I am looking for his first deer rifle and need to keep it under $500. I have so far settled on either the Savage model 11 or the Marlin X7.
Any opinions or advice is welcome.
If anyone has any other guns they would recommend, I would love to hear about them.
I am trying to stay away from the youth guns. He is 12 and big enough to shoot a full size rifle.

Thanks and Happy New Year.

Good solid rifles there. Might Also consider a remington 700 adl from academy. They run $379ish

I had heard that the 700 had a safety issue with the trigger. Did they get that fixed?
I would assume they did. I held one today and really liked it for me but might be a bit barrel heavy for my son.

vanguard imo. But hard to be a 700, I love mine

How much does the Vanguard run?

Nothing wrong with the marlin, but would go savage out of the two. I have had both and they are both good accurate guns. The savage is better suited if he would ever like to customize it some in the future. More parts are readily available. Now the remmy adl is a good choice two as stated, but I would put money on the savage being more accurate out of the box. The remmy has a even bigger aftermarket following but will be more expensive than the savage when customizing, if it were to ever happen.

I've read some very positive comments on the Ruger American and its accuracy. I've handled one and there was nothing objectionable to me in the way it is built. Its looks are a bit unconventional, but I don't think it's ugly. Some do though.


Now, this is UGLY:

Good stuff. Thanks guys. I checked out the ruger earlier today and was not very keen on the stock. I know most of what is in my price range will have a synthetic stock but that one seemed especially hollow and the magazine seemed to rattle some.
It may have just been that particular gun. I have not held the Marlin in my hands as of yet but plan on looking at one tomorrow.

The bad thing is everyone seems to be sold out of pretty much every 243.
I also looked at the mossberg ATR and it seems like a solid gun but the action on the bolt was a little lacking for me.
I am probably just being too picky for the price range.

Looks like the Vanguard is out of my range at $599.

I don't want to start your thread in the wrong direction about the safety issue but I would ask you to watch the MSNBC special about the safety issue and then watch Remingtons rebutle to the CNBC video and come to your own conclusion. It's not my place to tell you what to buy especially for your son when SAFETY is understandibly a very high priority on the list. I'm just trying to help with options available in your price range.

This is part one of the three part CNBC report, I'm sure you can find part 2 and 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MAcHvSPZZo

THis is Remingtons response.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_KVS1hIbQg

THe barrel heavey issue is somthing alot of synthetic rifles suffer from BUT most of the rifles listed above have aftermarket options that can remedy that.

X2

As far as the trigger problems from what I understand most were caused by the owners adjusting the trigger poundage to light. My wife has a Rem. 700 adl in .243 and she loves it.

Out of the two you listed, I would go with the Savage 11.

I watched the videos and I have to say that I myself would love to have a 700 for me. But... When it comes to the safety of my son and him being a rookie, I couldn't get him something that had a safety report like that on it just to be on the safe side.

I understand that any gun could have a problem that could result in a safety incident and it mainly falls on the person operating the weapon. That being said, I think my next rifle for myself may be a 700 because it is a very smooth operating rifle.

I forgot to say thank you to Ju993naut for posting those videos. They were interesting and I had never seen them before.

Savage 11

The issue with the safeties on the 700 is from improper adjusting the trigger. I have made a savage unsafe by adjusting the trigger. That gun has been around a long time with the same setup. I would not worry about buying a new one, it's the used ones that they say no I've never messed with the trigger that you got to watch out for. I am by no means a die hard remmy fan, I like the action but that's about it. I think a factory savage will out do a factory 700 any day of the week. If you do go savage you will be good.

Cabela's had the Vanguard for $499. This is the synthetic stock. I handled one in the store and was impressed with it. The stock was solid. Keep in mind this was the S2, the newest version.

Buy the Savage!

I've had four seperate, unmodified Savages on target up to and including 1000 yards, muliple hits with off the shelf ammo and handloads.
Clean the bolt raceway and the bolt, re-oil, and shoot it some more.

Either will be a good first rifle for your son. I have Marlin XL7, .30-06. It is a sweet shooting rifle. If Savage 11 shoots as good as my model 93, .22mag, he'll be all set for a long time with that rifle. My model 93 is a tack driver.

My only problem with Rem is that the trigger is a bit stiff. And for a young shooter I would think this would cause him to yank/punch the trigger just enough to throw the aim off.

You might want to check out T/C Venture as it, too, is a very accurate rifle in your price range. I have a .243 in T/C Icon and although it is costs a bit more, it is a very accurate rifle as well. I use my .243 for coyote hunting and it'll put them down every time I squeeze the trigger.

I am not an a attorney or a gunsmith, and offer only personal opinions or knowledge that I've been exposed to by people I consider to be reliable knowledgeable sources of information, and have had multi decade long relationships with.

Run a Google search on Remington lawsuits in Texas, and see if you can find the lawsuit in Travis County that Remmy suddenly settled out of court for $6M when the unaltered untuned M700 of the Plaintiff's put a hole in the ceiling of the Court Room. As I remember the locked bolt handle was touched and may have been jiggled to demonstrate to the Court that the bolt handle was indeed locked while the safety was engaged, with the loaded rifle safely pointing vertically, when it fired without the trigger being touched despite the safety being engaged correctly and according to the guns Instruction Manual. Ummm seems like Joe Jamal was the Plaintiff's Attorney who was a now crippled youngster from the guns unintended discharge in a deer stand while being handled by his father.

I think this was some years back on a pre J Lock gun, that has also now been discontinued for various "warranty" issues, but it is also my understanding the Remmy is still using the same style safety, with some tweaks. Dunno what their safety's have been over the years, and am always surprised when this subject continues to come up when ever a new incident happens. Ruger had a safety problem 30 years ago, had a recall and fixed them, then changed the design to the current wing safety and I don't hear about Ruger triggers anymore, or at least in the last 30 years.

I'm told you can also find comment on a Google search from the M721/722 & 700's orginal designer that he had notified Remington Management of the design flaws in the trigger and prophesied correctly that unintended discharges would cause significant numbers of costly lawsuits.

I know personally from back in the mid '70's of a very experienced and responsible hunting buddy's M700 270 that went off inside his vehicle with the untuned unaltered rifle laying muzzle down and loose in his passenger floorboard and the receiver against his Chevy's center console, bolt up and untouched, as he was driving by himself out to the stand one afternoon ...when I was late getting back from lunch in town... with no one touching the rifle since that was MY job in the front passenger seat to keep his brand spanking new prized rifle from getting a single nick or ding by putting the muzzle between my feet...but it was being jostled around some creeping down a jeep trail in a low ground clearance 2x4 car.

Just sayin' ...might want to do some serious research before allowing a youngster to access a potentially touchy weapon 'cause both of mine were always fiddling with everything they could touch.

I owned a couple M700's back in the early '70's and had some other issues with both of them, and generally was unimpressed with their accuracy and moved to other brands of rifles. I also hated the shiny RKW plastic finished stocks & high polish blue jobs in those pre tupperware days, and shot mostly Ruger 77's in those days, owning mebbe more than a dozen of the Tang Safety models, plus some SAKO's & Winchester M70's...brands I still favor today 40 years later.

FYI the HOWA built WBy Vanguards are solid performers and copy's of an older SAKO design. For the Best Buy for the Bang IMO, see if you can find a used Tikka of any age in your price range, but the T3's are the most plentiful and noted as being extremely accurate with their SAKO hand finished barrels.... my current 270 Lite is a one hole shooter when I do my part, and so were the T3 6.5Swede and 270 M695 Hunter Grades I've owned in the last 10 years. JMHO & YMMV
Cheers
Ron

OBTW
My Tikka T3 & SAKO M85 use a drop box magazine that allows me to climb trees and deer stand ladders with an unloaded rifle, since I keep the loaded magazine in my pocket until I am settled or have fallen out of the stand again. My CZ 550 has a 5 round internal magazine so I can shoot all week if need be... but after 45 years in the field I keep an empty chamber until I am settled and have removed the scope covers ... or get to the hunting ground for Sneakin' & Peekin' ....and finally ready to Take Care of Bidnizz.
RV

Tikka, TC Venture, Ruger American, Howa or Vanguard and Savage would be the ones on my short list.

Thanks for all the input guys. I really like the Tikka, TC Venture, Howa and Vanguard, but all are just a little out of the price range, at least what I can find. Cabelas had the Savage model 11 scope package on sale for $499 but did not have any in 243. I will check back again next week.

My intentions were not to start anything over the 700 comment. Just have to do my best to make sure the young en stays safe.

Hey Tim1911,
Was that price with or without scope? They didn't have anything there in the 243 either in Allen. Maybe they will keep the sale going until next week and they will get some more in.

i saw the vanguards for 319 at academy

Was that the series 2?