lancetkenyon

Adapt and overcome. Gotta be flexible and mobile.

The Manners EH-2 I just put on my 7RM weighs 1lb 9oz. (25oz). Just giving you another wrench to throw in the works of your decision making. Plus it is super sexy looking too. Just waiting until after Christmas to put some new lighter glass on it.

Either in my Eberlestock or with the Claw rubber sling.

Like Stomp442 said, build a .280 AI. You can shoot the 7mm 180s and be golden. Or rechamber to a .30-06 Ackley Imp. It will up your speeds by 100fps or so with your current barrel. Or get a new 26" barrel (assuming your current factory barrel Is a 22") and do the same as above to get even more speed. Anywhere from 150-200fps more than you are getting now I would assume. Gets you some more horsepower. To be honest, the cost of rebarrelling and chambering your rifle, you can keep it as is and buy a new one in the cartridge of your choice. Sportsman's Warehouse has the Rem 700 BDL LR on sale right now for $649.00. Then you have 2 rifles!

No big elk left in 8. At all. Almost non-existant elk herds overall in 8.......and 7.

"Range bag" & "bigger than I expected" should never be used in the same sentance. Blasphemy! You should see the optics bag I just bought.

So what do you think about sigtron ?I don't own one, and have not spent more than a few rounds behind one, so I cannot say either way. I can vouch for a few other scopes and their quality, or lack thereof. SWFA HD. Amazing for the price point. Crazy tough, repeatable, good clicks, tracks true, good glass. Very stiff parallax adjustment and mag ring, lack of zero stop, and locking turrets leave a bit to be desired. Vortex Razor Gen I. Good features, zero stop, good reticle, super tough, illuminated reticle, best warranty in the biz if needed, decent glass. No locking turrets, and weight are a bit of an inconvenience. Zero stop and zero set is super slick. You can set zero between clicks for a perfect zero. Good price point too. Steiner T5Xi. Feature richas. Low profile turrets, second rotation indicator is cool, awesome reticle (SCR), illuminated reticle w. visible daytime illumination, repeatable, tracks true (now), decent glass (now). I got one of the first run batches, and had issues with it. Sent it back twice, and now it is much better. I still find it hard to suggest though with the issues I had. Price isn't bad for the features you get. Best warranty no questions forever. Schmidt & Bender PMII. The pinnacle gold standard of optics. I have the 3-20x50 w. H2CMR reticle, and my only complaint is the reticle is hard to see at 3x being a FFP scope. Glass is freakishly clear and color is true. Edge to edge crystal clear. MTC is good to keep you tracking, but going to .1 above or below takes some getting used to. Lockable turrets are great on a hunting rig that sees a pack a lot. 30 year warranty that you will probably never use. Zero stop, 2nd rotation indicator, etc is all top notch. Not cheap...at all. Kahles K624i. Probably my favorite scope, even over my S&B. Glass is on part with the S&B, color seems to really pop. Turrets are fantastic. Tracks perfect, and repeatable. Super tough. The SKMR is my favorite reticle I have ever seen for precise work. Second rotation indicator, zero stop is rock solid, awesome illumination. Reticle is easily visible from 6x to 24x without getting too big or too small. Pricey, but cheaper than S&B or Tangent Theta. Nightforce ATACR F1. Glass is decent for the price. Reticle selection is limited but is OK. Tracks decent, and repeatable. Great durability. Good feeling turrets. I personally was not overwhelmed by the scope, but it is a good one. Leupold Mark 6. I was not impressed with this scope for the price at all. The one I brief had did not track true, clarity was so-so. I have heard of many failures similar to what I encountered. I would not own another Leupold unless.I get a great price on a Mark 8. Vortex Viper PST. I don't own one, but have a lot of time behind them. For the price, not bad. Cheapish, crazy lightweight, decent reticle. Seems to track OK and repeatable. Glass is adequate, but not "wow". Illuminated reticle, good warranty that you might need. A good starter scope for a first timer. Burris XTR II. Like the Kmart special of the Steiner T5Xi. A little less features, a little less glass quality. But half the price of the Steiner. Decent glass, great reticle (SCR).

I found this Fox on a power pole a couple years ago. Blew my mind.

Oh look.....people get the full story and find out it was a legal deer. Good job 6ANut. Thanks for the clarification.

I bought a set of 37-12.50-17 BFG MT KM2s 10 years ago, when my Ford F250 3/4 ton crew cab diesel 4x4 truck was new. I have had to purchase only 2 more since then in 122k miles. Gotta love Discount Tire warranties. They have bought an additional 8-10 or so.

What is the OP's budget? That is the biggest determining factor. I think that glass is probably 30% of a shooting system's accuracy potential. I can't see spending $3000+ on a rifle and putting mediocre glass on it. I would take a mediocre gun with a good piece of glass over a great gun with mediocre glass. You can't hit what you can't see. And you can't hit first shot with a scope that doesn't track or is repeatable. Look at Precision Rifle Blog "What the Pro's Use" for info on a lot of scopes. http://precisionrifleblog.com/2015/10/18/best-tactical-scopes-and-reticles/

My brother had that happen to his m77 hunting caribou. At -55° it wouldn't even click. Yeah. But then again, it might have been that his fingers weren't working either!!!

I have no comments that would be appreciated on this thread.....

My cousin had it happen last year on his elk hunt. Excess oil + cold temps = soft firing pin strike. Ruger M77. And there is a really easy way to remove the firing pin assembly from an R700 bolt. Shoe lace. Look it up on YouTube. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VVacK49mjDc

I can add to this thread. After Taylor's elk hunt, I went to purchase another 13-27" swivel bipod. I was set on a Harris, but saved about 50% on a Caldwell. Got it home, opened it up, put it on a rifle, took it off, packaged it back up, went back to the store and returned it for the Harris. So I wasted about $10 in gas. The Caldwell sucks compared to the Harris. Super flimsy and not steady at all. You get what you pay for.

Nice buck for sure. Congrats. Meat and taxidermy bills! Gotta love it.

I use .243 Win brass for my 6.5 SLR cases (.243 to .264 in once pass with a tapered expander ball). Plus, it reworks the neck and shoulder at the same time. Never had an issue. But I use Winchester or Rem brass due to neck and shoulder thicknesses have no variation in those brands of brass. I have used .270 Win for .25-06, 25-06 & .270 Win for 6.5-06, etc. Numerous times.

Fantastic job on sticking with it and finding the cow. That is awesome. I have tracked for over 3 miles before too. It sucks having to go that far, but retrieving the animal is #1.

You will get 10 different answers from 10 different hunters that had elk tags previously. We just got back from a bull hunt in 7W. There were elk at all elevations except the very highest of peaks over 10K. From 6000 to 9500. Weather and pressure make huge differences in movement and bedding areas. We usually saw elk moving mostly in the morning, and last light. We did see a lot of elk in bedding areas that were up midday, but just to browse and stretch. When it was really cold, like single digits mornings and low 30s highs, we saw a bit of East face elk bedding. Other than that, mostly north faces still. And thick stuff, like transition PJ areas once pressure hit. They were not hitting tanks with all of the standing water everywhere with the snow, and previous week's rain.

Badger Thruster on a Sendero contour Badger Thruster on a Rem Varmint contour APA Micro Bastard on a #3 contour (you can get the Little Bastard for a Sendero contour)

The 90° sneak non-bugling is how Ryan is getting his done too. I like the pose.

Not a lot of road hunting, maybe 10%. A LOT of hours behind glass. I bet we glassed 25% of 7W, and more than once.

Great write up and great bulls. Any photos of the pedicle location? Looks like it is growing out of his forehead. What scope failed on your rifle? That stinks, but you have a good buddy to let you use his rifle. Euro mount or shoulder mount? And what will happen with the cape if a shoulder mount?

That is freaking awesome!

Smoking deal for a semi-custom rifle.