Ordered a new rifle today...did I do good?

[JWH 223]

I am 35 years old and have never deer hunted. I am going this year with new in-laws. I am heavily into military type guns and own a number of them.......I don't have any "Normal" guns and wanted a decent all around deer rifle.....I ordered a Tikka T3 Light stainless synthetic in .308.

Did I make a decent choice.....tell me I did?????

 

[dbshabo]

If you're happy you done good. I know Tikka's have excellent reps, I've never owned one. Good luck.

Shabo

 

[TCD]

I'm sure any of your military style rifles in 7.62 could have done the job

 

[JWH 223]

Good point, but people look at you funny when you're carring a Hk or AK

 

[Chipperman]

For me military guns are normal. The guys I shoot with would look at me funny if I came to the range with a Deer Rifle.

 

[Dave R]

You chose well. That's exactly what I would get if funds permitted.

 

[BJPARKER]

I have a Tikka, not the T3 but the whitetail hunter and its been very good to me. I'm sure you'll be very pleased with the performance of your Tikka

 

[rust collector]

I have the same gun and have been very happy with it. You have made an excellent choice. I mounted a Bushnell 3200 3x9 on mine and it is a great utility rig.

Your homework assignment is twofold: find the the 150 to 180 load that is most accurate, and locate a source for the magazines (which cost, oh, $1.87 to manufacture) that wants less than $40 per copy.

Let's compare notes in another 200 rounds.

 

[dakotasin]

jwh- you done real good. once you get warmed up to it, you'll be quite happy, i'm sure.

enjoy your rifle!

 

[Smaug]

I will go whitetail hunting the first time this fall. I have a Remington 788 in 6mm Remington. (yes, I handload) Ballistically, it is between a 243 Winchester and a 25-06. The cool thing though is that it is a good round for whitetail with the 100 gr. bullets and a good round for targets and varmints with the 70 gr. bullets.

I have heard that most shots on deer are taken at under 100 yards. That said, you should be able to do it with one of your military rifles. I guess I'm assuming you have something accurate and powerful enough to do the job, not just an AK & AR. A $65 Mosin-Nagant or a $150 Mauser would be good deer guns.

Then again, maybe you thought it was about time for such a rifle anyhow?

I have an SKS on the way, and depending how I do with it at the rifle range on the 100 yard target, I may just take it deer hunting instead of the scoped bolt-action. Is that silly?

From all I have read on Tikkas, they are a poor man's Sako, and just as accurate. (if you do your part, hehehe)

 

[rust collector]

Smaug, my first deer rifle was a 6mm in a model 700 ADL. That gun never let me down, and I regret selling it. I just discovered that 2 or 20 rifles was more fun than one, so went for 223 and 308. Lately, I have been having fun with 6.5 swede and 7.5 swiss for deer #3 and 4 of the season.

7.62 x 39 with good softpoint ammo should be just fine for woods hunting. Weak points for me would be my eyesight and the occasional 200 yd opportunity. SD has a 5 rnd magazine capacity limit, too.

Happy hunting!

 

[JWH 223]

"most shots on deer are taken at under 100 yards".

Yes and no in ND. That's the thing is that I went with the .308 as kinda an all around rifle. I will be pushing some bush, but also taking standing deer shots at 200-300 yards.....we have alot of wide open spaces around here.

I think it will work out o.k......if not, I just get to buy something else....that's not all bad either

Thanks everyone.