Looking for a new hunting rifle, Whats your .02 cents?

[sc928porsche]

30-06 is probably your best bet. As for the rifle, Remington BDL, Winchester mod 70, and browning have good classic lines with attractive wood.

[Been there]

The Tikka T3 Hunter is the finest rifle in your price bracket , cold hammer -forged barrel , the best trigger you will find at the price, test fired in the Sako factory, MOA accuracy guarateed, smooooth action & beutifully built & requires no after market improvements.
.270 is the most popular calibre here for Elk, 30-06 is also common.

[OregonShooter121]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys! Ill have to go to the local gun shops and pawn shops and hopefully they'll have a nice Ruger Hawkeye, Winchester model 70, Tikka T3 Hunter, Sako 85 Hunter, Remington 700, Savage 111, or a Browning. Any of these will do what i need them to do. Thinking of a 30-06 with a nice leupold & timney trigger for my first rifle since ill be primarily hunting elk at 300 yards or less, and later on ill pick up a 270 for deer. Thanks again yall!

[ripnbst]

.270 will take elk as easily as -06 with proper shot placement and bullet construction.

If I was you I'd be looking at a new production Win 70 Featherweight in .270 Win. But that's me.

[sc928porsche]

I wouldn't worry about a 270 for deer. 30-06 with 150 grain works quite well on deer!

[chad8369]

If your looking for a light to mid weight all around hunting rifle... i personally think its hard as heck to beat a Tikka T3...I own all kinds of rifles and take my T3 lite in .270 almost every time. Not much on the avg Rem 700 anymore unless its a 700 Sendero..My .300WM sendero is taken out west where you will shoot long range and not hike all day. Again.. those Tikka's are smooth as silk and accurate as heck.. mine shoots federal $20 blue box between .25-.50 no joke.
And NO need for timney trigger with the tikka. stainless looks best IMO

[Guv]

^^ 5 or 3 shoot groups?

[Mystro]

The 270 is the the 30-06 high performance brother. The 06 is a military round pushed into hunting. The 270 was specifacally designed hunting cartridge to improve the ballistics of the older 30-06 that is under bored and was already in military service.
There is nothing a 06 can do that a 270 can't except the 270 will reach out further doing it.
For NA species, either will be great. If you are just hunting deer a 243 is a great choice. If you want a 30 caliber, I would get a 308. More ammo choices and unlimited platform.

[hooligan1]

While a few here know that I really dig the .270 win, and I can easily handload my rifle bullets and powder that will dispatch any elk or bear.. that said that 114 in either caliber would be dandy as hell....
Don't get a rifle that everyone else likes, get the one that fits you best, and that you like. Same with the caliber, heck I use my .270 for anything, especially if I headed west, for black bear, whitetails, muledeer, antelope, elk, sitka deer, sheep, goats, coyotes, groundhogs, prairie dogs,....

[Ruger480]

There is nothing a 06 can do that a 270 can't except the 270 will reach out further doing it

I don't believe this to be true. Elephants, cape buffalo and lions are off the menu for the 270
Not for the '06 though. No matter how much those who love the 270 wish it to be so, the 270 will never be an equal to the 30-06. That is not taking anything away from the 270, it is just a matter of fact.

[Mystro]

Killing many Elephants with the 30-06????

[Ruger480]

Killing many Elephants with the 30-06????

Nope. Has it been done? Lots. Ever with a 270?
Maybe. But not enough for people to acknowledge it as a viable cartridge.

That's the beauty of the '06, it'll do everything from coyote to elephants and all points in between.

Don't get me wrong, the 270 is respectable, but it won't ever be as capable as the 30-06.

[Nathan]

I think your idea of a nice wood stocked hunting rifle sounds great. My advice would be to look at smaller calibers. We all seem to want a big boomer, but there are some sweet lighter calibers which do the job well like 257 roberts, 6.5 Creedmor, etc. . .but 308 and 338 Federal would give more whoap!


While a Leupold 3-9 is a fine scope, I find s a scope with a BDC reticle is a nice feature. Sometimes a brand like Leupold may have have a lens coating which is less agreeable to your eyes. Frankly, my eyes like Burris, Sightron and Nikon over Leupold in that midrange. Leupold does make sweet scopes and they keep the weight down.

For a wood stocked hunting rifle, I really like the Savage 14 model. Stocks look and feel good. Barrels have a bit of meat and the actions are pretty good.

Scope mount. . .Don't forget a good scope mount. Usually a 1 pc base and picatinney rings hold things well. Weaver should be OK, but can be a bit dicey. . .seems like Weaver spec is kind of sloppy. Warne, Leupold, TPS. . .all good.

[Dc777]

Forget about the crap that the liberal station msnbc posted...... The 700 has been around for over 40 years and tree is a reason for it. Trees nothing wrong with the gun unless you don't keep it clean and put presidential engineering on the trigger.

[doofus47]

270 or 30-06 are both fine for what you want to do. I have a 30-06; my buddy has a 270. They both work fine.

I have a savage 11 in 260. I think that if you got a savage 111 in either 270/30-06, you'd be happy.

If you have patience, probably a well-maintained classic rifle will cross your path. I got my Ted Williams model 53 (Winchester 70) with scope for 250. Shoots great.

Good luck hunting.

[Deke66]

Does anyone have any experience with a Marlin X7? I won a nice looking wood stocked Marlin X7 this off season. Put a Leupold scope I had on it and took it to the range. Very happy with the accuracy and couldn't wait to take it to the deer woods. Finally had the opportunity to put it on a deer, nailed the first one. Problem came when I jacked in a second round for the second deer it jammed. Luckily the deer was kind enough to stand there and wait for me to clear and shoot it but it was very concerning that it didn't eject the first round completely.

[Ben Towe]

I also have to cast a vote for the .30-'06 over the .270. Either will take any game on the continent, but I would prefer the '06 for availability of heavier bullets for larger game. Also, most .270s I have fired seemed to have more recoil than a comparable rifle in .30-'06.

As far as rifles, I prefer Mauser style actions so my all time favorite rifle is the Ruger M77. A very close second is the Remington 700; I have had excellent service from them. My only real complaint is the finish on the Special Purpose rifles. It has little rust resistance.

[FiveInADime]

Originally Posted by Deke66

Does anyone have any experience with a Marlin X7? I won a nice looking wood stocked Marlin X7 this off season. Put a Leupold scope I had on it and took it to the range. Very happy with the accuracy and couldn't wait to take it to the deer woods. Finally had the opportunity to put it on a deer, nailed the first one. Problem came when I jacked in a second round for the second deer it jammed. Luckily the deer was kind enough to stand there and wait for me to clear and shoot it but it was very concerning that it didn't eject the first round completely.

There have been sporadic extractor problems with the early X7 rifles made in the Marlin plant. Haven't heard too much about that particular issue since they moved production to the KY Remington plant. It's an easy fix for a gunsmith if you don't want to send the gun to Marlin/Remington.

I have a Mayfield, KY made stainless X7 and it recently took on an over-pressure load with a blown primer. The ejector stuck in the bolt face but the extractor survived. Waiting till after Christmas to get that ejector replaced .

Edit:

There are some smiths that have successfully modified Savage extractors to fit the Marlin bolt-head. Check out the Marlin Owners forum in the X7 subforum.

[BingoFuel]

Ditto on the Tikka. I own a Tikka Sporter (left hand) in .308 which is simply amazing and just ordered a Tikka T3 Lite (the lower cost version of the Hunter) in left hand stainless barrel in .223. I had it modified by these folks:
http://www.cdiprecisiongunworks.com/ to swap out the bottom metal to use Accuracy International 5- and 10-round magazines.
For the OP, I strongly suggest you look closely at either the Hunter or the T3 lite for your needs. I believe the Hunter is about $150 more than the base model (the difference being a wood versus synthetic stock).
OBTW, the barrels on the Tikka are all floated, even when fluted.
Good luck,
B

[centralmainehunters]

I also love a good wood stock, I like the look and feel, the added weight makes it feel like a better shooter. I purchased a used ruger m77 hawkeye with a gorgeous wooden stock, I browsed close to 1000 guns before settling on this beauty, I literally hit every gun shop and retailer within 200 miles before this gun felt just right.
That being established, This 30'06 was purchased as a deer and someday hopefully moose hunting rifle in maine with its various terrain and temperature (snow, rain, freezing rain) that are encountered during deer season. After a couple seasons the rifle shoots great at the range and looks great in the case. Its to pretty to take and bang around in the woods in the rain and snow, the maintenance is too much for me and the gun is too beautiful to beat it up.
I bought a synthetic stocked savage trophy 11 in 25'06 last year and beat the snot out of it without blinking an eye, still shoots great and I have piece of mind when I take a quick trip out that I wont have to spend as much time cleaning as I did hunting.
Your weather is similar if not as extreme I believe, keep that in mind when deciding what you want.

[centralmainehunters]

Are we permit hunting nuisance deer?

[Deke66]

Where I hunt you can take multiple deer in a season.

[ar15man2009]

Personally for that kind of money I would go with a remington 700 in 300 win mag, the scope you wanted with a good base and rings, and a lee classic turret press kit with die. All this can definitely had for that price and it would certainly be a good round for anything you mentioned. If you reload you could probably find a load very comparable to a 30-06 or less, but you can still use heavier loads for the larger animals.

[Panfisher]

Hit those pawn shops and LGS's, handle, sight, look down etc. as many different model/makes as you can. At some point you will notice that there is one that "speaks" to you, or that you keep coming back to or that you keep comparing all the others too. . If you find a model/style you really really want but it is not in the caliber you have your heart set on, be sure there is one out there on the used racks, especially if you are primarily wanting a .270 or .30-06 they are both great and easy to find, if you really really want a new one at least you will have narrowed your search down.

[trg42wraglefragle]

I too would say go for a Tikka T3.
They feel fantastic too hold, and have a super smooth action. The adjustable triggers on them are fantastic, I'll never swap out mine for a aftermarket one.
The Lite ones are some of the lightest rifles you can buy, and even with lightweight barrels shoot very well.

I'd go for 270 over 3006, taking elk with 270 will be fine, and you will have a lot less recoil. There is a lot better bullet choice now for 270, so if you got into reloading there isn't a problem there anymore.

The aftermarket support for Tikka isn't as big as Remington, but you can still buy new trigger guards, new stocks, bases, rings and triggers with easy. But on my Tikka there is nothing I feel I want to change.