I’m looking for a new pronghorn rifle and am striking out so far. This quest started after my last pronghorn hunt in 2019, so far nothing I’ve tried has been satisfactory. The rifles I have tried so far are,
1) Sauer 100 in 7mm Remington Magnum, the rifle came out of the box missing the extractors, miserable fail!
2) Savage 110, it was one of the mid range models but I don’t recall which one, another 7mm Remington Magnum, the accuracy just wasn’t there.
3) Christensen Arms Ridgeline, 6.5 PRC, I had high hopes for this one, should have known better. I fired the first round (Norma factory) and literally had to hammer the bolt open with a block of wood. I looked everything over and didn’t find anything so I sent round #2 down range, same result! I was working as a gunsmith at the time and to that point every single Christensen we sold had serious issues.
4) Weatherby Vanguard in .257 Weatherby magnum, this one was the closest yet to a winner. I was able to find a sub MOA load but just barely and it wasn’t consistent.
5) Ruger American 2 in .270 Winchester, I haven’t even fired this one yet but I had high expectations for it because I have one in .308 that is a stellar performer. The .270 is a different story, the bolt is difficult to close on a factory round and it fails to extract 30-50% of the time. It’s going back to Ruger and down the road as soon as it’s fixed.
There might have been another one or two that I forgot but I’m still looking!
My ideal gun would be 8 pounds or less ready to shoot, 20-22” barrel threaded 5/8x24. As far as cartridge goes, I’m leaning toward the .270 Winchester but that’s not set in stone. I would prefer something I’m already set up to load for. There’s a slight chance that this rifle might be pressed into service as an elk rifle too. I would prefer to keep the cost under $1000.00 for the bare rifle.
I’m sorry for the long ramble but I’m getting really frustrated! What do you pronghorn junkies like ?
1) Sauer 100 in 7mm Remington Magnum, the rifle came out of the box missing the extractors, miserable fail!
2) Savage 110, it was one of the mid range models but I don’t recall which one, another 7mm Remington Magnum, the accuracy just wasn’t there.
3) Christensen Arms Ridgeline, 6.5 PRC, I had high hopes for this one, should have known better. I fired the first round (Norma factory) and literally had to hammer the bolt open with a block of wood. I looked everything over and didn’t find anything so I sent round #2 down range, same result! I was working as a gunsmith at the time and to that point every single Christensen we sold had serious issues.
4) Weatherby Vanguard in .257 Weatherby magnum, this one was the closest yet to a winner. I was able to find a sub MOA load but just barely and it wasn’t consistent.
5) Ruger American 2 in .270 Winchester, I haven’t even fired this one yet but I had high expectations for it because I have one in .308 that is a stellar performer. The .270 is a different story, the bolt is difficult to close on a factory round and it fails to extract 30-50% of the time. It’s going back to Ruger and down the road as soon as it’s fixed.
There might have been another one or two that I forgot but I’m still looking!
My ideal gun would be 8 pounds or less ready to shoot, 20-22” barrel threaded 5/8x24. As far as cartridge goes, I’m leaning toward the .270 Winchester but that’s not set in stone. I would prefer something I’m already set up to load for. There’s a slight chance that this rifle might be pressed into service as an elk rifle too. I would prefer to keep the cost under $1000.00 for the bare rifle.
I’m sorry for the long ramble but I’m getting really frustrated! What do you pronghorn junkies like ?
