Buying My First Hunting Rifle - Opinions

[AWOL]

Maybe you should hold out and see if you can get him to throw in a case of ammo, a new Zeiss scope and an all expense paid safari hunt in Africa.

You may even get him down to $399

 

[kamlooky]

A gift indeed.
If you accept his offer, you owe him a grandkid.
Or two.
Or possibly three.

 

[RememberTheSomme]

I was all set to write another long post on what you should consider in a first hunting rifle, but the Tikka answers most of them, and the .30/06 answers the rest. Buy it, shoot it, and get good with it. Start handloading so you you can get more ammo for your shooting dollar. You might benefit by limiting yourself to a single load to start with until you get used to it. Some benchmarks to aspire to . . .

1" 3 shot 100 yard groups off the bench,
1" 3 shot 100 yard groups from prone
2" 3 shot 100 yard groups from sitting and kneeling

From field positions . . .
get into position and fire within 5 seconds,
work the action with the bolt at your shoulder and fire a follow up shot within 2 seconds of the first shot,
hit a 12" plate off hand at 200,
hit a 12" plate from supported field positions at a variety of ranges out to a quarter mile or so.

Record your hold over at long range, and keep your records for reference.
Record your hold off for wind, noting wind speed and direction, and other atmospheric conditions including light,and keep these observations for reference.

If and when you successfully master this prescribed course of fire, I'll take my hat of to you sir, you are in a one percent group of hunters, and are now ready to be called a Rifleman. Grab the '06 Tikka, that's an awesome deal, and when you achieve Rifleman status, you can pick yourself up a Winchester Model 70, the "Rifleman's Rifle[/B" to complete the persona.

 

[Springbuck]

Wow!!

Thanks everybody for your responses. I was not expecting so many, I very much appreciate the input! Also, I will be sure to show grandpa my appreciation for such a great present!!

 

[Jordan Smith]

Agree that it's part deal, part gift, and I also agree that the Leupold could be worth most of that $400 all by itself.

 

[AWOL]

At that price, Springbuck must be in "The Circle of Trust"!!!

 

[Ruffed Grouse]

Give your girlfriend's grandpa $500 for it. Or at least buy a really nice bottle of single malt scotch to show him your gratitude for offering you such a steal of a deal.

Not sure if this is imported to BC, but this one is about matched to the kindness of grandpa's offer:

Bugs me a bit that they put "the ultimate" on the label, and write on the box that it is the best, but among reasonably widely available malts, it may well be.

RG

<><

 

[Highwind]

Buy it because it's a good deal. Now if your just starting out hunting you may want to consider another rifle in a smaller caliber so you can build up getting accustomed to shooting a gun with some recoil. The 30-06 is considered by many to be at the threshold of where recoil is tolerable. But if your new to shooting, then it will feel like a lot of recoil to a beginner. So if you are focusing on whitetail or blacktail deer, then something like a 243 would be a good starting point. As one uses a firearm of whatever caliber it might be, one usually builds up a greater degree of tolerance to accept whatever recoil factor a given caliber rifle puts out. In most cases the bigger the caliber the heavier the recoil. Also a light gun will give a bit more recoil then a heavier gun of the same caliber. Just a few points to give you something to think about.

 

[sawzall]

Or just start with some reduced recoil loads that are readily available in 30-06. But seriously, my 80lb 11 year old son loves shooting my savage 30-06 with full power loads of 165gr hornady interlocks over 48gr of Varget. 30-06 recoil is very manageable. Just wear good ear protection as the blast makes recoil seem far worse than it really is.

 

[pilot2001]

Alright!

I have just recently completed both the CFSC and the CRFSC courses and am currently waiting for my application to be approved so that I can get my PAL. In the meantime hunting is something that I would like to get into and I will also be taking my CORE course fairly soon. Long story short a lot of my family as well as close family friends do hunt and I am just a newbie trying to learn, so that being said!

A rifle that I am looking into getting is a Tikka T3 (.30-06). And it just so happened that my girlfriends grandpa heard that I was interested in this gun and he has a 3 year old Tikka T3 (.30-06) that he is willing to sell to me which would include a case, two boxes of ammunition, a Leupold scope (not sure as to which model), and a bore snake all for $400.00

So my question!

Does this sound like a good deal?
Obviously I am aware that new this gun in worth more than this, however I have no clue about re-sale value concerning firearms.
Just looking for some insight.

Thanks Everybody


Some Background:

I would like to take it into a gunsmith to get assessed. Also some questions I have asked grandpa include:

How much the gun has been fired. He thinks somewhere between 20-30 rounds.

Why does he want to get rid of it. He says he bought this gun about 3 years ago thinking that he was going to use it lots however he has a few firearms and he is slowing down in his old age and wants to downsize what he has.

Im not a tikka guy at all ... But they are a decent rifle and you wont find a better deal on a packge. Take the scope off hit it with a hammer and send it to Korth anytime you want a new one.

None plus none equals none ... take the gun and run !

 

[Mighty Peace]

x2. That isn't a sale, it's a gift. Buy it and say thank you.

Exactly what he said. No questions asked. Package deal like that new would be close to $1500 or more...probably closer to $1800+ if a ss or ls model T3. Leupold scope would be at leat $300 alone if a VX1 or $350-400+ for a VX2