Reeder Custom Guns - Now that hunting season is over it's time to build a few

special rifles. i have a couple of Ruger M-77 actions sitting in my safe gathering dust and it's time to build a rifle out of them. My question is what caliber?
Just to see where your heads are these days after being inundated with 6.5 everything for the last couple of years, if you were to buy a rifle these days, what caliber would it be? And a pox be on any that utter the words 6.5. But seriously, what caliber rifle would you buy should you do so these days?

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I know Colleen's will too. Her African guns are 458 and 300 Win Mag. Kase's African guns run to the 416 Remington, 45-70 and 470 Nitro.
I have only used one rifle in Africa and that was a Ruger #1 in 470 Nitro. I used it on a Vervet Monkey who was stealing everything he could find in our tents. I caught him coming out of our tent and I just happened to have the 470 in my hand. It worked.

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After trying a 257 Weatherby this season, Just because, I decided to buy one more deer rifle, to be the, go to, rifle. I wanted a 7mm-08 but because I found one, I went with a Liberty edition of the Ruger M-77R in 7X57mm. So the Ho-hum 7mm Mauser would be my choice, with a close 2nd being, 7mm-08, 280 Rem, or the AI version.

But I guess alot would depend on what action length/ bolt face you have on those in the safe, before determining what cartridge.

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It's a 280. Always thought it should be 280AI. Good looking ballistics.

I would get a 6.5x55. In a Ruger, it would be all I'd need for most applications.

Creedmoor attached to it.

I saw some guys arguing over the 1000+ yd. capabilities of this rifle in question, for hunting use. I couldn't believe it. Neither guy is likely to shoot at an animal past 200 yds. without leaving the state. A m94 in .30-30 would suffice for 90% of all rifle shooting. But I'm guilty too. Past being a terrible 7mm anything fan, I ascribe to the Keith ideal. Smack it hard with something plenty big, in the right spot, and you usually won't have to go looking for it afterward (usually). Weird stuff just happens while hunting.

My personal "hunting rifle" battery:

M98 - 6mm AI
M98 - .30-06
P14 - .338 Win.
BRNO - .416 Rigby

I have others, .308 HB etc., single shots, semi-autos, lever guns. But I'm not counting those.

Several times I have contemplated re-working the .30-06 into a .338-06, .35 Whelen, or 9.3x62. If only for the exotica. Exotica sells guns. For the M77 conversions, the bolt face size and needed feed work would make me lean a direction. Oddities like the .358 Win. also are in high demand. Something you can't find many places.

in .358, getting just shy of 2500fps with 225gr Nosler Partition.Shot Black tail buck at 75yrds in the chest while he was sitting down. Went all the way through him, dropped like a rock. Would buy .358 bolt gun in a heart beat.

Unless you have serious and special plans. The 9.3x62 kicks pretty good and uses a sedate 286 gr. bullet. The 235's are hotter and kick too! The .358 takes no back seat with all but the heaviest .35 bullets. There is lots more surface area on the bullet base to spread out the peak psi, so you can push it harder than a .308. (pounds per inch, there are more .358 inches)

There are guys out there looking for such a rifle. Medium action rifles are great too if the chamber throating is a little longer to allow the extra seating length. Or just throat it longer. Not all .358's were length limiting short action. Find a Pre-64 M70 so chambered, literal gold!

It also has most of the power and potential of the .350 Rem. Mag. without the headaches. A great handgun round if you can handle the recoil.

7X57
9.3X62
404 Jeffery
All proven to be historically effective.

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How about .270 Winchester or 270. Weatherby mag.? Or 7.62x39 as in the ranch rifle? By the way, I received the pistol! Thank you!

I would choose the plain old vanilla .30-06 ... it'll do more than I would ever do with a rifle. And it can be made to work quite well for a large variety of situations.

I'm painted into a corner and I cannot argue the point. I must confess I myself have a nice .30-06 Mauser, although I arrived at it by accident after stalling out on a long build. I figured I'd at least Ackley Improve it one day. But later found that the feed rails will either manage standard OR Ackley, a compromise is rough on both. FWIW I have found this so on my 6mm AI firing 6mm Remington. The parent round for the rifle was 7x57 so the standard 6mm Remington (basically a 6x75) works great. The sharp sided Ackley is not as slick and can scratch cases or bind a little sometimes. Perhaps polishing would help.

Sure a standard hamburger will keep you alive, might even taste good and have desirable qualities. But if you want a little lagniappe, there are other things more rare that attract guys with stacks of cash. If only for something different or rare. I admit the .30-06 with a good 180 gr. bullet will kill anything on the planet to at least 400 yds. with most good shooters and optics.

My '06 on a 1908 Brazilian contract DWM action. Spun out on the project, I never got to the checkering, swivels, or fancy finish.
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how good something is, and then you have to have it different. Lagniappe is great, but I would do it for me, not for what amount of money I can get out of it later.

if anyone can have one just like it, I lose interest. If Gary built a custom rifle in .30-06 he'd not get premium money. Just too many out there to choose from. The same rig in .35 Whelen, .338-06, or 9.3x62 and it's sure profit. Truthfully I'm a gun whore, I'll shoot anything and like it while I do it. lol

Practicing at 400 yards ain't done that much by most folks. I had a 16" truck rim on a tripod at 400 and shot it at least once a week, many times more often, for 6 or 7 years. With a handgun. I never tried it with a rifle. Got to where I could ring it fairly often 3 out of 5. Had rifle shooters come out and try it. Some never hit it no matter how much they shot.

The old .30-06 in a decent rifle can be quite effective much further than 400 ... but most shooters never get a chance to do much shooting at really long distances.

I've posted it before but this was my old long range.
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them only 2 have been what I consider long range which is 200 yards or more. Most of the rest have been less than 100 yards and all have been with handguns. I sight my gun in before an African or Alaskan hunt and do so dead on at 75 yards. If the animals is farther I ask the PH how far it is and if it is way out there, over 200 yards, I tell him to get me closer. That's what he is there for.

Gotcha

24 inch barrel, MacMillan stock, deceleration pad and a solid 4 power scope..Sold.

retard, just like your buddy muleskinner told me.

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