Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Buying a proper Wood and Blue rifle - $2000 budget

I was given a pre Garcia Sako Forester Deluxe in 308 by an uncle of mine when I first started deer hunting years ago. He purchased it when he was stationed in Germany, told me he went hunting once, shot a deer, and put it away, till he pulled it out of his closet and gave it to me. If I knew then what I know now, I never would have purchased another gun, it still shoots right where you point it and prolly fits me better than most other rifles. If you can find one, you won't be disappointed. My oldest son has already called dibs on it, and he is 6.

win m70 supergrade, in 270 win. a beautiful, classic rifle and chambering.

I'd find myself a nice 1950's Savage 99F in 308 for about $800, and put the other $1200 towards a nice hunt.

Or to get a bit different, find myself a good condition Savage 99T or 1930's 99R/99RS in 300 Savage, add on a Lightfoot mount and modern scope and again have myself a nice hunt on top of it.

There's something about hunting with an 80 year old classic lever gun.

1930's 99RS:


1930's 99T:

Back at ya'..........

Something I ran into a while back and couldn't pass up.
An old Savage 99. According to the serial number it was new in 1900. Chambered in 303 Savage, 26" octagonal barrel, with original tang site. Excellent condition for its age.
GWB

I hadn't considered levers even though I have dozens of them. Either chambering in a Sako Finnwolf will bring you years of satisfaction and no other levers will shoot with them...

Not in the same class with the Sako, but the original Marlin Guide gun in 45-70 and ported barrel was a sweetheart........





I bought one of the original guide guns, blue/walnut with 18.5" ported barrel My go to load (supposedly Elmer Keiths load) was with 53 gr. IMR 3031 and 400 gr speers. Avg velocity around 1700 fps.

Here is a typical target shot at 100 yds. This was shot off the bench at the Pearland shooters club on 12/23/07. I planned to shoot it when I hunted between Christmas and New Year. I wanted to check zero. The first two shot were to check for group. The third shot was after I had made adjustments down and to the right. Not to shabby for a dead stock lever gun with untouched trigger.



Checking for zero. Shots 1& 2 are for group. Shot 3 is for zero. 100 yds, off the bench.

Anyway, it flat works. Kills stuff DRT, and you can eat right up to the bullet hole



Worked on this whitetail buck


worked on this axis doe


worked on these hogs


even works on varmints


JAPPFT,

GWB

Take a look at the new Mauser...

I'd like to suggest...

Tex-n-Cal:

Beautiful rifle. Forgive my lever-action ignorance...what gun is that?

I'm not Tex, but that is Ruger #1B single shot. Lovely rifles, but can be finicky and they are a beeotch to put a scope on with comfortable eye relief.

Thanks NH. Probably not the gun for my purpose. I'll be shooting from elevated box blinds and tripods 90% of the time. The other 10% are field positions, shooting sticks, prone and the occasional truck window

Another vote for a Winchester Supergrade.

That's a lot of good guns and pictures.. but nobody mentioned Cooper.
At the top of your budget, but they always shoot, the customer service is without peer and their wood stocked rifles are good looking.
If you can find a used one, you can be in it for around 1500.

Best of luck with your decision.

Yes...What Shrapnel said is solid info,keep your eyes open!!! They are out there...ScottyO.

I have worked with a bunch of them, as I collect them - but I also shoot all mine The 1B's and 1V's IME are the least fussy. Get either a low serial number under 130-005000 (Douglas barrel) or a black pad rifle (Ruger made hammer forged barrel) and you will likely find they aren't that fussy.

That said, I've never seen a 1B I would call inaccurate. The group shown was the 2nd load I tried in the rifle. And it is not a slow load, either.

I prefer the Ruger made offset rings, as shown. The scope is a VX-3 3.5-10x40.

How many do you own?

This:

http://www.gunsinternational.com/gu...odel-90-300-win-mag.cfm?gun_id=100621497

Pieter

m77,

that one is a beauty.

there is no doubt that the Sauer's I've encountered have had some fine furniture..........



the actions are slicker than owl schitt and have proven to be quite accurate.

Best,


GWB

GeeDub,is there a rifle you don't own,but would like to own?

Oh crap, did I hurt your feelings again? I was trying to be careful, but I guess you are more sensitive than I figured. Sorry again!

To answer your question I have owned and or loaded for/hunted about 10 #1s and #3s. Most were 1A's, a couple 1S's ( i seem to recall the .45-70s were S's), an RSI, and a 9.3x74R that was in a tropical. The 1B's never appealed to me being a 8-8.5 lb single shot, but to each their own. Its amazing what you get to play with when you grow up and live down the street from the factory where these things are built!

Have a nice day!