Jason_W wrote:There's a good chance I'll be doing some deer hunting this fall in Northeastern Vermont which has a lot of uninterupted open land. Some terrain is thick, up close and personal brush hunting land, but there are clearings from logging ops scattered throughout that could provide 200+ yard shots. I'm looking for a fast handling rifle that can handle both scenarios. There is also the off chance that I'll get a moose tag one of these years, so I'd like a medium bore chambering.
So, I'm making life difficult:
1. a short, fast handling rifle
2. Medium bore
3. Not a bolt
The BLR is a possibility since they chamber it in both .358 win and .325 winchester whizz bang marketing machine magnum. It would be .358 win hands down, but I'm not sure anyone still manufactures ammo for it. I reload, but I also like to have a commercially loaded option. The ballistics of the .325 are impressive, but on principal, I'm hesitant to buy into the hype and there is also the chance it will be a cartridge that starts as a fad and then dies. Also, ammo is incredibly expensive for it ($50-$60) a box
Any ideas or opinions?
If you don't own any centerfire rifles now, then I recomend buying a BLR in .308 Win, and mount a 2x7 Leupold scope in medium hight mounts, and take it to gunsmith and shorten the length of pull about 1/2 inch and maybe have them do a trigger job on it. And you will have a rifle capable of doing anything you are capable of doing with a centerfire rifle under field conditions, for the lower 48 including moose.
And later add another gun, like maybe a 45/70 leveraction, and put a receiver sight on it. Of course there are several other options, like 358 Win, 444 Marlin, 348 Winchester, etc for a medium bore with a little more knockdown, but if you can't justify owning a second rifle, no worries, the .308 will do it all, even moose. And ammo is easy to find, easy to handload for, and about as cheap to shoot as any centerfire rifle round.
And frankly there isn't an animal from a groundhog to moose that I can't take cleanly with my .308 win using Factory Factory 180gr silvertips, from 10yds to 300yds, in a good shooting BLR with a 2x7 Scope.