Inexpensive, low recoil caliber for Newbie Hunter?

njlondon said:
The .270 will cost you a great deal more for practice if you are shooting a lot.
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Only if you are practicing with surplus. Winchester Super-X is the same price in 270 and 308.

I'm going to be a bit of a contrarian here and suggest something like a BSA P14/17 or a 30-30 and spend the rest of your money on binoculars. I'd rather hunt with an inexpensive rifle and high end binoculars than the other way around. In fact I'd sooner forget my rifle at home than my binoculars.
 
A few decades ago I was looking to buy my first hunting rifle. I wanted the flattest shooting; most capable cartridge for the recoil while being relatively mainstream. I had every intention of reloading although I didn't even know anyone who did.

Ended up with a .270, which turned into a string of 270s. I would at least try to buy the rifle that you're going to end up with. It doesn't always work out that way but it's worth a try. Then shoot the hell out of it.
 
My choice would be:
A Savage or Weatherby in 308
A 243 is also good - the 6.5CM is expensive to reload if you do not have any reloading equipment

will go back to 308 as my choice of caliber (ammo is plentiful and inexpensive)
 
Handloading and rifle shooting go hand in hand. The handloader can make the rifle do what he needs it to do, up to the limits of it's design. If low recoil is a concern, again handloading provides the solution in moderate velocity loads with light for caliber bullets; once you have the shooting experience to understand that recoil doesn't matter very much in general purpose big game rifles, you can load it to be a killer of giants that are a long, long way away.

As for low cost, handloading allows more shooting for each dollar you have to spend, but these days centerfire rifle shooting isn't particularly cheap, .30 caliber bullets today cost what I paid for .416s 20 years ago. Purchasing a 1000 rounds of cast bullets will give you the opportunity to have some low cost shooting since your brass will last almost indefinitely, and you only use a pinch of pistol powder to make em go. Some folks frown on the practice since its easy to inadvertently double charge a load . . . a word to the wise is don't. If you're not sure if you've charged a case, dump it out and charge it again. Another way to cheat the cost of ammo is to purchase surplus military ammo, pull the FMJ factory bullet, neck size the case, and seat a soft point bullet of equal weight.
 
GMC403 said:
I’ve basically tried em all (like many here) in many different configs and cals.

I Love my Ruger Scout. Just my 2C

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gorby said:
I was looking at those guys as well. Pretty sweet looking set-up.
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I'm on the same page, but with the synthetic stock, cut 1lbs off. Has a decent recoil pad on it and you can adjust you length of pull to fit perfect which also helps with felt recoil. Picked mine up used for $950.
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308 comes to mind. If you go with a 270 the ammo is same price for commercial rounds, within the same load (Fusion, Power Shok, Premium, etc). 308 would have some FMJ milsurp which will be accurate enough to practice shooting from field positions with
 
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(did not read all the replies)

What sort of range are you planning on shooting at? 300m+, 150-250M? That will affect your decision a great deal, as the advantages gained from the 6.5 or 7mil variants may not be as pronounced if you are hunting at lower ranges.

outside of that I would suggest the 308 as well. My understanding is that the 270 is a wildcat of the 30-06 cartridge, the same way the 243/6.5cr/7mm-08 is a wildcat of the 308, and in my experience the recoil difference seems to be more affected by the casing than the bullet itself (plenty of other factors aside).

243 is nice and common, but probably not up to the task of elk, but realistically, you will likely have bought a few more rifles by the time you get to that hunt if you are thinking about it as plans for the future.
 
Hyllar said:
(did not read all the replies)

What sort of range are you planning on shooting at? 300m+, 150-250M? That will affect your decision a great deal, as the advantages gained from the 6.5 or 7mil variants may not be as pronounced if you are hunting at lower ranges.

outside of that I would suggest the 308 as well. My understanding is that the 270 is a wildcat of the 30-06 cartridge, the same way the 243/6.5cr/7mm-08 is a wildcat of the 308, and in my experience the recoil difference seems to be more affected by the casing than the bullet itself (plenty of other factors aside).

243 is nice and common, but probably not up to the task of elk, but realistically, you will likely have bought a few more rifles by the time you get to that hunt if you are thinking about it as plans for the future.
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.270 is a necked down 30-03
 
owlowl said:
Take average mosin, do nothing with it, take milsurp ammo (because you are cheap and OP does not reload) and you have 5 MOA, sticky bolt, good for nothing rifle at best. Putting scope on it - A PROJECT. If you are gunsmithing and whatnot, you are 1% of mosin owners who can make it to a decent condition. All the others are totally junk, they are rotting unclean after corrosive ammo and sold 10 times as a "boom sticks".

You take ANY factory modern bolt action and you are close to 1MOA with factory ammo most of the time, bases, rails and rings - not a problem. With mosin even you iron sights are set to be used with spike bayonet attached. Come on, no new hunter should go through this pain.

Now lets hear about "I knew a guy who knew a guy who has original Westinghouse made Mosin with PU scope and was winning F-class with corrosive ammo". Come on.
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Nice try Cupernicus . If you were payin' attention ye would have noticed that I recommended a .308 to the OP & mentioned that getting into reloading ain't that expensive. Where the f**k does shooting F class with an old Westinghouse made MN enter the picture? Yer obviously not into Mosins as ye be rather lacking on their history and use.

Don't be putting words in me mouth whilst ye foot be in yours.f:P:

I'd take a few of these gladly.
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SHELL SHUCKER said:
I tend to disagree on that one, along with the many Mosin Nagant shooters & owners out there that hunt & compete with 'em. Nothin' wrong with the design, just gotta get a tidy unit with a good bore & chamber then tinker on 'er a tad to get the bugger dialed in.;) The 7.62x54r is every bit as accurate as the 308 in a decent rifle set up for the task intended.

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Military rifles, as a rule, don't make very good hunting rifles, IMHO. They can be superbly accurate, but tend to be heavy, long and clunky. I know a whole whack of guys that hunted with M44's when Polish ones, brand new, came around for $49 in the 80's. I regret selling all the ones I had at the time, but they weren't a very user-friendly gun, and the safety was next to impossible to use with cold fingers. The Garand is an awesome toy, but I wouldn't buy one as my sole hunting rifle. You'd be much better served by an Axis or Vanguard.
 
SHELL SHUCKER said:
Don't be putting words in me mouth whilst ye foot be in yours.f:P:
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Milsurp 7.62x54r came up, I said it would be bad idea for the question originally asked, you said it would be fine and dandy with a picture of rifle which is as remote to what OP asked as it could be. Was it not the case?

How you can possibly think that was a good or even relevant advice is beyond me, considering that OP has NEITHER experience, nor MONEY and does not reload and wants to learn shooting and hunting. And at best will be able to get a beat up, straight bold, rotten piece of junk, which was the worst mass produced military bolt action design to begin with. The only appeal of which is price to be honest. But practically ANYTHING else on the market is better shooting, easier to scope and find decent ammunition for, unless you consider learning on how to shoot iron sights with bayonet attached to a 30 inch barrel a valid hunting experience.
 
@owlowl 7.62x54r came up in regards to felt recoil between it and .308, nobody recommend a Mosin or svt40 for target shooting or hunting. You were the one to immediately slag on them and the cartridge, so take big breath and brush the sand out of your ###### lol. We get it, you don’t approve of them...
 
Papaclaude said:
Military rifles, as a rule, don't make very good hunting rifles, IMHO. They can be superbly accurate, but tend to be heavy, long and clunky. I know a whole whack of guys that hunted with M44's when Polish ones, brand new, came around for $49 in the 80's. I regret selling all the ones I had at the time, but they weren't a very user-friendly gun, and the safety was next to impossible to use with cold fingers. The Garand is an awesome toy, but I wouldn't buy one as my sole hunting rifle. You'd be much better served by an Axis or Vanguard.
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Yep fer sure. Been there, done that with the Polish units & regret selling my last one a few years back. For my use, it was a great hunting & plinking rifle. Was fun to do up & an accurate bugger it was. The Polish ones were the nicest M44's. That said, a Vanguard or 783 and the like are the better option for most folks.
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owlowl said:
Milsurp 7.62x54r came up, I said it would be bad idea for the question originally asked, you said it would be fine and dandy with a picture of rifle which is as remote to what OP asked as it could be. Was it not the case?

How you can possibly think that was a good or even relevant advice is beyond me, considering that OP has NEITHER experience, nor MONEY and does not reload and wants to learn shooting and hunting. And at best will be able to get a beat up, straight bold, rotten piece of junk, which was the worst mass produced military bolt action design to begin with. The only appeal of which is price to be honest. But practically ANYTHING else on the market is better shooting, easier to scope and find decent ammunition for, unless you consider learning on how to shoot iron sights with bayonet attached to a 30 inch barrel a valid hunting experience.
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ZZZZZZZZZZZZ....fart...ZZZZZZZZ.
 
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