Officially confused on choosing my first and maybe the only one for a long long time.

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southlandrise

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Hi guy! This rifle will be my first firearm! Also because of that, I can not make the choice!

I live in BC and my piggy bank is really not that fully filled.
I plan to buy a rifle that can do small game , and also can catch a deer and has reasonable strength to protect me from bear.

First I wanted a semi-auto rimfire since it is cheap and low recoil.(Just checked the ammo price, .22 LR ammo is ridiculously cheap! Why I can't use it for hunting?!)
Then friendly people from rimfire section told me that rimfire is not allowed for deer, elk or bear.
Since this will be my only rifle for a long long time, I decided to buy a centerfire!

Here is the question.
What calibre should I choose? .223/.243/.270/.308? I would like the one has legally hunting load is easy to be found in Greater Vancouver, BC. For example, .308 FMJ load can be found everywhere but it is not ok.

Ruger® American Rifle® Bolt-Action Rifles is really good in price but its magazine only carries 4 bullets. There is not a larger one! I searched a while and all of them are 4 rounds. Is really 4 round enough for hunting?

Thanks guys!
 
well you really only need one . I know this contradicts was video games and movies try and portray however, we don't increase our odds by filling the air with lead hoping to strike the creature. I don't believe in Ontario your able to hunt small game with a centerfire rifle. seems like your best bet for small game is forget rip off gun shops and find someone who has a 50 dollar single shot 12 gauge or a bolt or semi 22. after that being as I don't like the thought of a big arsed grizzle raping me in the woods I would get a 308. the recoil is fairly tame but got a lot of hurt on the end the counts.

my .02s worth put it towards getting a gun.
 
Yes, the 22LR does not have enough power to reliably kill a deer, and it is illegal to use on big game. A 243 would probably be a good beginners cartridge for deer. It has little recoil and the ammunition is available just about anywhere. As for the magazine capacity, big game is usually killed with only one or two shots, practice until you can reliably hit a target offhand at reasonable ranges before you go out. Don't shoot unless you are confident in the shot or you will leave a lot of wounded animals wandering through the woods.
As for bear defence, if you can't hit the bear charging at you, no gun will help. Stay safe.
 
A Tikka T3 in 308. (they have 5 round mag models, they are more expensive but perhaps you can use the 5 round mags in the cheaper models)

Don't be tempted by cheaper domestic brands. I made that mistake and never again. The Tikka costs more but the extra few hundred you would spend gets you a rifle that will keep you happy even if you are later able to afford something much fancier. You don't even have to take my word for it. Go to a gun shop and play with them, you won't find a better action and build quality (stock quality, fitment) in anything in its price range.

And 308 is the perfect caliber. It's got enough kick to let you know that you're not shooting a BB gun but not to the point where the recoil will be on the back of your mind as you set up for a shot. It has enough power to take down anything you would hunt but ammo is affordable and plentiful, and everyone and their grandmother has a reloading recipe. Plus being a domesticated military round, you can get cheap Russian steel ammo like MFS and Bernaul - at that point it's not much more money than a small caliber pistol to shoot.
 
Buy an air rifle and learn how to shoot it, then a bolt action .22 with a scope and practice with it for a year, by that time you will have a bit more knowledge and will be able to choose a hunting rifle.
 
I'm not sure about BC, but in ON you may legally only have 3 bullets/shells loaded (2 in the mag +1 in the chamber) at any time. So a 4 shot mag is plenty.

That said, my first rifle was a Browning XBolt in .308. Plenty of stopping power and good to hunt whatever I like.
 
I don't think you can just get 1 rifle haha... if you want a quality yet cheap starter setup get a .22 with good reviews, Ruger 10/22, a Henry, Remington ect you can get one for under $300, that covers you for small game and cheap learning... and get a Russian SKS $200, that gives you some more power and covers you for big game. Maybe Im suggesting this bc its what I did, but it worked for me. $500 and you have both worlds covered.
 
Some of the best starter rifles will be lever actions as well. The 30-30 round is a great round for hunting deer. Some great lever actions you could look at would be a marlin 336c or a mossberg 464. They both come in 30-30 but have different quirks. The marlin 336c had the common side ejection port which helps eliminate the risk of spent casings hitting your scope. The mossberg 464 had a top ejection system but its angled internally to reduce the same type of risk. The mossberg is a bit better for aim with iron sights based on the fact that it has 3 dot fibre optic sights while the marlin has a rear buck horn sight and hooded front sight. Both of these are very reasonable in price.
 
southlandrise said:
What calibre should I choose? .223/.243/.270/.308? I would like the one has legally hunting load is easy to be found in Greater Vancouver, BC. For example, .308 FMJ load can be found everywhere but it is not ok.

Ruger® American Rifle® Bolt-Action Rifles is really good in price but its magazine only carries 4 bullets. There is not a larger one! I searched a while and all of them are 4 rounds. Is really 4 round enough for hunting?

Thanks guys!
Click to expand...

A .270 or .308 are both fantastic hunting cartridges, and soft point ammo is readily available for both. Canadian Tire or Walmart should have all the ammo you need for a hunt.

As for magazine capacity, you can not have more than 5 rounds in a center-fire firearm for hunting (4 in the mag, 1 in the chamber), and it is more than sufficient for hunting. By rights, you should only need 1 shot anyways.

Keep in mind, I live and hunt in Saskatchewan and these are the regulations here. Your province may be different, go online and grab the BC Hunting Synopsis, or visit your local hunting license/tag issuer to pick up a copy. Read the regulations to make sure you don't get fined/imprisoned for poaching.
 
LowPost42 said:
I'm not sure about BC, but in ON you may legally only have 3 bullets/shells loaded (2 in the mag +1 in the chamber) at any time. So a 4 shot mag is plenty.

That said, my first rifle was a Browning XBolt in .308. Plenty of stopping power and good to hunt whatever I like.
Click to expand...
You can hunt with a rifle with 5 shots for semi, and no limit for bolts, pump or lever.
 
LowPost42 said:
I'm not sure about BC, but in ON you may legally only have 3 bullets/shells loaded (2 in the mag +1 in the chamber) at any time. So a 4 shot mag is plenty.
Click to expand...

That limitation only applies to shotguns used while hunting and the gun must be plugged so it cannot hold more.
Semi-auto centrefires are limited to 5 rounds. All other centerfires have no limit.
4 shots is still plenty while hunting, especially since there is no limit to how many rounds or mags you can carry on your person.
 
Thank you guys for all of the useful information!

Thanks for every one's help. I think I really need two of them. A rimfire and a center fire. I believe that .270 should be good enough for even a black bear.

Here is another question, soft point ammo will wound and kill the animal quickly so they don't suffer too much. What about the lead in the tissue? I believe that lead is a heavy metal and will cause serious problem. Once the bullet expand, small amount of lead will spread out by the blood circulation. Is that totally safe to eat, or it is bad but ok in a small amount?
 
Therefore, my plan is to get a cheap .22LR semi-auto and a .270 rifle. Also I checked SKS, really cheap and also a semi-auto rifle. I am wondering if it has a lot of trouble. People complained about its jamming and low accuracy on youtube. Is 7.62x39 soft point hard to find?

Oh, my! Forget about SKS! Even a scope mount needs a grater adjustment to fit in.
 
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If it was me, I would get a .308 or 30-06 in a used model 70 Winchester. You simply can't go wrong with that rifle. Then for small game pick up a used single shot .410.
 
What do you mean by "small game"? if you intend to hunt coyotes and deer then a 243 would be great. If you want to hunt pheasants, grouse, rabbits and such, and still want to have a scrap of meat left after you shoot it then no centrefire will be appropriate. As has been mentioned before get a really cheap 22 and have fun with that for the small stuff. $150 should buy you any kind of 22 you want if you look around. Then either 270 or 308 is a good choice. Both ammo readily available. 308 has the advantage of cheap FMJ rounds for range time. If you are absolutely set on just one gun and want to save as much money as possible then buy an old Remington 870 shotgun, since you won't hunt waterfowl get one with a 2.75" receiver and fixed full choke. Then buy a rifled slug barrel to go with it. small game at close range taken care of...deer out to 100 yds taken care of...bear defense taken care of. But that's a pretty cheap option and I would not suggest it over the others
 
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