of it on my gunsmithing bench .
Lou

 

[Lloyd Smale]

Ive got a model 7 stainlesss syn 308 thats a great little rifle. I usually use a new gun every year for hunting. this year its my 1a in 257roberts but every year my model 7 goes to camp for when its raining or snowing out. Its tough as nails and shoots moa and has killed many deer.

 

[Corbi]

Remington makes some heavy, short barrel cost effective tactical rifles.

You might do a search on Gunbroker.

I like your idea with two exceptions. The 2# triger is a little light for me if I am using gloves. The other is I would recommend a #1 stainless 1A in 6.5X55. 8)

Corbi

 

[Don Lovel]

A friend of mine has a rifle he built for his wife in 6mm Remington Ackley Improved. It has a small Browning A Bolt action but the barrel setup like you describe. It has a 3-9x40 Leupold.
With 100gr Nosler Partitions it is a one shot deer slayer. Little or no recoil and will hold 4 hole 1" group at 250yds.
Nice thing about 6mm and .243 caliber is on deer sized game they dump all their energy on target and are really effective at anchoring them where they stand

 

[muzzleloader]

The other is I would recommend a #1 stainless 1A in 6.5X55.

Corbi

+1 for the Scandinavian '06 :D although no deer yet with my T/C encore, (I live in shotgun country) she has firmly anchored 2 nice black bear. One ran 20 feet without a heart and the other just dropped.
kyle

 

[Watergoat]

Sounds like a Remington M700 LTR. Those will really shoot, too. Me, I like the #1 in 6.5, but the OP wants a short, stiff bbl in 308, etc.

 

[Tommy Kelly]

Well like I said I already have a 700 youth in both 243 and 308. Compared to a model 7 they are heavy barrels. Both are great shooters. Both will make a one hole group at 100 yds just a little oversized for 3 shots. They both are as close to perfect in my opinion as you can buy. I wouldn't give up either to build a heavier barreled gun and basically the barrel weight and a better trigger is the only change that would be made. Both are awesome as they are and don't leave much room for improvement. And we all know that sometimes with the best intentions things don't turn out like expected. That's the reason I wouldn't change either of the ones I have but would like to build a improved model in my opinion and see if it was better. If not no big deal and not a messed up good rifle. I have a friend that is a gun nut worse than me and he has built me 2 rifles one is a 30-06 that we built the way he likes and the other is a 300ultra mag. built my way for hunting. The 30-06 weighs 18.5 lbs and is a one hole grouper the 300 ultra is a 8lb rifle that will shoot just as good a group as the 30-06. The 30-06 has a 25" barrel the 300 has a 26" barrel. I have become attatched to the shorter barreled guns. That's the reason for the 20" on the 308. The 30-06 has a #8 contour and the 300 has a #5 contour both are douglas premium air gauged tubes. Both are awesome shooters just long for hunting purposes. As for the trigger set at 2# I have shot all my life and always wanted my trigger set light. Probably 90% of my hunting rifles have trigger pulls around 2.5 to 3 lbs now. I am used to super light triggers. My Anschutz 22 match rifle has a measured trigger break at 12 ozs I love it. I never wear gloves while hunting.

 

[mattsbox99]

Hard to believe the Rem 700 Tactical .308 doesn't already fit your bill. Ruger also builds a Hawkeye tactical with a 20" midweight barrel in .308. Tikka and Savage do too.

The Rem and Ruger are already threaded for a flash hider (I'd have a suppressor on mine). A solid thread cap could easily be installed though.

 

[Bitman]

My idea would be a simple Ruger 77 RL, ultra light, with stainless barrel and action, in 260 caliber, and AAA wood.

 

[mattsbox99]

Make mine a Bob but with high polish blued metal, Bitman.

 

[guidedfishing]

I found the perfect goat / deer / elk rifle in the M77 .280. Then back 7-8 years ago I got hooked on the 35 whelen in M77. Prior to the .280 I used a sweet little M77 .257Rbts with polished blue metal.

Hey how many favorites am I allowed. lol

Good Luck
GF

 

[Klondike Mike]

I've got the perfect hunting rifle in my 77 MKII RLS 308 with a Leupold 1.75-6 X. So, I'll stick with a Ruger :)