We do not have any high power silhouette matches here but we do have a fair amount of steel plates hung up at various distances.

With that in mind I am considering buying/putting together a high power silhouette like rifle.

I have many thongs to consider but my original thought it to go with a readily available cartridge like .308 or .30-06. I read in another thread that they are not popular with the silhouette crowd.

Will a 6.5 Creedmore or 6.5x55 have sufficient momentum to know down the rams if I attend a registered match at some point?

Any preference between the calibers?

I am not a reloader yet so over the counter calibers, like .308 and .30-06, are preferred.

I am not opposed to purchasing a new Remington model 700 if need be.

Any suggestions?

Ha ha!! I knew this was coming. Get a decent rifle in .260, 6.5x55, 6.5 Creedmoor or my personal recommendation 7-08. Forget going to Walmart for crap hunting ammo. All of these rounds can be had going online and waiting for the big brown truck.

Bob Mc Alice wrote:Ha ha!! I knew this was coming. Get a decent rifle in .260, 6.5x55, 6.5 Creedmoor or my personal recommendation 7-08. Forget going to Walmart for crap hunting ammo. All of these rounds can be had going online and waiting for the big brown truck.

I would love to get a Remington 700 in 6.5x55 but they do not have that caliber listed on their website!

Have a .30-06 rebarreled?

Yes, that's what you could do. Or just get one of those reintroduced Remington SPS guns in .260

Or you could pick up a Tikka in 6.5x55, talk to Charlie Robertson at Score high gunsmithing in Alb. He used to shoot silhouettes until he went to the tacticool dark side.

Guys, I recently bought a Tikka Forest in 260. I love it. It has a nice crisp trigger that is easily adjustable down to about 2 1/4 lbs.It shoots great right out of the box, without bedding. The stock design is very similar in the cheek area to a 1710, and leads it to being a great offhand shooting rifle.
I plan on shooting this in Hunter rifle. Imagine that a real hunting rifle on the firing line.

Al Foust

Guys, I also just bought a Tikka T3 Forest in 260 Rem. I just started testing some loads and man does this thing shoot. Trigger is nice and the stock holds real well. It was not difficult getting 1/2" groups out of it. I think this just may be the best out of the box hunter gun made.

Jim Beckley wrote:Or you could pick up a Tikka in 6.5x55, talk to Charlie Robertson at Score high gunsmithing in Alb. He used to shoot silhouettes until he went to the tacticool dark side.

I know Charlie, he is my gunsmith or more precisely Andy who works for Charlie does my gunsmith work. Andy and his Wife are also the SB silhouette match directors.

A Tikka rifle in 6.5x55 does sound nice.

A better idea than converting an old Mosin Nagant for silhouette.

It is a shame since I already have a Remington 700 in .308. I guess I need to put that up for sale.

DavidABQ wrote:

Jim Beckley wrote:Or you could pick up a Tikka in 6.5x55, talk to Charlie Robertson at Score high gunsmithing in Alb. He used to shoot silhouettes until he went to the tacticool dark side.

I know Charlie, he is my gunsmith or more precisely Andy who works for Charlie does my gunsmith work. Andy and his Wife are also the SB silhouette match directors.

A Tikka rifle in 6.5x55 does sound nice.

A better idea than converting an old Mosin Nagant for silhouette.

It is a shame since I already have a Remington 700 in .308. I guess I need to put that up for sale.

If I had a Remington 700 in 308 and wanted a silhouette rifle and did not want to reload I would have it rebarreled to 260 Remington or 6.5 Creedmore or 6.5X55. Maybe even a 7mm08.

DavidABQ wrote:[quote="

It is a shame since I already have a Remington 700 in .308. I guess I need to put that up for sale.

Well this is new info you should have told us about.

Whether it is a sporter/hunter barrel or the heavier varmint tube why not just put the right glass on it and shoot it? Small investment to see if HP is something you want to get into. There is no shortage of decent factory loaded match ammo at the retail level. Loading your own ammo is the only way to go unless you happen to be wealthy.

The remingtons made after the mid 90s are a piece of junk. A Tika in any 6.5 cal will do the job just fine. Load your own 140s or 142s for the rams at about 2650 fps and you will do great. 107s at about the same velocity will take the other 3 animals. Don't get a new remington. They are 1 1/2 to 2 minute guns. Everyone I know that has gotten a new one has NOT been happy.

Jerry G wrote:The remingtons made after the mid 90s are a piece of junk.

I just checked the date code/build code, it was built in December of 1989. So, I guess it is not a piece of junk.

Maybe I will play around some with my .308.

Thanks everyone.

Bob Mc Alice wrote:

DavidABQ wrote:[quote="

It is a shame since I already have a Remington 700 in .308. I guess I need to put that up for sale.

Well this is new info you should have told us about.

Whether it is a sporter/hunter barrel or the heavier varmint tube why not just put the right glass on it and shoot it? Small investment to see if HP is something you want to get into. There is no shortage of decent factory loaded match ammo at the retail level. Loading your own ammo is the only way to go unless you happen to wealthy.

It is definitely a sporter barreled 700 in a cheap synthetic stock.

I certainly need to put a Leupold VX-2 6-18x40 on it.

Perhaps in a few weeks I will run up to NRA Whittington for a day of banging away at the High Power Silhouette range.

That sounds like fun.

Screw a 260 barrel on it and you'll be in great shape Dave. Have fun in 'the little mouse' while you are at the center.

There are still a couple of us folks that shoot 308 Dave. The only 'problem' I hear is the recoil. I shot 2x60 round matches plus 50 practice shots in a day and didn't have any soreness/recoil issues. If you start reloading they make a 155 gr smk palma bullet that has a good ballistic coefficient. If you already own it, shoot it. And if you are buying ammo Hornady makes a match 125 gr 'low recoil' load that would work for cpt.

Another rifle folks up here have discovered is a savage predator. Bob and Paul shoot it in 6.5 creedmoor and say it shoots lights out out of the box. My Tikka is less than .5 moa too. Wish I had found one in the forrest stock instead of the lite one I got which isn't great for silhouette.