best first hunting rifle

Mr. beer

New Member
Nov 19, 2018
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temecula ca
looking for a decent first hunting rife for big game, trying to stay around $600 for the rifle bare. any recommendations?
 
Savage Axis & Ruger American in either 30-06 or .270 for under 300 bucks.....Leaves a pretty good chunk to put on a better scope, if you want.
 
Ruger American predator. A little more expensive than the basic Ruger American but it has a threaded barrel for a muzzle break. Pick your caliber. 30-06, 270, 308. They all get the job done.
 
Ruger American 308 or 7mm-08 not a ton of recoil and it will be a great all around hunting rifle Elk and down. Put a Leopold VX-1 on it and you will be right around $600-800. Also don’t forget to check out the used gun racks down at Fine Firearms they have some complete rifles in you price range.
 
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Go see John at Fine Firearms
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Also if you can afford it.
Try to get a rifle with a bedded stock. Some type of Accu trigger.
Adjustable trigger poundage.
A little better quality precision components. If you can.
Learn from my mistakes.
 
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I have a few Vortex crossfires on my boys hunting rifles they work great. Great customer support and warranty.

I am partial to Leupold though. I like that they still make their stuff in USA.
 
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I have a Tikka T3 lite in 308 paired with a Leupold VX 3i, great rifle. I, too, got it from fine firearms in 2012 I think. I prefer Leupold as well and have the VX 2 on another rifle (don't think they make the VX2 anymore). The Ruger and Savage are good guns too. They'll all last you a long time! .270 will work for almost everything in the US/NA, I don't think I would use it on Grizzly or Brown bears though.
 
Look at Marlin XL-7. You will have $$ for a nice scope. As accurate as the others without the high$$.
 
Definitely try an AccuTrigger or one that has an AccuTrigger knock-off. Love the AccuTrigger on my Savage.

P.S. even though they are a very accurate shooter... shy away from the Remington 783. My .223 I got from them sometimes has issues with an extra shell popping off the top of the magazine when you're working the bolt when the magazine is fully loaded. The cure seems to be to not load the magazine all the way full. Keep it with one round less. Like if it's 4+1, you'd instead pop the magazine in there with the 4 and observe loading that top one into the chamber to make sure that went ok, and leave it at that, 3+1. Also seems to happen more when they are nice slick Nickle plated cases. Just wanted to make sure to share that info.

P.S. Recommend getting those Cabelas Kwik Stix, shooting sticks. Very lightweight, tent-pole kinda design, easy to quickly assemble quietly. Have used them to have all kindsa fun popping Grey Squirrels and Rabbits at 80+yds with .17 HMR. Furthest has been 92yds. and hit a bottle at 200yds with them too. Get you a Havalon replacable Scalpel blade knife and learn how to do the gutless method of field processing a deer. And be ready for the "meat bees" the Yellow Jackets that come in to the kiil as you begin processing him. It'll freak you out at first, but then you realize they really don't care about you, they just wanna get at that meat. I've learned to skin-as-I-go and leave the hide on until I'm ready to process the next area so as to minimize he amount of exposed flesh to attract them. And if you have to gut 'em, make sure to throw those guts a good ways away from where you are working at to draw them away from where you're working at.
 
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