What should my hunting rifle be?

[BK]

Non-intimidating.

 

[natman]

Get a Marlin XL7 in 270 or 30-06. The Marlin is an amazing gun for the price. Top it off with a Leupold VX2 in 2x7 or 3x9 and you will have a rig ready to hunt almost any big game.

 

[MacTech]

I know I'll love my Savage 30-06, but right now I'm frustrated with it, part of it is my fault, I assumed that once the gun was boresighted, it was dead on, in this gun's case, that's not true, with the boresight dead on at 25 yards, the gun hits about 3" low and 3" to the right at 50 yards (my range's shortest rifle distance is a 50 yard shot), I was under the impression that a boresighted gun would be dead on

I also made the mistake that a gun boresighted to 100 yards would shoot true at 100 yards, so I spent the first box-and-a-half of ammo trying to get on paper with a boresighted gun at 100 yards, thankfully, a couple of the guys at the rod and gun club helped me get on the paper at 50 yards, turns out I should have been starting out closer, but all the threads about the (supposed) inherent accuracy of Savage rifles out of the box got me thinking that it'd be reasonably close to dead-on right out of the box

so far, I've spent $40 in ammo and i'm just barely on the paper at 50 yards, now that I'm on the paper, it should be easy to dial it in, it's just frustrating to *waste* 40 rounds, but most of that wasting was my fault for making incorrect assumptions, that a boresighted gun would be dead-on at 100 yards right out of the box, and that initial tweaking could be done at 100 yards.....

strange thing is, when we were sighting the rifle in at 50, it would shoot dead on at a clump of grass to the left of the target stand, twice, but move the rifle two feet in to the target itself and it was nowhere near the target

I'm just going to start over from scratch at 50, I tightened the scope mount and all hardware down again, cleaned the bore, and have it boresighted with my laser boresighter, I'll just start over, zero it at 50, then move to 100 yards....

I just hope nothing's wrong with the gun, I'm sure it's a problem with the loose nut behind the stock...

<Edit> that was simple....
Took the gun back to KTP, and had their gunsmith give it a once-over, turns out the scope was off centered, *AND* the scope mount screws weren't torqued down properly, he said that that was probably the cause of the wandering and inaccuracy, the scope mounts were just loose enough to permit the zero to change with every shot, I'll betcha that was probably the problem for the Simmons Blazer's wandering zero as well, still, the Blazer had that whole pincushioning problem as well, so I would have replaced it anyway

I'll find out how the gun does next weekend at the range

 

[Reid73]

I was under the impression that a boresighted gun would be dead on

Not sure who told you that, but they are wrong. A boresighter should put you on the paper, thus saving time and money (wasted ammunition), but it is not a substitute for proper sighting-in.

all the threads about the (supposed) inherent accuracy of Savage rifles out of the box got me thinking that it'd be reasonably close to dead-on right out of the box

While I am not a big Savage fan, your experience is not necessarily a condemnation of the rifle. Remember that it is only one part of a system, and that the scope and mounts are equally important (as your edit suggests that you now appreciate).

all I'll need now is a good set of sandbags/rest/bipod or something like that for some 100-200 yard target shooting at the range

You will need this sort of thing for sighting-in, but not for target shooting. Do yourself a favour and ditch the supports as soon as possible.

 

[627PCFan]

Water-Man is the smartest guy on the board today-

 

[T.R.]

This a Stevens model 325 rifle in 30-30. Savage model 340 is very similar but bolt handle and trigger guard are less elegant. You can easily find either rifle at Gunbroker.com and a lightly used one typically sells for about $225. Accurasy is quite good. The handloader can safely use pointed spitzer bullets to flatten trajectory.

30-30 ammo price increased in past year but not as drastically as many other rifle cartridges. It is still affordable and made better than ever due to updated machinery and technologies.

I won't bore you with 30-30 history or its predictable good performance on deer sized animals at reasonable distances. But this photo shows my daughter with a huge muley that was close to the 300lb mark. One bullet through the chest organs did the job quickly.

TR

 

[MacTech]

Just got back from the range with the 111, last weekend, I had the gunsmith at KTP give it a once over, he tightened everything down and re-boresighted it

Once set up on the range with the freshly re-sighted-in rifle, my first three shots were 5" left and 1" down from dead center, next group of three I brought up the height to dead on, and final group of three dead centered

I still have a very faint flinch that I need to overcome, when I can get past the flinch, at 50 yards, the gun will put rounds within 1/2" of each other, and this is with a gun that has only had 50 rounds through it, 40 of those last week trying to sight the thing in with a slightly loose scope mount

next week, I'll sight in for 100 yards and I should be good, this thing is pretty darned accurate for a brand new gun with 50 rounds through it....

The recoil doesn't seem as bad as I remember, so I'm adjusting well to the gun

When did Savage move to a plastic trigger guard on the 100 series? this appears to be a 2007 vintage model (New Old Stock) as it was packed with a 2007 catalog, and the TG appears to be metal....

the only mod I'd like to perform now is to lighten up the trigger pull a bit, get rid of the "Lawyer-trigger", the trigger's not too bad at the moment, but it could stand a little lightening....

 

[CaptainCrossman]

I've been taking stock of my firearms collection, and it appears I am weak in one category, the hunting rifle, I have a good selection of the other "primary" firearms that any sport shooter/outdoorsman should have with the exception of the hunting rifle
Rifles; a semiauto .22LR carbine, a single-shot .22LR/L/S, both scoped with 3-9x 40mm scopes, Dad's .22 Short, .22LR single-shot, Winchester '94 in 44-40
Here's the question, is the Winnie '94 in 44-40 (which I understand is a handgun cartridge) capable enough as a hunting rifle, most of my shots would be short to medium range, but I'd also like a long distance hunting rifle
What would be a reccomended hunting rifle, something in a common, inexpensive caliber that can be easily reloadable, I was thinking something in the 30-30/30-06/.308 range, possibly a bolt action, used is not a problem, reliability, accuracy, and affordability are key here....

ouch...

dude, you need a bolt action rifle, badly.

take a trip to Walmart, and peruse their gun catalog, they can order you anything, and they beat anyone's prices. You can't go wrong with a Ruger or Remington- you can bucks up with a Browning, they even sell Weatherbys there- or if you want to low buck it, they sell Savage, Mossberg, Marlin too.

or, take a trip to a gun shop, look in their gun rack, and buy a used Ruger M77, Remington 700, Winchester 70, Mauser 98 custom, etc. For under $500 you'll be good to go.

caliber- can't beat a .308 Winchester- an '06 is usually too much gun IMHO for most people (I don't use one myself, but I have an old T/C single shot w/06 spare scoped barrel- never use it), and a .243 is too little. No special reason to go with a medium bore either, if you need that, use your 44-40

 

[bartsitarski]

I just got a Remington 798 in .308 for $429.99 at Cabellas. I needed a bolt action deer rifle. I absolutely love it. All in all, the package deal with a Nikon ProStaff cost $600.

 

[IanS]

I have a Tikka T3 270 with a 4x 33 Leupold on it. It is a fantastic caliber and rifle. Low recoil. Very accurate and easy to carry all day. A 270 will easily drop anything in North America.