best starter deer rifle - Page 3

Panfisher · April 14, 2014, 07:45 AM

Go someplace with lots of rifles, fondle, hold, feel, mount to your shoulder etc. as many as you can without regard to brand or chambering. At some point you will find yourself coming back to one of them because it just feels "right" it speaks to you. Then you have your platform picked out, begin to thin down the chambering list, long action, short action, magnum etc. Personally for your type of shooting it would be hard to beat a 7-08. Put a decent quality scope on it, (you can get a lower end Leupold for $220 (VX-1 in 2-7) and dare any deer in micigan to walk out in front of you. You may find yourself liking the shorter lighter carbines such as the Rem Model 7, or Classic Featherweight mdl 70, or Ruger Compact, which are great matches for the 7-08, .308, .243, .260 family of cartridges. After all the flavors are chosen haunt the pawn shops to find one in good condition and go forth to the practice range.

Picher · April 20, 2014, 08:41 AM

Quote:

Go someplace with lots of rifles, fondle, hold, feel, mount to your shoulder etc. as many as you can without regard to brand or chambering. At some point you will find yourself coming back to one of them because it just feels "right" it speaks to you. Then you have your platform picked out, begin to thin down the chambering list, long action, short action, magnum etc. Personally for your type of shooting it would be hard to beat a 7-08. Put a decent quality scope on it, (you can get a lower end Leupold for $220 (VX-1 in 2-7) and dare any deer in Michigan to walk out in front of you. You may find yourself liking the shorter lighter carbines such as the Rem Model 7, or Classic Featherweight mdl 70, or Ruger Compact, which are great matches for the 7-08, .308, .243, .260 family of cartridges. After all the flavors are chosen haunt the pawn shops to find one in good condition and go forth to the practice range.

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Actually, there's no one "PERFECT" first deer rifle, but many. If there were one "best" rifle, no others would still be made.

There's no "Holy Grail" cartridge, but several that may do job very well for certain conditions. Still, it's hard to beat old favorites that may cover many different hunting conditions. Think of a condition that you may find yourself with a scoped bolt-action rifle and you may not find a better all-around cartridge than a .30-06. That was my first and it performs very well in various circumstances and for several types of game from crows, woodchucks, coyotes, grouse (head shots), to deer, bear, moose, elk, etc.

There may be better cartridges for special circumstances, and there's the .308 for short-action aficionados; .260 Rem or 7mm-08 for the recoil sensitive, and the venerable .270 Win and cartridges with similar, or better ballistics. They all have their followers who may tout their cartridges, but the .30-06 is the ONE that most hunting cartridges to which all are compared.

Reduced recoil rounds are available for several cartridges and if you decide, after shooting at game that the cartridge you chose has too much recoil, consider going to them, at least for practice.

Elkins45 · April 21, 2014, 11:26 AM

IMO you need to approach this from the other direction. Take $200 and buy yourself a Leupold VX-1 scope. Now go take the remaining $300 and find a good rifle to go under it. I would rather have a Savage Axis with a Leupold than a Remington 700 with a Wally World special on top.

Cheap scopes turn good rifles into bad rifles. Many a 'bad' rifle was turned into a good rifle by removing a $40 Simmons/Tasco/Bushnell and replacing it with a mechanically sound optic. Scopes are one of the places where you truly only get what you pay for.

JD0x0 · April 21, 2014, 11:48 AM

Quote:

Cheap scopes turn good rifles into bad rifles.

I tend to agree... But then again, I have a $60-70 Chinese copy of a Simmons on my Ruger M77 MKII in .270 win and it'll put bullets on top of each other @ 100 yards. Not something I was expecting. I walked out of the store with a brand new M77, sling, 3-9x-40 scope, 3 boxes of ammo, a bore snake and a bottle of hopes #9 for $650. Walked out of the store thinking I'd be lucky to be getting 2'' groups, and ended up averaging roughly 1.3 MOA with factory ammo.

Unlicensed Dremel · April 21, 2014, 06:44 PM

This one:

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/Vie...Item=410617250

or this one:

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/Vie...Item=411904739

.243 win, .260 rem, and 7mm-08 are probably the the best all-purpose deer/sheep/goat/antelope dedicated chamberings, though there are many other fine ones as well. 7mm-08 or .260 rem if you're including desert mulies and Saskatchewan bruiser 300-lb whitetails -- or .243 win if you're not.

And the TC Venture is the best value in the sub-$500 (new) turnbolt category, I do believe. High quality for not much moula. I believe better than the Howa/Vanguard by a statistically-significant margin. Also better than a comparably-priced Savage by a material margin, and certainly a bit better looking (to me). Bomb-proof bolt, 5R rifling, nice trigger, nice aesthetics, and scope mounts included - hard to beat.

But if running used, then that opens up some Tikka T3s @ $500.

Model12Win · April 27, 2014, 07:40 PM

For not alot of cheddar one can get a Moison Nagant M-44 rifle in 7.62x54mmR cartridge.

Plenty of power for deer but would be cheap. Also nice and short.

JD0x0 · April 27, 2014, 08:05 PM

The M44 isn't a bad rifle but it's not a great starter rifle IMO. The 7.62x54R is a fine cartridge but for the price of a excellent condition Mosin carbine, you can often get a brand new rifle, with warrantee, which will outshoot just about any Mosin Nagant and also lighter weight factory guns are available, which is why most people aren't suggesting Mosin Nagant's

They're good rifles, completely capable of hunting deer, but IMO they're not the best choice.
Also a Ruger American is only 2'' longer than a M44 and that's because it has a barrel which is about 2'' longer. If someone were to opt for the 'compact' version, it's a few inches shorter than a M44. They're only a couple bucks more than a M44 nagant, most of which I see are selling upwards of $200. That is no longer cheap for a Nagant IMO.

NavyVet1959 · April 27, 2014, 08:28 PM

H&R Buffalo Classic (.45-70) or H&R 12-gauge "Ultra Slug". The .45-70 is easy to handload for and the cases last a long time since they are straight walled. You can tailor your loads for small white tails or even elk or moose.

April 21, 2014, 06:44 PM	#55
Unlicensed Dremel Junior member Join Date: February 13, 2014 Location: Flathead Valley, MT Posts: 2,187	This one: http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/Vie...Item=410617250 or this one: http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/Vie...Item=411904739 .243 win, .260 rem, and 7mm-08 are probably the the best all-purpose deer/sheep/goat/antelope dedicated chamberings, though there are many other fine ones as well. 7mm-08 or .260 rem if you're including desert mulies and Saskatchewan bruiser 300-lb whitetails -- or .243 win if you're not. And the TC Venture is the best value in the sub-$500 (new) turnbolt category, I do believe. High quality for not much moula. I believe better than the Howa/Vanguard by a statistically-significant margin. Also better than a comparably-priced Savage by a material margin, and certainly a bit better looking (to me). Bomb-proof bolt, 5R rifling, nice trigger, nice aesthetics, and scope mounts included - hard to beat. But if running used, then that opens up some Tikka T3s @ $500. Last edited by Unlicensed Dremel; April 21, 2014 at 06:50 PM.

April 27, 2014, 08:28 PM	#58
NavyVet1959 Senior Member Join Date: April 27, 2014 Location: Texas, ya'll Posts: 166	H&R Buffalo Classic (.45-70) or H&R 12-gauge "Ultra Slug". The .45-70 is easy to handload for and the cases last a long time since they are straight walled. You can tailor your loads for small white tails or even elk or moose. __________________ When you fill out your income tax forms at the end of the year, look and see how much money you have given the government throughout the year. Then, take a moment to ponder -- has the government done $X worth of stuff FOR you or TO you this year? I tend to believe the latter... https://sites.google.com/site/navyvet1959

April 14, 2014, 07:45 AM	#51
Panfisher Senior Member Join Date: July 30, 2010 Location: Missouri Posts: 1,337	Go someplace with lots of rifles, fondle, hold, feel, mount to your shoulder etc. as many as you can without regard to brand or chambering. At some point you will find yourself coming back to one of them because it just feels "right" it speaks to you. Then you have your platform picked out, begin to thin down the chambering list, long action, short action, magnum etc. Personally for your type of shooting it would be hard to beat a 7-08. Put a decent quality scope on it, (you can get a lower end Leupold for $220 (VX-1 in 2-7) and dare any deer in micigan to walk out in front of you. You may find yourself liking the shorter lighter carbines such as the Rem Model 7, or Classic Featherweight mdl 70, or Ruger Compact, which are great matches for the 7-08, .308, .243, .260 family of cartridges. After all the flavors are chosen haunt the pawn shops to find one in good condition and go forth to the practice range.

April 21, 2014, 11:26 AM	#53
Elkins45 Senior Member Join Date: February 24, 2010 Posts: 498	IMO you need to approach this from the other direction. Take $200 and buy yourself a Leupold VX-1 scope. Now go take the remaining $300 and find a good rifle to go under it. I would rather have a Savage Axis with a Leupold than a Remington 700 with a Wally World special on top. Cheap scopes turn good rifles into bad rifles. Many a 'bad' rifle was turned into a good rifle by removing a $40 Simmons/Tasco/Bushnell and replacing it with a mechanically sound optic. Scopes are one of the places where you truly only get what you pay for.

April 27, 2014, 07:40 PM	#56
Model12Win Junior member Join Date: October 20, 2012 Posts: 5,854	For not alot of cheddar one can get a Moison Nagant M-44 rifle in 7.62x54mmR cartridge. Plenty of power for deer but would be cheap. Also nice and short.

April 27, 2014, 08:05 PM	#57
JD0x0 Senior Member Join Date: January 30, 2013 Posts: 1,037	The M44 isn't a bad rifle but it's not a great starter rifle IMO. The 7.62x54R is a fine cartridge but for the price of a excellent condition Mosin carbine, you can often get a brand new rifle, with warrantee, which will outshoot just about any Mosin Nagant and also lighter weight factory guns are available, which is why most people aren't suggesting Mosin Nagant's They're good rifles, completely capable of hunting deer, but IMO they're not the best choice. Also a Ruger American is only 2'' longer than a M44 and that's because it has a barrel which is about 2'' longer. If someone were to opt for the 'compact' version, it's a few inches shorter than a M44. They're only a couple bucks more than a M44 nagant, most of which I see are selling upwards of $200. That is no longer cheap for a Nagant IMO.