Newbie to hunting...

[tensionandtorque]

Hey all. Please forgive my ignorance. I recently moved up to montana with my husband and we are looking to go hunting this year. I own CZ handguns and love them and have had my hands on a few of there rifles. They are not very popular here in montana for no other reason than people have no idea what CZ is. (bonus to this is getting them at very good prices) With that said I am vacillating between the CZ 527 American .223 and the CZ 550 American in 30-06. I know that for the next few years we will be hunting white tail in both South Dakota and Montana. I have had my hands on both of these guns and looooove them. I am just wondering if it would be better to simply go with the bigger round straight out the gate or work my way up? Any help / advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

[2fewdaysafield]

My CZ 550 FS 30-06 is pictured below.  With few exceptions, the 527 .223 has a 1:12 twist which means it will not accurately shoot bullets much over 50 or 55 grains and those are not suitable for whitetail.  Though they are pure murder on Montana gophers.  But then, a CZ 452 in 17 HMR is too....at little more than half the cost for gun and ammo.  If your hunting is going to be Montana  whitetail, mulies and antelope, you might consider the 6.5 x 55 or .270.  IMO you don't really need the 30-06 unless you are going to include elk on the menu.  Less recoil is a good thing.

[Tinner]

Hello T & T, A few years ago now I had purchaced the CZ-223 Varmint Vevlar for my son graduating from high school , What a gourgeous rifle. I look back at that now thinking maybe I should have purchaced a larger caliber, A caliber big enough for deer or pronghorn. It turns out being a perfect fit. He too lives in Montana, Using his 223 for coyote and prarie dog at devistating results. Whatever caliber you choose, You will find a place for it. I do know one other person besides yourself that happens to be spreading the CZ word there in the big sky country lol, Enjoy!!!

[Master Aegidius]

Welcome aboard !

Sounds like you will be living and hunting in the eastern part of the state? I lived out by Glendive as a little kid, then spent most of my adolescence in Billings. My wife and I last lived outside of Bozeman for @ 8 years before moving up to Alaska.

I own both of the rifles that you mention, a 527 in .223 and a 550 in .30-06, and have used both for hunting gophers, rabbits, pronghorns, whitetails, mule deer, and elk while in MT. They both work well within their limitations.

If you don't reload, the better bet will probably be the .30-06, simply because of the availability of hunting ammunition. In eastern MT, almost all .223 is going to be in a varmint bullet configuration. These bullets are light weight and frangible, so that they disintegrate after penetrating a few inches. Good for gophers, but bad for antelope on up. The 527 in .223 will handle up a 62 grain bullet, with the best commercial ammunition for hunting purposes being the Federal Premium w/ a 60 gr. Nosler Partition, the Winchester 62 gr. PSP, and the Remington 55 gr Core Loc, in that order.

The 550 is going to be close to 1.5 pounds heavier than the 527, and will be harder to carry all day long if you are hunting the Missouri Breaks and doing a lot of hiking. But that weight will also help steady the rifle when it comes time to shoot it. The .30-06 is a very flexible cartridge, and has the power to thump animals both near and far, and also to give a little more insurance if shot placement is not perfect (the .223 needs perfect shot placement!). Any gas station will have the ammunition, and Remington produces a line called "Managed Recoil" which works very nicely, if you are sensitive to that. A 165 grain bullet will kill anything you mentioned hunting, at distances that sometimes seem staggering.

Keep us posted on what you choose, and best of luck!

[gunfanatic]

My go to hunting rifle is a 550 American .270. With the weight, it's a real bleep cat to shoot. But it hammers whitetails. If you don't handload, I've found that the most consistent and accurate factory ammo is (in order) Black Hills 130gr SST, 130gr Federal Fusion, and the plain old Winchester 130gr Power Points. BTW: mine hates Barnes.