STOMP442

I would suggest a savage in 260 remington. Plenty of horse power at long range and less recoil than the 308. Using 140 grain bullets it will shoot flatter and drift less in the wind than the 06 and provide the performance and accuarcy needed for coues deer hunting.

Make sure to keep the tang floated on that savage. Do not bed any farther back than the trigger guard. Savages shoot best with the tang and barrel floated. You do not want to bed the entire action length like a Remington. Just trying to save you some greif if you decide to do it yourself.

Give me a bullet that dumps all of its energy into the animal any day over one that passes through especially with these little coues deer.

I built one on a savage with a 28" barrel and found that it really wouldnt do anything above and beyond a 6.5-284 except use a bunch more powder to do it. It shot great and it looked cool as heck but i sold it and went with the 260 ackley and haven't looked back. 140 grain berger at 2960 while only using 44 grains of H4831sc is hard to beat.

To many guns to shoot would sure be a nice problem to have.

Try the david tubb fire lapping system and see if that cleans it up any.

Ive never been able to get the bergers to group well at 100. Check the tang and make sure it is floated as well make sure you can slip a dollar bill all the way around the rear of the action.

So your saying the .257 Roberts chambered in one of the finest rifles made was too accurate and to deadly on game to ever be used again. I have heard lots of reasons for not using a gun but too accurate and too deadly have never been one of them.

Doesnt get much cheaper than bulk winchester or Remington bullets from midway or someplace similar.

Look into the 250 savage. Less recoil than a 243 with a bit more punch. 115 grain berger at 2800 will get the job done. The old timers back in the early 1900s used them for elk all the time with a 87-100 grain bullet. No need for a brake and easy on the ears.

What bullet are you shooting at 100 yards? Lots of times and especially with the long 6.5s they will not group well at 100. They require a little more time to stabilize and will generally group better at 200. As far as stocks go they are plentiful. Only thing ypu need to know is if it is center feed or staggered feed. When you take the action out of the stock and the magazine box stays in the stock it is center feed, if it stays on the action it is staggered feed. Any long action stock. 110-116 will fit just make sure you buy the correct feed type.

You can't beat a Ruger Action I dont care what you do they are about the best thing going. Its possible if its an old M77 chambered in 25-06 that it may be time for a new barrel, especially if he shot it allot. I have never had an ounce of trouble with any of my Rugers acuracy wise. Is his action bedded? Most Rugers also like a little fore end pressure on the barrel instead of floating the full length of the barrel. Just a couple things to look at before dropping hundreds of dollars on a barrel. If a new barrel is the cure E. R. Shaw would be the best bang for the buck. Send it off to them and they will install a barrel of his choice length, contour and finish all for around $300 and 3 months turn around. If money and turn around time is of no concern I would send it off to Hart for a barrel.

I really like the .260 Ackley best. It is really the best combination of performance and efficiency. I can do anything the 6.5-284 will do using about 44 grains of powder vs 48 grains with the 6.5-284. The 6.5-300WSM is a fun little cartridge but I dont prefer the magnums just wanted to do something a little different. I am getting 3200 out if it with the load it likes. 140 Hornaday Amax on top of 67.5gr of Retumbo

I own savages and remingtons and everyone of my savages will shoot circles around the Remingtons. Savages are a cinch to build on and can be done yourself and with a nice trigger and a match grade barrel are capable of great things. I have built two .250-3000 savages a 6.5-300WSM a .260 Rem Ackley a 6.5-284 and a .204 Ruger. All of them will shoot 1/2" groups at 200 yards or better. If you are looking for a bench caliber i would look into something in a 6.5. .260 Ackely or 6.5-284 are good ones that are seeing lots of success with long range shooters. The high B.C and the mild recoil of the 6.5's make them perfectly suited for the bench.

Get something in a 6.5 Cal. A standard .260 Remington with a 140gr bullet at 2700 fps will duplicate the trajectory of of a .300WM and do it with half the powder and half the recoil. Not to mention the sectional density of a 140 6.5 bullet is the same as a 190gr .30 cal bullet. The 6.5's give you all the benifits of the big Win Mags without having to deal with the added cost of reloading components or the added cost of having to put a muzzle break on a rifle just to be able to shoot the dang thing. A 6.5-284 or or a .260rem Ackely improved pushing the same 140gr bullet at 3000fps is even better and will kill anything just as dead as a 300WM or 300 ultra and will do it more effeciently, cost effective and is more shooter friendly as far as recoil is concerned.

Just finished building this one up for a buddy of mine. He wants this as his primary Coues gun to go long with. I love me a 6.5 and this one turned out really good. This was my first try at gun kote and I got to say that stuff works pretty good. Here are the specs and pics Savage Model 111 action pillar and glass Bedded 28" Criterion (made by Krieger) varmint contour barrel 1-8 twist Boyds Light weight Varminter Stock in Forest Camo Stock Accutrigger set to 2 pounds Luepold Vari X III 6.5-20x50 Long Range scope Burris Signature 30mm Zee rings. Matte O.D. Green Brownells Aerosol Gun Kote. Weight = 6 pounds Started out looking like this minus the scope. And ended up like this. Shots 5-10 during barrel break in. 1/2" group at 100 yards using 120gr Hornady Amax on top of 44.5gr IMR 4350

Go for the Nikon Buckmaster 6-18x40 with BDC. Great scope for the money, has target turrets and the BDC System as well. Can be picked up for $309 at midway.

I would like to start off by thanking my good Friend Paul Larson for getting me into a prime area and giving me the opportunity to kill a buck of a lifetime. I would also like to thank my big brother Trent for building one of the sweetest little rifles ever and giving me the tools I needed to make the shot when it counted. Thanks again for everything guys, I will remember this hunt the rest of my life. The hunt started off like most of my other hunts have. I was behind on getting prepared and getting the gear all ready to go and stuck at work with too many things to do and not enough time to do them in. Little did I know that this hunt would prove to be the most exciting deer hunt I have ever been on. Saturday morning we were up and glassing by sunup, hoping to catch some early rut activity and a big buck out in the open. Our hopes were realized in less than 30 minutes when Paul spotted a huge buck heading up the saddle two canyons away at 960 yards. The stalk was on! Trent and I made a game plan to get to the next ridge in hopes of getting a shot at this bruiser of a deer. As we pressed on the buck continued to feed his way up and over the saddle never to be seen again. With our adrenalin pumping and our spirits high we continued to hunt the area in hopes of finding another big buck to set our sights on. Saturday passed with not much else excitement and we found ourselves back at camp reminiscing about that big one that got away and laying out plans for the next day’s hunt. Sunday morning began much like Saturdays did; we went to the same glassing position and 30 minutes in spotted another toad of buck not 100 yards from where we spotted the first one the day before. This time we knew we had to make it count, he was not getting away. We grabbed our gear and hustled over the next ridge hoping to get a shot off at this buck before he disappeared as well. We sneak our way up and over the ridge and nestle in under some oak trees hoping this buck was still where we left him. After glassing for more than an hour it had seemed that this buck as well had slipped though our fingers. We made the decision that we were not giving up on this buck, we were going to wait there the rest of the day if we had to. Turns out we only needed to wait about another 15 minutes when like magic he suddenly appeared again working his way down hill toward us. Trent ranged him at 662 yards, called the wind and gave me the green light. My first shot hit him in the front left shoulder ripping through him and exiting the rear leg almost taking it completely off. I hear Trent yell “you drilled him! Put another one in him.” The deer moved in under an oak tree and stood broadside giving me a perfect shot. The next bullet went through both shoulders and somehow the deer stayed on his feet and moved to his right to another small oak tree where I finished him off with another shot through the neck. I couldn’t believe how tough this deer was, I still do not understand how he survived the first shot let alone the second one but it all worked out in the end. By the time it was all over I could barely stand up I was so excited, all I could do was stand there shaking with a big smile on my face, breathing like I had just ran a marathon. Paul and Trent came over and gave me a big hug, a hand shake and congratulations. After I had calmed down and regained my composure we left to go retrieve my deer. I knew after looking at him through the scope that he was a nice buck but what I found laying under that oak tree surprised us all. He gross scores 111 5/8” has nice mass all the way out and lots of character with the down turned tip on the main beam. I could not be happier. The .250-3000 savage shooting a 115 grain Berger bullet performed like a dream and packed one heck of a punch. Thanks again to Paul for having great eyes and being so charitable to let me shoot this great buck and getting us into an awesome hunting area. Thanks to Trent for building such a sweet rifle and making me a believer in the capabilities of this old little cartridge. I couldn’t have done it without you guys, maybe next year we can go after the big one that got away.

E.R. Shaw is now offering what they call the Mk VII rifle, which is essentially a customized Savage with a Shaw Barrel at a very reasonable price point. I believe they start at the $700 range. They offer just about any caliber imaginable and build the whole gun top to bottom. I have a few rifles wearing Shaw barrels and they shoot beautifully.

Elk sized game I would probably go with the 7mm Mag. Anything smaller give me a .250-3000 Ackley.

It's easily done and the pam cooking spray is essential. Another trick is adding a piece of scotch tape to the front of the recoil lug. It makes for a tight fit but not so tight that you can't get the action out. Scotch tape along the bottom of the barrel and using sand paper around the barrel works good for floating barrels as well.

Good stuff for sure.

The 140 Berger would be the best hunting bullet going if you can get it to shoot. The Bergers can be a bit tricky to get to shoot right but if you are patient and try different seating depths as well as powders you will find a combo they like and they will like it allot.

Is the rifle bedded and the barrel free floated? Doing this can increase accuracy significantly. You may have a sweet load going and external forces on the barrel from the stock may be causing your groups to open up a bit.

Thanks for the comments guys.