New to hunting, advice required :)

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Originally Posted by Vanpire

Thanks for all the really good advice chaps, I think a 6.5x55 will be the business, the big off putting factor of the 284 is that I can only seem to find NORMA brass and the factory loads are the coin! I will be doing all the usual bedding etc and investing in a better scope (I thought 1500 was alot:S)... Looking forward to playing with custom loads etc!

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-You can get quite a lot of scope for $1500 if you're careful- should be good. :thumbsup:

-Given everything you've said, I think 6.5x55 is a great choice for you.
-The Norma brass is good in the 6.5-284, but (IMHO) the Lapua brass is even better. .....however, it's just occurred to me that you might not be liking the Norma brass due to the price?? In which case you'll like the Lapua even less ;). If you're wanting to eventually shoot to 1000m investing in some good quality brass will eventually be a good idea (for whatever calibre)...and thr price of the brass will be the least of your worries :XD:

Sorry my mistake, I added a "1" by accident Millett 6-25x56 LRS-1 Tactical 35mm Riflescope

Given I cant seem to find a savage 111 in 6.5x55 the search begins for a decent rifle now!!

Blaser, Sako, Howa, Tikka, CZ, Schultz and Larsen, Sauer,

Hi Vanpire,

For the money you won't beat the (guaranteed) out of the box accuracy of the Tikka! I've owned 2 now and both have shot around .5 MOA with factory ammunition without any modifications, though you will probably have to try a few brands/weights of ammo to see which suits the rifle best.

I shoot custom built remingtons back in the UK with Nightforce and Swarovski scopes and hand loaded ammunition which are extremely accurate but the .270 Tikka T3 with Leupold 3-9x40 I'm hunting with here places bullets almost on top of each other at 200M and ALMOST makes me wonder why I spent so much money on my rifles back home.

Of course a lot of it comes down to what you want to spend and what feels right, but if you go a Tikka you won't be left wanting in the accuracy department!

Matt.

Thanks Matt, for some reason I have always been adverse to Tikka, Im not quite sure why.. they are cheap perhaps and seems like every man and his dog has one now...

My 9mm is a CZ so we will see what they have to offer in the rifle department :)

They aren't expensive, that's for sure. And I can see why some people aren't too keen as they have some plastic parts where other rifles have metal (magazine, bolt shroud, trigger guard) but this has never caused any problem for me and I don't recall hearing it being a problem for others mechanically.

I think the reason they are common now is because people have realised how accurate they are for the money, whilst with a lot of other brands you often have to spend a lot more money on bedding, triggers, accurising etc to achieve the same level of accuracy.

There are plenty of other great brands out there such as the ones gimp mentioned but with some of them it sometimes seems more to do with luck than good design/engineering whether you get an accurate one.

Half the fun is of course choosing a rifle that fits you and that you like aesthetically and then watching your groups tighten (or not) as you customise both it and your ammunition.

Good luck with which ever rifle you decide on and I'll be keen to see how you get on with the swede...I've been thinking of getting one for a while! :-)

my old man has a second hand carl gustuf 6.5x55 for sale has a synthetic stock and a nikko stirling 4x40 scope, it has put plenty of meat in my freezer. pm me if keen

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Originally Posted by Vanpire

Sorry my mistake, I added a "1" by accident Millett 6-25x56 LRS-1 Tactical 35mm Riflescope

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your not going to put that scope on a hunting rifle are you?
beats me why people keep buying low/no quality scopes in high magnifications and expect that they will work well.
the bigger the magnification the bigger the price tag needs to be to supply quality glass, a nikko 4 power will work fine for a lot of shooting aplications but that millet won't work for any.
on 6 power it will be clear enough, but zoom out to 24 power and it will look dull, grey, dificult/impossable to focus. and will probabaly have significant POI shift between zoom/paralax adjustments.
irrispective, 99% of all animals i have shot, and i have shot a few, have been inside 100 mtrs, that millet scope will have a critical focal range that will have you looking at a blurred sillouette, unless you fluke it and have the focus set to the exact same distance that the animal happened to pop up at. 3 power is too much at times but it is a reasonable comprimise, when you are scopeing an all rounder.
if you want a hunting rifle, get a lightweight sporter in whatever cal floats ya boat, spend your $500 on a quality 3x9 variable like a leoupold and you will have a versatile hunting rig, that will be supprisingly accurate at long range.
plenty of sucessful long range shots have been taken in the sand pit with a fixed 10 power.
jmho
greg

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Originally Posted by greghud

your not going to put that scope on a hunting rifle are you?
beats me why people keep buying low/no quality scopes in high magnifications and expect that they will work well.
the bigger the magnification the bigger the price tag needs to be to supply quality glass, a nikko 4 power will work fine for a lot of shooting aplications but that millet won't work for any.
on 6 power it will be clear enough, but zoom out to 24 power and it will look dull, grey, dificult/impossable to focus. and will probabaly have significant POI shift between zoom/paralax adjustments.
irrispective, 99% of all animals i have shot, and i have shot a few, have been inside 100 mtrs, that millet scope will have a critical focal range that will have you looking at a blurred sillouette, unless you fluke it and have the focus set to the exact same distance that the animal happened to pop up at. 3 power is too much at times but it is a reasonable comprimise, when you are scopeing an all rounder.
if you want a hunting rifle, get a lightweight sporter in whatever cal floats ya boat, spend your $500 on a quality 3x9 variable like a leoupold and you will have a versatile hunting rig, that will be supprisingly accurate at long range.
plenty of sucessful long range shots have been taken in the sand pit with a fixed 10 power.
jmho
greg

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Bang on.

I've got a 6-24x Bushnell Banner on my 7mm-08 at the moment, but my 3-9 Leupold VX2 was significantly better. Even with the limited zoom capability, everything was always crystal clear. I'm finding I'm never winding the Bushnell up past 16x for the reasons you mentioned... and that's not exactly a bottom end scope. I'll be switching to another 4-12 VX2 or (maybe) 6-18 redfield soon.

It isn't worth cheaping out on scopes. I didn't know any better until I bought my Leupolds :P

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Originally Posted by Dougie

I am only in the market for something around 1k so not really sure where to go then! Like I have said before, I enjoyed my friend's Tikka 308 but I could see it getting pretty heavy after a long day and I imagine that would be way out of my price range.

Also - any recomendations of rifle shops around Wellington? So far I've only been to H&F.

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The howa ranchlands are due to land again in NZ soon. Stainless with a 20" barrel / Houge stock thats got the alloy bedding block .Nikko stirling scope and rings and in .223 7/08 1nd .308 only. Will be going for $999 ish and come factory threaded for a suppressor. Granted the rings and scope are not the best but they can replaced later on.