re: Deer Rifle Recommendations

The Tikka rifle in 7PRC just lacks balance and handle. throw up is back end heavy and just not a solid piece, almost went that route. Now if you lay your gun on a box blind window and shoot, yea anything will work. But I'm a walk and stalk and odd position shooter at times and i need a gun that can perform. went with Ruger Gen 2 Prairie and put 3 on a 4" gong at 450 Saturday morning. its absolute perfection of balance and cheek feel on the plate.

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Be a man. Shoot 17 cal.

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Sorry, but I couldn't resist "I'm a Man" by Chicago when I saw your post.
I've got a 17 Remington Fireball and it's one of my favorite guns......for prairie dog hunting.

I’ve got a Kimber Montana in .280ai and it would be the last rifle I parted with outside of the sentimental ones. I Can’t imagine shooting that round if I didn’t hand load. I guess if you don’t practice much it’s doable

400 yards is too far for a 308. Get a 7BC, fast twist 7 mag, or 300 short mag. Don't give in to the recoil fear being put out by influencers. With a suppressor or muzzle break non of what I mentioned will kick at all. They aren't bad at all without a device. Bullet choice is key in all of this. If you run solid copper your impact velocity needs to stay 2000fps and above. You can get away with slower speeds with bonded. With cup and core like ELDX and SST you run the risk of the bullet fragmenting on impact at higher velocities. I once had a Hornady rep tell me not to shoot anything under 150 yards away with SST bullets. I found out why for myself. I had a bullet failure and almost lost a deer. Shot placement doesn't mean shite when your bullet breaks apart before it gets to the good stuff. I switched to Barnes after that and never had another problem.

As for scopes, I am a huge Trijicon fan. They are durable and have great glass. Mavin makes great scopes too. Good old Leupolds are super light, but they don't have the same durability they had in the past. Burris has some really good stuff too. I have the new Fullfield on a 308 I built last year. I hunted with it all of last season. I was highly impressed. Its got way better glass than my older Leupolds and Nikons.

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400 yards is too far for a 308

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Depends on the game in my opinion. The 165 grain ammo I shoot should be right around you 2000 fps .

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I once had a Hornady rep tell me not to shoot anything under 150 yards away with SST bullets. I found out why for myself. I had a bullet failure and almost lost a deer. Shot placement doesn't mean shite when your bullet breaks apart before it gets to the good stuff.

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I do agree with this though and witnessed it last year with my dad. He was hunting with some Hornady SST bullets. Shot a doe, never found her. We assumed he missed (but he claimed he saw her buckle).

Next week he shoots a 200 pound buck quartering to him and went through the front shoulder at about 120 yards. The buck was spinning it's back legs running back into the woods because of a broken shoulder. After an hour of looking we found him despite not a drop of blood. While cleaning we found out that the bullet hit the front shoulder blade and dumped all of its energy and didn't go any further. That was the second bullet out of that box and he told my mom to go buy something completely different and bring it to him while we were cleaning it

Hmmm, I am just a fan of the ought-6.....put it this way....if I could only have 1 rifle, 30.06 wins.
You right, $2/rd....shooting is expensive! I go to the range and shoot my 40 and 45 pistols,,,,,1 hour later....$150!