Rifle suggestions

Howdy,

I am new to the sport of hunting and hope to go this fall. I have some experience with pistols, but almost none with rifles and I am currently researching what I should get. The only rifle I have shot a bit is my old ruger 10/22, and a model 94 Winchester in .357.

Based on the reading I have done online I believe a rifle in .308 is best for me. (Low kick, affordable, easy to find, and powerful enough for what I want to do.) I live in East Texas and will probably do most of my hunting within 5 hours of Houston. I primarily want to hunt deer and hogs, although I have family in the mountain west and would love to do an elk hunt with them one day and want my rifle to be able to do this as well. I don't want to own a bunch of different guns. (My wife says I already have too many hand guns.) I haven't hunted before, so I don't know, but I plan on doing a lot of hiking with the weapon since I don't know any good spots, I will have to find them, so I think a lighter rifle that I can put a sling on is good. I want it to be reasonably accurate, but I am neither a sniper or sharpshooter, so I may not need the most accurate rifle. I would like to mount a good quality scope on it. I have read barrel length can create more power, so I also want it to be strong enough to kill game humanely. I also want something that is good quality and a nice gun, yet I don't want so much invested in it that I am too worried about it in the field. I would like it to be rugged enough to throw in the back of the truck, and hopefully last long enough to give it to my son one day.

I know that is quite a bit and may not be possible, but I would really like to hear y'all's input on this. Thanks.

For what your wanting, can't go wrong with a Savage rifle.the cheapest (but still quality) model in .308 would be the model 11. But they have alot of nicer models too. And I believe they have a lightweight hunter model too, but I'm not sure. I'd expect to spend $300 or more on a quality scope. They get much much more expensive, but a lower end leupold, zeiss (if you find a good sale), or even a good quality Nikon (prostaff 7 or monarch) would all do just fine for you. Decent scope rings will run you $50-$75. In that price range I'm partial to warne, for about $100 I really like my TPS rings. Should be able to do it all for $700 or less without doing to much shopping for the best deals.

Savage, Weatherby Vanguard, Howa, Tikka and others all make good, accurate bolt rifles. Find a good shop that has a good selection and shoulder some and see how they fit and feel to you. Pick the one that feels the best an is in your price range.
Don't forget to look for a decent scope, base and rings set.
The 308 is a great all-around caliber for your intended uses. Welcome to the habit!

There are many good choices in both rifles and calibers. Typically these thread extended for 20 or 30 suggestions and the usual suspects range from the .25-06 to the .30-06, and included the Creedmoor, the 7mm-08 and the .308. All are excellent choices, but I would suggest picking a caliber for which you can buy cheap ammo at your local Wal-mart, if only for low cost and convenience.

That out of the way, I would also suggest adding to your planned scope budget, preferably doubling it . Spend what you spend on your rifle, but without fail invest in a quality scope.

The scope actually may be more important for me than the rifle. I forgot to mention a fairly major problem that I have. I am left eye dominant, but shoot right handed. (Although I do archery left handed with out a problem, probably because someone had the foresight to teach me that way as a child.) I went to an eye doctor once and thought I had a problem with my right eye, and he told me it was 20/20, the problem is my left eye is 20/10, twice better than normal, and this actually kind of bothers me when shooting a rifle. It doesn't bother me at all with a pistol to shoot both eyes open, the geometry doesn't really effect my stance or shot, I guess it is a very minor [censored] of the head at that point. With a rifle, I've got to close my left eye (which I don't like), or [censored] my head way over the stock to put my dominant eye in position. I don't know if anyone else has an issue like this, or possibly with a really good scope, I will just be ok with closing my left eye...

Here is an add in the classified section with two nice .308's that fit your bill.....saw them a few minutes after reading your post and thought I'd pass them along......not sure what other hunting rifles are for sale...had just started browsing...

Good luck!


http://texashuntingforum.com/forum/ubbth...r_rifles#UNREAD

.308 is a great choice. Everybody needs at least one .308. Tons of ammo available, for the non-handloader, that will shoot very consistently. Light, fast bullets for varmints, 178 gr bullets for large game. It would kill an elk, if you're close enough.

Tikka T-3 Light is my standard answer. I've not found an action of equal quality for the same price. I've got two of them, and am about to have two more. They just flat out work. I've worn out several Savages.

I highly recommend you keep shooting with the dominant eye, and buy a left hand rifle. It will work better for you, I promise. I too am left handed.

My argument is always this, shoot off hand, kneeling, or seated, i.e. field positions. Fire a shot, maintain sight picture, cycle the bolt, and fire another shot. It's physically impossible to do with the bolt hand on the wrong side. If your close enough, you can come to my range and shoot one of my LH bolt actions, and see and feel for yourself.

Oh, and do not short cut scope base and rings. They are as important as the foundation on a house. They are what marry two precision machines together.

And plan to spend at least as much on the scope as you do the rifle. Great rifles will shoot terribly with a terrible scope mounted to them.

My problem is I am left eyed, but right handed...

So I guess I've got to pick my poison something won't feel right either way...

Question that has nothing to do with 308 rifles. How do you know which eye is dominant?

Shoot with the dominant eye. You can make the hands and arms do anything, you cannot control the eyes. A person could learn to write just as legibly with either hand if they wanted to. I know some people that can.

How do you know which eye is dominant?

Put your hands together, palms away from you, with stretched out arms together. Look through the circle you make with your thumbs and pointing finger areas on both hands, move hands closer together till you have a small hole in the center that you can see through. Focus on an object at a distance. Close one eye, if you can still see the object, that is your dominant eye. If you cannot see it then that one is not your dominant eye.

We need to how much your wife will allow you to spend first

If you're on a budget you could pick this one up at Wal Mart (or find one in .308), sell the scope for 50 bucks, and put a Leupold 3-9 VX1 or 2 on it. A solid little package that will last you a lifetime.

Get a left hand rifle . I'm right handed and left eye dominant and tried a right handed rifle for a while and finally bought a lefty and it made a big difference in my shooting. Oh and buy a Tikka super smooth action and a trigger that will adjust down to around 2lbs.

I think I may go with left handed. It will be a steep learning curve at first, but probably worth it. I shoot archery left handed anyways. Is it generally much more expensive to find a good lefty rifle?

Usually not much (if any) more expensive - but can be harder to find.

I was going to suggest the same thing. I didn't start shooting rifles left-handed until I was in college. What a difference it has made in my life. The muscle memory to shoot left-handed is mastered fairly quickly, depending on how much range time you put in; but the left eye is always going to be dominant.

As far as rifles, I have a love-hate relationship with my Savage 11 in .308. It is extremely accurate for such a low cost rifle, but I'm not a huge fan of the action. I haven't shouldered a Ruger American, but have read good reports from owners. My next rifle will likely be a Tikka.

Tikka t3 lite is an excellent rifle. A limb-saver butt-pad is a good investment for it. If your right eye is 20-20 and you are naturally right handed, I really wouldn't suggest making things hard on yourself trying to get used to a left handed rifle. Lots of us are left eye dominant and still shoot right handed. With a scope it is easy enough to close your left eye when aiming your rifle. If I'm looking through my scope for a while with the left eye closed, I can even relax and open the left eye and the right eye will maintain it's temporary dominance. If your right eye has defective vision, then it would be necessary to learn to shoot left handed, but if that isn't the case, I personally think it would be easier for you to close your left eye than to learn to shoot and work the bolt left handed.

Not really. They can be harder to find. You may have to order one, and wait a week so. With Tikka, they only make LH in stainless steel, they do not make them in blued. But the LH stainless, and the RH stainless cost the same. That is, if that's the brand you're going to buy.

Nogalas, that's almost exactly what my little brother told me. He used to work at a gun store, and he told me to get a cheap but capable rifle, then spend about three times what I spent on the rifle on the optics.

That being said, I really like the look of the Tikka, but I need to go handle one and see how I like it. The only reservation I have with the Tikka is that it is not made here. I own some foreign hand guns, but when it comes to a deer rifle, there is something so American about it that it seems almost wrong to me to get something from elsewhere. However, if it is the best for the price, that can't be argued with and I don't have a problem with German or Japanese optics, that seems like a given. It must be just some silly sentiment of mine...

Like NP said. Don't go crazy on spending money on something you don't need to. You are not shooting 500 yards. Most Deer are probably shot at less than 100 yards. I have a 22 mag. with a 2.5 power weaver scope that has probably taken more animals than 75% of the people on here. Do you need a $500 hand made knife to gut a deer? No. It is the same with rifles and scopes. A $400 one kill one just as dead as a $3000 one will. If you are planning on shooting at hogs and Deer at over 500 yards then invest you money in an instructor. Then decide what kind of rifle and scope you need.

308 is great. Your other 2 choices are 270 or 30-06.

There are plenty of nice rifles in the classifieds. You can get more bang for your buck from a used gun. Pick out the one that looks best for you and make a deal

I bought an 1800 gun for 1200

good luck!

It's all about your budget and desires.

IDK either, so I was throwing that option out there because something like that is what I would recommend as a really good rifle/scope combo yet not break the bank. I would not recommend the many $250-$300 rifles out there, not because they won't shoot accurately (they will), but because they have a cheaper/plastic "feel".

I recommend Leupold because all of their offerings have good basic quality IMO - which cannot be said of other brands with economical offerings. As said above, the more you spend the better it gets. Leupold is all-American which fits your preference.

Tikkas are great little rifles. They are going to run $300 or so more than a very basic Rem 700 ADL. I have never had an issue with buying Sako/Tikka and own several. And they do make the wood/blued Tikka T3 in a left handed version (at least they did) - because I bought my lefty daughter one a few years ago.

I have never had experience with your dominant eye situation, but have always read to shoot using the dominant eye no matter what.

Go to Eurooptics you can get a Tikka T3 for $499 they also have plenty of left hand models in stainless and blue. Looks like they had a few more arrive recently.

That's a great price for a wonderful rifle.

About that eye dominance thing...years ago while I was penniless in college I entertained myself by reading military/suspense type novels. After I'd read all of Tom Clancy I started branching out and found a number of very good authors, one being WEB Griffin. I think it was in one of his books that there was a student fighter pilot who couldn't shoot the guns (talking WW II era here) and was going to wash out of fighter pilot training. Come to find out, it was an eye dominance thing. So what they did was put a patch over his dominant eye and make him drive a car up and down the taxiways day after day until he had trained the other eye to be dominant. I don't know if this is truly possible, but I think the best writers of that genre (and Griffin was excellent!) tend to stick to reality pretty much.

No one's mentioned (unless I just overlooked it) the Ruger American rifle or the Winchester XPR. They're making some pretty decent economy rifles these days, and buying something like that might help you fund better glass. Definitely buy a quality scope and don't scrimp on the mount and rings. It may seem bass-ackward, but spending more on a scope than a rifle is perfectly rational.

Tikka T3

I've heard that eye patch thing. I am sure it would work, you can ultimately program your mind and body to do anything. However, my vision is so much better in my left eye, I think I prefer it as my dominant eye... I'm going to take a good hard look at the tikka after hearing so many people say so many good things about it.

Don't get a 3006

If you are left eye dominant you should shoot left handed. You will adjust to it quicker than trying to change your dominant eye, which I'm skeptical you could do being middle age. I'm curious, are you trying to shoot your pistols right handed?

I vote for the Tikka.

Fixed it for ya.

Don't get either

OP can speak for himself, but that's something I can relate to. I am righthanded and was blessed with perfect vision for many years, but in more recent times the eyesight has changed. I resisted vision correction as long as I could. It was only a couple of years ago that I realized I was shooting handguns aiming with the left eye because my right eye just can't focus on something at arm's length nearly as well as the left eye. Last year I finally got outfitted with eyeglasses and I find that I can use either eye, but the natural tendency is still to use the left. With rifles, I still just do like I've always done.

I know. You just can't kill a deer with either one...they both just majorly suck. If it ain't a Creedmoor, the critter walks!

.280 AI or you might as well get off this dang thread.

These caliber threads always end like this. Most popular calibers are good and will serve you well. Make sure you can buy ammo at your local Wally World.

That's why I like the .308. It seems readily available and fairly cheap, which is good, because I am going to need a lot of range time, as I have decided I am going to relearn the muscle memory and become left handed when I shoot a rifle.

P.P., I do shoot pistols right handed, but find that it is not as big a deal as aiming a rifle since the pistol is nearly dead center in front of both eyes anyways, while the rifle is definitely on one side

When you get comfortable using your left trigger finger start shooting your pistols that way as well. You will find it easier to aim your pistol left handed raising the gun in front of your dominant eye, not off to the side of it.

I finally gave into using my reading pair of glasses to shoot my pistols and be comfortable with my target being slightly out of focus. I was amazed how much better I shot by being total focused in the pistol sight.

That's a great choice. Good luck with the eye thing.

Unless you reload you should choose from calibers that have a good selection of readily available factory ammo. .308 fits the bill well for the deer and pigs in Texas. Some other good ones to chose from are .270win, 7-08, & 30-06. Any of those will do well on the big game in Texas. The 7-08 and .308 are going to have the least recoil and have both been quite successful in range competition. Due to the lighter recoil, either of these will be a little more pleasant at the range. The .270 is a time proven, classic long range deer cartridge. In that capacity it is on the short list of the best. The .30-06 is the most versatile. When you add elk to the mix, all four are capable, but the 30-06's performance with heavier bullets elevates it above the others. Caliber selection is give and take. If you want to spend a lot of range time and don't reload, .308 is probably the best choice
I shoot Savages and Remingtons and can recommend either one. With Savage you will most likely get a very accurate rifle straight out of the box. The Remington may require a few tweaks but it is where a lot of custom builders like to start for good reason.
I would advise you to shoot with your dominate eye. Like you I am right handed and left eye dominate. I shoot left handed. You may end up paying 30-50 dollars more. Left handed guns are harder to find. Shooting with anything other than your dominate eye is starting at a disadvantage. Not using the 20/10 vision in your dominate eye is giving up a serious advantage. If you stick with the shooting sports you will eventually get into shotgunning. With a shotgun the importance of the dominate eye becomes much more apparent.

Define "long range".

Remington 700.

Based on the OP's description of his own ability level, the simplicity of a point and shoot, point blank set up will best serve him, and how I geared my recommendation. In that application, the mild recoil, flat shooting, hard hitting performance on deer sized game that has also accounted for more than a few elk is what earned the .270 win the following it has maintained for decades, and what I am referring to.

Makes sense. And in those parameters, the .270 has been doing that job for a long time. I caution the term "long range". That is defined differently by many people. The NRA defines it as 600+ yards. I define it as 400+ yards after observing shooters deal with it, spotting thousands of shots, and the fact that a huge list of cartridges have the same (or very similar) corrections, for gravity from 100 to 300 yards. In my experience with the term long range, the .270 is dismal. However, there are plenty of hunters that view 200 yards as long range.

Fireman, I'm new to this forum and trying to get off on the right foot. I am not a competitive shooter but I do have my own range and I have burned a few 8 pounders of H4831 in 7 Rem Mags at 800 yards and a good bit more Varget in 7-08's. With a consistent load you can deal with gravity but the wind is your real nemesis. I didn't think that applied to the OP. I also lease out140,000 ac. of private ground to hunters and I have an old dog that will find a poorly hit deer. In my estimation 300 yards is long range to 90% of the hunters afield, and that is what I applied to my reply, even though it may be at odds with the NRA.

Pretty much what I said.

As well as the general rule is the .270 is not a long range cartridge, per se. But it is a 0-400 yard cartridge, for those that practice with it enough.

Smokey,
you're doing fine, no worries.


OP,

308 works very well for deer and pigs. Good ammo is abundant and affordable, and it is pleasant to shoot in practice.

The Montana Rifle Company XWR or X2 are very good off the shelf rifles that will last a lifetime.

Get the Tikka T3 Lite in 270. Put a 4.5-14x40 Leupold VX3 on it. If that's too much recoil, go for a 260 or 6.5 Creedmore. You can convince me that the 308 is better than a 270 for true long range shooting, but the 270 is about as good as it gets for whitetail, pigs, and such at any reasonable hunting distance.

I've killed over 200 deer with a 270 and maybe 40 or so with my 260, so I have some history with both. I'd get a 7-08 before I bought a 308, but if a 308 is what the OP wants, that's what he should buy. It'll do.

Shoot me a PM. I'm sure I have something you will want to trade for that Win. 94, 357.

I have a 4.5-14x40 Leupold VX3 (not VX3i) and I think the optical quality is dismal. Not to be an optics snob, but it's painful when I compare the scope to actual quality glass.

I can't really conceive of ever trying a shot on anything over 300 yards, and in my completely inexperienced estimation, I would imagine I would probably only take shots under 100 yards. (Don't know though...) I looked at the ballistic curve for the .308 and it looks to give a pretty flat trajectory out to about 300 yards. The reason why I like the .308 is that, while primarily most of my hunting will probably be hogs and whitetail, I have family in Montana, and would like to do an elk hunt with them once, and would like to be able to bring the gun that I am comfortable with...

You want a 308, that is reason enough. It is yours it is perfectly acceptable and more than adequate for anything you suggest you may do with it. Comparing it to a 270 or 3006 or 7mm-08 is nit picking!

Rifle is up to you. I tend to like heavier rifles. I have several Remingtons and Weatherbys and have been well pleased with them. I personally don't care for the feel of a tika, but don't believe them to be low quality. The sky is the limit wood, synthetic, stainless, blued etc.

I wouldn't cheap out on a scope, nor do I believe you have to spend more on the scope than the gun. I have several 20 year old $200 leupolds that kill deer hogs and whatever else they are pointed at every year without fail. If your not looking for a scope with turrets you can spend much less money for a scope that will serve you well.

^^Agree.

I've never shot with a scope, I am planning on blowing 500-1000 on it. Is that a decent price range?

Absolutely.

That's plenty to get a great scope. The bottom end of your range will get you more than you need.

Even at lower end of that you can find a very good quality scope that will fit your needs as described fine.

The newest versions of the Leupold VX3 are less than $500. With your parameters you simply don't need to spend 1000 bucks on a scope.

That gives you plenty of room. After the rifle, $600-ish, you've got $400 for base, rings, and scope. $1k is enough to build a solid package.

If it makes you feel any better, some of us put more than 3.5X that in one rifle and scope.

Not bad. I was hoping to be able to get something nice for under $1500. That's good to hear.

Hey, hey, hey! Remember the occasional wife may read these threads. Think of the children!

You're right. My apologies.

My wife did get me a Weibad T-shirt

"If I die, someone tell my wife what my guns are really worth".

Yes sir, this.

1. When talking about buying a rifle you've never seen or fondled I'd be leery of buying something on sumbody's else say so...GO PUT YOUR HANDS ON a given rifle brand and model until you find The ONE and then shop it for best price and value both in person and online. Light rifles kick harder regardless of the recoil pad on'em...basic physics. Better fitting rifles and better recoil pads can only HELP with recoil, but a better fitting rifle will always seem to shoot better for you than one that that DOES Not fit you. Learn the mechanioal differences on why one rifle has "better" features than another.

2. Get FJG or ?? to 'splain 1st & 2nd focal plane scopes, and the +'s & -'s of each in less than 10,000 words. Both have their place in the scheme of things, but you need to unnerstand what the diff's are and why it is or is NOT important to you.

3. Any of the big 5 best selling calibers you see ammo on Sale at the start of Hunting Season will do what you want them to do, 30'06, 308, 7RMg, 270, but I don't rcc'd a 243 for your needs with mebbe Elk on the menu. 2nd 5 Best Selling Calibers should not be ignored, but realize the ammo will not always be available at every gas station, bar or diner in Hunting Country.

4. Your scopes IMO should start at 3x9x40's and stay under 4x16x44's in power ranges & a 4x12x44 IMO would be ideal for a do all one gun shooter, and could possibly use a Adjustable Objective to fine tune the crosshair for shots past the standard factory setting of 100 yards focus point of the crosshair in a higher power setting at longer ranges past 2-300 yards. Only buy a scope with a "No Fault Lifetime Warranty" that prolly will not be made in China. Several lines will look good to you on paper, but your eyes will not see thru them exactly the same way all across the same power range brand selections...trust your eyes to tell you which scope is is best for you by looking at the darkest fartherest corner you can find in the store to see if you can see the dust bunnies and spider webs in rafters clearly.

At reaching geezerhood past age 70 my eyes are no longer as sharp as they were at one time so I've gone to larger Objective lenses than the average 40mm diameter front bell is, to gather more light, and I've now have "standarized" my base scope sizes at 2-10x44's & 2-10x50's, with 30mm tubes instead of a 1" diameter tube.

5. Use STEEL scope mounts and rings.

Make this selection process fun and not a chore to avoid for fear of making a mistake. the only mistake is to not pay attention to what "feels" right to you in the total package. Most of us change rifles a time or two from when we started hunting, a couple of us change rifles whenever something new comes out...and a couple of us change rifles like we we'd like to change wives when we get tired of them ...it's cheaper to change rifles trust me. FWIW I am shooting a caliber I started with as my 2nd rifle in 1969...just had mebbe a dozen or more of 'em in the same caliber since then though, with dependable kills from under 50 yards to a little over 400 yards.

"Stunt Shots" are not stunts if you can repeat them at will on demand, but is the product of many hundreds of hours of training, 10's of thousands of rounds of ammo and a lot more dedication than 99.999% of us will ever expend....but most of us don't need that level of execution to be satisfied with our ability to put a critter down that we want to harvest...or said another way...It ain't Braggin' if'en you can do it everyday....and God Bless'em for the effort so the rest of us don;t have to learn ALL the Lessons the hard way.
Ron

Thanks again guys. All good info!

Good advice +1

A non rifle related question that I have is, how do licenses and tags work? Do I need both? What are drawn hunts? There is a lot of stuff and I don't want to inadvertently break any rules...

Each state is different, but one thing they all require is the license. Tags are generally an allotment that come with the license. Texas has little public land, where places like New Mexcio, Utah, and Idaho have a lot of public land. In Texas you pay to hunt most often. There is MUCH to be said about all this.

If you're hunting private property all you need is a general hunting license for whitetails. They should have a little book wherever you buy the license to take with you and it gives season dates and bag limits for each county. License year runs from Sept 1st through Aug 31st.

Pilot, in Texas most tags come with the license, but you pay extra for assorted endorsements. I would advise you to enroll in a hunters education course. Usually a one day course. You will need it for out of state hunts, and I think, unless you were born before Sept. 2 1971, It is required to purchase a Texas hunting license. Probably a good idea to check the date. Draw hunts are limited access hunts, usually on public land. Usually the demand is higher than the resource will support so a lottery system is used to determine access.

No hunters ed isn't required to buy a licence. They do not ask for it and I've never once been asked for it. However it's required if your born after sept w of 71. A game warden will check you but it's not required to buy the licence

How do you enter the lottery for the drawn hunts?

Go to the TPW website, drill down in the Hunting Section toolbar across the top, click on the toolbar on the left side to select Permit Hunts I think it is ...and read or switch subjects until you get into the sub section for Lottery Hunts. If you are doing research to see which Hunt Areas have produced in the various Hunts for a given location drill down into the Archives section to see success%'s by # of Hunters applied for and HUnters who Particiapted by critter allowed on a particular category...this section is a nightmare for folks looking for a simple answer and a dream come true for 'puter geeks with too much time on their hands to parse minutia #'s...Success %'s change every year based on other factors ..but IF you do the year by year background research you can get a hint at how well a given location produces the #'s critters taken regularly.

Back in the Old Days pre the current computer program system I hoarded the previous years printed Lottery Guides for this kind of info, and did fairly well at getting drawn every couple years...but now I haven't been drawn in this new system but once and have double digit "loyalty" (aka preference in the old system's vernacular) in several Categories. Texas is the only State to run this goofy system that allows Non Resident (out of state) Hunters to participate equally with Resident Hunters...unlike any other State that has a Lottery for Hunting Permits and a very sore subject with some of us.
Ron

LOttery Hunts will begin to be open for Applications ummm beginning in midsummer for the earliest scheduled stuff.