Understanding the difference between Factory Hunting Rifles

Tytalus

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Hi All, total newb here. I'm doing some research to understand what kind of gun will best fit my needs. I've got a friend with some land near the boonies that we can start hunting on, and if the game is scarce it's a short drive to the end of civilization. We're looking at shooting anything really, but probably small game and coyotes to start out with, then maybe a deer or a black bear next year. From what I've read, I probably need 2 or 3 different calibers (say 0.17 , 0.223 and a 0.30-06) for the range of game that is available. (Southwest BC, Canada)

I don't want to make a huge purchase with a gun that I eventually learn to hate due to being the wrong fit, nor do I want to by a cheap gun that soon becomes more hindrance than help. I haven't had an opportunity to spend some time on a range and get a feel for different guns, I think that will likely help out a lot. I have a budget, and a wife who is nominally supportive, but frequent gun purchases to find the "right fit" will go over poorly.

What I'd really like to do is buy the right gun once, (per caliber anyway), and maybe in 15 years pass it on to one of my kids if I upgrade to some fancy $5000+ custom job.

So, as part of this, one thing that has not been well clarified from at all what I've read is what is actually gained by buying an expensive (say ~1200-2000) gun vs a mid range gun (700 to 1100) vs an "entry level" gun (<700) ?

Also, how noticeable are these differences? I'm thinking of the difference in terms what manufacturers in general change as the price increases.

If anyone knows of any articles talking about this, I'd love to read them, I haven't been able to find any after numerous Google searches. Thanks in advance. :)
 
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Hi you’re not going to get what you need off the net ,,best advice for any new hunter or shooter you can get is walk in to your local gun store ..and talk to the guys behind the counter …then work your way down the rack of rifles and hold ,fondle , feel , work every one ,raise it to shoot( in a safe manner of course) , work the bolt get a FEEL for the subtle differences between an entry level rifle and work your way up the price range …you’ll soon see and find what you like ……

Don’t buy one …just right down the price …come back here and check the equipment exchange for a good used one.

The great thing about shooting is you dont need to spend a fortune to get in to it … that said calibers for shooting .22 for small game .223 or 22-250 for varmints depending on the range your shooting and 30-06 for everything bigger than that ,,,but everyone will have their own thoughts on that as well

So good luck ..and happy shooting
 
What I'd really like to do is buy the right gun once, (per caliber anyway), :)

hahah i used to thought this was a good thing until i had to upgrade 2 safes and started custom building different calibers. You will learn how to tell your wife that $6000-$8000 dollar rifle is only worth $1000 because your friend sold it to you!

On the other hand, if you want to plink small games first few years, id go with any ruger,Tikka, Savage, Rem700, Weatherby only because these are what i mostly shoot and never really had problem with them.. However it looks like you just have passed your PAL and won't be reloading anytime soon.... I would recommand .308 or 30-06 calibers. they are both good enough for long range plinking and hunting.. tons of factory ammo to choose from and cheap enough to go have some fun!

If you are thinking of customizing in the future, i would go with rem700 or Savage lines.


But ofcourse the best advice is to actually shoot them or feel them. Best place is local gun club if there is one.. or sporting store, but many will try to sweet talk yo into buying whatever they have in stock.
 
30-06 is an awesome do-it-all cartridge for someone starting out, and even for those that have been at it since gunpowder was invented. It is probably the MOST popular and versatile chambering there is. You can also buy ammo anywhere ammo is sold, and if you ever get into reloading the 30 cal options are almost endless. There are better varmint rounds, but not many big game rifles can beat the usefulness of a good old 30-06.
 
For the game you are considering going after a .243 or 25-06 would fit the bill as a do all rifle, the lighter bullets work well on varmits but the heavier bullets work pretty well on deer/ black bear size game.

As for rifles in your price range, savage, marlin, tikka, and weatherby all offer rifles in your budgeted amount. Best bet is to try them out and see what fits best.
 
Yep, all the manufacturers these days will line up for your business Tytalus. Rem/Win/Ruger/Savage/etc/ect - they all produce deadly accurate guns at very reasonable prices and any one of them will do ya for life. Treat these guns right and your grandchildren will be shooting them. If you don't care about cosmetics the good shooters start at around 600~700 bucks. Find one that fits and go shooting.

DON'T cheap out on glass. I recommend Leupold to the guys starting out - it is, in my scholarly opinion, one of the best values for the money out there. These guys here might be able to recommend others. I myself go to the higher end on optics, I favour Zeiss and Swarovski - but glass like that is more for the dedicated enthusiast.

The problem with this sport is that if you get into it and become a 'gun geek' - you will want to start playing around with other calibers. Then you will want to reload. Then you might want to enjoy the more specialized shooting sports like precision shooting or maybe handguns or black powder and antiques - you can literally let this sport supersede all others in your life if you want. Alot of these guys here have and they are happier than pigs in the mud! It is cheaper than golfing, IMO, and a helluva lot more fun too!

For calibers you can't go wrong with the ones the fellas recommended above. Go down to the gun shop! If you are in Edmonton AB I strongly recommend P&D. Milarm would be a close second. I would stay away from the big wholesalers to begin with because if you have problems with your purchase the samller, more reputable shops tend to take care of their customers better.
 
Thanks for the help guys. I've read so many times not to cheap out on scopes that I'll shoot iron sights for a while if I have to wait to afford a good one. ;)

Just some more info' my friend and I are both interesting in collecting pelts from a variety of animals, as his uncle is a furrier and can make some nice things for us at a modest discount. It's why I'm looking at about 3 guns, since that seems to be the necessary range for pelt preservation.
 
I read all the articles, heard/read all kinds of people opinions, and promptly went out and bought the wrong first gun for myself. After two years of frustration I went to epps, spent the whole day checking out different rifles, and bought the one that fit me perfectly. I'm sure buddy was ready to shoot me for making him walk to the back 10000x, but I really got what I wanted, and I still shoot the rifle to this day. Did the same thing for my latest shotgun, it's the perfect fit which is what matters.

Personally if I were to do it again, I'd pick up a cheapie used savage axis .25-06 or something like that, epps has one for $250...shoot it for a few months and then re-evaluate. At that price point you're not going to lose much, if any when selling. Maybe you don't like bolt action, maybe you don't like synthetic stocks, maybe you're recoil sensitive, maybe you don't like the clunkiness of push fed vs controlled round feed, box mag vs hinged floor, all these factors, you don't know. Why break the bank like I did to find out things about what you like or don't like, just to lose money and spend more? Leupold has the best clarity in the nice weather, but if it's rain and fog, I'll take my bushnell's with rainguard any day. I've had horrible luck with all leupold products, (3 scopes, 1 bino) even sending them back for warranty repair (3x in one case!!) was a nightmare...never again. Bushnells rule the roost...if you keep your eye on the EE most scopes go for a fraction of new cost.

Matt
 
I read all the articles, heard/read all kinds of people opinions, and promptly went out and bought the wrong first gun for myself. After two years of frustration I went to epps, spent the whole day checking out different rifles, and bought the one that fit me perfectly. I'm sure buddy was ready to shoot me for making him walk to the back 10000x, but I really got what I wanted, and I still shoot the rifle to this day. Did the same thing for my latest shotgun, it's the perfect fit which is what matters.

Personally if I were to do it again, I'd pick up a cheapie used savage axis .25-06 or something like that, epps has one for $250...shoot it for a few months and then re-evaluate. At that price point you're not going to lose much, if any when selling. Maybe you don't like bolt action, maybe you don't like synthetic stocks, maybe you're recoil sensitive, maybe you don't like the clunkiness of push fed vs controlled round feed, box mag vs hinged floor, all these factors, you don't know. Why break the bank like I did to find out things about what you like or don't like, just to lose money and spend more? Leupold has the best clarity in the nice weather, but if it's rain and fog, I'll take my bushnell's with rainguard any day. I've had horrible luck with all leupold products, (3 scopes, 1 bino) even sending them back for warranty repair (3x in one case!!) was a nightmare...never again. Bushnells rule the roost...if you keep your eye on the EE most scopes go for a fraction of new cost.

Matt

Very good story!! I was thinking of getting a cheap small game rifle first, a 0.17 or 0.22 first and working my way up to bigger calibers.
 
30-06 is an awesome do-it-all cartridge for someone starting out, and even for those that have been at it since gunpowder was invented. It is probably the MOST popular and versatile chambering there is. You can also buy ammo anywhere ammo is sold, and if you ever get into reloading the 30 cal options are almost endless. There are better varmint rounds, but not many big game rifles can beat the usefulness of a good old 30-06.

x2 on this. I would not suggest gophers with an '06. The next bet would be a 270 Win, 308 win. After that, you will get everyone chiming in with favorite for various reasons.

When I first started out, my choice for my be-all-end-all-purpose "never going to buy another rifle" was a 30-06. I quickly learned that there are many more economical calibers for the different game I was going after. Now, I have a safe full of these specialties.
 
In terms of caliber/cartridge there are two that come to mind..... 30-06 will safely take anyting in North America, and has done so since 1906. The ammo can be found in any store that sells ammo, so if you find yourself in Fort Gutpile and need ammo, you will find it there. If it has a drawback, it would be the recoil, but for hunting and shooting you will never need to worry. It has other advantages too, such as barrel life. You likey won't wear out a 30-06 with recreational shooting. You can and will wear out 25-06 and 243's if you shoot them enough. (wear out = replace barrel)

For a second choice, and it is admittedly a nostalogic one, the 6.5X55.

As to rifles MORE MONEY DOES NOT MEAN MORE GUN!!!!!! Wherther you buy a $500 Remington or a $5000 Remington LE model, the actions, and barrels are all the same. only the window dressing is different. When it comes to a hunting rifle, i don't want a fancy piece of furniture. i want something that I don't care about getting dirty or dinged. and I always buy in stainless/synthetic so i have to worry less about rust and scratches.

Is one brand better than another? NO! If you stick with Remington, Savage, Browning, Tikka, Winchester etc. you will be fine. They all shoot about the same.

Bear in mind, there is no one caliber (or rifle) that is good for all things. Hunting rifles heat up very fast and they are light, so barrel heat and recoil make these rifles less than ideal for using as tareget guns. Target type guns are heavy, and make poor hunting rifle choices.

If you want to be target AND hunting, I would invest in a used inexpensive hunting rifle, and concentrate bigger money on a target/varmint rifle in the appropriate caliber and with the appropriate barrel contour.
 
I'm surprised that everyone hasn't mentioned it yet, but your first gun IMHO should be a .22rimfire. Cheap ammo, inexpensive rifles, worthwhile practice, and it's a gun that you will never outgrow. In terms of centerfire hunting rifles, everyone has given you good advice...handle and try as many as possible, and you should find the right one for you. As for buying a rifle and being satisfied with that one for 10-15 years...good luck, and fat chance!:D
 
We're looking at shooting anything really, but probably small game and coyotes to start out with, then maybe a deer or a black bear next year

Not too many people want to admit this but it's a fact:

You can use a 22LR for small game. You can use a 12GA shotgun for birds. You can use a 30'06 for literally everything else.

If you are in Edmonton AB I strongly recommend P&D. Milarm would be a close second. I would stay away from the big wholesalers to begin with because if you have problems with your purchase the samller, more reputable shops tend to take care of their customers better.

This just isn't true. I was very dissatisfied with P&D and their return policy is garbage on defective guns. 'Send it to the manufacturer' is their policy. The big box store Cabela's will retun any defective firearm within 30 days.



Regarding rifles to choose:

I've purchased a lot of rifles. I've always been dissatisfied with the bargain basement ones like Savages, Ruger Americans, Marlin XL/XS7, Rem 770 etc. It's a false economy.

I find that rifles such as the Weatherby Vanguard Series 2 or original are a good balance between materials used, design, fit and finish, and of course cost. That should be right around the $550 mark although there are some rifles priced at that point which I would not touch with a 10 foot pole.

If you want a super reliable hunting rifle, you want a new manufacture Winchester Model 70. These rifles are called the 'Rifleman's rifle' for good reason. They have an excellent trigger with no creep or overtravel whatsoever. They have the best designed safety in the business. Do a bit of reading on it, you'll see why. They have outstanding controlled round feed with perfect extraction by that giant oversized claw extractor. They even have a conical chamber face so it's literally impossible to bind the action. The feed lips/ramps are machined right into the receiver so they're impossible to bend or damage. The synthetic stock is not cheap plastic like many others and is a mix of composite materials including an aluminum bedding block and fiberglass. The stock will not flex, period. This means if you're using a sling to stabilize your shot as you should be, your point of impact will not change as it does with some rifles.

That rifle has hunted the world in the hands of Jack O'Connor. He was a big proponent of of the 270 Win but wrote on two occasions that the 30'06 was more versatile and that he actually preferred it.

So, if you want to take any game and hand the rifle down, get a Winchester Model 70 in 30'06 with a nice scope and some Talley one piece bases. Set for life, and your child's life too. Beyond that, you can look into Sakos, Coopers, Mark Vs, etc etc
 
I am in southwest B.C. and I find my 270 and or 7x57 can handle deer and black bear and elk hunting just fine and will kill moose too if necessary.

I have never shot a coyote in my life and probably won't but I happen to have a 22 Hornet and 243 if I was interested.

If you haven't hunted much, let me tell you a secret. There isn't any small game to hunt.

Hunting the native squirrels is illegal, the introduced squirrels aren't anywhere you can shoot, rabbits are rare and snowshoe hares are so randomly found it's not worth considering unless you really really pursue them hard in the alpine and a shotgun is better anyway. You can shoot grouse opportunistically with a .22 or shotgun when deer hunting.

What am I saying? You only need a .22 and a good rifle.

I've only bought one new rifle in my life and that was a Remington 243 in 1976 so I can't really advise on purchasing but I'd really recommend considering a used 270 or 30-06 off the rack at Reliable or any other store of your choice. I passed up a nice Husqvarna 270 at Reliable in October but as I already had one it wasn't really a necessity.
 
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As to rifles MORE MONEY DOES NOT MEAN MORE GUN!!!!!! Wherther you buy a $500 Remington or a $5000 Remington LE model, the actions, and barrels are all the same. only the window dressing is different. When it comes to a hunting rifle, i don't want a fancy piece of furniture. i want something that I don't care about getting dirty or dinged. and I always buy in stainless/synthetic so i have to worry less about rust and scratches.

Is one brand better than another? NO! If you stick with Remington, Savage, Browning, Tikka, Winchester etc. you will be fine. They all shoot about the same.

This is just nonsense. Some brands are clearly inferior to others even in their top end offerings. Some brands operate by featuring certain design and material and QC compromises. Some brands, conversely, are designed from the ground up with no compromises in mind to simply make the best rifle possible. Accuracy is not the only measure of a rifle.
 
This is just nonsense. Some brands are clearly inferior to others even in their top end offerings. Some brands operate by featuring certain design and material and QC compromises. Some brands, conversely, are designed from the ground up with no compromises in mind to simply make the best rifle possible. Accuracy is not the only measure of a rifle.

Mind filling me on an all the possible differences and nuances? I realize this may be a big request, but it would be very useful to me to understand, especially in light of your previous post. :)


I have never shot a coyote in my life and probably won;t but I happen to have a 22 Hornet and 243 if I was interested.

If you haven't hunted much, let me tell you a secret. There isn't any small game to hunt.

Hunting the native squirrels is illegal, the introduced squirrels aren;t anywhere you can shoot, rabbits are rare and snowshoe hares are so randomly found it's not worth considering unless you really really pursue them hard in the alpine and a shotgun is better anyway. You can shoot grouse opportunistically with a .22 or shotgun when deer hunting.


What am I saying? you only need a .22 and a good rifle.

Thanks for the info. My friend and I were interested in pelts, not just shooting pests ;). My coworkers from Mission mentioned cougars get seen every year near their farms, I'm just waiting on my mainland hunting license.
 
Mind filling me on an all the possible differences and nuances? I realize this may be a big request, but it would be very useful to me to understand, especially in light of your previous post. :)

That's a lot to talk about. I think the previous post gives some good direction to start with...maybe if you had questions about specific rifles?
 
Oh God.

Money buys reviews and there are many easy ways to verify that fact by simply evaluating a product for yourself and comparing.

I would not recommend Savage rifles. They are filled with design compromises. There are far superior options available, even at the same price point.

Some will correctly point out that they are as accurate as any other rifle. While true, that doesn't make up for the....rest.
 
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