What 30-06 on a budget?

1. Vanguard II ($550)
2. Marlin XL7 ($360)
3. Savage 11/111 ($450??). God, I hate this ugly gun! I have no idea why it is so accurate and reliable. Savage is still profiting from the home run that their designer Nicolas Brewer scored for them with 110, back in 1956. I hope they paid him well.
 
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Home3 said:
1. Vanguard II ($550)
2. Marlin XL7 ($360)
3. Savage 11/111 ($450??). God, I hate this ugly gun! I have no idea why it is so accurate and reliable.
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Same with the Savage 116 Weather Warrior.
One ragged 5-shot hole at 100 yards is par for the course with this gun.
Have a Bushnell Elite 4200 2.5-10x40mm on top.
Great combo.
 
I bought a Stevens 200 to use as a "beater" when I went north. Not that it would be abused but I didn't want to have one of my higher value rifles getting damaged. They're affordable rifles and give very good results. In fact I thing they're better than the price point would indicate, likely Savage's motivation for discontinuing them. If you can find a gently used example for a decent price then I'd say grab it up. Mine shoots extremely well with very little load development. If you want to get into his ting for the least money possible then I think a used (or if you're inordinate lucky a NOS rifle) 200 is hard to beat.
 
A lot of guys seem to be recommending new "budget" rifles but you can do MUCH better buying used. Higher quality to boot. Many don't seem to realize that it takes an incredible amount of shooting or abuse to wear a rifle out. Many rifles 40 and 50 years old have fewer than 200 rounds down the pipe.
 
Gunoholic said:
If you are afraid to take your gun apart and service and clean it at least once annually stay away from semis because without the proper care they will malfunction a lot sooner than bolts, levers, single shots.
The actions gotta be kept clean.
Fired hundreds of rounds out of the semis I've owned without a problem.
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It would vary from rifle to rifle , but in the case of my Rem. 7400 , I had traded it away with less than 35 shots down the barrel because I had heard of several other 7400 owners who had problems . The guy I had traded it to had put 11 shots through the rifle when the internals jammed up.......he took it to a gunsmith who had to replace several internal parts ; the gunsmith said that the Rem. semis had constant problems as the internals were simply not rugged enough to withstand rapid semi-auto fire......it had nothing to do with cleaning or oiling the rifle , internal parts had to be replaced as they had broke.....
 
Gunoholic said:
Owned a 742 in 30-06 Sprng and a 7400 in 308 Win and never had a problem with either.
The guy who bought the 7400 says it's still working fine years later.
My goto semi is a Winchester model 100 in 308 Win bought from a guy who said it jammed allot.
Striped it down and cleaned the accumulated excess oil and dirt out of it and it's never jammed a single shot since.
The previous owner thought that by drowning the gun in oil it would function better - WRONG !
Moral of the story: You gotta keep them CLEAN and not too much oil.

I have a Savage model 116 Weather Warrior in 30-06 Sprng.
Great rifle.
1/2 MOA with the Nosler 165 grain Accubond bullets.
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Most people dont clean as often/well as the average CGNer. Rem semis are notorious for jamming, usually due to crap build up in the chamber. You'd be amazed how many guys wouldnt even know to clean the chamber. In the last three hunting seasons Ive seen a 7400 and a 740 both lock solid due to dirty chambers. One with a live shell partially in it.
 
If you're they type who throws a gun in a corner after the hunt wet and dirty and grabs it and heads oiut into the woods again months later expecting it to work then stay away from semis.
They won't take that kind of abuse and keep on ticking like the Everready bunny.

Nuthin broke in or on the Remington semis I owned and I wasn't shy about pumping rounds thru them.
I stripped em apart and thoroughly cleaned and lubricated them once or twice a year depending on use.
After you've done it once it does't take long.

The Winchester model 100 I currently own works flawlessly and is older than most members of this board.
The guy who owned it before called it an unreliable "jamomatic".
It took a couple of hours to clean the compacted dirt and rust from neglect outta the gun when I first got it.
The gas piston was rusted in solid.
No excuse really for that kinda disrespect of a firearm.

The old story about a poor workman blaming his tools.
 
Savage Trophy hunter with a Weaver Kaspa scope is under $600 and you can get a $75 rebate right now. Cabelas even has a few calibers on sale right now.
 
I would buy used... there is an excellent condition Remongton 700 mountain rifle with scope in the EE right now for $750..... guy may be willing to drop the price.... get a classic lightweight rifle with wood stock and jewelled bolt made back in the days before Marlin when quality mattered..... A beautiful gun that he would be proud to own and will keep its value forever....

To me there is no such thing as a budget rifle.... owning one just nags at me to upgrade to something better and spend more money....
 
There is a lot of good advice in this thread for someone looking for a solid .30-06 or .308 on a budget. From recent experience, here is my two cents worth. If you want to buy a Savage, I would steer clear of a 111 and go with an Axis. I bought a 111 and had persistent feeding problems with it. Same thing happened with the replacement, also a 111. Was this a fluke? Strange coincidence that it was the same issue, twice.

The Vanguard has a following. I ended up with a Ruger American, and I am very pleased with it from the standpoint of accuracy and dependability. Out of the many options discussed above, my personal favourite is the Ruger.
 
Superbrad said:
I would buy used... there is an excellent condition Remongton 700 mountain rifle with scope in the EE right now for $750..... guy may be willing to drop the price.... get a classic lightweight rifle with wood stock and jewelled bolt made back in the days before Marlin when quality mattered..... A beautiful gun that he would be proud to own and will keep its value forever....

To me there is no such thing as a budget rifle.... owning one just nags at me to upgrade to something better and spend more money....
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It's not Marlin that degraded the quality of Remingtons. It's the other way around.
 
My advice for buying a rifle without pointing to brands, is to get the get the nicest rifle you can afford, then buy the scope and attachments later when the wallet recovers. You can always slap on a cheap scope and get a better one later, but when you got a lousy rifle, even a decent quality scope won't make any improvements.
 
lister said:
A friend of mine picked up a Ruger American in 30.06. He likes it, and I think it's around the 500$ mark.

Edit-The only thing I don't like about it is it has no iron sights, but don't know if that's an issue for you.
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I just bought a Ruger American in 22-250 for 399.00 with tax from Jo Brooks on here Cheap RJ
 
I bought a Weatherby Vanguard S2 Sporter DBM last year and am extremely happy with it! In hindsight going stainless would have been a better idea since I hunt in all weather conditions and got some rust inside the tip of the barrel after one rainy night out even though I cleaned it out right away back at camp. That aside the trigger is excellent and I am shooting sub 0.5" groups at 100 yards with my handloads. Factory ammo through it will average 1"-1.75" MOA with some particular loads going sub-MOA but bought another box and it did not repeat the performance! Hence I now handload for consistency.
 
Here ya go!

http://store.prophetriver.com/weatherby-vanguard-s2-30-06-sprg-blk-gry-syn-bl-24/

Throw a Redfield Revenge 3x9 on it and let it buck. I've got the same rifle/scope combo in .300 Win Mag and haven't had any issues. Very nice rifle for the price.

Prophet deals direct with Weatherby, I doubt you'll find a vanguard anywhere else cheaper. Miles ahead of an American or Axis in terms of quality in my opinion. Brother in laws Axis feels like the stock is made from 1960 recycled toy plastic...
 
On a tight budget, Ruger American in stainless or Savage Axis 2 with Accutrigger, if your budget's a bit bigger, look at the Weatherby Vanguard 2 as well...it's a nice rifle.
 
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