First hunting rifle recommendations

My most accurate rifle was made in 1953. Belgium Mauser action with a High Standard Chrome Lined Barrel. J.C. Higgins Model 50 in .30-06. Sold and made for Sears back in the day. Many here suggest a Husqvarna or Carl Gustav, and they are spot on. Upgrade stock and trigger when you can and add a scope if you need it. Money well spent. I have tried a few of the newer budget packages and most are junk in comparison.
 
When i got into shooting at the age of 14 with my brother 16, our mentor started us off with old army guns. I used a German Mauser sporter in 8MM and my brother started with a swedish mauser in 6.5x55. As boomer mentioned shooting and reloading go hand in hand as it did for us. Ammo for the guns cost more than we can afford considering the amount of shooting we did at the time, so our mentor taught us how to reload for both cartridges and it couldn't have been any better. Never had issues with reloads and saved lots of money while still doing a fair amount of shooting.

Starting off with used rifles of such type really put a standard on me. Sure they didn't have scopes but they had serviceable iron sights, great craftsmanship and quality. Never had issues hunting and shooting our first few deer, bear, and ,moose with such sights. I could never get into nor recommend a stevens 200, savage axis or rem 783 or any lower end budget gun seeing how many good quality Husqvarna 1600's, M98's, Lee Enfield sporters are available for good prices.

Yes i have tried A savage axis scope combo, and stevens 200 and i was not impressed one bit with them, but to each their own.
 
First high power rifle I bought almost 50 years ago was a Remington 700 in 300 win mag -several thousand rounds later it is still going strong -on my third scope though (should have bought a Leupold)- if you hand load you can load down to 30-06 levels so recoil is not that bad but you can still get a lot more jam if you want . I seem to be one of the few if any people recommending a 300 mag but..... If you don,t want to hand load 30-06 is a great option and I still love the older Remington's. If you want a husky action, the old parkerhales are also a decent Mauser action and they are often cheaper than the huskies and shoot just as well.
 
In reality there's probably not too many rifles you could go wrong with and everything recommended here is good.

Scopes however are another story. Lots of ways to go wrong. You need to buy decent quality... which starts at around $250-300. However there's no need to spend a mint.

Don't buy too much magnification! For a general use big game rifle 3-9X is max IMHO. Last thing you want is to have your scope cranked up at 14X when monster buck jumps out at 30 yards.

Its easy to shoot big game accurately at several hundred yards with low power scopes. 1.5-6X40 is my favorite.
 
jagermyster said:
As the title says. This will be my first crack at hunting this fall. Wondering about a good budget setup in preferably in 30-06 that won't break the bank. Any recommendations ?
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Weatherby Vanguard S2 excellent quality would make an outstanding hunting rig

if you want to dabble in long range shooting then the same make but in either 260 rem or 6.5 Creedmoor - upgrade the stock to a MDT Chassis Gen2.
 
Lots of good suggestions from others, so I will only add that you should buy something you will keep.

Years down the road you can always look back on the rifle as your first & when the day comes, hand it down to someone.

Cheers
Jay
 
The Husqvarna 600, 1600, 1900 rifles are head and shoulders above any modern (sub 2000$) rifle. I'd also agree with the 30-06. Remarkably versatile round.
 
30/06 is an excellent choice. Look around home or in the EE exchange for a wood stocked, blued rifle and you can probably find a good one for 350-450 w/o scope. The first couple posts referenced a "Tradeex Husqvarna". I had no idea what the hell they were babbling about. So I had to google it.

The reason why I had to google it was because I borrowed a friends Husqvarna 30/06 one year. Upon first impression I didn't like the sloppy feeling mauser action. In addition the friend's father had engraved his name in the cheek-piece. At the end of the season I offered a good dollar for it. Which he refused.

A couple years ago I repurchased a Remington 760 in 30/06. The same make and caliber I first purchased in 1976. They practically give them away today.
 
These kinds of questions usually just get a bunch of replies of whatever gun that the guy replying has and thinks is best . Lots of good suggestions here .
There’s no wrong answer really, as most modern guns are accurate and reliable . I would give more thought to caliber choice then I would brand.
If your new to hunting and will mainly be hunting deer around the Okanagan.. I would go for something smaller then a 30.06 .
30.06 is a damn fine caliber and will do it all for sure .. but it’s definitely on the heavy side for deer . Depending on the gun and how light it is .. 30.06 can pack a wallop of recoil .
I would look at a 270 . All the killing power you need all the way up to moose and bear. Other good choices would be 25.06 or .260 . 7mm08 .
If you think you will strictly be hunting deer, even a 243 will do the job. And a 243 is really nice easy and flat shooting caliber . And I’ve seen black bears and moose dropped with a 243 as well . Not the ideal caliber for those animals .. but it will do it if you can make the right shot .
You can be much more effective shooting accurately with a smaller bullet then making marginal shots with a big caliber .
And I will throw my 2 cents in for brand . Lol . Can never go wrong with a tikka . They might be just a hair over your budget .. but if you look around, lots of gun shops still have the older T3 models kicking around but still new in the box .. and they can be found for discounted prices . Or there’s always the equipment exchange for a good used one . Lots of tikkas on there . They are a very very popular gun .. and for good reason .
Good luck !
 
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