Originally Posted by sbhooper
Originally Posted by Coyote_Hunter
Originally Posted by sbhooper
That is about as good as you can get. The rifle will recoil very little, shoots great with factory ammo and kills way beyond what its ballistics say that it should. Buy Hornady factory ammo and go hunt. Get him shooting out to 300 yards, just to be sure that he can score. That cartridge in whatever rifle you choose, will serve him well for as long as he wants.

Put a decent scope on it. Optics are more important than the rifle, usually.

I agree with your first paragraph and with getting a 'decent' scope. Not so much with "Optics are more important than the rifle, usually."

A great scope won't make an inaccurate rifle more accurate and I've found cheap scopes to be adequate for every shot I've taken at game (487 yards max). Had a $39 (I overpaid at a gunsmith) Bushnell Sportview 3-9x with crappy light transmission on my 7mm RM for 20 years. Never liked it but it took a beating and never failed me, either.

Lots of decent scopes for under $200. Most of my rifles have Burris 3-9x Fullfield II scopes with Ballistic Plex reticle. You can get them for about $180 online.

True, but I have seen very few inexpensive rifles that will not shoot well enough to hunt with. That was my point. An expensive rifle and dog scope is useless, whereas, a cheap rifle and decent scope is a winner.

I'll agree a rifle with a broken scope that won't hold zero isn't worth much as a combo. Just had a Burris FF-II 3-9x replaced by Burris as unfixable. Even then the rifle was holding 2-1/2 MOA, which is good enough for most hunting situations. Had a rifle that shot bug holes until it started shooting patterns (sold it), SIL had a rifle that wouldn't feed reliably (repaired), I had another that decided not to eject (repaired) and hunted with a guy who, at the end of the hunt, informed us his safety wasn't working so he kept his finger "off the trigger" (never hunted with him again). GIve me a reliable and reasonably accurate firearm and just about any scope that holds zero and I'll make it work.

Guess that's a long-winded way of saying "I have seen very few inexpensive scopes that will not work well enough to hunt with." smile

Granted, long range shooting has different requirements, but that applies to both rifle and scope.

Coyote Hunter - NRA Patriot Life, NRA Whittington Center Life, GOA, DAD - and I VOTE!

No, I'm not a Ruger bigot - just an unabashed fan of their revolvers, M77's and #1's.

A good .30-06 is a 99% solution.