- Location
- Blaster land, Okanagan BC
With your budget look for a Rem 783 and spend the rest on rings and a scope, or look on the used market for something better. Nothing wrong with used firearms provided they were taken care of.
Suggest my first big game rifle
- Thread starter Blake94
- Start date
- Location
- Vancouver Island, BC
Good advice. Don't forget the optic. I'd rather hunt with a 300$ rifle with a 600$ (used) scope than the opposite. That may be hyperbole but don't spend 800$ on your rifle to wind up with a 100$ scope.
Although trade ex has some decent used offerings in those calibers that would let you buy a decent scope, at your exact price point and caliber I don't think you could do much better than the Sauer 100 from prophet river on closeout at 799$.
Exceptional value for the money.
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Rem 700 BDL has taken Mule, White tail deer, black bear & Caribou for me. Mind you so has my Parker-Hale Lee Enfield Nr 1 Mk III (I reload). My latest is a Zastava 70 in 6.5X55 Swedish. It'll do for most all of North America big game depending on bullet & placement. If you are only shooting factory ammo my choice would be the .308Win cartridge. Plenty of babied previously owned rifles out there, some are actually priced quite nicely. If you find a nice bolt action in .308 & pair it with a good quality scope you're set for life.
- Location
- Blaster land, Okanagan BC
Look at a Howa 1500 in .308 as well, great rifles.
Howa 1500, Vanguard S2, Sauer 100, Mauser M18 or a CZ 557.
I'd stay as far as possible away from the used Husqvarna offerings unless you want to roll the dice. There is no warranty on those and you may get a POS which you will have to return on your own dime.
I'd stay as far as possible away from the used Husqvarna offerings unless you want to roll the dice. There is no warranty on those and you may get a POS which you will have to return on your own dime.
Most important of all in my opinion is to get something you can shoot comfortable, you don't need a big magnum that will help you develop a flinch halfway through the first box of ammo. 7mm-08, 308 or 6.5, easy on the shoulder and not bad on the wallet. Then, practice practice practice, learn how to estimate distance and learn to shoot accurately.
blasted_saber
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- A blue part of Ontario
Absurd comment. $800 dollars is more then enough to buy a hunting rifle.
My local Canadian Tire has a Savage Axis package gun in 243 for $389 right now. Is it the best scope? No. Will it get someone started? Absolutely. He could walk into that store, buy that rifle, a 22 or a shotgun, and a box of ammo for each today.
Elitism has no place in hunting. Start where you can
Op, what type of forest/hunting topography are you predominantly hunting? Thick bush/50 yard max shot? 100 yard max shot? That will determine alot in your rifle required aswell, if I didn't have anything and had to start over id look more into a pump/lever with a peep, because I like them, hahaha, a rem 14, 14.5, 76, 760, 7600, in 35 rem, 300 Sav, 308, 30-06, or ofcourse the Win 94 or others in 3030, 32 special, and marlin 336's in all the above cal's, truly a lot of options, and I prefer the above pumps for myself,
The positives for a 760/7600 are you can usually find a gorgeous one on the EE every month, that comes allready with bases/rings and a scope for under your budget,
As mentioned if you determine you "Want" (I say want because it's not a "need") a optic, make sure you leave budget room for that, and ofcourse that's an entire other thread discussion on what optic, but again it really depends on the forest conditions you are predominantly hunting in,
As an exsmple: My grand dad has used his rem 760 since he bought it new, now that his eyes are having a hard time with the irons, he joined the optic club and got a bushnel red dot for it, that rifles been in the bush for deer moose and bear every year since 1952 and it's dropped more game then I likely will in my lifetime, there is no doubt it will continue to do do for his great grandkids in the future. Check them out on the EE and see if they interest you,
As mentioned if you determine you "Want" (I say want because it's not a "need") a optic, make sure you leave budget room for that, and ofcourse that's an entire other thread discussion on what optic, but again it really depends on the forest conditions you are predominantly hunting in,
As an exsmple: My grand dad has used his rem 760 since he bought it new, now that his eyes are having a hard time with the irons, he joined the optic club and got a bushnel red dot for it, that rifles been in the bush for deer moose and bear every year since 1952 and it's dropped more game then I likely will in my lifetime, there is no doubt it will continue to do do for his great grandkids in the future. Check them out on the EE and see if they interest you,
While there is nothing "wrong" with any of the suggestions so far, I hope you have learned that there are LOTS of good choices out there. First, there is no gun you can buy that won't last way longer than 20 years unless it is ridiculously abused. So stop worrying about getting one that will last as long as you will. Any decent gun will do for that. Your choice of cartridges is just fine. Either will do what you want. So go find a rifle you like with any action you want (I recommend a bolt action for new shooters for several reasons, but that really doesn't matter either) from any manufacturer whose name you recognize, and go practice. Getting suggestions from gun nuts is not a good idea to narrow down your choice, as this thread proves. So have more confidence that you can make a good choice yourself. There are many, many good choices for a hunting rifle, and perfectly decent guns are not expensive. Good scopes, however, are mostly not cheap. Get a rifle you want, and put a decent (more than $250 will likely do that) scope on it. You're done until YOU develop some preferences or opinions you want to experiment with by getting another gun for specific types of hunting.
Blake, I think you'd agree you are new to hunting and to firearms in general. You haven't told us how much shooting you've done, or if you've even fired a centerfire rifle at all. You own a .22 and 16ga single shot. I know people will generally suggest very common cartridges for deer for new shooters - .308, .30-06, .303 British - because they're common and easy to get and cheap and they do the job very well. But smaller cartridges will kill deer just as effectively without the added recoil, and for new centerfire shooters that can be an issue. This may also be the same rifle that your wife will use for deer? I'd just suggest looking at cartridges in the .243 to 6.5mm spectrum as efficient for deer with much less recoil. .243 Win, .260 Rem, 6.5x55 Swedish, .257 Roberts, there's a good handful here. Heck, put the .30-30 in there as well as it's pretty tame. And you can find decently priced rifles either new or used in any of those cartridges. You'll find at least one in any action you like. Much easier to practice with and hopefully not develop a flinch.
- Location
- Somewhere on the Hudson Bay Coast
If you spend $8-900 on the rifle, does that mean you won't be able to by a scope and scope mounts? If that's the case, and the rifle you buy doesn't come with iron sights, you'll have the rifle but you won't be able to shoot it effectively. Frequently new shooters get caught up in purchasing a rifle without considering the ancillary items they'll need to shoot it and maintain it like a scope, mounts, case, sling, cleaning supplies and so on. You can get a low priced decent quality scope, and mount it in Weaver scope mounts, which is what I consider the least expensive option that will provide good results, but rings that tighten on just one side can be tricky to set up since the scope is inclined to roll as the rings are tightened. You have to anticipate the amount of roll, and turn the scope the opposite way slightly before tightening. If you are lucky enough to find a Brno 600 that has the pop-up peep sight, look no further, you might even decide you don't need a scope. If you do decide to scope it, all you need buy are the rings since the bases are milled into the receiver of Brno and CZ bolt actions.
I like the .30/06, in a well stocked 8 pound rifle, it represents what is possibly the most powerful cartridge that a novice can shoot well in a short period of time, but in a light weight rifle, with a plastic stock, firing heavy bullet loads, its unpleasant. Purchase 100 rounds (5 boxes) of Remington Managed Recoil ammunition to get you started. I expect that factory ammo will be shot up fairly quickly if you have easy access to a place to shoot, and that will provide you with a good introduction to the rifle. You now have 100 pieces of brass that you can handload, and the least expensive way to get into handloading is to buy a Lee Loader, a set of Lee's spoon style powder measures, and a copy of Richard Lee's loading manual, "Modern Reloading II". Buy a pound of Hodgdon or IMR 4895 powder, a box of 1000 standard large rifle primers, I like CCI, and a box of 150 gr bullets; 150 gr bullets are ideal for deer sized game. Loaded to 2700 fps, a pound of powder will give you just shy of 160 loads, your brass will last many reloadings, your trajectory will be flat, the impact velocity does not exceed the limits of cup and core bullets, and you may never see the need to load your ammo hotter or with heavier bullets. Steward Edward White took a custom Springfield .30/06 to Africa and used it to take dozens of game animals, some like eland, weighing a ton, only a few few required a follow up shot, over that year long safari. The military 150 gr FMJ load at 2700 fps was all he used, it was also the only .30/06 ammunition that was available in those days. Arguably a cup and core soft point is a better deer bullet than a FMJ, and a TSX of equal weight at the same velocity will penetrate just as deep and straighter on heavier game like bear, moose and elk.
Over time invest in a powder scale, so you are not limited to the graduations of the spoon measures, and an inexpensive press, and purchase a set of .30/06 full length dies, a container of dry neck lube and a container of Imperial sizing wax. If space is tight, your loading press can be mounted on a Work Mate folding bench, otherwise you can build or buy a suitable loading bench. After you've reloaded your brass several times with your Lee Loader, you will probably discover that the rounds gradually become difficult to chamber in your rifle, and the shoulders of your fired brass needs to be set back slightly. This is when the loading press and a full length sizing die comes into play; it allows you to set back the shoulder until the brass chambers easily in your rifle. As your budget allows, you can acquire more reloading tools, for example once your brass exceeds the specified length, it must be trimmed, so a case trimmer will become necessary. You will probably want to invest in a priming tool which will be more convenient and produce more consistent results than seating primers with a stick and a hammer, which is essentially what you do with a Classic Lee Loader.
In addition to full power loads, particularly if purchasing jacketed bullets becomes a strain on the budget, try shooting cast bullets, which cost only a fraction of the cost of jacketed bullets when purchased and almost nothing to cast yourself from scrap lead. Buying cast bullets enables you to shoot affordably without the cost of purchasing the tools you need to do your own casting. Cast bullet loads provide additional advantages, they use small charge of pistol or shotgun powder to propel them, which again makes cast less expensive to shoot, they are an effective on small game load that don't render the meat inedible due to their lower impact velocity, and when loaded to 2000 fps, they duplicate the effectiveness a .30/30 on deer or black bear. Trail Boss seems to be the favorite powder these days for cast bullet shooting, but I use Unique and 2400, now that SR-4759 is no longer manufactured.
I like the .30/06, in a well stocked 8 pound rifle, it represents what is possibly the most powerful cartridge that a novice can shoot well in a short period of time, but in a light weight rifle, with a plastic stock, firing heavy bullet loads, its unpleasant. Purchase 100 rounds (5 boxes) of Remington Managed Recoil ammunition to get you started. I expect that factory ammo will be shot up fairly quickly if you have easy access to a place to shoot, and that will provide you with a good introduction to the rifle. You now have 100 pieces of brass that you can handload, and the least expensive way to get into handloading is to buy a Lee Loader, a set of Lee's spoon style powder measures, and a copy of Richard Lee's loading manual, "Modern Reloading II". Buy a pound of Hodgdon or IMR 4895 powder, a box of 1000 standard large rifle primers, I like CCI, and a box of 150 gr bullets; 150 gr bullets are ideal for deer sized game. Loaded to 2700 fps, a pound of powder will give you just shy of 160 loads, your brass will last many reloadings, your trajectory will be flat, the impact velocity does not exceed the limits of cup and core bullets, and you may never see the need to load your ammo hotter or with heavier bullets. Steward Edward White took a custom Springfield .30/06 to Africa and used it to take dozens of game animals, some like eland, weighing a ton, only a few few required a follow up shot, over that year long safari. The military 150 gr FMJ load at 2700 fps was all he used, it was also the only .30/06 ammunition that was available in those days. Arguably a cup and core soft point is a better deer bullet than a FMJ, and a TSX of equal weight at the same velocity will penetrate just as deep and straighter on heavier game like bear, moose and elk.
Over time invest in a powder scale, so you are not limited to the graduations of the spoon measures, and an inexpensive press, and purchase a set of .30/06 full length dies, a container of dry neck lube and a container of Imperial sizing wax. If space is tight, your loading press can be mounted on a Work Mate folding bench, otherwise you can build or buy a suitable loading bench. After you've reloaded your brass several times with your Lee Loader, you will probably discover that the rounds gradually become difficult to chamber in your rifle, and the shoulders of your fired brass needs to be set back slightly. This is when the loading press and a full length sizing die comes into play; it allows you to set back the shoulder until the brass chambers easily in your rifle. As your budget allows, you can acquire more reloading tools, for example once your brass exceeds the specified length, it must be trimmed, so a case trimmer will become necessary. You will probably want to invest in a priming tool which will be more convenient and produce more consistent results than seating primers with a stick and a hammer, which is essentially what you do with a Classic Lee Loader.
In addition to full power loads, particularly if purchasing jacketed bullets becomes a strain on the budget, try shooting cast bullets, which cost only a fraction of the cost of jacketed bullets when purchased and almost nothing to cast yourself from scrap lead. Buying cast bullets enables you to shoot affordably without the cost of purchasing the tools you need to do your own casting. Cast bullet loads provide additional advantages, they use small charge of pistol or shotgun powder to propel them, which again makes cast less expensive to shoot, they are an effective on small game load that don't render the meat inedible due to their lower impact velocity, and when loaded to 2000 fps, they duplicate the effectiveness a .30/30 on deer or black bear. Trail Boss seems to be the favorite powder these days for cast bullet shooting, but I use Unique and 2400, now that SR-4759 is no longer manufactured.
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