A Good Hunting Rifle

I take a .30-30-170 Marlin throughout the continental U.S. All 2 shot kills (drop it then finish it) I am a pure meat hunter though & sneak up to w/in 50 yards of my target. In Alaska I tried to use it, but the folks said it doesn't have the energy required, so I borrowed a .30-06-220. BTW the only knives I carry (until I am deployed) are 2 cv Case Sodbuster Jrs. It took me 2-3 hours to dress out a moose (Maine).
 
yea, id say it depends on what you want to hunt, and the terrain. and how often too. if its just once a year, in crappy conditions, and the terrain is thick, just stick with something simple, like a winchester or marlin 30.30 lever. never had one jam, fairly decent factory sights, sturdy, they dont take up a lot of room, can be had for cheap, and the most important; they can be worked on by any gunsmith, and ammo for them can be bought anywhere.

If youre going to be a little more serious, id do a savage bolt rifle in 7.62, with a decent scope. with this rifle, you can take it anywhere, hunt pretty much any game with it, its sturdy, and again, any gunsmith can work on it, and ammo can be bought anywhere. the prime components of a savage bolt gun, in my opinion, are the trigger, scope, scope mount, and ammunition. the actual gun itself is dam good right out of the box. for a moderate amount of money, you can buy the rifle, a good set of redfield, millet, or burris scope rings, and a decent burris or other brand scope. zero it with some good quality hunting ammo, and youll never have a problem. Sure its no 'remington 700' but its a dam fine rifle for out of the box hunting for the money.
 
jpvjr said:
I take a .30-30-170 Marlin throughout the continental U.S. All 2 shot kills (drop it then finish it) I am a pure meat hunter though & sneak up to w/in 50 yards of my target. In Alaska I tried to use it, but the folks said it doesn't have the energy required, so I borrowed a .30-06-220. BTW the only knives I carry (until I am deployed) are 2 cv Case Sodbuster Jrs. It took me 2-3 hours to dress out a moose (Maine).
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I hate to be an arse but I would not recommend a rifle that takes 2 shots from 50 yards or I would work on my marksmanship.

As has been said in this thread, the marlin 336 in 30 WCF or 35 Rem is a fine rifle for deer size critters out to as far as you can put every shot in the vitals. Chris
 
gibson fan, "Bear in mind, US military snipers use .308 Remington bolt-actions to great effect. I'm sure their rifles and ammo are pretty tweaked out, but hey."

The ammo, is actually very very poor for hunting conditions. match ammo blows apart, and works kinda shitty for something like a deer or whatnot. military sniper and match grade ammo, is tweaked only for accuracy, with no attention paid to actual terminal effects. (cuz if that were the case, we'd be shooting barnes x, swift a frames, nosler partitions, silvertips, or sxt's)

though, a good headshot, with a 7.62mm rifle, will drop, like a bag of shit, pretty much any animal around. (which is where i shoot) but most guys have a disgusting habit, of wanting to mount dead animals heads on their walls... so using match grade ammo for gut shots, puts it behind the pack, in terms of quality deer hunting ammunition.
 
If you shoot all your "kills" in the head why do you care what bullet you shoot? Anything from a FMJ ball round on down will do the trick.

If you shoot at deer's heads enough you will eventually blow ones jaw off, been there, done that, and very likely not recover it. A deer jerks and moves it's head way to much, put a good expanding bullet behind the shoulder, if you shoot straight you will recover every one. I have never heard any hunter advocate shooting an animal in the guts so you can mount it.:rolleyes: Chris
 
Im not in the market for a new rifle. i already have my calibres. i was just explaining to the person that is, that unless you shoot for the head, bullet choice is important. a match round will kill if shot in the head, but not soo good in the shoulder/vitals. I know a lot of guys who dont shoot for the head, not cuz they cant hit it, but because they want to mount it. I personally dont go about mounting dead animals on walls myself.
 
Buddiiee said:
so using match grade ammo for gut shots, puts it behind the pack, in terms of quality deer hunting ammunition.
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Gee, I hope that the deer that was gut shot was an acident. Every creature deserves to be dispached as quickly and as painless as posible. I gut shot my first deer by mistake and said I would never do it again. I didn't. Everything since then has dropped with one shot. Behind the shoulder through the lung or lungs, depending how it was facing. I used a 30-06 the first 15 years of my deer hunting and other than my first they never went over 50 yards. I use a 7mm mag. now and can say that everything shot with it has droped in its tracks. Practice is the key to shot placement. I was lucky enough to target practice two steps from my door, where I shot thousands upon thousands of rounds at 50 yards offhanded with my 22.
 
I think were misusing the word gutshot. Im not a huge hunter, so maybe im using it wrong. i mean 'gut' as opposed to head. Im just saying, that if you have a very bad hunting round, like match ammo is, and you can make a head shot confidently, i would do that as opposed to a shot in the vitals if you were really desperate. match ammo is a horrible game getter, when shot in the vitals, compared to something nicer, like an a frame, or a partition.
 
runningboar said:
I hate to be an arse but I would not recommend a rifle that takes 2 shots from 50 yards or I would work on my marksmanship.

As has been said in this thread, the marlin 336 in 30 WCF or 35 Rem is a fine rifle for deer size critters out to as far as you can put every shot in the vitals. Chris
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I am a qualified sniper my point is that in hunting animals take it down 1st then, do it in. My marlin is sighted in at 125 m (I'm a snob I only use the iron sights) I could hit w/in a 10cm dia to 160m OFFHAND. If I were to insist on a HV LONG range rifle, then I would take a .270-130 w/a peep sight & sight in @ 400m giving me a max of 625m, BUT that to me isn't the point of, or spirit of hunting.
 
jpvjr said:
I am a qualified sniper my point is that in hunting animals take it down 1st then, do it in. My marlin is sighted in at 125 m (I'm a snob I only use the iron sights) I could hit w/in a 10cm dia to 160m OFFHAND. If I were to insist on a HV LONG range rifle, then I would take a .270-130 w/a peep sight & sight in @ 400m giving me a max of 625m, BUT that to me isn't the point of, or spirit of hunting.
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Why not just make the first shot good? It would be a whole lot more convenient for the deer to just do it with one bullet.........
 
Evil Eye Earl said:
22-250,cheap ammo very accurate,low recoil and report,devastating on deer and varmits....if you hit them in a vital spot.
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Since a .22-250 IS a .22 cal bullet, it MAY be illegal to use in some areas. When I hunted/lived in Texas, the .22-250 was considered illegal for that very reason.


CHECK YOUR LOCAL LAWS!!

I highly recommend a .30-06 Great power, not an overkill, and can handle bears. Pretty good all-around round!
 
jpvjr said:
I am a qualified sniper my point is that in hunting animals take it down 1st then, do it in. My marlin is sighted in at 125 m (I'm a snob I only use the iron sights) I could hit w/in a 10cm dia to 160m OFFHAND. If I were to insist on a HV LONG range rifle, then I would take a .270-130 w/a peep sight & sight in @ 400m giving me a max of 625m, BUT that to me isn't the point of, or spirit of hunting.
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Do you know a guy by the name of Mall Ninja??


Sorry, couldn't help myself!
Shrine of the Mall Ninja

 
I don't know if it's mentioned or even within your price range, but I had a chance to fonddle a Tikka T3, a nice rifle for not too many bones.
 
I hadn't seen these before.. Very Nice!! Here's a link to more info on the Tikka..

http://www.berettausa.com/product/rifles/series_page.cfm?currentseries=11

Some of the specs..
T3 Hunter Cal: 270 Win Bbl: 22 7/16" Stock:Wood/Blued $625.00
T3 Hunter Cal: 270 WSM Bbl: 24 3/8" Stock:Wood/Blued $640.00
T3 Hunter Cal: 30-06 Sprg Bbl: 22 7/16" Stock: Wood/Blued $625.00
T3 Hunter Cal: 300 Win Mag Bbl: 24 3/8" Stock: Wood/Blued $625.00
And a pic..
TikkaT3_Hunter.jpg
 
I played with a sythetic stock 270, thats my uncles. Smooth action, and very tight grouping out of box. I've actually never seen ones with wood stock before, interesting.
 
wow, those are some nice tikkas for decent money. though, id probably not want to take it out theyre soo nice. my first experience with foreign rifles, was when i was 19, in the fleigerhorst rod and gun club. the guy handed me three rifles, a sauer, a heym, and a sako. I have to admit, as far as aesthetics, precision, sights, and overall fit and finish, those rifles far exceeded anything american ive ever had. (i was hunting for a good sendero back then)
as far as an actual use rifle, even if I had a billion dollars in the bank, i still would use some simple and american, like a savage, remington or winchester. but for just shooting, plinking or whatever, i think id do something nice and european. that sauer i shouldered was like a mercedes. european gun makers have it down to a science i think.
 
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