Thread: Whats your rifle of choice for stalking?

Hi lads im thinking about getting a new rifle for stalking that is dog friendly, maybe a tikka t3 lite in 243 with silencer?
What do you guys think?
Im useless with this stuff and over the noise of my ultra mag


Any help would be great thanks

Bush? .308

Originally Posted by Toby

Bush? .308

+1 from what I read.

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This sort of question has always ended in a shit fight haha the answer is whatever you like.
Ideally though it depends on what you want it for e.g. species, sort of hunting, how much recoil you can comfortably take etc. Personally I have a 300wm and a .270 and love em but youd get away with most calibers. I don't like 308 but I would give you three: 243 if you want an easy shooting honest gun but won't hit as hard and will have to pass up on marginal shots. .270 a good alround gun with not much recoil but hits well and is nice and flat shooting. Or 300wsm a bit more recoil though not much, will hit hard and can handle long range easily. As I said its personal preference is the main thong no right or wrong answer. Good luck mate

I dropped down from 7mm mag to suppressed .308 as I'd started hunting with a dog and easier on my ears also.
I bought a Mossberg .308, sent it to Canterbury Gunworks to cut barrel down to 16inchs and fitted with alloy suppressor, screw fitted over barrel. The rifle has great ballance and is the same overall length as original.
I rolled bike innertube over suppressor to aid grip (climbing aid)
Shots still bang but not as sharp.
If I were to do it again, I would use a drop floor or magazine rifle rather than having to crank the bolt to empty Mossberg.
I wanted real light and cheap.

6.5x55, 7mm08, 243 , 270 and 308 area ll good bush stalking calibers easy on the shoulder and not so bad on the ears apart from the 6.5 and the 270 which tend to have a substantial blast but nowhere as bad as a magnum caliber but still anything is pleasnat once a suppressor has been added.

Also welcome to NZHS Neil (gamehunter)

Suppressed .500 Jeffery

Originally Posted by Spudattack

Suppressed .500 Jeffery

Crikey mate that's not a rifle that's a bloody blunderbuss

I agree with this first post by Gamehunter - your choice of calibre isn't that important say 270,303,308,7mm08 what have you but if you stick a can on the end and cut the barrel down then that'll make more of a difference
to you and your dog's ears and over typical bush ranges then whatever has got the knockdown power will do.

You can walk in with your short gun then screw the suppressor on when doing the biz.

+1 for floor plate, I find that mags can stick out and fall out. Keep it simple

Originally Posted by Gamehunter

I dropped down from 7mm mag to suppressed .308 as I'd started hunting with a dog and easier on my ears also.
I bought a Mossberg .308, sent it to Canterbury Gunworks to cut barrel down to 16inchs and fitted with alloy suppressor, screw fitted over barrel. The rifle has great ballance and is the same overall length as original.
I rolled bike innertube over suppressor to aid grip (climbing aid)
Shots still bang but not as sharp.
If I were to do it again, I would use a drop floor or magazine rifle rather than having to crank the bolt to empty Mossberg.
I wanted real light and cheap.

Originally Posted by 308

I agree with this first post by Gamehunter - your choice of calibre isn't that important say 270,303,308,7mm08 what have you but if you stick a can on the end and cut the barrel down then that'll make more of a difference
to you and your dog's ears and over typical bush ranges then whatever has got the knockdown power will do.

You can walk in with your short gun then screw the suppressor on when doing the biz.

+1 for floor plate, I find that mags can stick out and fall out. Keep it simple

Half the trouble with budget rifles is they come with blind mags and after a few outing with others using a rifle with blind mag alot of them don't like the idea of cranking the bolt to get rounds out for safety reasons which is fair enough while I like the marlin X7 rifles I will not get another till they come out with a floor plate mag purely for the safer ability of emptying the mag, and is one of the reasons I am considering to go with a howa as my next rifle if I am to go the budget route again is because they have the floor plate mag which is far safer than working a bolt to empty a mag out while keeping the muzzle pointed in a safe direction.

There are no "dog friendly" calibre of stalking rifles. If your dog is out in front of you when you take the shot your will fuck it's ears over a period of time. My all time favourite stalking rifle has been a .375 Winchester lever gun and I have no trouble emptying the tube mag at the end of the hunt by feeding the rounds through the chamber as I have two rules when doing so...point in safe direction and keep your fucken finger off the trigger. I dont think I could ever be bothered taking a suppressed rifle into the bush as the can is just another piece of junk to carry around. Length wise I may as well take my STW...now that will really fuck your dogs ears. There is no felt recoil with any rifle when taking the shot at game as the adreninal rush cancels it out.

im with you spook

I think the key to a stalking rifle is that most of your shots will be well under 100m, quarter moa accuracy is not needed and at those ranges slow, heavy bullets are better than fast light ones eg. a .308 with 180 grainers is a better option than a .243 with 80s.

Size, weight and action of the rifle is a personal preference, my new favourite stalker is a .375 h&h with a 300gr loaded down to 2200fps, have yet to take a deer with it but it should be awesome!

I have no experience with suppressors as they are not my thing.

How long is a piece of string.i wont tell you what brand or cal to get but it needs to be short .....under 20inch barrel and you don't need a high powerd scope either and it needs to be light as a few times while your in the thick stuff on a hill youll be using one hand to hold the rifle and one to steady yourself,good luck and hot barrels.

223, 243, 7 08 or 308. The quietest suppressed will be the 223. Inside 200 yards if you can shoot straight the 223 is deadly. The others you can shoot a little further with confidence.