$4K Budget for .30-06 + Optic - Elk Rifle

[BjornF16]

Not really any bad choices out there.

I’ve only had one 30-06 in my 40+ years because they are too good at everything and I like to try and find the “perfect” cartridge/rife for each job/hunt.

You might find this book interesting:

One Man, One Rifle, One Land by J.Y. Jones

J. Y. Jones book. A chronicle of how he started his North American big-game hunting career, which ultimately evolved into a quest to take all the huntable species and subspecies of North America with the same .30-06 rifle.

jyjones.com

Since it is not one of the many listed you might look into a Blaser R8 Professional “package”. They come with a Zeiss scope usually and you can get a two barrel set for $4000. A few years ago I chose a package with 300 Win and 243 Win. 30-06 and 243 would be awesome.

Can you point to a Blaser package for $4,000?

 

[KineKilla]

Pick up an off the shelf X Bolt in 30-06, stick a good set of bases and a Leupold vx-5 on top and you're good to hunt anything in NA and beyond.

Bet you'd be all in for less than $3k.

Sent from my SM-N976U using Tapatalk

 

[bsnedeker]

7 pages of opinions!!!! Hope that narrowed it down for you a bit OP!!!

Lol, I love this forum!

 

[Lawnboi]

300 Win Mag?

I’m not aware of .308 or 30-06 going to 10 twist

He won’t need a 10 twist for any factory 3006 ammo though.

 

[BjornF16]

He won’t need a 10 twist for any factory 3006 ammo though.

Ja, I caveated elsewhere about heavy long for caliber or Hammer bullets…OP later indicated he wasn’t going to hand load, so I agree…11 twist in a non-issue

 

[BjornF16]

Also, don’t look past the Sako S20…I have one and I absolutely love it. But it before the 31st and you get the other stock set for free from Sako via a rebate they have going right now. And, it’s confirmed a carbon fiber set stock will be released in the near future. They’ve also hinted at new barrels, etc. It’s a pretty sweet set up, albeit heavy-ish in its current state. The Cf stock will cut a significant amount when it’s out.

Can you reference where carbon fiber stock has been confirmed?

 

[Bluumoon]

Probably already been suggested...
Starting over I'd go the Tikka Route

1 in 30-06 - threaded $1k SWFA 3-9 $500
1 in .223 -threaded $1k SWFA- 6x $300
1 suppressor $1k

Come up with some $ for more than a couple boxes of ammo.

 

[Wapiti151]

Can you reference where carbon fiber stock has been confirmed?

On their Instagram, Sako replied to a CF comment. Not sure when it’ll be out, but it’s coming

 

[seand]

I bought a Tikka T3x SS Lightweight in 6.5 CM, Sportsmatch Rings, SWFA 6X scope due advice from Formidilosus.

I've had it a couple of years now. It does what Form said it would as far as I can tell. It'll put 10 rounds cold to hot in under an inch. Action is smooth. It's not heavy. It's not picky about ammo. Feeds easy.

The only complaints I have is that it's a little loud when cycling the action due to the plastic magazine but that can be mitigated..... and finding bullets to load has been difficult because of everyone buying everything available.

It's the easy button solution that costs way less than your budget which will help with buying all the ammo your going to need shooting it.

Nothing wrong with wanting something nicer and prettier. If you just want something to work, this is the combo.

^^^

Four guys i hunt with punched the “easy button”, I did too. Only one out of the five rigs doesn’t have an SWFA (huskemaw), and most have different rings than sportsmatch but the SWFA/T3 combo is dang hard to beat at any reasonable price.

For mine - I’ve never had it easier. Floated the barrel, lightened the trigger, picked a load that gave me 2650 with 147’s and it grouped with no load development. Over the last three years zero has never shifted, and it tracks.

And I’ve never cleaned the barrel…..

 

[35WhelenAI]

I'm going to the other side of the coin here. Other than load development, if you do that versus factory loads, you're going to verify the zero on this rifle every year and hunt with it. You're going to carry it a whole lot more than shoot it. Like they say and I can vouch for this, you'll never feel the recoil in the field and be able to hold it steady with a good rest. 24" bbl will help it hang well if you shoot off hand which would be at a shorter range anyway.

A gun of the magnitude your contemplating building or buying, it'll shoot very accurately with a lighter barrel. Get it in 24" which I think optimizes the '06.

No muzzle brake as you have said, allows an extra couple inches of barrel length without adding weight and nothing wrong with a good 3-9x size scope to help keep that weight down. '06 isn't going to be a long range rig in the overall picture so setting up with dials is probably not worth considering if it were mine, but those lighter weight scopes can be had with a BDC reticle.

 

[fwafwow]

I used to own a benz...it was absolutely the most reliable vehicle I have ever owned! I had it for over 5 years and the only issue it had was the occasional ignition coil would go out which is a 50 dollar part and a 5 minute job. Just saying!

I was in another country years ago and was fascinated that all of the taxis were Mercedes. I asked a driver about their dependability and he said they routinely got 200-300k miles out of them. End of tangent.

 

[Steve O]

Can you point to a Blaser package for $4,000?

Whoops. They’ve gone up quite a bit since I bought my Jaeger package a few years ago. At that time the synthetic stock setup was $2995 all over.

 

[fwafwow]

Whoops. They’ve gone up quite a bit since I bought my Jaeger package a few years ago. At that time the synthetic stock setup was $2995 all over.

I tried to find that deal too. What’s the rough cost now - or without the scope? I’ve always wanted a Blaser and the post got my attention.

 

[Formidilosus]

@Formidilosus

How do you rate Weatherby Mark V ?

Better than a Remington usually, but they have their own issues.

The last two that I saw, were used for week of shooting in the Rocky Mountains this past summer.





Feed/function isn’t as smooth as the Tikkas, Sauers, and AI’s alongside them, but did function fine initially. By the second day (50-75 rounds), they were getting sticky and not nearly as smooth from dust. By day three intermittent feeding issues started showing up.
Two Howa actions were shot as well, one Weatherby Vanguard and one Howa, but were about the same as the Mark V’s, and one started having trigger issues as well on day three or four- still functioned, but the first stage would randomly not be there.


None of the 6-8 T3’s, Sauers, or AI had any issues at all in the same conditions. One Remington based action was used and by the end of the first day, it started having feeding issues. That rifle was put up before 30 rounds had been shot.

 

[Afhunter1]

Weatherby backcountry 2.0 carbon
280 AI

Talley Rings

LHT 4.5-22x50


Should drop you on 4K or pretty close

 

[Steve O]

I tried to find that deal too. What’s the rough cost now - or without the scope? I’ve always wanted a Blaser and the post got my attention.

Sorry to derail OP…looks like a synthetic R8 is $4250.

 

[SDHNTR]

Why are the receivers on those two blacked out?

 

[fwafwow]

Sorry to derail OP…looks like a synthetic R8 is $4250.

Thx. Is that the Professional, and rifle only?

 

[prm]

I’d like a Sako 85 Arctos. Maybe even stick with the irons. And I’d shoot 180 Partitions. Damn, I’m getting old.

 

[OXN939]

What percentage of hunters can ethically shoot beyond the effective range of the .30-06? Why is spending money on a versatile caliber ill advised?

OP FTW. Another vote for Winchester M70 EWSS topped with a Zeiss V4 or NF SHV/ NXS