Good Rifle??

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BiLLaBoNg24

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Hi, i am new to this site and new to hunting i have been going crazy looking at rifles online. i pick a bunch out and then have no idea. i have been wondering what is a good deer rifle. i am wondering what make and model i want .270win or .308 win. i would love to hear everyones input. i have a budget of around $800. i would like to have a longer barrel, not for sure on either stainless or not yet. so far i am thinking remington 700 because i like the heavy barrel too but that is not a deal breaker. and it has to be a bolt action so everyone please give me input on what you think would be the best for the money.
cant wait till christmas..



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Ive owned a few Rem 700's and i've never had a problem with them But for some reason I always get drawn back to the weatherby Vanguard as for cal you can't go wrong with either cal but in IMHO i'd pick the 308 just my 2 cents
 
If it were my money, I'd shoot for a Tikka T3. Great accuracy at a great price. I own several of them, and have never had a problem! As far as caliber goes, the 270 Win is a flatter shooting cartridge, which never hurts when your hunting the prairies! In my opinion.
 
Savage. .270 or .308 are excellent calibers that are not heavy on the recoil. You can go to the Savage website and use the 'Gun Finder' under the 'Firearms' drop down menu at the top of the screen and choose all the options you want and you will get a list of all the rifles that meet your criteria.

Also, what type of hunting do you plan to do? A long heavy barreled rifle is not necessarily the best choice if you are going to be walking the bush or shooting from a non-prone position. I would suggest the Model 11/111, 16/116 or 10/110, they will fall into your price range, minus a scope, unless you get a package gun. And since the question will come up I will answer it for you now; the difference between a Model 11 and 111 is that the 11 is a short action (.308) and the 111 is a long action (.270). Same applies for the rest of them, two digits in the model number (10,11,16 etc) indicate short action, three digits (110,111,116) are long actions.
 
Joe549 said:
Also, what type of hunting do you plan to do? A long heavy barreled rifle is not necessarily the best choice if you are going to be walking the bush or shooting from a non-prone position.
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^^^^^
This is very good advice.

Also OP, if you havn't read the sticky at the top the page titled "bringing together all the 'what should my first hunting rifle be' thread advice" http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php?t=431263 you should take the time to go through it. It very well may help you out.

My advice: Go with something that won't break the bank. Is about 8lbs to 8.5lbs scoped and can reach out and touch something out to about 400ish yards reasonably well. Barrel lenght should be about 20 inches. .308, 30-06, .270, 7mm-08, the list goes on and on for suitable cartridges. Felt recoil shouldn't be a problem with any of those unless you're 90lbs soaking wet and 4 and a half feet tall. :cheers: and happy hunting.

P.S. Practice makes perfect. Shoot your rifle lots. :)
 
I put my vote in for a vanguard in .270. Great guns for the cost. I say .270 just because I am a 270 guy, but either Cal will be fine. try and go handle some rifles in person and see what you like.
 
Either the .270 or the .308 can be a very viable choice for deer hunting. While the 700 Remington is more often then not an excellent rifle, I would caution against the choice of a heavy barrel rig for big game hunting, the disadvantages far outweigh the advantages. Concentrate on a rifle that weighs no more than 8 pounds, with scope, sling, and the magazine full of ammo, that has a 22" barrel and a low power fixed or variable power scope mounted as close to the bore as possible, allowing for the diameter of the bell and the height of the stock's comb.

Concentrate of field marksmanship and shooting from field positions under a variety of weather and light conditions. You can pretty much disregard your rifle's ability to shoot groups, that is irrelevant to the problem. The first shot fired tells the tale, and if your first shot always goes where you want it to, you're on your way.

Last summer I dropped into Cabellas in Winnipeg and they had Winchester .270 130 gr ammo on sale for $20/box. At that price 1000 rounds of the stuff would cost about the same as your rifle and scope (plus you can save the brass if you want to handload down the road) but that 1000 rounds will make you a shooter if you fire every shot like you mean it.
 
Some good points above.

I would plan on spending almost as much on glass as rifle. There's little point in buying a really accurate rifle if you can't take advantage of that.

That said, how accurate do you really need it? If you're hunting gophers at 200 yards, then high accuracy is critical. If it's deer at 200 yards, they have a kill zone the size of a dinner plate - super accuracy is great, but it comes at a high cost, possibly making it an expensive luxury for you.

As to calibre, you will hear people championing this round or that. People will tell you that anything not invented in the last five years is hopelessly dated. The reality is that Bambi doesn't read ballistics tables. The .30/30 is a mediocre round in most ways, yet has probably taken more deer than most of the rest rolled together. Not saying you should get a .30/30 necessarily; my point is don't get sucked in by hyper-performance rounds that may be more than you need. .270 Win, .30-06, .308 Win, 6mm Rem, 8mm Mauser, 7mm-08 - anything in that class will serve very well for 90% of the big game hunting done in this country. Even old ones like the .303 British and .300 Savage fill dinner plates every year.

More important than anything is your ability to put the bullet where it needs to go. Find a rifle that feels good when you put it to your shoulder. Try a bunch and you'll know it when you feel it. If the cartridge is good and the price is right, go for it.
 
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Joe549 said:
Savage. .270 or .308 are excellent calibers that are not heavy on the recoil. You can go to the Savage website and use the 'Gun Finder' under the 'Firearms' drop down menu at the top of the screen and choose all the options you want and you will get a list of all the rifles that meet your criteria.

Also, what type of hunting do you plan to do? A long heavy barreled rifle is not necessarily the best choice if you are going to be walking the bush or shooting from a non-prone position. I would suggest the Model 11/111, 16/116 or 10/110, they will fall into your price range, minus a scope, unless you get a package gun. And since the question will come up I will answer it for you now; the difference between a Model 11 and 111 is that the 11 is a short action (.308) and the 111 is a long action (.270). Same applies for the rest of them, two digits in the model number (10,11,16 etc) indicate short action, three digits (110,111,116) are long actions.
Click to expand...

I have nothing but good thing to say about the savages i have owned, i haven't had any rems, tikkas, so i can't say anything about them.
I profer the .308 for the short action, i find it makes scope mounting easier with less of a spread on the reciever, but most of my hunting is under 150 yards, so it's more then enough for me
 
So you're from Medicine Hat. You'll be hunting the open country a lot more than the thick stuff. A LOT more. The .270 is my favorite open country deer cartridge, and I've hunted around Med Hat quite a bit. I think the advice to get a Tikka T3 is great advice. But if you got a Rem 700 then that should be fine too. The most important thing is that it fits you well and is comfortable. You need at least a 22 in barrel. Don't get anything shorter. Also, I wouldn't bother with anything longer than 24".
IF you hunt like I do, then you end up walking a lot. For that reason I like light rifles. My favorites right now are Husky 4000 and 4100's, Rem 700 Mountain Rifles, and also Tikka. These shoot straight, are light to carry, and kill deer without any trouble.

I usually put something along the lines of a Leupold VXII 3-9x40 or something on for glass, and I'm happy with those. I usually get out and hike and spot a deer. Put a stalk on and get within 200 yards. Then lie prone and shoot. That way is fun for me and puts meat in my freezer.

This is a good summary of several of my deer rifles, and I hunt where there isn't a tree for many miles, and I usually get more than one deer each season. So it's been working for me. But there's a lot of formulas out there that work for other people who do things differently than I do.

Some people, for example, like to truck hunt the open country. They drive and drive until they spot a deer. The get out the spotting scope and decide if it's worthy to shoot. Then they use the laser range finder to get the exact distance. Then they get their big-a$$ magnum [Like a .338 Edge or something] and set it on the hood of the truck. They dial in their huge scope with the adjustable turrets to the exact distance that they just lasered. Then it's just hold dead on and pull the trigger. Dead deer 600-700 yards away. Unless they didn't adjust properly for the wind. Which happens.

That's not my style of hunting, but I know of some people who do hunt that way.

So what I'm saying is, I know what works for me, but other things work well for others.
 
thank you huntin gun, i accually was wondering what size of barrel was best for where i will be hunting. its funny i have been looking at the tikka t3 rem 700 tactical and the weatherby vanguard.
 
If you want something thats heavy on calories, but has no flavor at all...... wait that doesn't sound good at all.

Other good rifles to look at are Thompson Centerfire Icon, and CZ 550.
 
As pretty as the new stuff is, I would suggest you head over to tradex. For $350 to $500 you can get a good rifle.
 
I was gonna say go Vanguard because one of my buddies has one and loves it. Even though he has some much more expensive rifles. Every time we have a backyard safari the vanguard comes out. As for caliber both are great.
 
It's been said already but it's worth repeating: you need to put at least as much effort into picking the right scope as choosing your rifle.
Up until very recently I hunted everything (elk in the mountains, moose in the bush, deer on the fields) with a rem 700 heavy 26" barrel in 308. I bought it because I had dreams of making 800 yard shots (hasnt happened) and became very confident with it. Yes, it's a pain to lug around but what matters most is whether or not YOU believe in the gun.
 
Keep it simple.

A Savage 111 in .308 or .270 or 30-06.

Leave the package scope on the counter of the shop... The scopes are junk IMHO as I have watched two fail right in front of me at the range a few years ago.

Mount a good 3x9x40 scope on it.
Practice, practice practice in real hunting positions.
 
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