Hunting rifle for beginer
- Thread starter canadiangunner
- Start date
For a beginner I stay away from the 30-06 in a light rifle. Recoil might be too much for you to do your best shooting.
Try shooting one before you plunk your money down.
For a starter rifle go with a 7-08, great for deer and enough for for moose and elk at reasonable ranges within 300 yards.
Remember the lighter the rifle weight the more the felt recoil. The 7/08 does well in that respect in a light weight Remington model 7.
Best you stick to ranges no further then 200 meters for the time being until your shooting improves.
For rifles look at Tikka, Winchester feather weight, Remington model 7, weatherby Vanguard, I always stayed away from the real cheap stuff, mostly you get what you pay for. You can luck out and find a trouble free ultra cheap rifle.
Buy the best scope you can afford, do not skimp on that!
Try shooting one before you plunk your money down.
For a starter rifle go with a 7-08, great for deer and enough for for moose and elk at reasonable ranges within 300 yards.
Remember the lighter the rifle weight the more the felt recoil. The 7/08 does well in that respect in a light weight Remington model 7.
Best you stick to ranges no further then 200 meters for the time being until your shooting improves.
For rifles look at Tikka, Winchester feather weight, Remington model 7, weatherby Vanguard, I always stayed away from the real cheap stuff, mostly you get what you pay for. You can luck out and find a trouble free ultra cheap rifle.
Buy the best scope you can afford, do not skimp on that!
- Location
- Lumby Town!!
If you want to handle a few different guns, PM me and we can meet out at the Vernon range...I'll try to get there next week one day
Pitched
Pitched
My first hunting rifle was a FN Winchester 70 FW in 30-06. Along with a Tikka it is probably one of the best rifles in that price range I think. About $800. Add a good scope like a Minox for $400 or a used Zeiss Conquest and you have a hell of a rig that will last a lifetime. Mine is 30-06.
Last year we bought a friend his first hunting rifle and he wanted to spend less. On a no tax sale he has a Savage Trophy Hunter 116 I believe with a decent scope all in for $550! It shoots MOA with factory loads. Can hardly go wrong with that! The plastic is ugly to me but how can you complain at that price! It does the job well.
My recommendation for caliber is 30-06 or .308. Not too big for deer and not too small for moose.
Last year we bought a friend his first hunting rifle and he wanted to spend less. On a no tax sale he has a Savage Trophy Hunter 116 I believe with a decent scope all in for $550! It shoots MOA with factory loads. Can hardly go wrong with that! The plastic is ugly to me but how can you complain at that price! It does the job well.
My recommendation for caliber is 30-06 or .308. Not too big for deer and not too small for moose.
- Location
- Somewhere on the Hudson Bay Coast
The rifle you start with should be the rifle you cherish for the rest of your life. It should not be one of the bargain basement rifles that are made by those companies that appear to be in a race to the bottom, neither does it need to cost $2K, although it can if you have the means. The rifle should be one that really grabs your imagination, and that you imagine as the one rifle that is appropriate for all of your future adventures. Thus your quest is for the illusive do it all rifle. When I was a youngster the answer to the question was a Winchester M-70 in .30/06, and today that remains a viable choice.
The important elements of the big game rifle are weight, balance, and overall length the combination of which could be termed handiness. The rifle should not be so heavy as to cause undue fatigue after several hours on the trail. Neither though should it be so light that recoil is unnecessarily punishing. Mountain hunting is arduous, as is hiking in loose sand, and if either of those situations are likely to be in your future, a 6 pound rifle is preferable to an 8 pound rifle, and recoil be damned. There is no benefit to a heavy contour barrel on a general purpose big game rifle. It adds unnecessary weight, and unless very short, results in a poorly balanced rifle. A light contoured barrel is not necessarily less accurate for the first shot; what the heavy barrel allows is fire long shot strings without the barrel heating and shifting the point of impact. Rifle accuracy provides confidence to the hunter, and while the rifle should shoot tighter than we can hold, there is little point in expecting it to stay tighter than a minute of angle. Shooting from field positions, under real world conditions, 2 MOA is much better than most of us can hold, and represents a very high standard which we should to aspire to. If you can shoot two quick shots from a position other than prone, and hit a 200 yard target within an inch either side of your aiming point, the accuracy of your rifle will not be what causes you to miss that buck.
A good trigger is the single most important element a rifle can have with respect to field marksmanship. A good trigger can be defined as one which fires the rifle with no perceptible movement with a single stage trigger, or no perceptible movement once the slack of a two stage trigger is taken up. The weight of the trigger should be light enough to fire the rifle without strain or tremor, within the safety parameters determined by how the rifle is used. A target rifle which is only used on the range on nice summer days, is much different than the big game rifle that is used in the field, in wet numbing cold that makes it difficult to feel contact with the trigger, combined with the excitement of sighting on a live target. This is not the place for a 2 ounce trigger, and even a 3 pound trigger might be too light for those excitable types.
While reliable cycling speaks for itself, you want to be able to run the bolt effortlessly with the rifle at your shoulder. Most modern bolt actions #### on opening, and the effort to lift the bolt, which cocks the bolt and partially withdraws the fired cartridge in a single motion, should not be enough to cause the rifle to twist in your grip. The ejection of the cartridge, fired or unfired, must be positive, ensuring the brass fully clears the rifle. The top cartridge in the magazine should be picked up by the bolt without a hiccup, and chamber effortlessly. The action needs to be robust, as positive cycling, is accomplished through vigorous cycling of the bolt. The b otgl handle should not peal off in your hand.
If you short stroke the rifle, usually the result of gently cycling the bolt, and causes a jam with one one round in the chamber and another in front of the bolt, you should be able to clear the jam without having to take the rifle apart. Thus either a hinged floor-plate or a detachable box magazine (DBM) is preferable to a blind magazine. However, a hinged floor-plate must be able to withstand normal handling and recoil without unlatching and dumping its ammo on the ground, and the detachable magazine should not have the magazine release situated in a place that it can inadvertently be released and the magazine lost. I prefer the hinged floor-plate myself, because it stays with the rifle, but hunters, who in the course of a day might travel from spot to spot by motor vehicle, might prefer the convenience of a DBM.
Sights that you can see under all daylight conditions, regardless of background are desirable. When you shoulder the rifle, the sights should be in your field of view, the instant your cheek hits he comb. Although the use of optics are almost universal, your rifle should be equipped with iron sights, and you should use them enough to ensure competence and confidence, and to understand your limitations with them. The big game rifle benefits from the use of quick detachable scope mounts, so if the scope is damaged you can quickly remove it and use the irons, or mount that second scope in your pack, without the need of tools. Its important not to over-scope your rifle. The primary benefit of the scope is that it places both the aiming point, that is the reticle, on the same focal plane as the target, thus both are in focus at the same time, where as iron sights can never be in focus with one another and neither can be in focus when the target is in focus. Magnification should be sufficient to see your target, and by that I mean the entire target. If you aim at a moose, and all you can see is eye ball, you have too much scope. Magnification should never be at the cost of field of view. On a rifle that fits you, the scope's ocular should not extend much behind the cocking piece of the bolt, and certainly not behind the rear bow of the trigger guard. Shooting at a steep angle from a rested position will bring the ocular closer to you, and if thew scope is mounted to far to the rear, sooner or later you'll get cut.
The stock should fit you; a rifle that fits is handier to use, its easier to shoot well quickly, and felt recoil is significantly lessened by a rifle that is not too long for the shooter. Most factory rifle stocks are too long, and despite the popularity of plastic and fiberglass stocks, a wood stock is easier to shorten and fit a recoil pad to. Its not a bad idea to have a recoil pad even on rifles chambered for mild mannered cartridges, as the recoil pad is less prone to slipping on your shoulder than is a plastic or metal butt-plate. Your trigger finger should easily reach the face of the trigger when the butt is placed in the crook of your arm and your arm held at 90 degrees to your shoulder. You should consider the measurement when you are dressed in your typical hunting clothing. A bulky coat reduces your LOP compared to wearing a T-shirt.
The choice of cartridge is less important than the choice of rifle, with one proviso; if you have little centerfire rifle experience, your cartridge should not be one that ends with the word Magnum. Additionally, a bore diameter of 6.5 mm (.264") should probably be the smallest considered. This is obviously not what is recommended by the minimalists who might well suggest a .223, a .22-250, or a .243, but big game hunting is not varminting, and IMHO, the big game rifle cartridge should be available with at least 130 gr bullets. One might point out that the difference in bore size between the .257s and the 6.5s is a mere 7 thousandths of an inch, which should be inconsequential if both bullets arfe of equal weight and were to impact at the same velocity. But available bullet weights for the 6.5 run up to 160 grs, while those for the .257s stop at 120, making the 6.5s the better choice for a general purpose big game cartridge. Unless your hunting will be restricted to deer only, in which case the quarter bores are an excellent choice, the .257s should be passed over for.
The important elements of the big game rifle are weight, balance, and overall length the combination of which could be termed handiness. The rifle should not be so heavy as to cause undue fatigue after several hours on the trail. Neither though should it be so light that recoil is unnecessarily punishing. Mountain hunting is arduous, as is hiking in loose sand, and if either of those situations are likely to be in your future, a 6 pound rifle is preferable to an 8 pound rifle, and recoil be damned. There is no benefit to a heavy contour barrel on a general purpose big game rifle. It adds unnecessary weight, and unless very short, results in a poorly balanced rifle. A light contoured barrel is not necessarily less accurate for the first shot; what the heavy barrel allows is fire long shot strings without the barrel heating and shifting the point of impact. Rifle accuracy provides confidence to the hunter, and while the rifle should shoot tighter than we can hold, there is little point in expecting it to stay tighter than a minute of angle. Shooting from field positions, under real world conditions, 2 MOA is much better than most of us can hold, and represents a very high standard which we should to aspire to. If you can shoot two quick shots from a position other than prone, and hit a 200 yard target within an inch either side of your aiming point, the accuracy of your rifle will not be what causes you to miss that buck.
A good trigger is the single most important element a rifle can have with respect to field marksmanship. A good trigger can be defined as one which fires the rifle with no perceptible movement with a single stage trigger, or no perceptible movement once the slack of a two stage trigger is taken up. The weight of the trigger should be light enough to fire the rifle without strain or tremor, within the safety parameters determined by how the rifle is used. A target rifle which is only used on the range on nice summer days, is much different than the big game rifle that is used in the field, in wet numbing cold that makes it difficult to feel contact with the trigger, combined with the excitement of sighting on a live target. This is not the place for a 2 ounce trigger, and even a 3 pound trigger might be too light for those excitable types.
While reliable cycling speaks for itself, you want to be able to run the bolt effortlessly with the rifle at your shoulder. Most modern bolt actions #### on opening, and the effort to lift the bolt, which cocks the bolt and partially withdraws the fired cartridge in a single motion, should not be enough to cause the rifle to twist in your grip. The ejection of the cartridge, fired or unfired, must be positive, ensuring the brass fully clears the rifle. The top cartridge in the magazine should be picked up by the bolt without a hiccup, and chamber effortlessly. The action needs to be robust, as positive cycling, is accomplished through vigorous cycling of the bolt. The b otgl handle should not peal off in your hand.
If you short stroke the rifle, usually the result of gently cycling the bolt, and causes a jam with one one round in the chamber and another in front of the bolt, you should be able to clear the jam without having to take the rifle apart. Thus either a hinged floor-plate or a detachable box magazine (DBM) is preferable to a blind magazine. However, a hinged floor-plate must be able to withstand normal handling and recoil without unlatching and dumping its ammo on the ground, and the detachable magazine should not have the magazine release situated in a place that it can inadvertently be released and the magazine lost. I prefer the hinged floor-plate myself, because it stays with the rifle, but hunters, who in the course of a day might travel from spot to spot by motor vehicle, might prefer the convenience of a DBM.
Sights that you can see under all daylight conditions, regardless of background are desirable. When you shoulder the rifle, the sights should be in your field of view, the instant your cheek hits he comb. Although the use of optics are almost universal, your rifle should be equipped with iron sights, and you should use them enough to ensure competence and confidence, and to understand your limitations with them. The big game rifle benefits from the use of quick detachable scope mounts, so if the scope is damaged you can quickly remove it and use the irons, or mount that second scope in your pack, without the need of tools. Its important not to over-scope your rifle. The primary benefit of the scope is that it places both the aiming point, that is the reticle, on the same focal plane as the target, thus both are in focus at the same time, where as iron sights can never be in focus with one another and neither can be in focus when the target is in focus. Magnification should be sufficient to see your target, and by that I mean the entire target. If you aim at a moose, and all you can see is eye ball, you have too much scope. Magnification should never be at the cost of field of view. On a rifle that fits you, the scope's ocular should not extend much behind the cocking piece of the bolt, and certainly not behind the rear bow of the trigger guard. Shooting at a steep angle from a rested position will bring the ocular closer to you, and if thew scope is mounted to far to the rear, sooner or later you'll get cut.
The stock should fit you; a rifle that fits is handier to use, its easier to shoot well quickly, and felt recoil is significantly lessened by a rifle that is not too long for the shooter. Most factory rifle stocks are too long, and despite the popularity of plastic and fiberglass stocks, a wood stock is easier to shorten and fit a recoil pad to. Its not a bad idea to have a recoil pad even on rifles chambered for mild mannered cartridges, as the recoil pad is less prone to slipping on your shoulder than is a plastic or metal butt-plate. Your trigger finger should easily reach the face of the trigger when the butt is placed in the crook of your arm and your arm held at 90 degrees to your shoulder. You should consider the measurement when you are dressed in your typical hunting clothing. A bulky coat reduces your LOP compared to wearing a T-shirt.
The choice of cartridge is less important than the choice of rifle, with one proviso; if you have little centerfire rifle experience, your cartridge should not be one that ends with the word Magnum. Additionally, a bore diameter of 6.5 mm (.264") should probably be the smallest considered. This is obviously not what is recommended by the minimalists who might well suggest a .223, a .22-250, or a .243, but big game hunting is not varminting, and IMHO, the big game rifle cartridge should be available with at least 130 gr bullets. One might point out that the difference in bore size between the .257s and the 6.5s is a mere 7 thousandths of an inch, which should be inconsequential if both bullets arfe of equal weight and were to impact at the same velocity. But available bullet weights for the 6.5 run up to 160 grs, while those for the .257s stop at 120, making the 6.5s the better choice for a general purpose big game cartridge. Unless your hunting will be restricted to deer only, in which case the quarter bores are an excellent choice, the .257s should be passed over for.
My vote is also for a .308 or 7MM-08. If you are new to shooting as well as hunting, recoil on .30-06 or .270 is more "substantial". If you sticking to Deer Hunting, consider a .243 or 6.5X55 Swedish, flat shooting and minimal recoil. Great target gun as well. As for Brand - well - start in the used market and pick up a decent rifle for the cost of "Wal-Mart" packages. Browning X or A Bolt, Tikka T3 Lite or Remington 700 - The list goes on… So I won't be scorned by ^^^^ I'll throw in the Winchester Model 70 as well, great rifle.
- Location
- Prince Albert, Sk
I used Model 70 in .270 or .308.
Plenty big for 99% of critters you will hunt, a reliable rifle and a common chambering with moderate recoil.
If buying new, the world is your oyster, too many to list but go and handle as many as you can, chambering wise anything from .260 to .308 will be plenty and a fixed 4 power , 2-7 or 3-9 basic scope.I'd go one step above the entry level budget rifles myself.
You will still be budget oriented but with reliability with a used.
Plenty big for 99% of critters you will hunt, a reliable rifle and a common chambering with moderate recoil.
If buying new, the world is your oyster, too many to list but go and handle as many as you can, chambering wise anything from .260 to .308 will be plenty and a fixed 4 power , 2-7 or 3-9 basic scope.I'd go one step above the entry level budget rifles myself.
You will still be budget oriented but with reliability with a used.
Great idea....always good to see a fellow sportsman helping another...
tylerjwitty
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Northern Ontario
I would go used personally
beretta boy
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Orillia, Ontario
"Boomer" ... sage advice.
who are you going hunting with? Have you been hunting before with a borrowed gun or is the plan to buy one and teach yourself?
The reason I ask is if you have never gone and are set on doing it on your own then buy cheap just in case you don't like the sport. However if you have gone with others before and like the sport buy quality that will last you a lifetime rather than looking at the cheapest way to get in and borrow until you can afford it if needed. I seen many new hunters waste many thousands upgrading over the years even though they ended up with what they wanted from the start but would not spend the money on initially.
Being a Savage fan boy I could recommend them but if your looking for a great first hunting rifle it is very hard to beat a Tikka T3 lite. Only weights just over 6 lbs and the smoothest (if that's a word) action on the market and MOA out of the box. Having owned a Remington, I would stay clear of now especially after all the recalls they've had.
I would go with 308 myself. Great all around, do everything round and is what my wife will be using for her first hunting trip this Oct, just bought her the new Tikka T3 lite compact. Second would be a 243.
I would go with 308 myself. Great all around, do everything round and is what my wife will be using for her first hunting trip this Oct, just bought her the new Tikka T3 lite compact. Second would be a 243.
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- Location
- Lumby Town!!
What Boomer said....there so more then a little wisdom there
For a NEW shooter a 7mm-08 is a nice round but sometimes hard to find ammo, 2nd choice would be 308.....many like the 270 but I have never been a fan, .280 Rem does everything a 270 does but with much better bullet selection.
tylerjwitty
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Northern Ontario
243 and anything up for deer sized critters .
