New Guy Needs help!

[elderboots]

Hello. I am new to the forum, but not to hunting. I have been hunting whitetails since I was 11, and I am now 32. I have a Remington .308 stainless, a Browning .308 walnut blued, a Browning .300wsm stainless, a Remington 742 woods master 30-06, and a Browning X-bolt Medallion 7mm wsm. I have a couple of questions that I was hoping some of you guys could help me out with. First, if you had to choose between a WSM, or a regular Rem mag which would it be and why? My next question is what would be your choice between a stainless barrel, and a blued barrel?And why?

[Bowhunters]

Hello. I am new to the forum, but not to hunting. I have been hunting whitetails since I was 11, and I am now 32. I have a Remington .308 stainless, a Browning .308 walnut blued, a Browning .300wsm stainless, a Remington 742 woods master 30-06, and a Browning X-bolt Medallion 7mm wsm. I have a couple of questions that I was hoping some of you guys could help me out with. First, if you had to choose between a WSM, or a regular Rem mag which would it be and why? My next question is what would be your choice between a stainless barrel, and a blued barrel?And why?

For myself I would stay with the regular 7mm Rem Mag, I already have one in a Browning A-Bolt Composite Stalker and i'm pretty happy with it, the stats between it and the WSM are fairly close, (Velocity, Energy, Trajectories) are all similar.

Both also have similar recoil.

Not sure if its still the case but the last time I looked there were more different types of ammo available for the regular 7mm Rem Mag also. Danged expensive though so I don't know if WSM ammo is similarly priced or not.

So really IMO the only thing the WSM has going for it is that its a short action cartridge so you can get the WSM's in smaller rifles, good maybe if you are a young guy or gal or if you like a short rifle. (some do)

I've never owned a stainless rifle so I guess I don't have anything to say on that point except that I believe they tend to be just a little more expensive than blued.

[ironhead]

I am a big fan of the stainless, for a rifle, i will no longer buy blued.

[SuperJ1975]

I'm not a magnum type of guy, but if I had to pick one I would go old school, either 7mm Mag, or 300 Win Mag. I think the whole short mag thing is just a gimmick to sell new guns, and ammo at 35 bucks a box. I think in 10 years most will be obsolete. I would also go with a blued barrel cause I like the more traditional look and feel of blued steel and wood. Also I would want some weight in a rifle shooting something hot. I would pay money to watch someone shoot a 300 win mag out of a 6 pound rifle.

[Stillhunter]

I would definitely go with the regular 7 mag. Recoil is lighter than advertised, accuracy is tremendous and it is easier to handload. As far as blued or stainless - you can go with both..Remington's early 7 mags were blued stainless..I have 2 of 'em and boy do they shoot!

[rebel16p]

Dosn't stainless glare bad in the sun?I would be afraid of the animal seeing the glint.

[ironhead]

I have been hunting with stainless for years,,,have never had a problem that i have noticed. There are lots of things that can put off glare, most of the time it would just be a quick flash, and unless they are looking directly at you, i highly doubt a deer would even notice it.

[Tony204ing]

I'm not a magnum type of guy, but if I had to pick one I would go old school, either 7mm Mag, or 300 Win Mag. I think the whole short mag thing is just a gimmick to sell new guns, and ammo at 35 bucks a box. I think in 10 years most will be obsolete. I would also go with a blued barrel cause I like the more traditional look and feel of blued steel and wood. Also I would want some weight in a rifle shooting something hot. I would pay money to watch someone shoot a 300 win mag out of a 6 pound rifle.

I have a tikka t-3 lite in 300 wsm.With a stainless barrel.I think it weighs only 7 pounds.It does kick but no more than my 870 slug gun.So i dont think you would get your moneys worth.

[gregrn43]

My choice would be the regular mangums. I have not bought into the short mangums craze. Since the 60's the 300 win and 7mm rem have been getting the job done just fine. I own both rifles rem 700 7mm mag and a ruger 300 win mag. They will take on any game in North America, except maybe the big bears. Most experts say a bit more bone crushing power is needed on the big bears.

[RICHARDCatdaddy]

I have both blued and stainless guns,never found any difference,both take down deer.

[oldzimm]

I own a Tika 300 wsm and it is a sweet shooter, I won't put down the 300 win. mag because it is an excellent cartridge. I will say the wsm's have the same velocity as the mags. with less powder because the cartridge design allows more of the charge to be exposed to the primer (faster burn rate), that won't mean much to most unless they reload.

I own one stainless steel gun, a inline muzzle loader and that is only because I bought it for a good price. I'm not a fan of stainless steel guns because one time I was a driver on a deer drive, I was one of the top drivers on the side of the mountain. I could see the flanker down below (at least 300yds. away) only because his stainless gun shined like polished chrome on a bumper, that made my mind up on not buying another one.

[treecareman]

I like to maintain my rifles and think that stainless would take the fun out of it.As far as magnums go how much power do you realy need.I hunt with a blr in 243 win. Rem. 700 in 3006 and Marlin 1895 45 70.Three excellent deer calibers.Many hunters with the big boomers flinch because of too much recoil thus sacrifying accuracy.

[Tony204ing]

Just because a rifle is stainless dosent mean it dosent need a little preventive maintance.I have seen plenty of guys use your theroy and thier guns still pit up.Stainless just STAINS-LESS.

[ironhead]

Tony,,,you are 100% correct,,,stainless just means it will not rust and is more impervious (besides normally being installed on synthetic stocks) to the effects of weather and temperature. If its not take care of it WILL pit. I just personally prefer the stainless, and will not own a blued rifle again. But to each their own.

[Tony204ing]

Im not at all downing it.I have a few stainless rifles myself and have no complaints.But i dont treat them any diffrent than my blued guns.