which rifle...multiple choice

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gspn

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I'm looking at a new rifle for my son who turns 13 later this month. I'm looking at the following rifles in .270:

Winchester Model 70
Remington 700
Weatherby Vanguard S2 sub moa
Browning x bolt

As a wildcard I found a Browning A-Bolt II in .308 at a nice price.

My goal is to get him a rifle he can use to deer hunt with the rest of his life.

Any thoughts on these rifles is appreciated.


****UPDATE****

After receiving some very good advice here I put aside my desire to achieve surprise and I brought my son down to the store to make his own decision. He's had a pretty good day. He won 2 out of his 3 wrestling matches tonight at practice, then when he got in the truck I told him where we were going. He was excited.

I was there as a sounding board...providing advice but not steering in any direction. He handled all four guns and there was nobody in the store so we had plenty of time. He must have gone through each one at least four times before deciding. In the end he bought the Weatherby Sub MOA. I had them put a Leupold VX2 3-9x40 on top and off we went.

With any luck he'll be in the field with it this weekend. Its supposed to be bad weather though so he might have to wait another week.

Thanks to all for the advice. Your collective input has helped make a great day for a 13 year old kid who really deserves it.
 
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I would personally go with the model 70 I have a friend with one in 270 nice gun shoots well he is five for five with it on deer last five years:D.
 
My last three rifles have been Tikka, CZ, and Remington 700. The Tikka and CZ have both been excellent out of the box, the Remington nearly doubled in price to get a decent stock and trigger.
 
Winchester; LOVE my Featherweight 308, but then again remember I am a sucker for a Mauser style action. Real world accuracy 1" with factory core-lokts and 1/2-3/4" with handloads.

Remington; The new ones are $#!^ and I won't waste another cent on their rifles (or handguns) Hopefully CCM will sell them to someone who gives a darn about quality, yeah they are that bad.

Weatherby; never owned one, not because they are bad rifles but because the raised cheek rest on the stock feels too weird to me. Their reputation is very high quality and exceptional accuracy for what they cost.

Browning; I own an A Bolt II (no X Bolt sorry), slick little gun, compact and not heavy but I have been having the darndest time trying to get it to shoot good. Finnaly found a load today that shows some promise but overall not my top pick. If you want the ultimate featherweight GET A TIKKA! Lighter, smoother, more accurate, and with a better trigger.

Don't overlook Savage, they build some fantastic rifles, no Mauser actions or slicker then black ice bolt, but I have owned half a dozen of them and they stack up to most higher end guns.

308, 270 and 30-06 are all great, I own all of the above and I prefer 308 myself but even that is second to my 6.5x55 which is the perfect deer rifle.
 
30-30 lever action, ar15, or Remington 700 in 308 would be my choices but none of those are yours so I have to ask why the 270? 308 would be much preferable to me and 30-30 or 223 would be much preferable for a small shooter. He may need a smaller caliber to start with I remember when I started shooting 30-30 was really powerful lol.
 
30-30 lever action, ar15, or Remington 700 in 308 would be my choices but none of those are yours so I have to ask why the 270? 308 would be much preferable to me and 30-30 or 223 would be much preferable for a small shooter. He may need a smaller caliber to start with I remember when I started shooting 30-30 was really powerful lol.
I appreciate the thoughts but some background on this kid might be in order. Recoil isn't a problem. This is a kid with solid fundamentals who has been hunting with his own rifle since he was six. He has been shooting my 44 mags (full house loads) since he was 10...he is better with a gun than every civilian adult that I've ever been around. He can literally pick up any gun I own and run it safely and effectively. You can hand him a rifle and he can stalk and kill a whitetail.

I like the .270 due to the conditions we hunt in. One thing that gives the .270 a bit of an advantage over the .308 for me is that I already have a set of dies and a bunch of components lying around.

I thought about buying the .308 for myself as I've hunted with an A Bolt II for the past 20 years and it's been so accurate that I've never considered getting another rifle...but it's cheap enough that it might make me buy it.

I hesitate to get him the A Bolt II only because it's the older model and as he gets older it may become harder to find parts for it if he needs them. I also like the X Bolts ability to unload the gun while on "safe".

I'm an accuracy freak...I can't stand a rifle that won't shoot tight groups so the Weatherby really grabbed my attention with the Sub MOA.

They all seem to have their positives...it's a bit tough to choose.
 
I'm an accuracy freak...I can't stand a rifle that won't shoot tight groups so the Weatherby really grabbed my attention with the Sub MOA.

They all seem to have their positives...it's a bit tough to choose.
Tikka also comes with a Sub-MOA guarantee, and in my experience they over deliver on that, quite a bit lighter then the Weatherby too. Try one of those before you put your money down, they will impress you. I love the fact that mine won't just shoot fantastic with one load, but I can run darn near anything through it and get superb accuracy.
 
Tikka also comes with a Sub-MOA guarantee, and in my experience they over deliver on that, quite a bit lighter then the Weatherby too. Try one of those before you put your money down, they will impress you. I love the fact that mine won't just shoot fantastic with one load, but I can run darn near anything through it and get superb accuracy.
thanks...I'll definitely check that out!
 
Why don't you ask him and let him help pick it out? One great memory from my childhood was obsessing over catalogs and finally picking out MY .30-06. I can still remember almost everything that happened that day, including what and where we ate. Let him have that kind of fun, even if it is a gift.
 
Why don't you ask him and let him help pick it out? One great memory from my childhood was obsessing over catalogs and finally picking out MY .30-06. I can still remember almost everything that happened that day, including what and where we ate. Let him have that kind of fun, even if it is a gift.

That is an excellent suggestion.

Oh...and buy the .308 for yourself.:)
 
Why don't you ask him and let him help pick it out? One great memory from my childhood was obsessing over catalogs and finally picking out MY .30-06. I can still remember almost everything that happened that day, including what and where we ate. Let him have that kind of fun, even if it is a gift.

This is some good advice. I was given my first gun (a single shot 20 ga) as a birthday present but did not help pick it out. Don't get me wrong, I loved the gun, and the fact that my parents got it for me showed a lot of thought and care on their part that I really appreciated. However, when they took me to pick out a gun for graduation, I enjoyed it even more. We spent time together looking at guns, and I got to learn the pros and cons of each and was finally able to decide which I wanted.
 
I was posed with this same dilemma recently. I ended up going with the X bolt. It just felt right in my hands and shouldered well. I bought the Stainless Stalker in 300 WSM. It is a fine weapon and I am very happy.
 
Why don't you ask him and let him help pick it out? One great memory from my childhood was obsessing over catalogs and finally picking out MY .30-06. I can still remember almost everything that happened that day, including what and where we ate. Let him have that kind of fun, even if it is a gift.
I've been thinking about that. I can't determine if I'd rather have it be a total surprise...or let him know up front and pick one out.

There appear to be more pro's than con's to letting him pick one out himself.

The parent in me wants to see the look of surprise on his face when he opens it...but the realist in me wants to make sure that he gets one that fits him best. He's smart enough to make the decision on his own...I'll probably just bring him up there after school one day this week.
 
Hey gspn how tall is your son? LOP makes a big difference in the fit of a rifle. If he is short might want to check out a short LOP rifle.
 
The parent in me wants to see the look of surprise on his face when he opens it...but the realist in me wants to make sure that he gets one that fits him best. He's smart enough to make the decision on his own...I'll probably just bring him up there after school one day this week.

Just make the remark that you are going to be getting a new rifle and you want it to be one that he can use on occasion. That will give him a reason to go with you and hold a few, and you can act like it is actually for you. You will be able to see which gun actually makes his eyes light up, and then you can still surprise him later!
 
Just make the remark that you are going to be getting a new rifle and you want it to be one that he can use on occasion. That will give him a reason to go with you and hold a few, and you can act like it is actually for you. You will be able to see which gun actually makes his eyes light up, and then you can still surprise him later!
Dastardly! I love it!!
 
Of those you listed, I would go with the new Winchester Model 70 hands down. Of those you listed, I own multiple Winchester 70s, including two new models, a Featherweight in .243 and an Extreme Weather in 30-06. I also have multiple Remington 700s and 7s, a Ruger 77 Hawkeye Ultralight, a Browning Abolt and a Kimber 84M.
 
I think k1500 has an excellent point.

We all have personal reasons for purchasing the guns that we own, and those reasons are as individual as the person.

Given what you are trying to do (buy your son a deer rifle he will essentially have and use the rest of his life), his personal opinions should weigh in very heavily.

Yeah, I know...it kinda takes the "surprise" out of doing something like this as a gift. But the trade off is your son will get a rifle that HE likes because it's tailored to HIS personality...and this is in addition to having it picked out by (with) his Dad as he is growing up.


Consider this as an example of what I'm talking about:

Glock makes some of the finest handguns in terms of reliability and accuracy. They have a lot going for them as a concealed carry, too. But I personally wouldn't buy one myself because I think they're uglier than sin.

If one of my brothers bought me a Glock as a gift, I would cherish it as a gift from my brother. But that wouldn't change my opinion on how it looks. And it probably wouldn't get anywhere near the use/carry time that another gun would get as a result.


Now, if you already know what your son has is sights on for a rifle, that's another story.


Just something to think about.
 
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