Suggest my first big game rifle

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Blake94

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Hey all,

I am looking for a good deer hunting rifle to use this up coming season and I figured many people would enjoy chiming in to give their opinion. My soft limit is $800, but if another 100 bucks means the difference between a rifle that will last me 5 years vs 20 years, I will happily spend the extra money. I'm not looking to buy the cheapest rifle I can, I want to use this thing for years to come, but I also don't need anything really expensive with all the bells and whistles.

I am considering either 308 or 30-06. I hope to use this rifle to hunt some larger game in the future so I am not really looking for any caliber smaller than that.

So throw it out there! Let me know what you would use if this was your first big game rifle.

Regards,
Blake
 
Old husqvarna..or new zastava, cz, or weatherby vanguard.
All within your price range, multiple big game calipers, all will last more than a lifetime and little to none plastic parts.
Most have iron sights, as well drilled and tapped for optics
 
Sporterized Enfield. They've been used to take every delicious animal in this country since the end of the war.
 
Blake,
Will you be hunting with family and or friends or other people that have hunted?
What type of area do you plan to hunt in, bush, fields or combination of both.
Do you like Bolt action, Lever action, Pump or Semi auto.
Will you be sitting in a stand or still hunting?
There are many questions that you need to asked and answered before you run out and buy a rifle.
My suggestion would be a 308, It's a great combination cartridge and can be found in every style of rifle.
I am also a fan of the 270 but currently my deer rifle is a 243 compact.
You will get all kinds of answers here, I can hardly wait to read the suggestions.

David
 
800-900 will get you a used tikka T3 in either of your chosen calibres. That will most probably be the best value for your money. If you shop around you can even find new T3’s on sale in the $900 range.
Keep in mind you’ll need to add mounts and an optic if your chosen rifle doesn’t have iron sights.
 
X2, a pretty and good shape sporterized Lee Enfield, filled freezers for many families on all big game species in Canada, you can use the money saved to get a nice case, cleaning kit, and ammo, and you'll still be using it 103 years later, just as I'm using my great grandfather's from 1918,
Don't get me wrong, I like my modern rifles, with vortex/leupold scopes, but I have taken more game with the Enfield.

Cheers
 
260SnowBird said:
X2, a pretty and good shape sporterized Lee Enfield, filled freezers for many families on all big game species in Canada, you can use the money saved to get a nice case, cleaning kit, and ammo, and you'll still be using it 103 years later, just as I'm using my great grandfather's from 1918,
Don't get me wrong, I like my modern rifles, with vortex/leupold scopes, but I have taken more game with the Enfield.

Cheers
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Gele Donut said:
Sporterized Enfield. They've been used to take every delicious animal in this country since the end of the war.
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Until you look at the price of 303 British ammo in 2021 and fall over dead from it. $50/box!

At that rate it does not take long to make up the difference of a 308 or 3006, priced at $20-$25 box

The Americans dont use it, and they arent making much of it any more. Its only going to get worse too.
 
Anyways, see this thread. Its a little dated (IE prices are different now then 10 years ago). But the rest of the thread is a great place to start. The section about Savage Stevens 200 has since exploded into basically ever major gun company producing a "budget" rifle package with scope in the $400-600 range.

https://www.canadiangunnutz.com/for...hould-my-first-hunting-rifle-be-thread-advice

I would advice you to check out local availability and price of ammo for whatever cartridge you choose.
 
Sounds like a modernish 308 bolt action is what your after. Lots of good choices. CZ and Tikka are both excellent. Heck theres even decent Savages.I wouldn’t be scared to buy used either.
 
Isobar1999 said:
800-900 will get you a used tikka T3 in either of your chosen calibres. That will most probably be the best value for your money. If you shop around you can even find new T3’s on sale in the $900 range.
Keep in mind you’ll need to add mounts and an optic if your chosen rifle doesn’t have iron sights.
Click to expand...

this

and you will never have trouble reselling it if you decide you want something else
 
Get a used Remington 700 BDL in .30-06 or a Winchester Model 70 in .30-06 or Ruger M77 in .30-06 and never look back. A decent 3-9x40 scope will top it off nicely. Some places have the Sauer 100 XT on sale right now in your price range. They have to be the nicest rifle for the money out there too.
 
.270 Win is a great cartridge, maybe consider it as well.

I have a sporterized .303, Parker Hale. It was my go to hunting gun for a while. It has a scope mount on it. Got a lifetime of ammo with it from my old friend. These are pretty cool guns.
 
blasted_saber said:
Until you look at the price of 303 British ammo in 2021 and fall over dead from it. $50/box!

At that rate it does not take long to make up the difference of a 308 or 3006, priced at $20-$25 box

The Americans dont use it, and they arent making much of it any more. Its only going to get worse too.
Click to expand...

I don't really worry about hunting ammo cost the way I see it is if you're going through several boxes of ammo every hunt maybe hunting isn't for you? For competition or plinking it's a different story.
 
Gele Donut said:
I don't really worry about hunting ammo cost the way I see it is if you're going through several boxes of ammo every hunt maybe hunting isn't for you? For competition or plinking it's a different story.
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Well, the bottom line is relevant to a lot of people. Its not economical to shoot 303 Brit anymore. Those days are long gone. With a 308 he can shoot literally twice as much for the same dollar. Shooting more is also helpful for a new shooter.

I have an SMLE. I like it. I had a beautiful commercial sporter No4 that I just traded on a 243. Its off to a guy who will reload and happily shoot with on the range.

But they arent great hunting guns, especially given their difficulty to scope.
 
Check out the Weatherby Vanguard S2 in either .308 or 30-06, whatever you like. Nice, accurate, well built rifles that are reasonably priced. You can't go too wrong with one of these if you like the feel and fit of them.
 
Blake94 said:
Hey all,

I am looking for a good deer hunting rifle to use this up coming season and I figured many people would enjoy chiming in to give their opinion. My soft limit is $800, but if another 100 bucks means the difference between a rifle that will last me 5 years vs 20 years, I will happily spend the extra money. I'm not looking to buy the cheapest rifle I can, I want to use this thing for years to come, but I also don't need anything really expensive with all the bells and whistles.

I am considering either 308 or 30-06. I hope to use this rifle to hunt some larger game in the future so I am not really looking for any caliber smaller than that.

So throw it out there! Let me know what you would use if this was your first big game rifle.

Regards,
Blake
Click to expand...

My best overall advice I could give you is check out all the rifles within your price range, not forgetting an optic (if determined you require one) and get the feel for each of them in person, this will narrow your own personal taste/interests down from sll the great input here, as stats look real great on papper, but you'll find you personally may prefer one over the other in person vs reading about the stats online,
Cheers!
 
260SnowBird said:
My best overall advice I could give you is check out all the rifles within your price range, not forgetting an optic (if determined you require one) and get the feel for each of them in person, this will narrow your own personal taste/interests down from sll the great input here, as stats look real great on papper, but you'll find you personally may prefer one over the other in person vs reading about the stats online,
Cheers!
Click to expand...

Good advice. Pretty much any newer rifles are accurate enough for deer size hunting. Try as many as you can even if it's just in a store for comfort. Likely some will "feel" better than others. Brands like Tikka and Howa seem to have very good reputations from what I have read, but so do most others. I prefer 308 to 30-06 mainly because of recoil. The difference doesn't bother me personally, but when I have visitors from far distant places, I've noticed some are recoil shy. There are other calibers that would likely work for you, but 308 has excellent availability most of the time.
 
Lots of great advice. I personally would go with an older Ruger M77, in 30-06 or 270. 30-06 is much more versatile than .308. You can get ammo from 130 to 220 grain + easily and if you reload you have many more options. You can take smaller game, deer, elk and if you get the chance a big moose with the same rifle in 30-06.
 
I've never had a deer run away after being hit by a 6.5mm out of a sporterized Swedish Mauser, but that's a smaller calibre. There are SO many rifles available in .308 as well as many options for ammo, that's probably the way to go. If a .308 won't knock it down a .30-06 isn't going to do MUCH better (some, but not much).
 
DUG99 said:
Lots of great advice. I personally would go with an older Ruger M77, in 30-06 or 270. 30-06 is much more versatile than .308. You can get ammo from 130 to 220 grain + easily and if you reload you have many more options. You can take smaller game, deer, elk and if you get the chance a big moose with the same rifle in 30-06.
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I have factory 308 loads from 125gr to 200gr. The difference between 308 and 3006 is greatly exaggerated. Its really only a difference if you're hunting beyond 300m
 
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