Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Looking for advice on a new rifle

If you go with the 243, I suggest ~100 grain bullets, possibly one of the premium types, for deer and larger game. For coyotes, any size will do.

My pick would probably be a 7mm-08. In many respects, it's almost a 270 on a 308 case.

I have been looking at that Savage 5.5 pound model 11/111 LW hunter, its a specialty gun for them and they make it in 243. LW and detachable magazine you could keep in your pocket and let your child carry the unloaded gun.

I wish I could get them to make me one in 22-250 with a 1-8 twisted barrel.

Yeah,its that button like thingy on the left side of the receiver.Push it in and pull out your bolt!!!!

I would get a 270, 708 or 260 remington. With the 270 at least you could get managed recoil factory ammo, for the kids until they are old enough to handle more. This supposedly reduces recoil 50%, and can handle deer to 200 yards which is likely as far as kids should be shooting. When every body grows up the rifle could be used for elk.

First guys, thank you for some great advice. A couple of things i didnt clarify well....I dont need an elk rifle, I have one already that I like. It would be for when the kids come with for elk.

What I meant by the bolt release lever is to unload the gun without taking the safety off. On my Sako, it isnt a 3 position safety, it is a seperate lever. Sorry, I did a poor job of describing that. a 3 position safety would be fine. To my knowledge, the Tikka has neither and you have to take it off safety in order to unload it.

After pouring over some ballistic info last night, I was leaning 25/06. Seems it has a little bit more of everything than a 243. But most of the advice has been 243. I was kinda hoping for a 25/06 landslide to make my decision easier! Then along come the 7/08 lovers and they tax my pea brain some more! But that is good, that is exactly why I asked. So now I have got 3 calibers in the mix.

Much of the conversation has been on calibers. Any advice on brands/models? I did see the note on the Abolt. At this point, I think I am leaning Xbolt, but that is because I dont have a lot of knowledge of the other brands.

So you pull the magazine and open the bolt.Do you consider that dangerous???

Tikka, Vanguard S2, or Thompson Venture in .243.

All affordable, shoot great, have decent to very good triggers, and are very inexpensive for the amount of gun you get.

There just isn't enough difference between a .243 and 25/06 for what you are describing.

Berettaman,

"Ballistic data" has very little real-world correlation to killing power on deer, or even on many larger animals. The three biggest factors are:

1) Bullet placement (at least 90% of the equation)
2) Bullet performance, but as long as the bullet penetrates into the chest cavity this means far less than placement. While a lot of people believe firmly that one design or another is the Magic Answer, I haven't found this to be so.

A lot of us base our judgements on cartridges on relatively little data, but the more animals I've seen killed by cvarious cartridges and bullets, the less difference I've seen in killing power from various rounds.

Forgot to mention rifles. Everybody's going to mention their favorite there too, usually based purely on accuracy, but my experience is that just about any mass-produced rifle made today is more than adequately accurate for normal deer hunting--and far more accurate than most shooters.

The biggest differences are in whether somebody wants a "classic" rifle, with a controlled-round feed action and nice walnut stock, or is satisfied with a synthetic stock and push-feed action. If the latter, there are a bunch of rifles costing less than $400 that shoot accurately and work fine. I'm most familiar with the Ruger American, which is not only made in America, but has a very good trigger and tang safety, and shoots very accurately. They can often be found for around $300.

Huntz,
The other step in that process is take the safety off before you throw the bolt. Is that dangerous? Everyone has a different tolerance for degree of danger. I think most people would agree that it is more dangerous than having a gun that the safety stays on while you throw the bolt. If this gun is going to be handled by my kids eventually, I see no reason to add in any amount of risk. My risk tolerance with my kids is pretty low given there are options equal in every way that do not contain that risk. I hope that answers the question on my thoughts.

I guess all I can say is don`t put a round into the chamber until you are going to shoot.Safetys like any thing mechanical are prone to failure at some point or you can just keep your finger off the trigger.I managed to raise 3 kids,get them into hunting and now 5 of my 11 grandkids hunt.They all understand firearm safety as they have been exposed to them since they were big enough to hold a firearm.Good luck on finding the firearm that meets all your needs.Huntz

The Ruger American comes in 243, 7mm/08, 308, 270 and 30-06. Of course, they could have added other calibers this afternoon.

I really like the value that this rifle offers, and for your stated purposes, I would go with the 7mm/08. Reduced recoil ammo is available and 7mm/08 ammo is becoming more available as we go into the future. In fact, I find 25-06 ammo is harder to find around here.

I just bought one in 22-250 for my son,and one in 7-08 for me, or vice versa, when he gets older.

I like the 60` bolt throw, the tang safety, the detachable magazine, the light weight, the price, the accuracy.
I could probably find some other things. Oh ,the chambering.

no offense taken,you are correct I'm talking about taking the bolt out for cleaning ,I may be in the minority but I actually prefer the bolt locked down when safety is on,my reasoning is in thick brush I've actually had the bolt handle lift,now again I'm talking MY personal preference I don't particularly care for 3 position model 70 style safeties

The extreme ammo shortages of this Obama Era have upended this old axiom that common cartridges are easier to find on the store shelves. Many times through these 'interesting times' I have seen both 'brick and mortar' and web stores completely emptied of every common cartridge but with good stocks of both ammo and brass for many obscure ones.

Pick the cartridge that you really want.

243 will do pretty much anything a 25-06 will do with less recoil.

The 7-08 has noticeably more recoil than the 243, if that is an issue for the kids.

I'd go 243. If you need more power than that, you usually need quite a bit more gun to show it.