This Question is a recurring theme by new or inexperienced Hunters/Shooters. My tastes and opinions are set in concrete, and it may not be fair to the Newbies to impose MY opinions about something I will not ever buy & have not ever owned in a "class" of beginner grade rifles that has just come out in the last 5 years or so.

I am looking for IMO's from the Newly Minted and Hopeful Hunters just starting out, who are in the market & actively shopping or have just within the last year or so bought a product in this Poll.

NIB Deer Rifles Under $400 multiple choice
	Remington
	Mossberg (Remington)
	Savage
	Stevens
	Ruger American
	Other
Votes accepted starting: 10/13/13 05:08 PM You must vote before you can view the results of this poll.

I voted for Remington. In the under 400 price I am only thinking about a Remington ADL model, not 770 or 710. ADL only.
I pick this rifle because of his solid following, usually good shooting, aftermarket support for parts and gunsmithing. Another reason is almost no matter what, even if the gun was a rust bucket you will still get 300-350$ just for the action if someone wanted to use it for a custom build.


If I didn't pick the ADL I would probably pick a Savage as long as its not the Axis model, Then Stevens or Ruger American.

Can you buy a NIB 700 ADL of any kind these days for under $400???

The Academy ad I saw in this morning Sunday Section had couple 3 bolt action hunting rifles at $299 in a Savage Axis, Remmy 770, Mossberg (Remington) 100ATR & a Ruger American @ $349...and is what prompted this Poll to get an idea of what New Hunters & 1st Time Gun Buyers thought of this price point quality deer rifle.

Anybody seen an ad or the gun yet on the new Remmy 783's ?? or whatever it's called?

Anybody seen one the Marlin (Remington) Centerfire BA's that should be in this Price Point?

What else is out there at under $400 NIB either at Point of Sale Retail or from an On Line Retail Seller where the shipping is NOT Free to compensate for NOT paying Texas State Sales Tax?
Ron

Sportsmans Warehouse had new ADLS with a scope for 399 a week or so ago

Colt...Lucky you ...there is still a Sportsmans Warehouse in Tucson!!! Only one left in Texas, on the north side of San Antonio...or about 375 miles from me!!! up on trhe Texas Oklahoma border north of Dallas.

FYI
Remingtons Factory Website does not list an ADL on their product list. They List a SPS base model @ $702.95 MSRP as the replacement for the ADL according to the description text.

With what Colt said it looks like they will close out the ADL's in heavily discounted limited distribution Promo Packages.

Savage with an accutrigger for sure.

Amoungst the choices if you're talking no upgrades or mods, then it has the best trigger. To me, the trigger is always where you make the most amount of gains.

Even the venerable 700 with all the modifications available, hwta is the best bang for the buck upgrade? The trigger.

Savage with an Accutrigger.

It's like a lawnmower, you start it up, you use it, you blow it off, and put it away. Slog through the Blackland Prairie, East Texas pines, or the dust of west Texas and it'll shoot no matter what. And it'll probably be 1 MOA at worst.

The Remington ADL's are at WalMart for under $400. Seen them very regularly. As soon as I sell my 9mm, that's what I plan on picking up.

Academy has ADLs for $379. I've been thinking of getting one. They have them in .243, .7mm-08, 7mm Rem Mag, .270, .30-06, .308, and .25-06.

I keep hearing that the Axis rifles aren't any good. What's wrong with them?

Move up your price by $100 and you can get a Weatherby Vanguard S2. I see them advertised for between $479 and $500 all the time.

I have a Mossberg ATR 100 30-06 and love it. Shooting the stock scope that came with it. Am very pleased and I opted to install a standard swivel stud on the front earlier today. Shooting Hornaday superformance 150gr. @100yds. When I have time Im very confident ill be able to reach out easily to around 400yds with this setup

I was actually pleasantly surprised by just how many quality gun stores we have in Tucson. Arizona is a very gun friendly state.

Have a buddy that just bought the Ruger American. Very surprised on how it handled and mostly how well it shot. 270 with Remi CoreLokts under 1" at 100 yards. I think he gave $349 for it.

Remington 700 ADL


Why you ask?


This is why

Remington 700 30-06 three rounds at 100 yds. The holes that were covered are from my sons 243. We were shooting the same target.

My son has a Ruger American in a 243 and I am really impressed with how well it shoots. Great rifle for the money and has some nice features.

gtrich94, Yes I am aware that you can buy 1st Gen Vanguards for about $100 more than the max $400 Price Point I set on this 1st Poll, but the 1st Gen VG NIB's availability has about dried up, like the $379/$399 Remmy ADL's will do eventually.

This 1st Poll was done looking for response's from 1 time gun buyers to see what they saw that appealed to them and what they thought constituted a quality Rifle at under $400 that are being heavily advertised in the Big Box Retailers right now.

IMO the 1st Gen VG's fall in with the Ruger 77's mid/high $500's, Tikka T3 blue/synthetic stocks's @ $500 & Tikka T3 SS/synthetic stocks @ $600 and bottom end Wichester push feed M70's and the new Remmy 700 SPS base model's in the $401 thru $600 Price Point .... just like the bottom end Vanguard S2's in matte blue finish & synthetic stocks also do.

That just under $600 retail is a much tougher market, but where most buyers wind up eventually & with a quality scope added in hit the $800-$1000 Rigged Out & All Up price point that is the new average longterm WTail hunter's usual max investment per rifle in todays dollars from what I am hearing.

In looking at the Weatherby Factory website yesterday I was surprised at how high the MSRP of the better grade VG S2's had gotten, and are trying to compete head up with the Remmy CDL's, Winchester Classic CRF Sporters and Featherweight's price wise, at just one $200 Price Point bracket below bottom line Kimbers Classic's, Montana ASR'sand Winchester Extereme Weather's & Super Grades that start at about $1k. The Kimber base model Clasic Grade & Montana are both standard production grade rifles with matte blue finish's and American Black Walnut & machine cut checkering just like a Ruger Hawkeye ... but that have been hand built & finished and IMO are a better buy in tha bracket.

There's nothing wrong with them. Actually, they have a stronger, benchrest-style action with an ejection slot rather than an open-top tube action. You can swap small-shank Savage barrels onto them, but not much more.

The issue with entry-level rifles (and that includes the Ruger American and some of the Remingtons) is that economies in design make for unique rifles. For example, the Axis has the recoil lug as part of the stock. And all the polymer stocks at that price point are flimsy. They may have MIM parts instead of milled (not that that's necessarily an issue). As such, there is not much interchangeabilty between the entry-level and brand-benchmark rifles. And aftermarket support is near nil. Doing major upgrades negates the low initial cost.

In essence, if all you want is a basic hunting rifle, they'll work. If you want to upgrade one, you're better off buying (say) a bare 700 ADL instead of a 770 rifle/scope package.

The Ruger American, because Larry Weishuhn says so...both publicly and privately.

Remington adl

I have heard little about the Ruger American, but it has all been good. I'm not going to touch the poll since I am not a part of the interest group, but I think the first-time buyer is best off with the Ruger, a Savage, or a Stevens 200. The savings on the Stevens would help fatten up the optics budget and that's important. Too many times the first-time buyer will spend the budget on the rifle and handicap it with cheap mounts and glass.

A guy I hunt with now and then has a Stevens 200 in .30-06, and he says it's a tackdriver.

Are there no supporters of the Marlin X7 rifles?

I bought one several years ago and it seems to be a fine rifle for less than $400.

I have not hunted with it and have shot less than a box of shells but it seems to be a well made rifle.

In the past this series has gotten widespread positive reports from reviewers given the price point where it competes.

Does anyone have comments either way on the X7 series?

I would rather have a Weatherby Vanguard than any of the guns in the OP list. They can usually be bought in that price range.

DB, If you have a source for NIB Wby Vanguards in any finish level either in 1st Gen's or S2's at under $400 I'm sure many of us would like to know where that is ...'cause you are Right! that would be an outstanding buy. I'm seeing even the old S&W labeled Howa's like I sold a ton of at the Distributor in Carrollton I worked for in the late '70's, now on GB selling for $300+/- even in ragged shape and the clean ones at well over $400. Those were so close a knockoff of the AIII SAKO's that SAKO successfully sued Howa for copyright infringements...and IMO would make great donor's for custom builds.

I doubt even Legacy Sports ....the current Howa Importer last time I looked couple years ago....that makes the Vanguard barreled action for Weatherby has bare bones Howa's @ say $550+ MSRP's that could be retailed at under $400 even in bigtime 1000 unit volume buys... but being housebound in this Blessed Rain event today I'll try and find some info in that direction.

FWIW even Lake Texoma's boat ramps are drying up and becoming unusable like the rest of Texas...too bad that rain in Central Texas didn't hit upstream and fill Buchannan & Travis.

I don't think you can touch a Vanguard for under $400.

The best rifle/scope under $400 IMO is a $250 Mossberg 100 ATR with (choose your brand) $150 scope on it.