[deerhunter12345]

I am a beginner hunter and trying to find a good hunting rifle. I looked at different calibers of hunting rifles and sort of narrowed it down to these 4:

- 270 Winchester
- 30-06 Springfield
- 308 Winchester
- 7 MM-08 Remington

Which of the above calibers would you recommend? 30-06 keeps coming up in a lot of places, so I'm kind of leaning towards that one. But I wanted to find out about the other ones. $500 would be my cut off and I would like it to come with a scope. Nothing fancy, I probably won't even know the difference. I guess I just want to make sure that the rifle itself is a good one.

I will be hunting big game in Colorado, although one of the things that's attractive about the 30-06 is the wide range of ammunition that it can take. It said that with lower grain bullets you can hunt smaller game, which would also be nice. Any comments would be very appreciated. Thanks.

 

[ronn]

you got some good ones there and any would work and well but i still think the 06 if its your only rifle for the reasons you mentioned. welcome to the club

 

[sir smackabuck]

They are all great cartridges and if this post stays active long enough to get 100 post you will have a bunch of different people telling you different reasons why this cartridge is better than this one and probably have a lot of people tell you the same thing that I am getting ready to say; You can't go wrong with any of these cartridges for deer hunting. They are all great cartridges for deer and other North American game. Choose the one that feels right to you when you shoulder it and the choose the bullet that "your" gun groups the best. In the end it is all a personal preference..........

Oh yeah, me??? .270 everytime, out of these cartridges

 

[Hunting Man]

I'll keep it short, all 4 are great. If you are sticking to deer (maybe elk someday) then the 270 would be my first pick. Followed : 30-06, 7mm-08, 308.

 

[Karl.Luhr]

Caliber/Rifle suggestions for deer

You are looking at a group of cartridges that doesn't contain a bad choice. I would start looking at rifles, my suggestions are the Marlin XL7 and XS7. The letter L or S says wheither it is for long action cartridges or short action cartridges. The 308 will have less kick due to less velocity compared to the 3006 if both are using the same bullet. The diameter of the 270 is really .277 and the 7mm08 is really .284 so they are pretty close. For the same weight bullet say 140gr the 270 will be faster and kick a little more. Any place I have seen ammo for sale 270, 308, and 3006 were available. The 7mm08 is a great deer cartridge but it isn't as popular as the other three. It is simply a necked down 308 and has only been available in factory loading from the 1980s. If you want to hold your spending to 500.xx I would plan on entry level rifle like the Marlin or a Savage, and plan on spending the other 200.xx on a quality scope. Unless you plan on upgrading the scope in a year or two I wouldn't spend 450.xx on the rifle and 50.xx on the scope. Package deals where the rifle and scope are bundled together do not give you much in the way of a quality scope. It was said very well in other posts, get out to gun shops and try several different rifles out for feel. They are that different and one will fit you better than the others. Remember that when hunting deer in the upper midwest at least you should plan on having thick clothing on, this will change the way the rifle feels. I think you are in for some fun shopping.

Karl

 

[onehorse]

These posts pretty much covered the subject, so there's not too much advice I can add about choices. All of those calibers would be adequate for deer, elk and any other Rocky Mountain game. Your $500 limit would be quite a stretch for a scope AND rifle, at least for anything that was new. You might have to consider a used rifle and scope. Nothing wrong with that as most rifles outlive their original owners. Bill Ruger once said that gun manufacturers were in competition with themselves because the guns they made lasted so long. Here's a tip on getting a used scope: some manufacturers guarantee their scopes forever - even extending this to non-original owners. Leupold and Burris are two companies that do this, and they are both excellent quality. I favor the Leupold because of the overall quality and long eye relief. Good luck.

 

[Rozman62]

- Marlin XL7 or XS7 for $270 -300 (comes with scope mount)
- Leupold PRW steeo low rings for $55
- Nikon Prostaff 3x9x40 for $160
- Total $485-$515 (within your budget)

You won't be disappointed. The demand far outweighs the supply on the Marlins so the prices are starting to increase. It may be considered an entry level gun but is as accurate as a gun twice the price tag.

 

[WisconsinDeer]

My recommendation would be a Stevens bolt action rifle in 30-06 (or maybe .270), and it's well within your budget. I've got one in .243 and its a really nice gun. Its basically a Savage 10 without an accu trigger. I would definitely buy one of these again before I would buy something like a Remington 700 or a Browning A-bolt. Very, very nice rifle for the money.

 

[rdrader2002]

Have a Savage model 111 in .270 and it works great on deer here in Texas. My father-in-law used a lever action .270 (forgot manufacture and model) for decades in the mountains above Boulder for anything from deer to elk. He still has that rifle and it's in great shape. Would hate to be on the other end of that thing if he ever got mad at me for marrying his daughter<grin>(even though we celebrated 30 yrs together this week).

 

[Hunting Man]

You should be able to locate a remington model 700 and a scope (used in great condition) for $500.

 

[ronn]

You should be able to locate a remington model 700 and a scope (used in great condition) for $500.

i think i'm with hm on this point. i'd rather buy a used 700 or ruger 77, than a new lesser rifle, like the 710 or the mossberg. my neighbor bought a 700 bdl in 308 for $350 with half decent glass on it. heck of a deal. so these guns are out there. there is a reason they are cheaper. the old adage "you get what you pay for" definitely applies here. do they work? most of the time. do they hold their value? nope. do they use half decent glass? not in my opinion. that said if thats the best you can afford then thats the best choice.

 

[WisconsinDeer]

Have a Savage model 111 in .270 and it works great on deer here in Texas. My father-in-law used a lever action .270 (forgot manufacture and model) for decades in the mountains above Boulder for anything from deer to elk. He still has that rifle and it's in great shape. Would hate to be on the other end of that thing if he ever got mad at me for marrying his daughter<grin>(even though we celebrated 30 yrs together this week).

Could that lever action .270 be a Browning BLR perhaps? Does it have a detachable magazine?

 

[Karl.Luhr]

Gun shows anyone...

I know that I would rather buy new over used, but good points are made about a used one. Picking up a Remington M700, Ruger 77, or Winchester 70 used is much less then the cost for a new one. I beleave the above all cost between 650.xx to 850.xx at retail price. Cruising a gunshow a lucky person might get one at the price the other post said in the 350-400 range. I wouldn't expect much in the way of a quality scope already on it. I did see some great deals when Ruger brought out their new hawkeye series M77, the originals were sold a quite a discount. I saw the same thing a could of years ago, Remington M700 ADLs were sold under 400.xx
after the SPS line took over from the ADL models.

Karl

 

[ronn]

the gun shows i've been to, around here, the guns are cheaper at the shop, which is strange no doubt. whats that new tc that i saw advertised reminded me of the sps line.

 

[onehorse]

the gun shows i've been to, around here, the guns are cheaper at the shop, which is strange no doubt. whats that new tc that i saw advertised reminded me of the sps line.

That's true here, too, Ronn. You can get used stuff at gun shows for a wide range of prices, but for new guns, the local shops usually have better prices, and if you do your shopping ahead of time and know what you want, occasionally you can get a real smokin' deal when the shops have sales. I've done this several times as one of the shops always has big reductions in prices around Christmas and the end of the year. One deal, in particular, was a $1400 Benelli shotgun that I got for just a little over $1000.

 

[Hunting Man]

Here too, the shows seem to add 15-20% mark up.

 

[ronn]

Hey John, I just thr

Hey John, I just threw a few bucks your way. It's on my mom's (Lorna Heisie) credit card, that's why you won't renzcgioe the name. It's not much, but hopefully it helps! Thanks for all the thrills, Mr. K!Josh Heisie

 

[Hunting Man]

Here I thought it was these old eyes that was the problem!

 

[rdrader2002]

Could that lever action .270 be a Browning BLR perhaps? Does it have a detachable magazine?

My mistake on the caliber. After thinking about it for a while (and verifying in the Blue Book), it's a Savage Model 99 in .300 Savage.

Have a Remington Model 81 in .300 Savage that my grandfather probably purchased about the same time that my father-in-law bought the Savage 99. Haven't tried using it yet, but do plan on rectifying that this fall. :-D

He (father-in-law) has a bolt action .270 that I fired years ago and can't remember make/model on that one either. Would have to call him to have memory banks refilled. Sorry for the confusion. I'm claiming CRS. That's my story and I'm st . . . st . . . sticking to it!

 

[Hunting Man]

300 sav is still a great deer getter, I still hunt with my model 99.