Prayers Needed, Teenage Cancer Survivors Needed, and Rifle Input Needed

[Carla Dee]

My 15yo nephew, Andrew, was just diagnosed with leukemia this weekend and flown to Vanderbilt Childrens hospital. He is doing much much better after five weeks of being very sick and the docs in Louisiana being very confused. He has a great attitude and is focused on getting better so he can do two things - get back to playing football and get back into hunting.

He is a big kid - a healthy weight of around 240. Up until this year he has not been too excited about deer hunting, so I have just lent him a .270 of mine. Now that he has moved to Louisiana he is very excited about shooting and hunting and he wants a rifle. Being bigger than I am, he should be able to shoulder just about any caliber out there. I haven't done any research into the new WSM cartridges and I want to get something for him for Xmas. I would really appreciate, in addition to keeping Andrew in your thoughs, any concise advice on buying him a conventional caliber rifle (.270 most likely), or a WSM. Thanks!

Daniel

PS. If anyone has a rifle/scope setup that you are looking to sell, shoot me a PM with details.

[Carla Dee]

I forgot to add that I would really appreciate it if any of you know a child around Andrew's age who has beat Leukemia and might be willing to give him a call to chat with him about what he is going to go through with chemo. If so, please shoot me a PM. Thanks again.

[Idlewild]

Check PM CD!

Here are some pics, not my own, but identical to my gun & scope.

[ACC/Boykin]

Carla, Im no rifle expert but have killed several deer with the 270. For me it is smooth shooting and my favorite cartridge. Other than that and the 30.06 my knowledge is limited. But most importantly just wanted to say that Andrew is in my prayers and I will keep him there.
God Bless,
Jeff...

ps. Grady's in Anderson had a Browning Bar, factory camoed 270 with a Leuopold scope for I believe 900.00. Not sure if that's a good price but the gun and scope were in excellent condition.

[Sportin' Woodies]

sorry to hear about that. i can think of few things to lift a boy's spirits more than a new gun or rifle.
give him a .270 or if you wanna get a little fancy get the .270WSM (superior ballistics, but may be a little harder to find ammo)

[Mergie Master]

Daniel,
Prayers going up for Andrew.

My best hunting buddy lost his 5 yr old daughter to that disease back in the 70s. But from what I hear a lot of people are beating it nowdays.

I've been shooting a .270 since the mid-70s and I love the caliber! It's good for anything in SC and with good shot place anything in the US. But if you think he'll be hunting larger game than whitetails in the future maybe you want to look into a 7mm short mag.

I've been shooting a Ruger M77 for many years and have no complaints. But if I were to buy a new gun I might go with the Savage or Tikka T3. The Savage is pretty much the most accurate out of the box and comes with the Accu-Trigger, adjustable trigger assembly. The T3 is just dang smooth and is supposedly a very accurate out-of-the-box gun also.

Good luck to Andrew in his battle. [img]graemlins/thumb.gif[/img]

[Chessbay]

Daniel,

I am kinda close to his size and shoot a regular old Remington 30-06 model 700. I have had it for a number of years and have never considered buying another. Just my opinion..

On a different note my thoughts and prayers are with your nephew. Sounds like a big guy and an even stronger fighter

[Carla Dee]

Thanks for everyone's advice / thoughts / and well wishes for Andrew. We just found out today that he will be out of school for the remainder of his sophmore year. It was a bit of a shock, but he is still doing well for now, in fact I spent the night with him last night in the hospital room and he whipped my old but in PS2 football until 1:30am.

Idlewild - I will get back to you about your gun.

Thanks again.