Help Me Pick Out a New 308....

[BCD]

I'm looking to buy a 308 for a lot of target practice (out to 600 Y) and to use for deer, antelope and potentially elk. Features I would like to have include:

22-24 inch barrel
Bare rifle weight of 7-7.5 lbs
Cerakoate finish (preferred but not a deal breaker either way)
Threaded for suppressor (or at least capable of being threaded for a suppressor)
Removable magazine

I would spend to around $1200. I have looked at the Bergara Wilderness Hunter but the barrel is too thin to be threaded. The Bergara Ridge Wilderness comes with a muzzle brake but the barrel is only 20 inches. I also like some of the Weatherby Vanguards but I don't see any option for a flush mounted removeable box magazine for their short action rifles. I am not interested in Tikka. I am also considering a CA Mesa but it is a little light and would cost around $250 to convert it to a box magazine.

Thanks in advance for your responses!!

 

[260madman]

Don’t focus on barrel length. 308 doesn’t lose hardly any fps with a 20” vs 24”. Portability and the way it fits you should be at the top of the list.

 

[hunting1]

My vote is Kimber , Chriistians Arms Mesa, or Tikka CTR.

 

[Trogon]

seekins havak? No experience personally, but it looks to check your boxes

 

[sndmn11]

Thread this when the time comes

Vanguard® Wilderness™ - Weatherby, Inc.

I’m wild about technology, especially when it can help me with a little weight loss. With a light carbon fiber composite stock and strategic fluting on my barrel, I’m a lot easier to carry on challenging big game hunts.

weatherby.com

Add this

HOWA 1500 DETACHABLE MAGAZINE DROP-IN KITS | Brownells

The Ammo Boost Detachable Magazine Drop-In Kit for Howa 1500 from Legacy Sports International contains everything you need to boost your 1500's magazine capacity to 5 or 10 rounds. It also gives you the speed and convenience of a detachable box ma...

www.brownells.com

 

[thinhorn_AK]

My Kimber Montana is pretty nice, checks a lot of your boxes.

 

[LightFoot]

Bergard B-14 Ridge

Browning HC Speed

Browning Max LR

>>>----JAKE----->

 

[EastMT]

All above mentioned are nice rifles, my new favorite for the moment is the Win 70 EWSS. Really liking this rifle, but it doesn’t have removable magazine.

Browning is nice, I have a couple but I’ll be rubberized coating, aftermarket stocks leave a bit to be desired.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

All above mentioned are nice rifles, my new favorite for the moment is the Win 70 EWSS. Really liking this rifle, but it doesn’t have removable magazine.

Browning is nice, I have a couple but I’ll be rubberized coating, aftermarket stocks leave a bit to be desired.

I love my m70 EWSS rifles, lots of gun for the money.

 

[awildswanger]

All above mentioned are nice rifles, my new favorite for the moment is the Win 70 EWSS. Really liking this rifle, but it doesn’t have removable magazine.

Browning is nice, I have a couple but I’ll be rubberized coating, aftermarket stocks leave a bit to be desired.

How’s the EWSS treating you?

 

[BCD]

Thread this when the time comes

Vanguard® Wilderness™ - Weatherby, Inc.

I’m wild about technology, especially when it can help me with a little weight loss. With a light carbon fiber composite stock and strategic fluting on my barrel, I’m a lot easier to carry on challenging big game hunts.

weatherby.com

Add this

HOWA 1500 DETACHABLE MAGAZINE DROP-IN KITS | Brownells

The Ammo Boost Detachable Magazine Drop-In Kit for Howa 1500 from Legacy Sports International contains everything you need to boost your 1500's magazine capacity to 5 or 10 rounds. It also gives you the speed and convenience of a detachable box ma...

www.brownells.com

I really like this rifle but the magazine conversion isn't flush. The magazine sits below the trigger. I know that's pretty picky on my part.

 

[EastMT]

How’s the EWSS treating you?

I love it. I was bit by the modern Remington gremlin, never had a bad Rem until the last one. Bought the Win EWSS out of spite more than anything, I love it! After getting all the Rem problems fixed, 2 times to factory, new barrel, new bolt, DIY magazine box fix, I traded it for a 6.5 for my wife. She lost her gun lol. Shoots good, I like 140 partitions(in everything) it does all I want it to do. Planned on bedding it, but shoots so good probably shouldn’t touch it.

Decent factory trigger, slim forend, light weight, stainless finish is a lot smoother than Rem. All around i kinda want another one in 308 for me, as 308 happens to be my favorite caliber.


If the wind doesn’t blow, take to the oars.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

I love it. I was bit by the modern Remington gremlin, never had a bad Rem until the last one. Bought the Win EWSS out of spite more than anything, I love it! After getting all the Rem problems fixed, 2 times to factory, new barrel, new bolt, DIY magazine box fix, I traded it for a 6.5 for my wife. She lost her gun lol. Shoots good, I like 140 partitions(in everything) it does all I want it to do. Planned on bedding it, but shoots so good probably shouldn’t touch it.

Decent factory trigger, slim forend, light weight, stainless finish is a lot smoother than Rem. All around i kinda want another one in 308 for me, as 308 happens to be my favorite caliber.


If the wind doesn’t blow, take to the oars.

I have a 30-06 and a 338WM EWSS.

 

[sndmn11]

I really like this rifle but the magazine conversion isn't flush. The magazine sits below the trigger. I know that's pretty picky on my part.

Oops, I missed that part. For reference, here is my Wilderness to give an idea of what is protruding.

 

[willfrye027]

I really like this rifle but the magazine conversion isn't flush. The magazine sits below the trigger. I know that's pretty picky on my part.

my buddy just got this gun in 30-06 but with the hinged floor. it feels very nice in the hands. Shot well .75moa 5 shots with the only Factory ammo we tried core Loks 150gr. Worked up a load with 150gr hammers 10 shots into about .8moa. Very nice rifle.

 

[BCD]

Oops, I missed that part. For reference, here is my Wilderness to give an idea of what is protruding.
View attachment 219946

Wow that looks better than I thought from other pictures I have seen! Very nice!! How is the trigger on this rifle and do you know if there is enough material to thread the barrel for a suppressor (5/8x24)?

 

[sndmn11]

Wow that looks better than I thought from other pictures I have seen! Very nice!! How is the trigger on this rifle and do you know if there is enough material to thread the barrel for a suppressor (5/8x24)?

It's a two stage trigger that is ok, we replaced all of our vanguard triggers with timneys. Mine is threaded with the Weatherby brake from 3 years ago, I know it is not a 5/8 pitch and think it's was some obscure pitch. The barrel contour listed is a #2, and the factory threaded rifles like the first lite, multi cam, meat eater, hush with that size barrel are all showing 1/2-28 threading.

I will say however, that the dbm bottom is plastic. The old manual said for the BC stocks like the Wilderness/Backcountry to use 65inlbs on the action screws. My bottom plastic cracked with that and Weatherby sent me a replacement and amended the manual to say (I believe) 35inlbs for the plastic dbm bottom. So, if you like the action screws super tight, you'd need to stick to the metal bottom metal. Mine shoots lights out however with intact bottom plastic and 35inlbs. It also ended up at 6lbs rather than the 6.25 that was listed at the time for the dbm version.

 

[BCD]

It's a two stage trigger that is ok, we replaced all of our vanguard triggers with timneys. Mine is threaded with the Weatherby brake from 3 years ago, I know it is not a 5/8 pitch and think it's was some obscure pitch. The barrel contour listed is a #2, and the factory threaded rifles like the first lite, multi cam, meat eater, hush with that size barrel are all showing 1/2-28 threading.

I will say however, that the dbm bottom is plastic. The old manual said for the BC stocks like the Wilderness/Backcountry to use 65inlbs on the action screws. My bottom plastic cracked with that and Weatherby sent me a replacement and amended the manual to say (I believe) 35inlbs for the plastic dbm bottom. So, if you like the action screws super tight, you'd need to stick to the metal bottom metal. Mine shoots lights out however with intact bottom plastic and 35inlbs. It also ended up at 6lbs rather than the 6.25 that was listed at the time for the dbm version.

Do you remember how low you could get the trigger pull on the factory trigger? Did you have the barrel threaded yourself or was it factory threaded? What is dbm? I see the Wilderness is listed at 6.75 lbs. Yours weighs 6.25?

Thank you SO much for all of the great info!!

 

[sndmn11]

Do you remember how low you could get the trigger pull on the factory trigger? Did you have the barrel threaded yourself or was it factory threaded? What is dbm? I see the Wilderness is listed at 6.75 lbs. Yours weighs 6.25?

Thank you SO much for all of the great info!!

The two stage trigger was similar to a typical AR15 trigger in take up for the first stage, and then similar to an ok factory single stage trigger for the final stage.

My wilderness and my wife's camilla were threaded at weatherby two and a half years ago, the most recent one (the compact 6.5) I had threaded here locally. That one is listed as a #1 contour and was threaded at 1/2-28. My wilderness weighs in between 6lbs and 6.25 lbs. The reason for this discrepancy is that Bell and Carlson had a few different requests for stock internals from Weatherby, so some of the stocks they used were lighter than some of the other ones. I was fortunate to be able to call BC a month or so ago, and get another lighter version for the short action to put on the compact vanguard I just got for my dad. I think it is a toss up which version of the BC stock you would get from the factory on a wilderness or backcountry. The DBM kit saves 1/4lb over the metal bottom metal, so you would have a 6.5lb rifle at the most.

I genuinely have no idea what that fluted barrel would respond like with a suppressor on the front though.

DBM = Detachable box magazine

 

[bruceleroy]

The 20 inch barrel on the Bergara wont hurt you a bit. I get 2650 with 180s out of an 18 inch. Hits to a grand arent that big of a deal.