Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles First rifle !

First rifle? Hmm. Bolt gun is a good choice and in MHO the only choice. 308 is an excellent cal. 243 is adequate for whitetails - low recoil good accuracy can double up lightly on varmints - punches paper well. The 243's parent cartridge is the 308. The 308 has more bullet choices - better choice for whitetail with larger bullet diameter and weight - good accuracy potential - little more recoil. Lots of good choices in bolt guns out there. A Rem 700 variety won't let you down. Trigger is easy to adjust. Don't scrimp on glass or mounts. A leupie is hard to beat and you can get it worked on if it fails.Bottom line is buy a good quality rig and have the trigger worked on by someone who is compotent. Buy a pretty gun the first time and you'll be proud of it. Shoot the hell out of it and learn it well. Remember there are no stupid questions just unasked ones. Good luck and good shooting.

Sorry guys everyone should own a good .22. The key to harvesting an animal is shot placement. The more you shoot the better you get. I don't care if your 10, 20 or 90. Recoil is a funny thing. It will cause your rifle to wack you in the head or cause you to flinch without knowing it. I've seen it happen with a lite loaded 280 Rem. There's also the tought of body machanics and learding how to shoot well. If you learn to shoot reasonably well on a .22 shot placement isn't a problem. Besides, I can shoot the .22 alot longer without my group onening up and without empting my wallet. Just a thought. If he wants to hunt deer he should learn to hunt squirrel first. There are more of them and the techniques are very similar.
It has been said for a long time that there's "no one gun that does everything" and I believe that true. If he wants pratice, hone his skills, punch holes in paper and ventilate cans a .22 is a must. Then look for a big bore.

Absolutely do not disagree with the .22 aspect that has been offered for all of the reasons stated above. Good points all. Ya got to crawl before ya walk....

Thank's everybody for the good advice. I will probably go with a bolt action in 308 or 243. Savage is still quite in the picture.

Yeah, Mandalin, how about a little more info, please.

Like how much experience you have with rifles?
Like how much experience you have hunting at all?
Like where/what you intend on hunting?
Like what is your budget?
Like where and how often you intend on punching paper and to what end?

No intention of being rude, but all of these factors may well way in.

For example, if you have little/no experience hunting, then the .22 is a DEFINITE, and so is a hunter's ed course.

Or, if you have hunting experience with shotguns, then the .22 is still highly recommended.

Also, hunting whitetails in Texas is much different than hunting 'em in Maine, or the soybean fields of South Carolina.

Same thing on the paper punching, plinking and casual practice is one thing; competition target shooting is something else completely.

A little more info from you would go a LONG way to helping you out.

I used to have a 12 gauge reminton 870. I went hunting several times, birds, rabbits the like.......
I went a couple of time to the shooting range with my friend, I shoot his 222
I will go after white tail deer in Canada , Quebec just beside New York state
I think I can go somewhere say $1,000 to $1,500
Will go punching paper once a week or twice and if thing look ok meanning "me" I will probably go for some competition wich mean going for a "real" precision rifle....Something like 6 ppc.
Hoping this is enough precision...
Thank's

Okay, that helps.

My suggestion:

Take your $1200 and spend it as detailed below.

1. Buy a GOOD .22 rifle. A Ruger 10/22 can be had for less than $200. Get one, scope it ($100), and get a couple bricks of bullets. ($300). Or, perhaps even better still, go to your local gunshop and find a good, old, used .22 single-shot bolt action. They can be had cheaper, are still accurate, and that single-shot will make you concentrate on learning trigger control and sight picture to make the first shot count.

2. Buy a GOOD rifle, and in a GOOD all around caliber. It's VERY hard to beat a Remington M700 or Winchester M70 in .30-06. One can be had for about $500-600, depending on model, and another $200 for a decent scope. ($700-$800). Sub in the .270, 7mm-08, or .308 if you just have to have one of those calibers over the '06.

Also, the Savage M110 and Weatherby Vanguard rifle packages are good places to start. They are solid, dependable, accurate rifles that are designed to do exactly what you want (hunt deer and learn to use rifles on). They can be had, scoped and otherwised set-up, for between $500 and $600. Check a few of them out (the Savage M110 combo, the Weatherby Vanguard package, and the Remington M700 and Winchester M70s); Wal-Mart or your local BIG gun shop is a great place to try them out for "feel." The difference between them, for all intents and purposes, is going to be personal; i.e. whichever one you just like the best.

That leaves you with enough for a couple different makes/weights of bullets. For deer, start at the 150 gr. and move up to 180 gr. Standard, non-premium bullets (like the Remington Core-Lokts and Winchester Power-Points) are fine.

Also, don't be too arrogant to admit if you're not use to the recoil. The "reduced recoil" loads by Remington are excellent to practice with and plenty good for deer up to about 200-250 yards out in any of the above mentioned rounds.

Remember, this is a FIRST rifle. You can, and probably will, add other rifles later, in different calibers, makes, models, etc. This one is, and should be, a good, solid, no-frills rifle to cut your teeth on.

Let us know what you find and how it does,

Good Advice VAnimrod. BMT