Up to a $1000 in an American made 30'06 ???...here are some other ideas that are out of the usual suspects....

Used: Kimber's & MRC aka Montana Rifle Co are both clones and upgraded designs of the pre '64 Winchester M70 that now MRP'ed at about $1200+. Seeing some base model used Kimbers go for $750/$800 in nice clean guns on line. MRC ASR's (aka "American Standard Rifle") are rarely found used as they have never had enough production capacity to make a major dent in the market, but would be MY choice over a Kimber 8 days a week.

New: BACO Winchester M70's from a couple of the online guys with blue/wood Sporters and Fwts running around $750 and up & SS at around a a $K. CDNN - the closeout King - has some M70 Super Grades at around a $1000 or just under, and same prices as above on Standard grade stuff and always with very limited caliber selections. Currently BACO M70 parts are still built in South Carolina but the guns are now assembled at the Browning plant in Portugal that they've used since right after WW II for all their european built guns assembly & shipped back to the US as finished product. Bolt action Steyr's are now built in Alabama in their base modle guns and meet the same high qulity producrtion standards as the Euro built guns I'm told. I really like the Forester series of blue/wood rifles. Melvin Forbes NULA's are still built in West Virginia but I haven't looked at prices lately, with very limited production and the same super high end quality he's famous for, despite having to go outside his custom Douglas made barrels.

JUst a few ideas that mighr be worth a look/see and not found in every or any Cabellas or WalMart, except for the M70's at some stupid high prices last time I looked a couple weeks ago.
Ron

I'm not saying that you don't have issues with them, I don't, nor do thousands of other people that shoot them.
Yes, I swap barrels on them all the time, been doing it for years. I only have 2 factory Savage barreled actions left, a 10 FCP 308 and a 110 FLP 25-06, all the others I assembled. I shoot my guns almost every week either at my house, a range, or up at the ranch. While you probably shoot more than me, I shoot a couple hundred rounds a week out of mine total.

Is this the rifle that is built with the non-replaceable stock because the factory stock is so well designed and built and so loved by everyone it is illegal in some states to replace the stock?

You admit you don't clean your rifles until they are so crudded up the barrel blocks the passage of water. Put that bolt in your weed sprayer and slosh it around.

Don't get a savage because they are ugly and have terrible triggers. Yes the accutrigger sucks

I'm not calling you a liar. I'm sharing real world experience with mine, and many others I've seen do the same things. Every time a Savage comes to my place, I expect to see the double feed happen, frequently, and it does. I never talk smack about anyone's equipment, but when someone asks for a recommendation of a new purchase, I will not recommend something I've seen too many problems with.

You have actually seen one of those Tikka's with the famous guaranteed for life Vortex scopes that you don't even have to shoot. The one that you just hold it over your head and wave it and the deer fall over from fright like the fainting goats?

Rumor has it that custom knife makers are going out of business due to the paralyzing by fear factor of Tikka + Vortex that hunters no longer field dress, just toss the buck in the back seat and head straight to the processor.

I would go for the Tikka, they are some great looking rifles and seem to be extremely accurate.

As for Vortex, there's always something as good or better at a lower price. As for Tikka, they are boringly accurate, often shooting as good as any semi-custom made. While they are nothing to look at and "oogle" over, they serve their purpose well, very well.

Weatherby Vanguard Series II will be the next rifle that I will be getting. They shoot very good and the trigger is nice and crisp for a stock factory trigger. I never tried them until my daughter won one in an auction. Her gun is a tack driver.

RUSS


welcome to the Texas Hunting forum, where everyone pushes what they own. I will tease everyone about Tikka because 99% of the members here own them and defend them like children.

And, I will have to admit they are really good rifles, I have owned a bunch of rifles mentioned above and never hated any of them. I treat them like my women, I never keep one long enough to develop a love or hate relationship.

This being said, for your budget, I would buy the 6.5 Creedmoor, Browning Hell's Canyon Speed for sale here on the THF classifieds. I was about to buy one and put a JARD trigger in it before I bought my Barrett Fieldcraft which is now my favorite rifle and a "little" out of your budget.

The Browning X-Bolt is an awesome rifle, very accurate and a great looking rig. Look on GUNBROKER.COM, there are a ton on there, pay small shipping cost and your transfer fee, pay no Texas sales tax.

Thanks! The MRC ASR is nice! I didn't quite know the market for a nicer deer rifle, and was basing off box store rifles. But alot of good info in this thread. The MRC ASR will be on my research further list along with Tikka.

read this again

Thanks for the info, the brownings are being thought upon. I'll buy new, since it most likely will be a Xmas present from the wife and kids.

I've owned enough Tikka's to trust them to do what they are designed to do... provide depedable safe very accurate out of the box firearms at a reduced price from the parent product, SAKO, using SAKO barrels and designed on a CAD Unit, but without as much of the hand fitting as SAKO's have.

In Finland there is a saying about buying better than average quality stuff in consumer products, that was offered to me by the World Marketing Director of SAKO while we were sweating the frost out of our bones in a sauna, and goes ..."A poor man MUST buy 1st quality products to establish an Estate to hand down to his children, so they don't have to constantly replace cheaply made products, and become enamoured with the American idea of buying Kleenex type products, to be used a time or two and then thrown away", Esa Verho, World Sales Director, VP SAKO Oy, Nokia Inc.

Tikka Sporting Rifles were orginally built to generate revenue for the Government owned machine gun factory, and merged with the then Nokia owned SAKO Oy in 1984 or so. At the time I worked for Stoeger Industries, a wholly owned joint venture between SAKO and the Spanish Family that had owned Llama Handguns since they were created, among many other things like a thriving business in the lost wax investment casting of high tech airplane & computer parts. The US market had only seen the pre WW II designed cheap 1911 styled Llama handguns until 1984, when Stoeger began to sell a high grade DA double stack 45ACP & 9mm that was designed for the Spanish Government ...and was too heavy, bulky & expensive for the US market that Glock had just entered with their M17's & 19's.

My 1st Tikka was a M695 Hunter grade 270 I bought from Bass Pro and had been the display item at the Miami BP Store just inside the front door in large glass bubble case of Sporting Firearms that had been featured by their Mfg'er's in their catalongs and national advertising....and I bought on a BP closeout during the initial rollout of the T3's and has shipped to the DFW BP Store in Grapevine ... that a friend of mine, who had founded the SAKO Collectors ASSC with his buddy Jim Lutes, called not the same class rifle. No... T3's were not as well built as a 695 IMO.... but they were lots lighter and as dependaby accurate as the 695's and achieved the stated goal that the US Market Studies had showed was what was going to sell well, and hold longterm a sizeable market share that SAKO would never be able to reach. ** FWIW there is a 695 Deluxe Grade 30'06 for sale in the THF Classifieds right now that the pics will show you what I'm talking about.

I've owned a number of T3's, and own one right now & will continue to buy them as I see the need for a particular model and caliber, but I've also owned several older & current BACO M70's with 2 on hand right now, along with my 1st Howa built Weatherby Vanguard II in Stainless Steel...and have owned a couple dozen SAKO's over the years that never failed to perform as designed, just like the half dozen Tikka T3's that have graced my shooting bench.

Ruger is the only name brand I see being overlooked in this discussion and you might look at a M77 in a MK II or better still a current production Hawkeye, but remember my frozen friend from the suana's admonition as it apply's IMO to the Ruger American Series.

I owned a couple dozen Ruger 77's in the 60's & '70's and knew their foibles and how to live with them, but times have changed and the Hawkeye SS 300Wmg I bought last year from a guy in Michigan went down the road to it's 3rd owner in Boulder Colorado in a couple months, making 3 owners in 18 months, who shot it once and promptly pulled the barrel and turned it into a 257Wby with a custom trigger. Out of the box it needed help that I did not want to pay for but would have made a great 3/4 ton Diesel 4x4 pickup truck kinda dependable Rocky Mountain gun...and I got a BACO M70 270 CRF Sporter made in South Carolina in an even up trade for the Ruger.

Have fun looking and take your time looking for exactly what you want.

Ron

I would not be afraid of the savage. One thing about them is certain, it will most likely be a shooter. I have had zero problems out of the ones I own and their performance has earned a good market share. Tikka makes my list but when comparing them to a Sako, I just can't warm up to them. Kinda like buying a mustang with a six banger. Winchester M 70. Browning X bolt. All good rifles that you should be happy with. Remington 700 CDL is actually the one I would buy with your criteria though. Gonna need to plan on bedding and floating the 700 and a drop in Timney trigger to make it sweet though. So even though it is my pick. it does not make the list if you are looking for something to shoot straight out of the box and in wood.

Weatherby. You can't go wrong with either the Mark V or a Vanguard. Seriously.

For your budget and especially the criteria of nice wood, watch gunbroker for a gently used customized Mauser 98. 30-06 is the most common. Really beautiful ones go for upper 100’s. Watch for FN, Husqvarna, or Interarms, all of which made civilian models with better finishes.

Ruger American with a very good scope

For a purely hunting setup with a total rifle/scope budget of $1,000:

Rifles
Tikka T3x/T3 Lite
Ruger American Predator
Savage model 10/11
Savage Axis XP

Scoeps
Zeiss Terra 4-12
Leupold VX2 3-9 or 4-12 or VX3i 3.5-10 or 4.5-14

Any combination of those should be plenty adequate for a hunting setup.

If you really want a nice gun and your $1,000 budget doesn't include optics, then you could get a Tikka CTR and pair it with one of those scopes for about $1200-$1300 total.

Shame Shame Shame

https://www.eurooptic.com/tikka-t3-forest-30-06-sprg-11in-twist-224in-bbl-jrtf620.aspx


https://www.tractoptics.com/products/riflescopes/turion-3-9x40-t-plex



https://www.eurooptic.com/talley-scope-rings-940714.aspx

The best combo you can do to stay at your budget and for excellent quality

Interestingly enough, stumbled across this video today while researching POI shift. First shot at around 1:50 mark, it fails to eject. Later, around 3:35, he has to double stroke it.

FJG ain't no liar!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKKV2TkTbyY

There is a new in the box Zastava Mauser 30-06 with pretty decent wood on gunbroker for $449. Add a gently used Nightforce SHV. Might benefit from bedding, but you can do it yourself for $30. The few Zastavas I have seen at the range were decent shooters, 1 MOA with quality ammo. Would be a nice looking rig within your budget.

http://www.gunbroker.com/item/709727217