BigGameHunt.net Hunting Forums

[BJJMario]

Hi all!
I'd love to learn the ins and outs of hunting and I've finally met someone that I would trust to learn from.

With that said, does anyone have any recommendations on what rifle I should consider purchasing?

I'd like something very reliable and durable.
I'm totally new to hunting but am ready to get geared up and learn!
Oh, I'd hunt mainly mule deer.

Any info would be great, thanks!

[rramv10]

Welcome to the world of hunting. Nothing quite like getting out with a gun in hand to enjoy the fall. As far as what gun to purchase there are far to many options. Personally I like the 30-06 mostly because it has a huge variety of uses. Also when I bought my first rifle there was not the variety as there is today. I lucked out to that it happen to be left handed. The advice I would give is once you pick your calibre, purchase the gun you really like the feel of and the look of. A rifle is something that you can use and your children can use so get something worth buying. I just found a used 270 Sako I let my son buy. It was more money then an entry level rifle but its some thing he is proud to own and takes I think more care of.

Now tell us about you, where will you be hunting? What type of country?
Good Luck and have fun shopping.

[saskie]

Welcome!!! Great to have you here. It's hard to argue against the 30-06 as it is hands down the most popular choice for best all-round rifle. That being said it does have a rep for being a hard kicking rifle. Since you specifically mentioned Mulies I'm going to assume that most of your hunting will be in open country with shots over 100yds being more common than shots under 100yds.

Personally I would suggest a .270 or .25-06, especially the .270. The .270 is also a very versatile round but is much more forgiving in the recoil department. It will do wonders on any deer, pronghorn and black bear and without opening a perrenial hotly debated topic here, .270's have killed plenty of moose and elk too. They are readily available in several configurations; .270s are available in nearly every rifle model sold in N America and you'll find .270 ammo in every mom and pop sporting goods store or Co-op in Canada. Specifically I would suggest the Remington Model 710 combo. It's not a pretty rifle, but it is effective and comes with a decent Bushnell scope for a very reasonable price. Since you mentioned you are just starting out one thing that I will guaruntee is that after you've been shooting and hunting a few years you will develop a favourite rifle and calibre and unless you are exceptionally lucky it almost certainly won't be the one you started with (I wish I had taken the money I spent on my Browning .308 lever-action and instead bought a basic 30-30 for deer and a 30-06 fo moose. I'm not suggesting at all that the .308 was a poor choice, I'd just do something different today). If you blow the budget on this one it will be harder to switch later. The 710 in .270 will get you hunting with an acceptable, highly versatile round for not much cash.

The 25-06 is a little more high end, and although any dedicated sporting goods store worth their salt will have ammo, finding it in smaller towns may be tricky. Also the 25-06 is a deer round. If you plan on using it on elk you'll really have to be careful of your shots and ammo choices, doubly so for moose. If there's even an outside chance of hunting anything bigger than deer I hands down reccomend the .270.

Most of all I suggest you try and borrow several rifles and calibres from friends/family or at the local rifle range and try them for yourself.

Good luck and hope to see you around here often!

[BJJMario]

Thanks again guys!
I've been doing lots of reaserch for a rifle that fits my needs and all your input helps.

The front runner for me is the 30-06 because of it's versatility.
To be honest with you my goal is to purchase.....

-One all around rifle for hunting, one Shotgun (home protection) and one Hand gun (probably a Glock).

Right now I'm looking for the rifle and I'm willing to spend the money for it as long as I select the right one.

Q: If you were to choose one Rifle, what what it be?

P.S. saski: I like your signature at the bottom.

[BJJMario]

rramv10 wrote: Now tell us about you, where will you be hunting? What type of country?
Good Luck and have fun shopping.


Me? You can find info about me at shuswapbjj.com
Hunting is my new interest.

I'll be hunting in mostly open areas for now but being that I live in B.C. my odds of hitting the woods are great (once I actually get good at this that is.. lol)

Thanks guys!

[saskie]

My choices for one rifle would be:

1. 30-06
2. .300 Mag (assuming you can handle the recoil)
3. 7mm Mag (see above)
4. .308 (for the recoil shy, will handle everything short of big bears (brown, polar etc)
5. .303 Brit (for the budget minded - a very versatile, effective calibre and dirt cheap)
6. 7mm-08 (for the really recoil shy - and starting to get iffy for larger animals)
7. .270
8. .280 (probably a better round than the .270, just harder to find)
9. 10. 6.5x55 Swedish
10. 25-06

If you're concerned about recoil, opt for a semi-auto, especially a heavy (as in actual rifle weight heavy) rifle.

If you're able to handle the recoil or choose to opt for a lighter calibre and are see a lot of longer-ranged precision shooting go for a bolt action. They are inherrently more accurate than the others, although inside of 250yds I doubt you'll see a noticable difference.

If you're planning to do a lot of bush hunting, with short range fast/action shots up close I reccomend a lever or semi-auto. Levers typically have shorter barrel lengths so they point better in the bush. Levers also give a quick follow-up shot (as do pumps, and definitely semi's as well). The down side is that short barrel means they don't have the long-ranged accuracy of other actions (+200yds). Another down side is more moving parts = more parts that can break, although modern firearms are well constructed that this has probably become a moot point.

I'm not an expert on specific rifle models: some that I am somewhat familiar with and have good names are:

Browning A-Bolt
Browning Lever Action (BLR)
Browning Auto-loading Rifle (BAR)
Remmington Model 710 (avail in 30-06 and 270 only)
Remmington Model 7
Savage Classic series

This is no means a complete list, I'm not really a gun nut.

So I guess the short answer to your actual question for me is:

Browning BAR in 30-06 topped with a quality 3-9x40 scope

Good luck.

[biggamehunter13]

well, im also new to hunting and it would be great if someone could post a list of calibers from most powerful to least powerful, i was gonna get a 30-06 for all around hunting but i don't know mush about guns, so could someone please do that, or give a link to a sight that has it or sometrhing?

Thanks Ganphra

[redrider]

Welcome to BGH 13 :D If you don't get much response here try to make a new post in Long Gun forum. You'll get all kinds of feedback there :thumbsup1:

[BJJMario]

Good idea, thanks.

*copies and pastes original post*

[saskie]

biggamehunter13 wrote: well, im also new to hunting and it would be great if someone could post a list of calibers from most powerful to least powerful, i was gonna get a 30-06 for all around hunting but i don't know mush about guns, so could someone please do that, or give a link to a sight that has it or sometrhing?

Thanks Ganphra

That's not as straightforward as it sounds as bullet size, propellant, velocity and a lot factors are intertwined to produce "power". If you are referring to "energy" these are readily available via manufacturer websites.

In general terms, the following calibres would likely be classed as the heavyweights:
.416
8mm
375
338
300 Mag
7mm Rem Mag/ultra mag
30-06
.300 Dakota
.330 Dakota


Medium:

.308
303 Brit
.270
.280
7mm-08

Lightweights:

(any centrefire .22 cal: .223. 22-250 et al)
.243
6mm
25-06
300 Savage
30-30
.44 rifle

This list is highy arbitrary and subjective, check ammo manufacturer websites folr more detailed info.

[biggamehunter13]

but why is the .300 dakota higher then the .308?

[saskie]

As I said it's not strictly a matter of bullet size. If it were, the 30-30 would be on par with a .300 Mag as both offer .30 cal bullets of 180 (or 170) grains. There are several factors involved:

1. Bullet diameter (calibre). The larger diameter the larger the hole it makes, the more damage it does.

2. Bullet weight. This is high-school physics: Force = Velocity x Mass. Heavier objects have more force than lighter objects moving at the same speed.

3. Velocity. As was mentioned above; the faster the bullet is travelling, the more energy or force it has. This explains why some lighter calibres, particularly the .270 (27 cal) are more powerful than larger 30 caliber rounds (ie: 30-30, 300 Savage etc). Another advantage to higher velocity rounds is their trajectories are flatter for long range shooting; since the time of flight from firing to impact is less, the effect of gravity is minimized and they don't drop as far. Velocity is determined by many things such as bullet shape (aerodynamics), riflle barrel length but above all mostly it is a matter of how much propellent is in the cartridge.

In this case, at 200yds a 180 gr bullet from the .300 Dakota delivers apprx 3100 foot-pounds of energy on a target, whilst the larger calibred .308 can barely muster 2000lbs. At 300 yds and beyond, the difference is even more pronounced. (Taken from the ballistic tables in Petersen's 2007 Hunting Annual).

Further illustration, compare the 30 cal 30-30 vs the 25 calibre 25-06:

At 200 yds the 150 gr bullet from the 30-30 delivers barely 950lbs (900 lbs is used as a rule of thumb for the minimum force required to kill an adult deer), while the 25-06 has 1650; past 200yds the 30-30 is practically useless as a big game round while the 25-06 easily maintains over 1000ft/lbs well beyond 400 yds

[BJJMario]

Cool.
Thanks for the info guys!

I feel that a 30-06 fits best for what I need and I've looked at the....

1) Browning Abolt-2 Stainless Stalker 30-06

2) Tikka T-3 Lite Stainless

I like the look and feel of the Browning but then again I haven't fired it.

Has anyone had any experience with these? Thoughts about them?
Thanks!

[Don Fischer]

Boy have you got some great replys. As to the rifle's, pick one YOU like. I don't think anyone makes a bad rifle today. Rifles are like pickup trucks, dog's and fishing boats. We all like different things and damn few are bad. Play around with the ones your concidering in the store for awhile and the right one will pick you! Choice of cartridge requires more though but we do have an embarassment of riches today.

[buzzbomb]

I just wrote then deleted a long post about getting a good second hand rifle..... It's worth taking a walk around a good gun show to learn a bit about's out there. For $5 or whatever it costs to get in you'll come out ahead. :yes: