Highland deer stalking gun

[blackeagle603]

About the time I left the PNW for the Nav, a lot of guys were building custom blacktail and elk rigs around 7mm-08. Quite popular for a time there.

[Netpackrat]

About the time I left the PNW for the Nav, a lot of guys were building custom blacktail and elk rigs around 7mm-08. Quite popular for a time there.

I've taken several blacktail with mine and it's almost exactly the right size for them. The only issue here, is there are a lot of bears on the islands where the blacktail mostly live, so I only take it out in the late season when the bears have mostly denned up for winter. But it's possible to run into one at any time of year.

[NVGdude]

Both nice suggestions. The 260 Is a 308 necked to 6,5, right?

Yes but it has it's issues. Namely that when Remington made the round they failed to allow enough headspace to account for the 140 grain bullets that you really want to shoot when using the 6.5. Also as a result, the rate of twist isn't fast enough for the heavier bullets in most barrels.

[blackeagle603]

Custom barreled .260 with appropriate twist. Voila! Problem solved.


NPR,
re: your scenario
I've got an itch for a .35 Whelen.

[Netpackrat]

NPR,
re: your scenario
I've got an itch for a .35 Whelen.

Me too. I have a Remington 721 waiting for me to send it off for rebarreling to .35 Whelen. There's just always been some higher financial priority.

[Yogimus]

True story, overheard while posted in germany.

"I prefer the 30-06. If it was good enough for my grandfather to carry in the war, it's good enough for me."
"You should try the 8 millimeter. It was good enough for me when I was hunting your grandfather."

[blackeagle603]

I mentioned recently I picked up a badly Bubba'd M1917. I've been intending to return it to stock. Finally found an original stock and handguard set that I'm waiting to arrive on the BTOH. Meantime, I checked the headspace. Ouch. Closes even on a field gauge. Bores pretty ugly too so I don't think I'll bother having the headspace corrected.

So that has me looking attwo potential courses of action:
1. install a NOS barrel (watching a couple auctions now)
2. send it off to have the original barrel rebored to a larger caliber like .35 Whelen. That would be sorta cool in a geekish way. An original config M1917 in .35 Whelen.

[Denis]

7x57mm is a classic Euro caliber, and will handle anything in Scotland short of Nessie.......

Agreed, or step it up to 7x64mm (think .30-'06 necked down to 7mm from 7.62) which is widely available anywhere Europeans shoot.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the roe deer the size of antelopes? If so, something like 260 Remington(nice flat shooting cartridge) would probably be ideal.

Adult roe deer run about 10-15kg without the viscera. About the size of a large/tall dog - hard to see in tall grass - if roe ever evolve that don't twitch their ears, they will take over. Fawns are even smaller. Here, the minimum bullet for shooting roe is 5,58 mm in diameter, and delivers at least 980 joule 100m from the muzzle - in practice usually .222, .243 or a 6mm.

I don't think 308 is permitted in much of Africa - or Latin America.

At least at one time, France also had a military caliber ban.

France still bans "military calibres". 7x64mm is a popular all-round hunting calibre (t)here, and they have a ".307" cartridge, to get around the ban on .308.

[First Shirt]

Is the 7x64 the same as the .280 Rem/7mm Express?

[Denis]

Is the 7x64 the same as the .280 Rem/7mm Express?

Sorry, I don't know the .280 Rem, and Cartridges of the World isn't handy to check.

7x64 looks for all the world like a .30-'06 necked down from 7.62mm to 7mm. It's very like a .270Win but without the Winchester round's nasty noise and recoil. I know a couple of professional huters here who use nothing but 7x64 for everything from fox to red deer (US elk).

CC, Steyr also sells the Scout in 7mm-08 Rem. It used to be possible to get one in .376 calibre for African use (what Cooper called the "Dragoon") but I don't know if they have any of those left.