BBsteel
New member
I have 2 paths to take on a 7mm-08 rifle for next year (and many years to come) for whitetail hunting in MN and WI (300 yard shots and under) and realize both are expensive. I’m just not sure which path I want to take and I’m looking for discussion on what yours might be. To start, I’m prepared to pay near $2,000 for this rifle (no optics in that price) and I want to keep it at 7 +- .5 lbs without scope/rings/mag. I have a Tikka .300 wsm that I can’t get to shoot very well and I’m not crazy about the plastic on it. My wife bought me this gun when I turned 30 so naturally by her standards it’s the best gun I have and my favorite that I can never part with. I have a few more things to do to hopefully bring it to MOA @ 100 yards and then that’s it. Plus it kicks like a mule. I said I’d never buy another Tikka but I recently could not resist a .223 T3 Varmint Stainless on this forum for the price and it is an absolute tack driver and has been eating all loads thrown at it. The stock does not fit me well but I bought it with intentions of having young shooters use it. And again, I’m not a fan of the plastic and all Tikka aftermarket accessories are fairly expensive. With that said, I do plan on dropping the .300 wsm in a Manners stock. I’ve also kicked around the idea of making a little tactical rifle out of the Varmint by dropping it in a Manners T4 stock and perhaps a new DBM system. The money spent there just seems wasteful and the idea must be stemming from winter boredom.
So now back on track after providing a little background of my bolt guns (I have a lot of AR’s and have been now bitten by the “bolt” bug).
Path 1: BUY. Keep it simple and buy a Cooper. I was thinking of the Excalibur (sp) in 7mm-08. They offer 2 different color versions on the stock or at least that’s what I’ve seen as I have not called and inquired about them yet. One is butt arse ugly. The specs on the gun are what I’m looking for and it’s a Cooper that will shoot, be something of worth in my safe (to me anyway) and have a nice resale value although I do not intend to ever get rid of the 7mm-08. I want to buy once cry once and have a rifle I’m confident in.
Path 2: BUILD. I have a marginal clue of what I’m doing here and have just started my research. I’d like to build off a 700 action being it seems to have the most options for a first time builder. I will also need to find a reputable smith, preferably close to me, that does precision work and is good. The trigger will be easy enough for me to decide on as well as the stock. I do want the stock fully bedded and will go with a Manners or McMillan in some sort of light hunter/tactical model. After I got a trued and printed 700 action, a nice barrel, trigger, some smithing and a custom stock, I assume I should be in for less than $2k. Just want it to shoot as good or better than a Cooper.
You may have a different path to lead me down but keep in mind this will be my first ‘high’ grade bolt rifle (not my last) and really prefer not to discuss Tikka or even Savage custom builds as I’m just not interested. Opinions on Cooper are welcome but I hope the thread doesn’t turn into a Cooper bash due to the X-CEO’s business decisions.
I’ll probably ride a 3.5-10x40 Leupold VX3 on this rig.
Depending on how this goes, I’ll then begin my .308 sniper rig build to toy with long range bolt gun shooting.
Thanks for any input!
So now back on track after providing a little background of my bolt guns (I have a lot of AR’s and have been now bitten by the “bolt” bug).
Path 1: BUY. Keep it simple and buy a Cooper. I was thinking of the Excalibur (sp) in 7mm-08. They offer 2 different color versions on the stock or at least that’s what I’ve seen as I have not called and inquired about them yet. One is butt arse ugly. The specs on the gun are what I’m looking for and it’s a Cooper that will shoot, be something of worth in my safe (to me anyway) and have a nice resale value although I do not intend to ever get rid of the 7mm-08. I want to buy once cry once and have a rifle I’m confident in.
Path 2: BUILD. I have a marginal clue of what I’m doing here and have just started my research. I’d like to build off a 700 action being it seems to have the most options for a first time builder. I will also need to find a reputable smith, preferably close to me, that does precision work and is good. The trigger will be easy enough for me to decide on as well as the stock. I do want the stock fully bedded and will go with a Manners or McMillan in some sort of light hunter/tactical model. After I got a trued and printed 700 action, a nice barrel, trigger, some smithing and a custom stock, I assume I should be in for less than $2k. Just want it to shoot as good or better than a Cooper.
You may have a different path to lead me down but keep in mind this will be my first ‘high’ grade bolt rifle (not my last) and really prefer not to discuss Tikka or even Savage custom builds as I’m just not interested. Opinions on Cooper are welcome but I hope the thread doesn’t turn into a Cooper bash due to the X-CEO’s business decisions.
I’ll probably ride a 3.5-10x40 Leupold VX3 on this rig.
Depending on how this goes, I’ll then begin my .308 sniper rig build to toy with long range bolt gun shooting.
Thanks for any input!