recurveman

think the Katana is so new that nobody has put them to the test. I would also like to know.

So, I've used the Ultra 7000 enough where I can give an opinion about the pack. Overall I really like the pack. My biggest issue was going to be the pockets/storage of the pack. I got around that by putting "kits" of items in zippered dry bags. It basically compartmentalizes all of my gear so it is really easy to take it in and out. I've gotten used to not having a big horseshoe zipper and I actually kind of like it now that I've had time to work with it. The durability doesn't seem like it is going to be an issue at all. The material does seem a little thinner but doesn't seem like it will be a ton less durable and the weight difference will be enough where I'm going to be happy with the ULTRA instead of the PRO with the 7000 size pack. The lid is only one compartment instead of two but that isn't a deal breaker for me. I guess all that is left to do now is load it up with gear and go on a hunting trip. I've spent a few nights out with it so far and I can see I'm going to like this pack over the size of the 5200 if you are going to be out for more than a few days. Getting the pack adjusted properly was probably the biggest challenge. I think the key to getting the pack adjusted properly is to put a chunk of weight into the pack. I think 50# or so works about the best. It will put everything in place once the weight is added. 15-20# just won't get you there. Now that the pack is adjusted it rides like a dream.

I really like KUIU but not for their patterns. They have garments that are for specific uses and they are super comfortable in certain applications. I probably own to much of it and plan on buying more shortly. With that said. One of the best ways to "camo" yourself is to have solid dark colored pants (i like black) and then a top that is a different color pattern. There is a leafy type of jacket you can buy that has a bunch of texture to it. I think dark pants and the leafy jacket will hide you in ways that will scare you. With that said. If you move or get upwind then it doesn't matter at that point they will know you will be there. Camo is very, very over rated but having garments that work properly are what is needed.

There is one really important point about besides the neck sizing. ALWAYS check to make sure that the FIRST piece of brass that you make FITS into the gun. It completely sucks (been there done that) to pull bullets after you figure out that your fresh reloads don't fit in the gun. It really sucks to be at the range and figure out that you won't be shooting that day. CHECK, CHECK, RECHECK your loads. Not just for size. Make sure the primers are in the right direction (gun goes click instead of boom!!!), bullets are seated at the right length, correct powder (watched a guy load varget instead of 4831. Bought a new rifle the next day and luckily didn't have an emergency room visit). There are a ton of really small details that need to be checked if the reloader wants to have success and reliability.

Always full length size your brass. Would just neck sizing your brass improve accuracy? Maybe by the smallest of fractions. If you were shooting bench rest then I might think about it. Even the guys shooting 1000 yard matches full length size their brass and do just fine. Now here is the down side. If you only neck size your brass and the tolerances are a bit tighter and you get a bit of something in your chamber you are going to have problems. The most important thing to consider in the field is reliability and full length sizing your brass will give you better reliability. Your Tikka should be able to get to 1/2 MOA accuracy with hand loads and full length sizing your brass. My Tikka does 1/2 MOA all day long. The difference in accuracy at 500+ yards has everything to do with knowing your rifle and how the variables affect the POI at those distances. Point in case. I have a hunt this fall where I will be at between 8000-10000 feet of elevation. I was in the white mountains this weekend and brought my tikka superlite .308 with me. I shot a few shots at 200 and then stepped back to 600 and killed a bit more paper to verify my load, gun, elevation, ect.

I'm located in Gilbert.

elk are really easy to pattern this time of year. Put them out sooner rather than later. Once you find a monster bull that hits the tank constantly.........You won't see him again once hard horned. Back in 2010 me and my buddy had a camera up at a tank and saved every pic from July 4th until the end of archery season. We both killed 350 class bulls off of the same tank. We looked back at all the pics and that was the first time either bull had been to that tank since before the 4th of July. But man I think it is a blast to see the critters on camera. It's a good time for sure but won't really help you with finding a particular bull.

I have the Tikka T3X superlite in .308. The .308 recoils really nice and has been super accurate for me. I'm pushing reloads at 30-06 velocities and the gun shoots lights out and the recoil is pleasant for sure. You will really like the gun. It is more stable that you think for the weight. The balance is really good. I made a few changes. If you hand load you can change the short action bolt stop to a long action bolt stop. Then you can long load the bullets in your 6.5 so you can get closer to the lands. You will also need a 30-06 magazine instead of the one that comes with the gun. I bought a 5 round mag instead of the regular mag. I also bought a lighter trigger spring and will be changing that out this weekend. Currently the gun is shooting 1/2 MOA and I'm super happy with that for a factory gun.

I put a 140 grain 6.5 ELD-M bullet through some CWT deer last year. Probably had 6 impacts 2 different deer on deer. I will not be shooting that bullet at game ever again. We recovered one bullet and I had literally found of the copper jacket just below the skin on entrance and the lead was missing from the copper. Loved the accuracy but the terminal performance was not what I like to see. I'm switching to the 143 grain ELD-X bullet. Shoots just as accurate but a little slower due to the much longer bearing surface. I've seen much better results the the ELD-X bullets on game. Proceed with caution.

It was to much energy. Having a bullet going to fast can be worse than a bullet going slower with less energy. It just depends on the bullet design, where you hit the critter and velocity.

I really like the bullets. They are accurate and have a really good BC. If I was going to hunt moose I would also consider the Nosler Partition as an option. Actually I would choose the partition over the ELD-X for moose because the partition will stay together better than the ELD-X. For elk and smaller I would use the ELD-X. The heavier .30 cal bullets really look appealing if you can load them long. I think you could drive some velocity and accuracy that would buck wind in a big way.

The copper fouling could be your barrel. I was pushing them at 2950 FPS out of my 6.5 X 284 and didn't have any issues. Though I've had copper fouling in other barrels and bullets with much slower speeds. Honestly I just cleaned a gun that shot great (.243 remington 700) and I soaked it for hours with copper solvent and still couldn't get rid of all of it. Heck it was still copper color in the groves and you couldn't see steel. If it shoots let it rip.

Congrats on the tag. I've been putting in for the goat tag in Idaho because of the longer season and time conflicts of the moose hunt. I really want to apply for the moose tag once I get a few other items handled. Good luck on your hunt. Kill a big one!!!!!!!

I shot one deer and the copper jacket was just under the skin and the lead came out of the jacket. I got little to no penetration. The ELD-X bullets I've seen have done a very good job. The ELD-M bullets are super accurate but the terminal results are less than favorable. I've probably seen 6-8 impacts with less than desirable results.

Don't over look the Hornady ELD-X bullets. They have a very good BC. I've shot them out to 1000 yards and they are very, very accurate and the bullets I've measured are very consistent. Shot the 140 ELD-M's, 147 ELD-M's and the 143 ELD-X bullets. I've shot all out to 1000 yards and the results are really good. Shot a deer with the 140 ELD-M bullets last year and I won't shoot another match bullet at a critter. Was impressed with the ELD-X terminal performance on critters though from a buddies gun.

Well it isn't the amount of shots. 6.5CM isn't a barrel burner. If you were to shoot a barrel burner you could get more shots than that down the tube and if it did start to give up some accuracy it wouldn't be that much and it wouldn't be all of a sudden. I would check a couple things. Rings, Scope, tighten your stock. Something changed and it probably isn't your load or barrel. It is probably your stock or scope/mounting that has changed. You could always chase the lands and add powder as needed to get the speed to your original speed. Then you would know for sure that the load and speed aren't the issue.

What is considered "lights out"? What size groups is the gun shooting now? Do you have a known speed from when the gun was shooting good? Barrels typically like a certain speed and if you leave that speed range then the accuracy can decrease. A .067" change in the jump is absolutely huge depending on the bullet. What bullet do you shoot? What powder to you shoot? If you are shooting a powder that changes with the temperature then in the summer you could be gaining quite a bit of velocity and that will affect accuracy. Do you have the ability to look in the chamber and barrel? Do you have a bunch of copper in the barrel or carbon ring in the chamber? I looked in my .243 the other day and the grooves were almost full of copper. I might not have cleaned the barrel in a really, really long time.....but it shoots great. I did spend some time sending a patch down the tube to decrease the copper in my barrel. My tikka just kills it.

To me it sounds like you need to clean the barrel and check your load. Normally a barrel being shot out you will start to get rounds that leave the group for no reason. I would guess that it would take 3K rounds to kill a .270 as a hunting rifle. Most of the time when barrels get shot out it is because of the excess heat from shooting strings of shots in a row. If you are just doing normal hunting/sighting in it would take a TON of rounds to kill the barrel. I would check everything else out first. Grab a bore scope or take it to a gun smith. They will tell you what it looks like at that time.

Oh I went through everything twice. We actually went to the point of bedding the gun and taking the box out just to eliminate that as an issue. I honestly think it is the barrel. It was the worst and roughest barrel we have ever looked down. Including all production barrels. The barrel did look better after 100 shots but was just OK. 200 total shots with hand loads and factory ammo, trigger job, bedded stock, hand lapped the barrel, waiting 5 min between shots, ect. Still couldn't group. At some point you just have to throw in the towel. Now I'm heading out to shoot my tikka and it is very close to dialed in (under MOA in this case) after 2 trips to the range. Had probably 8 trips to the range with the Kimber and still never got close. I tell ya there could almost be a case made for only using custom guns. At least you know they are going to shoot really good and it can be achieved in a quick time and you could save ammo costs, time and end up with a more accurate gun........Or I'm just looking for an excuse to build another custom gun 😉

You have been much closer to cats than that.......and many times. Lucky he didn't think you looked yummy. I was calling last year at a location where I had a camera on some water about 300 yards away. Got done calling about 30 minutes before dark. Headed to camp. Checked the camera the next morning to see that the lion was at the water tank 20 minutes after I ended calling. He for sure knew I was there and probably watched me pick up my call and walk to my truck.

bought a tikka superlite in .308 Put the Swaro scope on it and the gun drives tacks with the same loads I was shooting out of my Kimber. Stepped back to 600 yards the other day and it was shooting well under MOA. It held a great water line with a really stiff load in the chamber. Basically I'm pushing 30-06 velocity with the 308 platform. The recoil is very different too. Much less and more controlled. Side benefit of the Tikka.......I can get the longer magazine and change out the a longer bolt stop so that I can long load (hit the lands) the .308 instead of having to deal with mag length ammo. Don't know if I will go down that road but I do have the option. Down side is the gun weighs about a pound more than the Kimber. To me the extra weight is probably going to be worth it. The balance, feel, and recoil is so different that I think I am willing to add a pound to shoot this gun. I would have loved to put my hands on the field craft. If a gun shop would have had one in town to look at then that gun would have been my next in line to purchase. I just wanted to look at one before I bought it. Going out this weekend again to verify load and shoot some distance. The barrel is about calmed down and starting to maintain velocity. Normally takes 50ish rounds to get a barrel to break in and then it will maintain a constant velocity. I'm probably 30-50 fps faster now than with my first 5 shots. Almost to the point where I can take the gun hunting.......almost.

YEP. Get one. They are awesome if you are going to shoot further than you can see. Normally over 300 yards we use the shot marker. It is fun to sit at a G and see where your bullet hits in real time so you understand the effect of your wind call.

Just bought the compact with the center post extension ( a must have) and the micro pan head. Great gear and they are proud of it.

Who does hydro dipping in the valley? Any idea on cost, turn around and quality of work would be great too. Thanks

I own a tikka superlite in .308 with the z5 glass. It is an incredible shooting gun. Super accurate and the glass is super clear. Very impressed with the rig. I'm sure this gun would be the same.