Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles What does the extra $350 get me?

Consider buying a used rifle. Most hunting rifles never see enough rounds to worry about the barrel being shot out, but you do need to inspect for rust, etc. You can often get a better quality rifle for the cost of the "value" rifle offerings with flimsy synthetic stocks and general lack of refinement.

Half my rifles were pre-owned, gently used and all shoot great. I pop clay pigeons on the berm at 600 yards using a Savage 11 FXP3 in .243 I paid $295 for. Also a Ruger M77 in .257 Roberts I bought used 16 years ago. One of the most accurate rifles I ever owned was a 1975 Remington M700 in .308 Win. Have not shot it at 600 but a stainless Ruger MKII .223 Rem I bought used shoots clovers at 100.

Or you can shop the sales. cdnnsports.com has Ruger Hawkeye rifles on sale for $499 in .30-06 (20" bbl) and .308 Win (22" bbl). I bought one of the .30-06 rifles for a son-in-law as a wedding present 3-4 years ago and still wish I had one myself. Either will do fine for an elk hunt. The Ruger synthetic stocks are among the better factory synthetics. I will most likely be carrying my Ruger Hawkeye stainless/synthetic .280 Rem elk hunting this year - with a handloaded 150g ABLR at 2899fps and 7000 feet altitude, it delivers 2100fps and 1500fps past 640 yards. If you don't handload, Federals .280 140g Trophy Copper delivers 2200fps and 1500fpe to 550 yards. Federal's 175g .30-06 Terminal Ascent load delivers 2100fps and 1500fpe past 650 yards.

Good luck whatever you choose.