Thread: Deer Caliber + Ammo Cost

Or if all else fails, PM Happy job done, same day MattyP no sweat

Originally Posted by gimp

Nope but why buy a 3-9x when you can get an equally good 3-12x or 2.5-10x for the same money?

For the same money you will generally get better optical quality for a lower zoom ratio, its the same with camera lenses. Want to make more complex optics of the same quality, it will cost more (and they will probably be heavier).

If you know of some exceptions to that I'd be interested to know though, I'll be putting a new scope of the 223 before too long...

Originally Posted by Maca49

Or if all else fails, PM Happy job done, same day MattyP no sweat

? Happy a retailer~?

2-10 or 2-12 sounds about perfect to me. $1649 for the Lupold vx6 2-12x42 from Gun City...hah. I'll look at overseas prices. How's the bushnell hold up against the Leupold? Not as good obviously but at 1/3 the price if you reckon $500 then that's impressive. I liked the 3-9 Bushnell I was looking at for my 22. Was about $400 I think.

Tim, you want the 50mm for low light or...?

Cant comment on the vx6 but the bushnell 4200s are on par with vx3 glass.

Originally Posted by veitnamcam

I got the 50 with side parralax and wish i had got the 40 lol.

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Speaking of parallax...worth it or no? Some people swear by it and others seem to hate it.

Probably not for hunting

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... Matty, its a funny one.
See, I love my side focus as I do mainly open plain hunting and have time to adjust.

You may want to forgo this as you are bush hunting? But you mention 500yd shots.. I would get something based on what you will be doing "most" and gear up for that. I have a 3-9*50 for my bush hunting.

Buy the March 2.5-25 in the For Sale section. Its a steal at $2k

FOV

Originally Posted by SlimySquirrel

... Matty, its a funny one.
See, I love my side focus as I do mainly open plain hunting and have time to adjust.

You may want to forgo this as you are bush hunting? But you mention 500yd shots.. I would get something based on what you will be doing "most" and gear up for that. I have a 3-9*50 for my bush hunting.

Not necessarily bush hunting. Can't really be bothered with that. But, yeah, I'd like to use it from anywhere from 50m to 500m. So would you suggest AO for that or not? Want an all rounder.

For one calibre to do a lot of different forms of stalking/hunting I would go with what a mate told me ...
North Island >> .308
South Island >> .270
If you come from Ponsonby >> 7-08

Spend as much as you possibly can ... you only need one rifle for life. Spend around 60% on the rifle, therefore 40% on the scope. Sako are good ... Sauer are the bomb! Keep an eye out on trademe.

Originally Posted by Gunzrrr

For one calibre to do a lot of different forms of stalking/hunting I would go with what a mate told me ...
North Island >> .308
South Island >> .270
If you come from Ponsonby >> 7-08

Spend as much as you possibly can ... you only need one rifle for life. Spend around 60% on the rifle, therefore 40% on the scope. Sako are good ... Sauer are the bomb! Keep an eye out on trademe.

270 was my original pick! Why does your mate say 270 for south island? Longer range tops shots or....?

Went and played with a few rifles in shops today. Tikka T3's, a Browning X-bolt and a Sako A7. Out of them all I far preferred the X-bolt actually.

Magazines: Extra round in the mag versus the other two + the mag sits flush so the X-bolt wins that one. I did like the feature on the A7 where you need to press up as well to release the mag though. At first I thought why bother, but those mags are expensive so a smart feature to prevent losing one.

Bolts: I liked the bolt the most on the Browning too, the half cock is really...really good. The half cock on the A7 was so easy to go right past for an amateur like me...although I guess you could get used to it. Didn't seem to compete though.

Triggers: The T3 and Sako won here, they were lighter but it was close. Easily fixed with a trigger job I'm told.

Safety's: X-bolt again. Love the safety and the firing indicator. Well located and idiot proof. I also liked the feature of being able to leave the safety on and unlock the bolt to unload, etc.

Stocks: The T3 got hammered here by the other two. X-bolt and A7 both felt great and I especially liked the X-bolts recoil pad - very soft.

So all up it was quite close between Sako and Browning but I liked the X-bolt best. The T3's do really well considering the others are about 50% more expensive. Anyway, just my opinion - I'm sure there's plenty of Sako/Tikka fans!

When I'm back next I'll compare some scopes. So far I'm leaning towards the Leupold VX-6 2-12x but I'll try it alongside the 3-18x and some lower end scopes to see just how bad I want one of those VX-6's.

Xbolt with vx6 is a primo set up!!! Do it!

Cant go wrong with that set up.

But a A7 is hardly a Sako.

The X-bolt is very nicely finished but they have been hit or miss when it comes to accuracy. Make sure the shop lets you shoot it before you buy it. If it shoots good then its a FAR better option than the T3 and A7 which are actualy massive heaps of shit!