Thinking about buying a new deer rifle.

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fishman
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Re: Thinking about buying a new deer rifle.

#31

Post by fishman »

WildBill wrote:
fishman wrote:Dings on the wood will be character, although I won't put notches on the stock for kills. The only ones I've seen so far have a dark stained wood, I really want a lighter stain. Just need to keep looking.
Good luck. I have never seen a factory Remington 700 with a light colored stock.
I've seen them, just not in a store lately.
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The Annoyed Man
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Re: Thinking about buying a new deer rifle.

#32

Post by The Annoyed Man »

I think that Weatherby used to offer light stocks, in what I would call a "blonde wood" color......like this one:
Image

The thing is, I think they used maple wood for these stocks, and they weren't anywhere near as strong as walnut. Maple stocks had a reputation for cracking under the stress of firing higher powered centerfire rifle cartridges, such as the Weatherby magnums.
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Re: Thinking about buying a new deer rifle.

#33

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fishman wrote:
WildBill wrote:
fishman wrote:Dings on the wood will be character, although I won't put notches on the stock for kills. The only ones I've seen so far have a dark stained wood, I really want a lighter stain. Just need to keep looking.
Good luck. I have never seen a factory Remington 700 with a light colored stock.
I've seen them, just not in a store lately.
Back in the 60's and 70's when I was selling guns Remington had some of the nicest wood. Even on the ADL 700's. They were never stained, just clear finish. The walnut varied in color but I never saw one that I'd call light. Back then there were a lot of high end guns that had fancy light colored stocks, i.e. birds-eye maple and other exotic wood, contrasting forends and grip caps with accentuated lines. I was always a wood and blue steel guy, still am to some degree. When we got a Colt franchise and received a load of AR's I thought they were the ugliest thing ever designed to shoot. Now I think they're BEEEE U Ti ful, too! :lol: What ever rifle and caliber you pick just be sure to spend the money to mount good optics on it. It important on a hunting rifle to spend as much you can afford to put a good scope on it. You will be glad you did, especially In low light situations. Good Luck! Hope you find the rifle you want. Keep us posted
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WildBill
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Re: Thinking about buying a new deer rifle.

#34

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puma guy wrote:
fishman wrote:
WildBill wrote:
fishman wrote:Dings on the wood will be character, although I won't put notches on the stock for kills. The only ones I've seen so far have a dark stained wood, I really want a lighter stain. Just need to keep looking.
Good luck. I have never seen a factory Remington 700 with a light colored stock.
I've seen them, just not in a store lately.
Back in the 60's and 70's when I was selling guns Remington had some of the nicest wood. Even on the ADL 700's. They were never stained, just clear finish. The walnut varied in color but I never saw one that I'd call light. Back then there were a lot of high end guns that had fancy light colored stocks, i.e. birds-eye maple and other exotic wood, contrasting forends and grip caps with accentuated lines. I was always a wood and blue steel guy, still am to some degree. When we got a Colt franchise and received a load of AR's I thought they were the ugliest thing ever designed to shoot. Now I think they're BEEEE U Ti ful, too! :lol: What ever rifle and caliber you pick just be sure to spend the money to mount good optics on it. It important on a hunting rifle to spend as much you can afford to put a good scope on it. You will be glad you did, especially In low light situations. Good Luck! Hope you find the rifle you want. Keep us posted
Good point. Walnut is a naturally dark word. When covered with a clear finish, it becomes darker and the grain is more pronounced. I believe that Remington used a urethane finish. I don't know if they still do.

I have a FWB 124 Pellet Rifle which has a beech stock with a walnut stain finish. Beech is a very strong and dense wood with a light color. The stained beech is dark, but the wood is fine grained so it has none of the patterns like a true walnut stock. It still looks nice.

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Re: Thinking about buying a new deer rifle.

#35

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My Remmy 700 was manufactured in the '70s, still looks brand new. Oh, I also replaced the trigger group because it was one of the ones that was prone to go off with out pulling the trigger...
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Re: Thinking about buying a new deer rifle.

#36

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I have a Sako in 25.06 with a Leupold 3-10x50mm. I have owned this set up for about 15 years but I think at the time the scope was what they called the "gold line" or some such. Pretty rifle and scope but I bet I have more than three grand in the thing. Weird how the lighting makes it look like two different finishes. The lighter colored picture is closest to how it actually looks.
Image Image
Image

The Sako is pretty accurate and the barrel is free floated.(came from factory that way). Then I have a Remington 700 ADL in 30.06 with a lower end basic leopold 3-9x40 scope. Total invested in that rig was maybe 700 dollars. I have owned it for 28 years. Funny thing... the Remington does exactly what the Sako does and cost one third the money. It just isn't as pretty.

I will add this. When taking my Sako out to the woods, I am constantly worried about scratching it or putting a ding on the wood. My Remington...I can relax when going through brush.

I truly believe Remington is probably one of the best bang for the buck rifles a person can buy.

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Re: Thinking about buying a new deer rifle.

#37

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Most of the money will go in to the scope. I have yet to decide which one. I guess when I get it I'll post a picture of it. I sure appreciate every ones advise.
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Re: Thinking about buying a new deer rifle.

#38

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03Lightningrocks wrote:I have a Sako in 25.06 with a Leupold 3-10x50mm. I have owned this set up for about 15 years but I think at the time the scope was what they called the "gold line" or some such. Pretty rifle and scope but I bet I have more than three grand in the thing. Weird how the lighting makes it look like two different finishes. The lighter colored picture is closest to how it actually looks.
[ Image ] [ Image ]
[ Image ]

The Sako is pretty accurate and the barrel is free floated.(came from factory that way). Then I have a Remington 700 ADL in 30.06 with a lower end basic leopold 3-9x40 scope. Total invested in that rig was maybe 700 dollars. I have owned it for 28 years. Funny thing... the Remington does exactly what the Sako does and cost one third the money. It just isn't as pretty.

I will add this. When taking my Sako out to the woods, I am constantly worried about scratching it or putting a ding on the wood. My Remington...I can relax when going through brush.
I truly believe Remington is probably one of the best bang for the buck rifles a person can buy.
Nice looking Sako. I regret I didn't buy a .243 we had in stock back in the 60's. What model is it? You can't go wrong with the Rem 700, though.
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03Lightningrocks
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Re: Thinking about buying a new deer rifle.

#39

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puma guy wrote:Nice looking Sako. I regret I didn't buy a .243 we had in stock back in the 60's. What model is it? You can't go wrong with the Rem 700, though.
Oh man! Thank You! I saved for over a year to buy that rifle. It is my pride and joy. :mrgreen: It is an L691 "Deluxe" model. Back in those days, spending 2200 dollars for a rifle was not an easy task for me. ;-) Heck... thinking about it... I am not positive what I paid for it. I know it was worth it! :lol:

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Re: Thinking about buying a new deer rifle.

#40

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I must say ya'll have post some nice rifle pics! :cheers2:
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Re: Thinking about buying a new deer rifle.

#41

Post by 03Lightningrocks »

fishman wrote:I must say ya'll have post some nice rifle pics! :cheers2:
I was reading through some of the posts and noticed you mentioned something about the 40mm vs the 50mm. On the higher magnifications, my leopold 50mm scope seems to allow more light in than my leopold with 40mm scope. One thing to keep in mind as you research it. many folks, including me, have and will make the comment about a larger lens allowing a shooter to see better in those moments right before the sun peeks over the horizon and right before dark. The real story is that light is influenced more by a high quality lens with a high quality AR coating than the size of the lens. My two scopes are about ten years apart in age so the better light probably has more to do with improved optics by leopold than the lense size. One other thought. If you do go with a 50mm, make sure your scope rings are high enough that the barrel does not touch the scope.

Im with you on the material of the stock. These folks can have their synthetics. I will take a nice wood stock every time. After 35 plus years of deer hunting, I have yet to be foiled by a warping stock on the day of the hunt. That kind of stuff happens to folks who think they are going to whip out their rifle once a year and go hunting. At the very least, sight in your rifle before the hunt and don't fret so much about warping wood. Good wood does not warp easily. ;-)
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Re: Thinking about buying a new deer rifle.

#42

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I found this very good article about "free floating" vs "glass bedding" vs Remingtons "'pressure point" method. http://hunting.about.com/cs/guns/a/float_bed.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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Re: Thinking about buying a new deer rifle.

#43

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03Lightningrocks wrote:I found this very good article about "free floating" vs "glass bedding" vs Remingtons "'pressure point" method. http://hunting.about.com/cs/guns/a/float_bed.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Informative article, it brings a question though. How long does it take for a barrel to cool down after a shot, and is the barrel considered hot after one shot?
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Re: Thinking about buying a new deer rifle.

#44

Post by 03Lightningrocks »

fishman wrote:
03Lightningrocks wrote:I found this very good article about "free floating" vs "glass bedding" vs Remingtons "'pressure point" method. http://hunting.about.com/cs/guns/a/float_bed.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Informative article, it brings a question though. How long does it take for a barrel to cool down after a shot, and is the barrel considered hot after one shot?
Good question. I dunno. I never shot more than once at any deer so all my shots were cold barrel shots.When I sight in, I always wait for several minutes between each round because I want to sight in for real life. It is easy to check the barrel. Touch it with the back of your hand. It is not likely you will be shooting at a deer with a warm barrel. If you are, the deer is probably laughing so hard at you for missing more than twice you can walk up and stab him.

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Re: Thinking about buying a new deer rifle.

#45

Post by fishman »

Yeah, I was asking because of sighting in. I'm really looking forward to getting this rifle.
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