Best Rifle?

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moody22

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I was wondering wat the best rifle would be. I am getting one soon but was wondering if I need a 270win mag or something else. I was going to get the 300 WSM but found out how much the recoil is. Help me out here yall. Yall know more than me. Thanx.

For Whitetail deer
I will be hunting in Arkansas. Sometimes in brush and sometimes in long shooting lanes. My limit on money wise is very low but have found quite a few nice ones. No more than $575 thats not including the accesories. I have found a Remington Model 700 Synthetic 300 WSM, 308, 270win for $505. What do yall think. And is mossberg a good hunting rifle. I didnt think it was but thought i would ask yall.
 
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I like my 30-06 but a 243, 308, 7mm-08, 270 will all do the job.

If I bought a deer-specific rifle it would be 243.
 
If I was to buy a new deer rifle, I'd look for something in .308 or .30-06

Its cheap, its widely available and you aren't limited by your ammo should you ever want to look for bigger game. Thirty caliber cartridges do everything pretty well and there isn't much on the North American continent that can't be taken with a .308 or .30-06.
 
I'd go .270, .308, or .30-06 in a Savage. Why? Those are about the most popular cartridges for deer in America (with good reason). Ammo everywhere for good prices. Savage because they're a heck of a rifle for the cost.
 
Deer?

How far away will these deer be?

If they're a long way off, then something in a nice .308 or .270 or .30-06 or . . . [list of other high-powered calibres].

If you're hunting in the woods and brush and your shots will pretty much always be inside of a football field, then the .30-30 works real well -- in fact, at that range, so do the .357 carbine and the .44 magnum carbine.

Could you clarify the anticipated hunting conditions?
 
270 Win or WSM are good choices. 6mm also noce flat round but more difficult to locate ammo for. 30-06 also a good choice. Each has their benefits and limitations. Where will you hunt? What kind of terrain?
 
For Whitetail Deer right? .243, .260 Remington and 7mm-08. Anything bigger is overkill and you're just beating up your shoulder. All three will work very well out to 400yds.
 
well, lets just say that the best all around, most common , do everything round will proly be a 30/06, then the 308. next up would be a 270, then proly a 243. A good beginner to expert use rifle , would be a Savage. Great overall rifles, and easy on the wallet.
 
How much $$??

Another consideration besides distance (and incidentally, your shooting skill and willingness to practice) is, how much are you planning on spending for this deer rifle?

If you're on a severe budget, as was suggested, a Savage gives you a LOT of bang for your buck. If you have the $$ to spare, a CZ will be nicer to look at, better mechanically, and probably more accurate right out of the box.

Don't fail to consider buying used--rifles aren't like cars, where there can be lots of hidden wear and stuff about to fail. You can look at a rifle, inside and out, and tell pretty well whether or not it's been taken care of. Buying a used rifle @ a gun sho, or better yet--for your first rifle--at a local shop that will be there for you and stand behind the rifle should a problem develop, is an option you should not discard. And again, more bang for yr buck buying used.

As to cartridge, anything in between a .243Win and a .300 Wby will do in deer with very little problem. The ammo-availability considerations are valid, however, so you probably do want to go with something that's popular with other hunters, for your first rifle anyhow, before branching out into oddball wildcats.

Finally, may I suggest doing as much homework before you buy, as you can manage. Go to the manufacturers' websites and look @ the various models. Read the write-ups in the gun mags about various models, and various cartridges. Go to a local range and politely ask everyone there what they're shooting, and why, and whether they'd reccommend it to you, and can you please handle theirs to see how it fits you. The more you know before ANY purchase, the better prepared you are to make yourself happy with that purchase. You will get conflicting advice, and quite a bit of BS, and mebbe become confused, but sorting this all out in the information stage will be a very good learning experience about rifles in general, as well as being a lot cheaper than sorting it out by purchasing rifle after rifle in search of one you really like.

Good luck. Enjoy the search.
 
moody, Im assuming you are new to hunting.? A good all-around caliber is what I would recomend. Something that would be easy to find ammo for, and would fill your needs at close and longer ranges. .30-06 , .270 (non magnum), and .308 would be the three calibers I'd look at rifles in. Sure, there are a boatload of calibers that would be fine for whitetail, but those three are the most common calibers, and a plethora of rifles are chambered in them.

Added- if you are set on hunting hardwoods and your shots will definately be under 200 yards, a Marlin 336 in .30-30 would fill your needs, and would be easy on the wallet.
 
Hey guys, I was wondering, what's the best car?

It would be for driving.
 
I'd go .270, .308, or .30-06 in a Savage. Why? Those are about the most popular cartridges for deer in America (with good reason). Ammo everywhere for good prices. Savage because they're a heck of a rifle for the cost.
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Excellent choice. The Savage also has the ability to allow you to switch barrels. You can buy the tools and another barrel for less than a complete rifle, and if you want a third caliber, all you really need is a barrel and gage. I'd go with the long action, and perhaps at some future date acquire a .35 Whelen barrel for elk, moose, etc., and a .25-06 barrel for plains game, varmits, etc.
 
Hey guys, I was wondering, what's the best car?

It would be for driving.
Click to expand...

OMG, where is the "laughing out loud, rolling on the floor, slapping the ground" smiley when you need it. I have to clench my teeth everytime I see a question like this.

Back to the regularly scheduled topic

I would agree with the posters that say your caliber choices are overkill. Soft recoiling calibers like the .260, 7mm-08, .243 will do everything you are asking for...without the price you'll have to pay in your wallet and shoulder (this from a happy owner of a .300 WSM)
 
Well, in my opinion, the original question was legitimate and, except that most of us on this board don't live next door to the original poster to know his best bet for where he lives, pretty well phrased. It could have been a little more detailed, but if the guy is new to hunting, likely he won't know how many questions he has. I've been there. I'm sure we all have.

As for the wiseass question about the best car for driving/deer, if it hadn't been misapplied it'd have been a lot funnier.

So now, I'll tell my opinion on the original question... either a .30-30 levergun or a Savage Model 11G in .243Winchester. Neither one will break the bank. They'll both do the job. My experience deer hunting in my part of the country is most shots will be well within 200yds and most of those will be well within 100yds. A .30-30 will handle that and, according to my info, the point blank zero (this counts lowest and highest points of impact) for a Winchester Silvertip is IIRC something like 351yds. The .243Winchester will do the job too at longer range with a lighter faster bullet and flatter trajectory. Either will do the job if the shooter knows what he's doing... although many don't know what they're doing. Just depends on personal preference.
 
As for the wiseass question about the best car for driving/deer, if it hadn't been misapplied it'd have been a lot funnier.
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Well, you had to see the question before it was edited - Correia's point was a lot more a propos to the original unedited post...

Sometimes in brush and sometimes in long shooting lanes.
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It's hard to find a rifle that will do both well. Rifle chamberings that have good trajectory and adequate downrange energy often wind up not performing as well inside of 100 yards due to bullet blow-up or the like. You can kind of push this problem around a bit with premium bullets (e.g. Barnes) but in the end it's still a not-so-trivial thing to resolve.

30-06 and 270 are about as versatile a chambering as you can get, and are well supported by ammo manufacturers and well stocked just about anywhere you can go. Either of these will serve you well.
 
The original question read, in its entirety, "I was wondering wat the best rifle would be. I am getting one soon but was wondering if I need a 270win mag or something else. I was going to get the 300 WSM but found out how much the recoil is. Help me out here yall. Yall know more than me. Thanx."

In that light, Correia's reply was hilarious.
 
The name of this forum is THR, right?

The OP is BRAND NEW here and from his first post obviously is new to guns. How about we try to help out and not all gang up on a new member of THR and make them feel stupid for not asking a question that encompases every facet of what they will ever use the rifle for, how they will use it, what color grain wood they prefer, how heavy they would like it to be, what length barrel they like, what type of action they prefer, what weight trigger they are looking for, etc., etc., etc., etc.!

GIVE ME A BREAK. Either help someone with honest advise, or reply with something like, "could you be more detailed in what you'd use it for" or DON'T REPLY.

Why are we trying to make someone feel bad, feel stupid, or be turned off by THR for not having as much knowledge as some of the members here?
 
Best truck (cars suck): F-250 Power Stroke Diesel. (I could take elk with it.)

Best rifle (for anything): Marlin 336C in .30-30. (I could take elk with it.)

Best shotgun: Oh, wait, not being addressed in this thread.

{870P}
 
I prefer a .308. Ammo is plentiful, numerous choices for bullets, and it'll knock virtually anything down inside 300 yards you can hit. (take a look at a measured 300 yards and think about how likely anything beyond that you'll be shooting at.) Second choice is .30-06. Very similar to .308, adding 200-220gr bullets but with a longer action/bolt throw. .30 caliber has at least twice the choice of available loads of any other, in North America at least.
 
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