good high powered rifle

It is fun. It is expensive to get started. Price per round will be sky high until you break even on the initial cost. Right now components can be somewhat difficult to come by at times. There is also a big learning curve if you want to be successful in loading a round that is accurate out of your rifle. The safety of the round is the most important thing. Years ago when I was getting started, a friend who claimed to know what he was doing helped me load my first box of shells. When I took them to the range I came very close to damaging my rifle. We had loaded brand new cases and he neglected to check the length of the case after resizing. That error meant that the tip of the neck was forced into the area of the chamber where only the bullet should be. So the neck was swedged down onto the bullet causing excessive pressures. All I got was a flattened primer, but when you see a red flag like that, you were very close to causing serious damage or possibly injury. My point is, if you are serious about taking up this hobby, get with someone who reloads a lot! Someone with a lot of experience and technical knowledge. It can be a simple procedure and it can get tricky in a hurry.

Oh yea, forgot about the rifle. I agree, the 30-06 would be a good one. You can load a lot of different bullet weights, components are common. Hard to beat. Will kill anything on the North American continent.

30-06 or .270 is what you're looking for. I know people who like to reload, I just couldn't get into it unless I shot a lot. Even at 40 bucks a box it would take damn near the rest of my life to break even just on rifle rounds

If you're gonna reload, go with the 6.5X284 Norma

My vote would be one of the 6.5s
I love my 260rem and hqve a buddy that shoots 6.5swede they are both tack drivers.

.308 No question.

You must have been bored typing all of those calibers

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any ideas?

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Assuming you're also going to be using you high powered rifle for deer hunting, there are a number of good options out there, depending on what diameter bullet you want, how much powder you're willing to burn and whether you want the rifle to have a short or long action. Calibers to consider would include:
25 caliber: 25-06 Rem (30-06 brass necked down to 0.257 diameter bullet).
6.5mm's: 6.5X55 and 260 Remington (308 Win brass necked down to 6.5 mm)
270 Winchester (30-06 brass necked down to 0.277 diameter bullet)
7mm's: 7-08 (308 Win brass necked down to 7mm), 7X57 (AKA 7mm Mauser), 280 Remington (30-06 brass necked down to a 7mm bullet) and 284 Winchester.
30 calibers: 308 Winchester and 30-06.
I'm sure you noticed a recurring theme: all but 2 of these are based on the 308 or the 30-06. For the vast majority of hunting, I don't think a hunter needs a short, ultra or regular magnum. The most useful thing a magnum provides is NOT more "killing power", but flatter trajectory. ANY of these rounds make fine deer hunting guns as they are plenty deadly on deer at typical hunting distances and are accurate. in the current climate of component shortages, it can be very difficult loading for some of the above. For example, I've been looking for 7-08 brass for 5 months and haven't found what I want.

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Remember when I asked you to put a rifle together for me, well I'm getting close. I have a scope for it already, just need to finish my AR and then I'm game.

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go BIG or go home brother, build a full blown custom and be done with it

9thW

my suggestion : 260 Remington

very accurate and you can push the limit to 500+ yds if needed

6.5's have high BC , easy to load for , with minimal recoil compared to the magnums.

no problem as a deer rifle