Bought a new rifle

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Quality over Quantity
After missing a shot at a deer last year I no longer have confidence with my old sporter Springfield 1903-A1 30.06 to ethically take an animal.

I went to look at rifles at a local shop and saw a nice Bergera rifle chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor but by the time I scoped it would have put it around $1500. Too much for this old man to spend. So I questioned my sanity, had a reality check and settled on a Ruger American 6.5 Creedmoor and a Vortex scope and put them in layaway. I don't like the cheap plastic stock an have already been looking at Boyd's for a replacement.

The 6.5 CM is a round I have only heard about, but have heard good things and the YouTube vids seem very positive. Do any of you gun guys have any experience with this round or have opinions?
 
OP, now that your purchase is widely known, you might consider changing the tag at the bottom of your signature.
 
Raises a lot of questions re the Springfield cdx vs operator skillz, ect. Assume you know your own skill competence vs instrument capabilities.
Sporterized '03 once upon a time was the go-to quality budget ungulate Hunter.
 
Sporterized '03

I had one in the 90s and when I bought it, it didn't shoot that great, I cleaned it and it was a lot better. As I remember general type cleaning wasn't good enough though. I ended up buying a Ultrasonic bore cleaner and all sorts of junk came out. Then it was onto finding the right formula of cartridge loading. Pretty sure it was a 140g Sierra Spitzer point, boat tail and a Winchester powder but forgot which one and how much. The end result was a consistent 5 shots in a dime size hole from a bench at 100 yards.

The barrels are very old and god know how many different types of rounds went though them screwing up the bore.
 
Raises a lot of questions re the Springfield cdx vs operator skillz, ect. Assume you know your own skill competence vs instrument capabilities.
Sporterized '03 once upon a time was the go-to quality budget ungulate Hunter.

I agree. I felt well within my capabilities of making the shot, otherwise I would not have taken it. The last thing I want to do is injure an animal. Thankfully it was a clean miss. The old Weaver scope is suspect and if I was going to keep it, I would replace the scope and have the gun checked out by a good gunsmith. Which I will do if I decide to keep it. And will make those recommendations to the buyer if I decide to sell.
 
After missing a shot at a deer last year I no longer have confidence with my old sporter Springfield 1903-A1 30.06 to ethically take an animal.

You might check the barrel for copper fouling and you or your gunsmith clean for that. It may never have been performed in the gun timeline. The inside of barrel may resemble all lands and no grooves. Second point, maybe just different ammo? Start with something close to the original service load and work out from there.
 
I agree. I felt well within my capabilities of making the shot, otherwise I would not have taken it. The last thing I want to do is injure an animal. Thankfully it was a clean miss. The old Weaver scope is suspect and if I was going to keep it, I would replace the scope and have the gun checked out by a good gunsmith. Which I will do if I decide to keep it. And will make those recommendations to the buyer if I decide to sell.

Have you put it on a target recently? Curious what kind of group you can get at 100 yds. It is possible you just had a flyer on that deer shot too.
 
Have you put it on a target recently? Curious what kind of group you can get at 100 yds. It is possible you just had a flyer on that deer shot too.

I haven't shot it since the miss. Next time I go to the range I will take it along and see what it does. Today I think I will clean it up good and give it a once over and see if I can identify a glaring problem.
 
I haven't shot it since the miss. Next time I go to the range I will take it along and see what it does. Today I think I will clean it up good and give it a once over and see if I can identify a glaring problem.

Also check the muzzle crown. Last thing to touch the bullet on its way downrange. If there is a burr there, trouble. It can be tiny.

(Google
damaged muzzle crown. The first pics are on photobucket, so no linking.)

Copper fouling will look like this. If the bore is dirty it may not be visible until good scrubbing -

muzzle%20compressed%20for%20website.jpg


Thread on before & after -

http://forums.gunboards.com/showthr...g-of-my-K98-looks-brown-Is-this-normal-(pics)
 
I haven't shot it since the miss. Next time I go to the range I will take it along and see what it does. Today I think I will clean it up good and give it a once over and see if I can identify a glaring problem.

If it had previously worked good but then went haywire out of the blue to me that suggests either just a pulled shot, or something came loose/got knocked out of adjustment.

Are there trees...maybe bullet was deflected by a twig/branch?

A different load will shoot different, but usually not so much as to make a clean miss unless maybe you were trying for a head shot at long range?
 
THIS is one of the few things I dislike about AK-We are spread "All over H3!1, & half of Georgia", as it were. I'd absolutely LOVE to show off my LEGAL Class-3 Uzi... Biggest problem II have is getting the dam thing back when the day's shooting is over .with.. Women are The WORST- They claim to be absolutely TERRIFIED over it, but after they've run a couple clipsthru & see how easy & utterly FUN it is ,they wanna keep it.... Big silly, noisy fun is the order of the day w/it..I ALWAYS try to keep several gallon milk jugs, we toss 'em up in the air, &count how many times you can make 'em "Jump" on their way back down.. If you use just a TINY bit common sense around it,its no more dangerous than any OTHER loudenboomer
 
After missing a shot at a deer last year I no longer have confidence with my old sporter Springfield 1903-A1 30.06 to ethically take an animal.

I went to look at rifles at a local shop and saw a nice Bergera rifle chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor but by the time I scoped it would have put it around $1500. Too much for this old man to spend. So I questioned my sanity, had a reality check and settled on a Ruger American 6.5 Creedmoor and a Vortex scope and put them in layaway. I don't like the cheap plastic stock an have already been looking at Boyd's for a replacement.

The 6.5 CM is a round I have only heard about, but have heard good things and the YouTube vids seem very positive. Do any of you gun guys have any experience with this round or have opinions?

I've read a lot of good things about the 6.5 Creedmoor, though I have never shot one. The caliber is supposed to have high inherent accuracy due to both the stiffness of a short action and the caliber itself (high ballistic coefficient). From what I understand, the "cheap plastic stock" on the Ruger American has an integral bedding block and a free-floated barrel, so it could be as good from an accuracy POV as a more expensive aftermarket stock (though not as attractive). Thankfully, Ruger has improved the trigger on their rifles as their triggers used to be the weak point on these rifles and would need to be replaced to realize its full accuracy potential. Sounds like a pretty nice rifle for little money.
 
I've read a lot of good things about the 6.5 Creedmoor, though I have never shot one. The caliber is supposed to have high inherent accuracy due to both the stiffness of a short action and the caliber itself (high ballistic coefficient). From what I understand, the "cheap plastic stock" on the Ruger American has an integral bedding block and a free-floated barrel, so it could be as good from an accuracy POV as a more expensive aftermarket stock (though not as attractive). Thankfully, Ruger has improved the trigger on their rifles as their triggers used to be the weak point on these rifles and would need to be replaced to realize its full accuracy potential. Sounds like a pretty nice rifle for little money.

Thanks for you input finnbow. The plastic stock on the RA is something I very likely will replace, but will use it for a while and decide. I will have to decide on the trigger, but my main purpose for buying a new gun is to be confident I can take and place a shot to humanely take an animal. The thought of a poor shot and trying to track it is worrysome at my age. I hope the Ruger is my answer.
 
Thanks for you input finnbow. The plastic stock on the RA is something I very likely will replace, but will use it for a while and decide. I will have to decide on the trigger, but my main purpose for buying a new gun is to be confident I can take and place a shot to humanely take an animal. The thought of a poor shot and trying to track it is worrysome at my age. I hope the Ruger is my answer.

I think their current trigger is miles better than the original trigger on their workhorse Model 77 rifle (which had an awful reputation). The current trigger competes with Savage's Accutrigger which was brought out 15 years ago because Savage triggers sucked before that. I think both will give you a 3-4 pound trigger pull with minimal creep.
 
I think their current trigger is miles better than the original trigger on their workhorse Model 77 rifle (which had an awful reputation). The current trigger competes with Savage's Accutrigger which was brought out 15 years ago because Savage triggers sucked before that. I think both will give you a 3-4 pound trigger pull with minimal creep.

I have a Savage with an Accutrigger, so I know what your talking about. The trigger on the RA had about a 4-5# pull, but seemed crisp and is adjustable. Thanks again for your feedback Finn. It's much appreciated.
 
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