Shooting/Hunting Preferences (rifles, scopes, bullets!) 

That’s the appeal of the channel. A regular dude doing regular reloading. Not some guy who is either rich or just pouring all their money into the activity. It’s hard to relate to people with dozens of high priced rifles or who have a $5-10k reloading setup. That’s all neat, but that’s not most people and I think a lot of guys are way overspending on crap because some influencer was peddling it. If you have a normal job and you’re not saving for retirement because you have $20k wrapped up in shooting equipment and another $8-10k goes out each year to a hunting lease and running feeders, you’re doing it wrong.

One advantage of the savage is that the average joe can change the barrel

I think most of your listeners including myself live a similar lifestyle. Salt of the earth. Great video!

Mornin Feller! Good stuff.

All good points well taken. Since you asked for comments here goes. Bullets: I've been fortunate to get a good variety of bullets from all the major manufacturers. I use what shoots best in that particular gun without being brand specific. To me, accuracy rules. Rifles: I buy what I like, but resale is an important consideration. I've managed to collect a nice variety of mid-tier rifles. All are working guns; some would be first choice. Calibers:.22, 250-3000, 257 Robert's, 257 WBY, 6.5x55, 264 Win Mag, 7 Rem Mag, 30-06, 308, 308 Norma Mag, 300 WBY, 358 Norma Mag, 44 Mag, 45-70. Nothing new by today's standards, but they all do the job and some are better for certain situations. Scopes: I probably have at least as much invested in scopes as rifles. Here, I'm a bit brand specific with Schmidt Bender being my top choice but have others as well. My choice, I feel there is a difference in overall quality and again resale some day. I try to make informed decisions, but in the end I buy what I like.

I have always had really good luck with Bushnell scopes.

Bravo! Well done!

As far as my bolt rifles I buy I will usually have a Savage 110 or a Remington 700 have always had good luck with these 2 brands. Although I've been thinking about a Ruger as well. 😊. Now here is where I'm going to blow most minds 😮 as far as my Scopes I absolutely love Simmons Atec or the Bushnell Trophy but been looking at the Sig Buckmaster here lately as well. I hand load so I usually load Speer but as far as factory ammo usually Remington Core lock . But this is just me and everyone is different. I will add that I will never make fun of a person's setup because it may be be all they can afford and the sad part I see this type of stuff happening way to often on forums especially and on RU-vid. Love the shows keep it up brother ❤

Jeep or Land Rover? Rolls Royce or Chevrolet. I buy what I can afford to hunt with. Like you, I believe a rifle is a Tool. I hunt for meat, not trophys. If a taxidermist had to depend on me for an income, he would go broke. I use a 30 06 for hunting, a Mossberg. I bought it used, and plan on having that one rifle for the rest of my days. Thanks for providing us with a channel worth watching, and I pray the good Lord blesses you in your endeavors. Your Pal, Al.

I agree that guns are tools, but my philosophy has always been, you don't go cheap on 2 things......tools and guns. Some of the cheaper firearms are still really good, but you have to be careful. I want a reliable tool and/ or firearm. I do have several "cheap" firearms that are great, but I have also had some that were bad. Rarely have I had a higher priced firearm that was bad. Most of my firearms are probably considered mid range priced. I shoot FFP. I have the belief that practice what you hunt with. If you hunt FFP, then practice FFP. I have no desire to go back to SFP. Love the content!!!

So, regarding Leupold at 7:22 mark. American company, assembled in America, parts are Chinese, Japanese, and some European. Unfortunately there's no shortage of counterfeit Leupolds also.

The ultimate reality is this: ANYTHING mass produced, rather that be rifles, optics, trucks, phones, etc. usually have a 95% +/- success ratio and +/- 5% failures / unreliable. HOWEVER, when 6,000,000 of x item is made, you have 300,000 LOUD voices regarding the failures. 300,000 is not an insignificant number, but there’s 5.7 million others that had a great experience. When someone goes through the drive through at McDonald’s and gets their food and it’s fine, they’re silent. Bad experience? Google review, you tell your friends or coworkers, etc. it’s the same here. Use what you like and can afford.

I hunted for years with two Savage 110's with Tasco World Class 3-9X40 scopes with no problems. They were identical other than one being chambered in .243 and one was a 7mm Rem Mag. I killed blacktails and elk with both using Nosler Partitions that I got directly from the factory as seconds. Now I have a Savage 110 VSX HUNTER XP in .243 that came with a Vortex Diamondback 4-12X40 and with good bullets will handle anything that I'll likely hunt at the reasonable ranges that I take my shots at whichbis generally inside 400 yards.

Burris scopes for the win

Value scoops in general, seem to lean towards the tactical/precision shooter more so than to the needs of the hunter. More complicated reticles and feaures are nice, but they add unnecessary weight. Arken and Tract are excellent optics for the money, but they are on the heavy side.

My rifles are all tools. Like you most are inexpensive, gifts, or hand my downs. I did finally spend a bit more last year on a seekins and I love it. Also as an Oregonian I like supporting both nosler and leupold. I have a lot of leupolds scopes new and old. Some of the hand me downs leupolds are from the 1980’s never had a single problem with any of them.

Good chat!

I've been buying Nosler 2nds for decades. They shoot just fine. I've compared them to the same exact bullet you buy on the shelf and have found no objective evidence that they are inferior, perform differently, shoot differently (to 550 yards).

Over the years, I've hunted with rifles in .243, 6mm Remington, 25-06, .270 Winchester, 7x57, 7mm Remington Magnum, 7mm STW, .30-30, .300 Savage. .30-06, .338 Magnum, and .45-70. The only one I still use is the .45-70, and it's loaded with home made black powder and home cast 330 grain hollow points from the Lyman #457122 mold. Why? For the same reason bow hunters hunt...it's more challenging to get close.

Good sensible conversation. My collection of firearms are tools plane and simple. I take care of any tool I own, but they get used and used hard. That’s what tools are for. So I don’t own high dollar firearms…depends on what you consider high dollar. I have a couple more expensive rigs then the average but that’s mostly after I upgrade them slightly. My point is that it’s all up to the individual but I hunt and I hunt hard my firearms are hunting rigs and that’s there purpose of existence for me. Great video! Cheers from a Canadian hunter and riflemen 🍻🇨🇦👍🏻

My friend I'm more or less in the same position you are. As much as I'd love to own Winchester Model 70s, Weatherby Mark Vs, and Browning X-Bolts...Tikka T3xs and Bergara B-14s have been the sweet spot for me. No trips to Africa either or guided hunts out west or Alaska. I'm not broke, but I've never been able to afford a vacation like that.

My rifle collection is a mishmash of tools and neat old guns. However, I do take all of them shooting as long as they are physically safe to fire. There are a number I won't take hunting, mainly because I don't feel I can make the hits as well I should with them.

So many bad experiences are operator error, but don't ever blame the operator...

I've read quite a few mixed reviews right here on RU-vid regarding Bergara just this week. I've never found a negative review on a Tikka where the owner indicated it was junk and they sold it. I'll make you a deal. Trade you a deer hunt (Missouri)? You get a NIB Tikka T3x Lite. Of course you'd have to take it to your local FFL to legally transfer to you. 270 Win blued, synthetic/polymer stock 270 Win Hunter (wood stock) 30-06 Hunter (wood stock) 270 WSM blued 😃

Did like Nikon until they decided to leave the sporting scope market. Then I moved to Vortex and like their products so far. Not a big fan of current Savage products. Seen to many QA problems from them. I also handload everything and generally use Hornady SST for light skinned game, Hammers bullets for most other hunting, and Woodleigh bullets for heavy and dangerous game. Good luck and stay safe!!! 😉😉😉

The big issue is where you live and the distances you hunt. So people will argue their opinion living in Idaho with someone living in Georgia and there is a huge distance is terrain.

My preference in rifles is the stainless Remington 700, or a 700 clone of some sort. For caliber, there are so many good ones now that it's hard to choose. But if I were pinned down and forced to pick just one it would be the good ole' 30-06. For hunting bullets I stick with Nosler. Yes they have really gone up in price the last few years, but I don't shoot that many in my hunting rifles. As for scopes - it's not as cut and dried as it used to be. The last several Leupolds I've owned didn't leave me feeling I got a lot of scope for the money. I'm currently using a Zeiss Conquest V4, made in Japan, that I really like a lot. But I'm not brand loyal with scopes anymore. They just seem to change too much too often - and sometimes not for the better. Many shy away from scopes made in China, but I have used several in recent years that were made in China that were very good scopes - especially for the price I paid.

I got to the point where twice it was claimed that MoA is a more precise unit of measurement. Which is incorrect, it is merely a different unit of measurement used to measure the same thing. Sort of like saying either metric or imperial is more precise than the other.

I have browning rifles and i absolutely love them but i inherited them. I bought both of my sons a mossberg patriot 7mm-08 and the function flawlessly. Maybe not tack driver's but plenty enough for whitetail. As far as scopes vortex is my new go to since Nikon got away from rifle scopes

Burris fullfield is a really nice, light scope for a good price. I like their reticles more than the oposing higher priced companies. Anymore, making our hunting rifles as lightweight and accurate as possile should be more of a concern than the "prestige" of what they cost. Seen many, many cheap rifles outshoot rifles 4 x's the cost. Theres alot of value in a tool like that from a hunting or target shooting perspective.

My go to is Tikka and Meopta. Federal Fusion.

Very good.

Awesome video. I hunt with all my rifles. I do collect Husqvarna rifles but I still take them out hunting. I do have my favorites being my Winchester xpr feather weight in .280 rem then my Husqvarna .270 Winchester then my 7mm08.

I would be willing to try vortex but I like the simple hunt Plex radical. All the vortex I have looked at have hold over Mark's of some kind. For hunting I try to keep it simple.

Best value for a scope is Meopta. Made in the Czech Republic. The funny part is you can get a five power 3 to 15 for around $400 and I had a friend insist upon getting me 4 1/2 to 14 VX three because he was a luepold loyal. Paid $700 for it. I don’t mind paying a little more but a lot more for less features and I’m out. Generally scopes rank worst to best Asia, Japan, American, last European. Not always but generally.

FYI Tikka has a $75 rebate right now. Time to get one.

All my rifles are tools. Like you, it's all about bang for the buck. I have always taken an average Rifle and built it to my liken of what I think it should look like. In today's market, Vortex is a good buy. Nosler, for the last 3 years, you could not lay your hands on. I must confess I finished building a Rifle just to toy with my oldest boy who has a high dollar Rifle with a high dollar scope. All top of the line. binoculars with range finder, ect, growing up, we never had all that fancy stuff we made do with what we could afford and never thought about image or what others thought. My family has 4 Rifles all in the same caliber. The Rifle to match or beat was my dad's Remington 700 BLD 300 Win Mag. My son was buying factory Ammo. So I took a budget Rifle and built it up with after-market Boyd's stock beded. new bottom metal to seat bullets longer and a couple of trips to gunsmith. Sorry for being so long-winded. This is longer than it was going to be.

I’m the same in that I try very hard to get the best bang for buck when it comes to quality. I can’t speak more highly of the tikka rifles for out of box accuracy considering price point. (Here in Aus) As far as components go, I simply can’t justify anything Nosler over here anymore . And have had some very poor performance results with the accubonds in hunting deer which I know will shock some people. I’ve found Hornady eldx represent very good value for accuracy and performance at a price point of roughly 1/2 of anything nosler. Sierra TGK also great value and easy to tune. I don’t know what price point Zeiss is in the states but I have found the V4 scopes to be very good for the money and are a bit of a go to for me. All interesting content 👍🏻

Get a tikka and you will never want another savage IMO

I agree with lot of how you feel about nosler and Leupold but the glass on the vortex does not seem as good Leupold but it is over priced. Love nosler but only bullets I get from them is the ballistic tip because it is slightly cheaper 😅

Good video!! I have budget rifles and some higher end rifles too. As a whole the budget rifles have better out of the box accuracy than a lot of the higher end rifles. I will say my biggest downfall is I'm a huge accuracy snob. You mentioned you wanted to get a Bergara rifle and they have one of the smoothest actions in the business but beware there is a good chance it won't shoot MOA in my experience. That's from a sample size of 4 different rifles. I do like Leupold scopes and Partition bullets. And all my rifles are tools.

Like your opinion on scopes. Lately I've been wondering if some of the tactical scopes wouldn't be a good choice for close to medium range hunting. Something in a 1-8 or 1-10 with some kind of illuminated reticle would be usable. Problem is most of them are built like tanks and weigh a ton. I shoot with both eyes open and don't want the lowest power above 2. Even the Primary Arms reticles seem very usable in hunting scenarios but I don't know if they would be accurate enough for hunting up to 400 yards. They just seem to be ideal for fast close range shots and when you have the time at longer ranges, they would still get the job done. Mind you they are not something I would use for load development.

Guns are just a tool. Sure some can be nice that you only bring them out on fair weather days. When it comes to scopes I’m a hunter first. I’ve found most of the animals I shoot are within 200 yards that being said I have shot some out to 450 but majority of time I find I can always get closer to them. So I find myself leaning towards low magnification or fixed for my hunting rifles.

For no great reason at all I’ve been Leupold loyal to a fault. But in the last 5 years I’ve bought the best scope and worst scope I’ve ever bought. Both leupolds. VX5HD 3-15. Fantastic! VX Freedom 3-9 terrible! Still love leupold but I’ve tried a few Vortex optics since then. Also miss USA made Burris. Still have a couple I use

I just helped a buddy set up Leupild vx3 4.4-14. Old school reticle adjustment and no rubber ring on the eye piece. Sorry I’ll pass for $700.

Happy Father's Day

Well done. I have been using Speer Hot Core for deer. Price point. leupold Freedom turrets suck. Brought a 2 x 7 Hunt Plex. Glass is great. But won’t buy that series. Like my Tikka rifles because they work. Their mags allow to stretch out COAL. No feeding problem.

You're being too logical! I gotta' go cut grass.🤣

I enjoyed the conversation and get what you are saying, to and extent.....but the fact of the matter is, high quality American made products cost more because with them being made here in the U.S., companies have to pay good, hard workers, good livable wages, benefits, paid time off and they have to pay American business overheads(our costs to have nice, humane facilities to work in, our electric bills, our water bills, our business taxes, payroll taxes, etc...etc.... The reason the cheap stuff is cheap is because there actually isn't as much attention to detail and quality as you might think and companies that outsource that work to china, Indonesia, phillipines, etc....are having many of these products made under 3rd world working conditions, with 3rd world pay.....etc..... Another fact is that when your grandfather 'bought American' and got himself a truly hand crafted, work of art Winchester Model 1894 made in 1939.....he might have at some point accumulated himself a super high quality, hand made Remington pump action 12 gauge and perhaps a nice Winchester .22 LR......AND that was about ALL he was able to afford and all the 3(and maybe 1 colt 1911) that he had in his possession and if you adjusted for inflation, all of that cost him a half a years salary....(that's why he didn't own a giant arsenal of dozens of guns, countless boxes of ammo and fancy reloading supplies, and countless scopes and all the the thousands of little accoutrements that go with the 'hobby'....to him, he couldn't afford to buy quality, American made stuff and own an entire room full of 16 different guns and shelves upon shelves upon shelves of stockpiled ammo. So I think the problem is, fast forward to today, American's "think" they are "poor" and can't afford to pay the high dollar for high grade American made stuff.....but they actually can, much more then their grandpa or great grandpa could.....we've just grown out of touch with the true cost of high quality, hand made American stuff and we are spoiled for choice(and buying a new rifle every other month,.....a luxury our ancestors could'nt afford). I recently looked up what a pre-64 model 70 Winchester cost in the 1940's and adjusted for inflation, it cost about 3 weeks worth of an average salary at the time. The average salary today is about $4,400.00 per month, so if we paid what our grandpa's or great grandpa's had to save up, sacrifice financially and pay for a Winchester Model 70, we would actually have to save up $2,750.00......but instead, they can be found all over gun broker for $1,500 to $1,800...so we are doing much better than grandpa and great grandpa. Cheers man!

Well said on every point. Hard question-7 PRC vs 6.5 284?

Speer impacts or factory second accubonds

What Bergara are yiu looking at possibly buying?

My guns are tools, I won't own a gun if I won't shoot or hunt with it. That being said I'm more likely to take a light ugly synthetic stocked rifle into the woods than a heavier shiny wood stocked rifle.

Get some coffee or whiskey?

My personal accounts on savage rifles. If I buy one it will not shoot well. Or will shoot ok but nothing like what I want. But my wife has one in a lady hunter that is awesome and have shot plenty of them of different people's. And they are very good shooting rifles. But for me if I buy one it won't shoot that great. They're good rifles. Would tell anyone to go ahead and get one. But I will not buy another one. Personally. I'm stuck on Tikka. Have had lots of them now and they all shoot well work good. Just my rifle.

Savage rifles? Pile of junk!!! From the start they were designed cheap. Utilitarian. The parts look like stamped sheet metal! The Remington 700 was junky too. Look at the Howa 1500 or the new Weatherby 307. Both look and function better than the 700. What I don't get is, how manufactures design and build a decent rifle, but fail to address fatal flaws. Like the horrible Savage detachable magazines!? They slip down in the rear, held in by friction, causing rounds not to feed! They're difficult to load and scratch the crap out of cases! Yet Savage seems blind to this. They blueprint the 110, add a Proof barrel... but stick with their horrible magazine, and Accutrigger contraption and plastic stock. Savage is trying to turn a frog into a prince 🤴. Even expensive rifles can have all sorts of problems. I've owned many, many rifles. I think the problem is many manufacturers do not take reliability and function seriously? With this said, I just ordered a Savage Klym. It just looks too cool. Fits many points I think I like. Yes, I've built/owned custom guns. Current OTC rifles I favor are... Weatherby 307 line. I just got their Range 307. Still waiting to pick it up, due to stupid 10 day wait period law! But, I snapped it up upon sight! It may be the closest to perfection factory rifle I've ever handled? The entire 307 line up! I like the Mauser M18. Many reasons, like how the easy to load, flush fitting box mag holds 4 rounds of 300 Win Mag! One of the best mags in a hunting rifle. Tikka T3s are usually good. The Springfield 2020 WAYPOINT gets my approval, as does my $400 Mossberg Patriot in 375 Ruger. Amazingly it functions perfectly and shoots well all the time- unlike a 300 Win Patriot I had. I've tried most scope brands. For me Leupold is the best. So many other brands try to compete with all sorts of doo-dad sniper features. But would they survive a water tank and overnight freezer test? Every Leupold I've owned has. I also like Trijicon Accupoint scopes. I'm also turning to MIL. It seems easy for me to hold/dial in Mils. Like zero a 300 RUM at 300 yards, then hold 1 or 2 Mils on 500+ yard shots. My favorite ammo? Federal.

Rifles are tools in my tool box. I have a limited edition Winchester 1885 falling block in 45-70. And i use it to hunt with. Its discontinued now. I have 300 guns and 2000 guns they all get used...

Stop saying "reticule", it's driving me nuts. There's no "u" in the word

Scopes, i have, leupold, simmons, bushnell, ziess, redfield, burris, pentax, nikon, rifles, i have springfield 03a3, browning a bolt, rem 700, win 70, ruger 77, ruger # 1, custom mauser, savage 110, 112, weatherby vangard and mark v, marlin xl7, win 94, jc higgins mod 50, old mossberg semi 22, old ithica lever single shot 22, henry lever 22, have shot game, antelope, whitetail, mule deer, black bear, rocky mountain elk, shiras moose, with nosler, speer, sierra, hornady, winchester, remington, north fork, hammer, federal, berger, privi, norma, woodleigh, herters, sellier and bellot, fiocchi, swift, browning, barnes, combined technologies, lapua, rws, handloaded and factory ammo, i have more leupold scopes than the rest, but my favorite is my 5 star redfield on my savage 110, has survived over 10000 rounds of 30-06, shot the original barrel out, replaced it with a shilen barrel, savage 110 series do have issues, there for a while my 110 would break the bolt head retaning pin about every 100 rounds, broke one on the 112 after 500 or so rounds, savage has an updated firing pin and spring that fixes this issue, i have 3 110s and one 112, brother has the 116 and its never had an issue, i prefer ruger 77 mark IIs, i have 3, but my shilen barreled 110 is my favorite, my first bolt rifle, bullets, for deer and smaller game, i am really fond of speer hot core bullets, they take game well, dont blow the chit out of the meat, exit the majority of the time, are reasonably priced, for elk, moose, the winchester fail safe, handloaded or factory ammo, they work well, havent recovered one yet, i dont have any safe queens, cheapest rifle was 300 dollarish, most expensive was just over 5000, they all hunt, but i take care of them, pick the right combo of rifle, cartridge, bullet, scope that suits your fancy, theres not many wrong answers to any shooting questions out there, i enjoyed the video, keep them coming

Best value for a scope is Meopta. Made in the Czech Republic. The funny part is you can get a five power 3 to 15 for around $400 and I had a friend insist upon getting me 4 1/2 to 14 VX three because he was a luepold loyal. Paid $700 for it. I don’t mind paying a little more but a lot more for less features and I’m out. Generally scopes rank worst to best Asia, Japan, American, last European. Not always but generally.