Best bang for buck hunting rifle?

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YoungGun96

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Super GunNutz
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In your opinion, what is the best bang for your buck, off the shelf hunting rifle available today? I'm not looking for the cheapest gun, just the best quality for the price. For me, the CZ550 fits the bill perfectly. The materials, quality and craftsmanship far surpasses the price. What's your opinion and why?
 
First... shop the used market... you will get a much better "bang for your buck."

Next, whatever manufacturer and model you go with, purchase a rifle that was manufactured when milling steel was relished and before lawyers worked on mission statements.

But, yes, CZ makes quality firearms... these days, with CZ, you have to buy steel bottom metal after the fact.
 
hoytcanon said:
First... shop the used market... you will get a much better "bang for your buck."

Next, whatever manufacturer and model you go with, purchase a rifle that was manufactured when milling steel was relished and before lawyers worked on mission statements.

But, yes, CZ makes quality firearms... these days, with CZ, you have to buy steel bottom metal after the fact.
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That's how I feel about it too. Plastic anything on a rifle action doesn't do it for me.
 
rifleman762 said:
Husqvarna 1600 from Tradeex.
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There are sooo many nice used guns there from $300-$600 it's crazy. HVA commercial '96/'98/1640's, Parker Hales, bought lots and I check their website daily to see if anymore deals arrived.
Just got my first BSA CF2 from them in 6.5x55, and it's also a really nice gun. Very simple design but quite high quality, will definitely grab more of these if they get any.
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Tikka T3 series. Good balance on price, accuracy, and craftsmanship. Most companies seem to be racing for the bottom and although they are accurate enough the bargain guns leave lots to be desired. A nice gun you want to keep and hand down to your kids tends not to be a savage axis, ruger American, XPR etc.

A good gun in around the thousand mark ought to be the best balance point I think. Something with nice wood just puts icing on the cake.
 
Well lots of variables in whats best bang for the buck if the rifles for you, for me a Stainless Synthetic bolt action rifle is the most sensible, probably hard to go wrong with a Tikka T3x SS, light and a very good rep for being accurate out of the box ,

I also like the Bergara B14 Hunter(not stainless) but a dandy well built rifle but a little on the heavy side, if money is no object and you want lightweight Kimber Montana is hard to beat 5.2 lbs with an excellent adjustable trigger, CRF action and a great stock, another one of my Fav is the Weatherby Mark V Ultra Lightweight in the 6 lug action 5.75 lbs it just fits me, nicest shouldering rifle Ive ever picked up, they are just a handy rifle but they're not for everyone as lots of guys don't like the Monte Carlo Stock !

Used rifles if you can pick up an older SS Rem model seven or 700 they are nice rifles, simple and functional, someone above mentioned Husqvarna from Tradex, I own about 10 Husqvarna rifles, 8 of them H5000 models the others are 1600s like the ones on tradex, very good rifle for the money also reasonably priced and a good action if you want to build a custom on !

here's a picture of a 280AI built on a Husqvarna HVA action (same as model 1600 on Tradex)
 
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Weatherby Fan said:
Well lots of variables in whats best bang for the buck if the rifles for you, for me a Stainless Synthetic bolt action rifle is the most sensible, probably hard to go wrong with a Tikka T3x SS, light and a very good rep for being accurate out of the box ,

I also like the Bergara B14 Hunter(not stainless) but a dandy well built rifle but a little on the heavy side, if money is no object and you want lightweight Kimber Montana is hard to beat 5.2 lbs with an excellent adjustable trigger, CRF action and a great stock, another one of my Fav is the Weatherby Mark V Ultra Lightweight in the 6 lug action 5.75 lbs it just fits me, nicest shouldering rifle Ive ever picked up, they are just a handy rifle but they're not for everyone as lots of guys don't like the Monte Carlo Stock !

Used rifles if you can pick up an older SS Rem model seven or 700 they are nice rifles, simple and functional, someone above mentioned Husqvarna from Tradex, I own about 10 Husqvarna rifles, 8 of them H5000 models the others are 1600s like the ones on tradex, very good rifle for the money also reasonably priced and a good action if you want to build a custom on !

here's a picture of a 280AI built on a Husqvarna HVA action (same as model 1600 on Tradex)
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Nice! I’ve been looking at those 1600s to build a 280AI or a 338-06 with...
Is that aMcMillan stock?
Much work need to be done to the action when rebarreling?
 
What constitutes good "bang" in your opinion? You can buy a Savage axis that will shoot just as well as a gun multiple times its price. It won't look nice, but that only matters in that's part of your criteria...

If you want it to shoot, but you also want to look nice and be well made... Then there isn't really a simple answer?
 
'Best bang for the buck' depends on what you are planning on hunting,and how much money you have,this is what you can get for about $500 ....for me it's a swede from Tradeex...$300 gets you a great rifle ,excellent barrel and leaves $200 left over for a decent 4x Leopold M8 and that will give you a set up that will handle anything in North America if you hold it straight..it will shoot PPU ammunition that will run about $25 a box and that's about the best all round 'bang for the buck' you can get...any rifle and caliber that's still going after 100 years has got to tell you something,it just 'works'
 
mikeelliot said:
Nice! I’ve been looking at those 1600s to build a 280AI or a 338-06 with...
Is that aMcMillan stock?
Much work need to be done to the action when rebarreling?
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Thank you, Well it depends what you want done, to me its pointless if your rebarreling to not true and square the action and bolt face which most people have done when you have a rifle apart, but no nothing more than any other action, its a Wildcat Mauser Stock out of Alberta,

And in regards to feeding, it feeds like a dream to, Ive had lots of questions and concerns about feeding a 280AI case with the sharp shoulder angle and the Gunsmith Gary Flach just had to tweek the feed rails and all is good.
 
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nomad 68 said:
In terms of value for dollar in a new rifle, you'd be hard pressed to beat the Howa 1500/ weatherby vanguard series of rifles imo.i have examples of both and they rival rifles I paid quite a lot more for .
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Yes the Howa's are nice as well as the Vanguard S2 is hard to beat for the money , usually very accurate out of the box, a nice adjustable trigger, only drawback is the Wby VG S2 is a little heavy.
 
Hitzy said:
There are sooo many nice used guns there from $300-$600 it's crazy. HVA commercial '96/'98/1640's, Parker Hales, bought lots and I check their website daily to see if anymore deals arrived.
Just got my first BSA CF2 from them in 6.5x55, and it's also a really nice gun. Very simple design but quite high quality, will definitely grab more of these if they get any.
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Yup, I burn up their bandwidth every day! :) I have bought a 9.3x57 Mauser 98 for ~$300 (I reamed it to x62) and an 1899 M96 6.5x55 sporter for $200! The M96 had a broken tap in a hole at the front of the barrel but I was shortening it, anyways, so no big deal. I built an "everything" hunting rifle for my wife. They have lots of "buy it and bolt on a scope" guns, too. M96 with Weaver bases included for under $300.
 
Depends a lot on what your needs are - for a short range gun for hunting in the thick stuff, you can't go wrong with a decent used win 94 or marlin 336 (or better an 1895 in .45-70).

For a new gun, I would take a zastava m70 over almost anything in the same price range - an all steel mauser action with an adjustable trigger for under $700 is awefully hard to beat.
 
Two of my favorites are a stainless Ruger 77 Hawkeye I got at an auction for $400 (sell used on here for $900) in .338 Federal, which is just a solid, quality rifle for the dollar, and a NEW Stevens (Savage) 200 in .243. The Stevens was a budget buy, again $400 and not pretty, but outshoots all my other rifles, period. Both are ‘working’ guns built to hunt, not to look pretty. For some reason that’s made them more valuable to me personally over the years.

I’d also look at a Weatherby Vanguard 2 with a high-quality optic if I were you. Haven’t heard of a lemon yet with that combination.
 
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