Sniper Hunting Rifle

I love my Ruger Stainless Steel bolt action 30:06. it’s served me very well and I won’t part with it soon.  I’ve shot moose at 400 yards.  I use nozzler partition 180 grain. I stick with that and have shot a lot of deer and moose and bear and even elk with just that successful combination.  Some 30 deer later and a half dozen moose, a few bear and an elk, all extremely tasty for sure, I’ve got to admit that most everything I shoot seems to be under 300 yards away when I shoot it.  The closest shot was 30 yards in the rain. I used to switch around from 150 grain to once having 220 grain on a bear hunt but frankly it always meant re sighting and different ammo could confuse me so I got into the habit of 180 grain. Sometimes that means I go for head shots to save meat. I don’t used the nossler partition for target practice simply because it’s twice the cost.
I bought a Mossberg 30:30 lever action, the rifle man gun, mainly because my Dad had one. I’d bought an off road motorcycle and figured without stalking and ambushing I wasn’t going to get particularly long shots in the bush.  So it became my back up rifle, nothing more fun and by far the best can shooting, target shooting rifle I’ve had. The 30:30 is the best bush rifle.  Dad was a big white tail deer hunter.  I’m more likely to be in the open hunting mule deer.
The trouble now is I heard about the Lapua 338.  Imagine shooting a mile away I thought. I sail and imagine being offshore with pirates shooting at me outside my range and me with a shot gun or at best the 30:06.  I see myself sailing in the China seas and those fast boats coming after me.  This is silly thinking, like wondering what to have post apocalypse when the zombie wars begin.  Then the whole idea is to get far away.  Of course, bad guys will again have rocket launchers and such so the whole ‘just in case’ reasoning which makes it easier to buy something you really don’t need for hunting doesn’t work too well.
The fact is I don’t ‘need’ another rifle.  I’ve been looking at them for 2 years since I first heard about the Lapua 338 long distance shots.  Also I loved hearing that the Canadian women won sniper marksman awards as did the Canadian Military men.  The fact remains I hunt for food and even ost apocalypse I’m really going to be interested in barbecued wild game mostly.
I also thought of the Big Horn sheep I see with my binoculars but haven’t got close enough to shoot yet, and the goats.  Then I heard of a guy last year shooting a bull elk at 600 yards with the Lapua 338.  I’ve seen a whole herd of mule deer at 600 yards once.  The deer probably knew I had a 30:06 and that that was likely outside my range.  Probably if I got a Lapua 338 the deer would stand off at a thousand yards and mock me.
The velocity of the 30:06 with a 165 grain bullet is 2850 fps and the 300 win mag is 3150 fps, or at least in that range so that one can see the comparison.
MOA (minute of angle) refers to accuracy. This is a tight grouping. At 1200 meters the 300 win mag grouping is .8 to 1 whereas the Lapua 338 is .6 to .8 at 1500 meters.
The maximum effective range of my 30:06 is 800 meters, whereas the 300 winchester magnum is 900-1200 meters.  The Lapua 338 is 1200 to 1500 and the 50 caliber is 1500 to 2000.
Since I’ve got older, and I don’t know how this happened, I don’t like packing rifles.  The lapuas seem to be in the 11 to 12 lb range at best with the 50 calibers heavier whereas 30 win mags are down around 7 lbs.
My friends laugh and say how much I complain about hauling meat hundreds of yards.  So I thought maybe I’d sit in ambush on a hill waiting for a moose to cross a particularly pleasant road. I have a tree stand now.  I could shoot a moose walking by a road. I don’t have to shoot it from the roadside like I would with the 30:30, good to about 200 yards at best.
But then the price of the bullets was outrageous.  And everyone who hunts says the 300 win magnum is the way to go. Lots of bullet availability.
For my sake the 300 win mag is probably better than the 338 Lapua if only for the lower cost of ammo and the ready availability of ammo.  If I came across a pirate on the high seas they’d probably have a rocket launcher.
But I’d like something that packed a bigger punch than the 30:06 and the 300 win mag does. It reaches out further but the down side is that it has a real kick.
The Finnish developed the Lapua.  The SAKO TRG 42 is the rifle that gets the most blogging respect and is made for 300 win mag and 338 papua mag.  It costs however $3-5000 just for the rifle.  The scope will cost another $1-2000.  Meanwhile Weatherby, a great company, makes the 300 mags for around $1500 and the Ruger I love makes them around $1000.  So with scope one can get a 300 win mag for under a couple of thousand. And one fellow argued very strongly for a combination of Browning and Nikon scope for under $1000.  There's a lot of discussion around trigger pull on these long range rifles and the old Remington's get better press than the newer ones.  I have to 'feel' the difference on the trigger pulls to know this better.
Now I don’t need another rifle.  But I’ve had fun researching this and whereas a year ago I was all keen to get the Lapua and shoot some moose a mile away and curse the whole week it took me to get it back to my truck, now I’m a whole lot further along the learning curve.  By next year I may even know better. I’ve discussed this with a half dozen friends already and now plan to hone my discussions further when I go into stores to talk with the salesmen.
I love Reliable Guns family store on Frazer in Vancouver.  they were one of the first ones to steer me towards the 300 win mag when I explained what I wanted.
The key word here is ‘want’.   Not even ‘want’, more like, ‘what would you get if you won a lottery?”  Well, I think I’d like that Sako TRG 42 .
Now that I’m in the ball park with the ‘potential’ next rifle I’m going to start looking at scopes.  That could be a year of researching. Hunting season, really, isn’t until the fall, though there is spring bear hunt going on now.
I store my rifles in a gun locker with trigger locks at a special site for gun storage.  Dad stored his rifles in a wood locker he'd made with a glass panel you could look through.  Gone are those days.  We used to leave the doors unlocked and kids were taught not to touch guns.  People rarely stole in the neighbourhood and if they did the cops caught them and they went to jail.  One of the best events of the year was the 'wild game' feasts that we attended as a family at the hunting club.

Chilliwack Gun, Knives, Militaria and Antique Show

The 6th Annual Chilliwack Gun, Knives, Militaria and Antique Show at the Heritage Centre was a blast.  I heard about it when I phoned Victor to tell him I was buying  the Yamaha Kodiac 450 ATV from Daytona Motorsports in Surrey
Victor, a great hunter, and long time quad and motorcycle rider,  has been one of my ‘consultants’ on which ATV to buy. Some women  like to discuss men but guys are much more likely to almost form ad hoc community committees when it comes to buying a new vehicle.  Everyone has had good advice but the Yamaha Kodiac ATV won the day.
’Did you know the Chilliwack Gun Show is on this weekend?” Victor asked
“No. I’ve wanted to go but I just spent all my money on a new ATV."
“I’m going this afternoon.” Victor said.
I then phoned Tom to see if he was back from Toronto visiting his Dad.  He had my controller cable for my winch which I need, (because I’m getting old and fearful) to assist getting my Honda motorcycle I’d traded in on the ATV,  on the back of my F350 truck. He was in, and he had my winch controller.
“I’m going to the Chilliwack Gun show. Why don’t you come?"
“Now there’s a plan."
So I bought the Yamaha Kodiac 450 ATV at Daytona Motorsports in Surrey.  I’ll pick it up later when the accessories are all mounted. Gilbert and I were driving in the Mazda Miata. It was pissing rain.  An hour and a half to get to Chillicach. The Heritage Centre is just on the west end of Chilliwack.
At first I left Gilbert in the car. Only $5 entrance fee.  Two huge rooms of really good stuff in the Heritage centre.  I began to look about. .
Whenever I said to some guy with a table full of guns and knives, “I have enough guns and knives”, he’d answer,  “Why do you think my wife sent me here."
Tom found me and when we saw another little dog on a leash we both figured Gilbert should be with us. He went hysterical seeing his friend Tom.
Back in the gun show we were most impressed with the incredible shot guns from Europe, England and Scotland. They were being sold for $5 to $15000.  I got my first shot gun for $300 and my last one was still only $800. So there’s quite a range in guns. The workmanship is the thing.  There were $100 guns and $30,000 dollar guns. They even had  50 caliber sniper rifles.  All manner of Civil War rifles with bayonets and black powder creations as well.
I talked with a whole group of incredibly knowledgeable gun enthusiasts discussing my much loved Ruger 30:06 rifle and how I might consider having a back up rifle or alternative which shot further. I’ve shot moose with my 30:06 at 400 yards using a 180 grain bullet but the guys with the 300 win magnum rifles said the 300 win mag would punch a heavy hit at 600 to 800 yeads.  I’m hearing a lot of food things about 300 mags. The 338 would even hit something at 1000 yards.  Not many of the big game hunters were recommending the Lapua but they said it was a whole lot of fun for them to target practice hitting targets a thousand yards away.
Most of the equipment was used but in great shape.  I loved seeing enfield 303’s given their WWI history and the Canadian Ross Rifle.  There was a lot of history there from various wars Canada or America had been ing  Lots of military and civilian folk browsing everything including memorabilia, mukluks, jewelry, and all manner of swords and knives.
Tom and I had another really good chat about the newer better made ammo, especially Hornaby’s super loads, which were almost as good as the hand loads.  A lot of hand loaders and hand loading equipment was there. I haven’t done that in 25 years and don’t want to get back into it any time soon but I liked hearing all the news about new ammo.
The trouble everyone was having was getting stock in the states because apparently Obama’s government is buying up huge supplies of ammo and outfitting all the government folk in addition to police.  Sounded fairly ominous but that’s the nature of rumours. There were definitely some survivalists there. Tom and I were both eying the boxes of rations that were good for 10 years at $10 a meal and came with their only little heating pad.
I was more interested in the survival break down 22’s and break down single shot shot guns which all sold out.  These were very popular when I worked up north and every bush pilot had one.  I had a Marlin 22 breakdown rifle but the clip jammed and after I got the ruger 22  with it’s amazing semi auto clip I’ve never used any other 22 rifle. I just wish Ruger would make a back pack model.
We had a great chat with the RCMP folk there to assist with transport and transfer. I’d wanted to know more about the new laws for pistols and transport to gun clubs. It used to be 20 years ago when I had a pistol license that you had to get permission every trip to the range but now it’s not so onerous as long as you belong to a hand gun range.
As Canadians we’re really fortunate today to have the most reasonable and strictest gun licensing. I still don’t think our judges are on the same page when they don’t get tough with people having illegal guns.  At the same time the judges in Alberta were on the right page when the police had a fascist moment and used a flood situation to enter peoples homes and search and impound their guns.  I like to think our RCMP wouldn’t go off the reserve like that. I really would like the judges to come down really hard on anyone with illegal guns given the hassle all us law abiding citizens have been put through.
Certainly the RCMP people we talked to today were great. A young woman RCMP was most helpful with information. We discussed the need for more gun ranges where people could store their hand guns like I saw in the states.
None of this really  affects me unless they allowed me one day to carry a hand gun in the woods when I’m hunting for game.  I could see the benefit of having a pistol when I’m bow hunting bear.  My love of guns though is the same as my love of fishing rods.  It’s a product of my taste buds and stomach.  Definitely an extension of my love for wild food.
That said Gilbert and I both really enjoyed MacDonalds burgers we had on the way to the show. As usual he almost climbed out my window through the drive through window to help the staff prepare his patty just the way he likes it. His little tail wags fiercely when he sees the golden arches.
I  got into a discussion about marinades with another fellow who had been raised on ‘wild meat’ as I had.  I sure am enjoying the wonderful gift of venison I got this year.  I talked with another older fellow selling rifles and we both bemoaned being skunked these last 2 years.  Neither of us had had the time to be out hunting more than a week or so.  I waxed poetic salivating about the elk I’d shot the year before and he was just as excited when he told me how good a mule deer he’d shot tasted the year before that.
I liked all the women there.  No high heels or party dresses but it was pretty obvious that the girls out there today would clean up real nice. They were a whole lot more than ‘ornamental’.  Lots of country folk but many like me had come out from Vancouver.
I was real happy, since I’d spent all my money on the ATV, that I got out of there not buying a rifle.  We never did find Victor.  This might have been good because with Tom and Victor’s assistance I might well have been convinced to get one of those beautiful 300 win magnums with high powered scopes that were selling for half the list price at least.  .
I didn’t get out quite unscathed, though.  I bought a fabulous little knife from Mike n Sons Custom Knives, (Mike Pisio) Kamloopsmikesknives@hotmail.  He makes them himself out of high grade 440 steeland even as I stood there his elk horn handled big one and the rosewood handled big knife were bought up.  I’d been eyeing both covetously but had resisted.    I asked him what the swamp kauri ‘wood’ was, he had labels beside the handles of each knife on his table.
“it’s millions of year old swamp wood they’ve been digging up in New Zealand.”
That’s how I spent a $125 on a knife I didn’t need but will thoroughly cherish knowing the wood is that old.  Another hunting knife I have and love has a handle made from ancient fossil.  I also once had a knife made from asteroid but gifted that to my spacey nephew. It was  just too lovely to actually use hunting or fishing. My knives are tools. The ‘art’ and ‘craftsmanship’ in the knives and rifles speaks to the centuries of competence and tool bearing that brought us to this cell phone computer age.  I really respected all the history present in this show.
I’m just thankful Victor told me and Tom was able to join me.  Gilbert and I had a really great time.