by dipper » 12 Apr 2017, 10:25 am
Thanks for the replies all.
The "only 5 rounds fired" did make me think twice but maybe they didn't like the recoil as Bent Arrow said? I made the mistake of letting a friend shoot my .30-30 as the first gun he's ever shot and was put off by the recoil, not that there's a heap, and now won't try anything else so it can happen.
I have a Leupold VX-R lined up for it from another rifle so I'm good for optics, I like the open sights on the black bear and would probably use them as a backup but would mostly use the scope.
I own a T3 Varmint in .223 and I really like it, it's heavy but accurate. What I like about the two rifles I've narrowed down to are the smaller action sizes and lighter weight as well as the quality of the stocks and just build in general. In my search I looked at Rem 700's, Steyr's, Tikka T3x's, Lithgow's (goddamn are these heavy!) and Browning's but the Sako and Winchester just fit me better and felt better plus I'm happy to spend a bit more for them. I've always been interested in the Browning Maral though but straight-pull rifles are a whole other rabbit hole.
As for the short barrel, I shoot my .30-30 pretty frequently and it has a 20" barrel and I've never had an issue with muzzle flash or recoil. Plus the long, heavy barrel kinda defeats the purpose of a lightweight mountain rifle and isn't really needed for a .308.