Recomendations for a good hunting rifle

[Izhevsk762]

[MN Fan]

Awesome! You did great!

I love this thread...from original to question to purchase of firearm

[ponycarman]

Ill clean it up nice and try to get some better pics. I like clean ever gun I buy even if its brand new straight from the box. I also take the first thorough cleaning as a kinda "getting to know you" time . Lets me get familiar with the gun.

[Junk Yard Dog]

Nice, I have had a Savage 110 in .30-06 for many years, good rifle.

[polymerase2]

Some advice. When hunting you are not trying to shoot sub-MOA. You are trying to quickly kill an animal. If you can hit a 6" circle you can have a clean kill. Always be sure of your target and what is behind the target. I have shot several hogs and hit the one in front and the one behind. We just had two kids shot here in a schoolyard because some AH didn't realize that bullets that don't impact something travel a long way. I like center of shoulder. Not fancy but a good kill.
That Savage is light. You are not a wimp if you use some kind of recoil protection when you are sighting it in. A flinch is really hard to lose.
One of my best mistakes to share, is shooting with a loose scope mount, you will get one or two good shoots and then things will travel. You can burn through a lot of rounds chasing zero. Be sure the scope mount, screws and all of the rifle screws are tight. If you can, bore sight before you get to the range. If you can set up something (I use an old CD) at 25 or 50 yards, pull the bolt and center the target by looking through the bore. Then center the scope. You will be withing a couple of inches. I also learned that the hard way. I had Academy bore sight my new Leupold and they screwed it up twice. One time it was mounted 90 degrees off. So the L and R were up and down. Learn to do it yourself and you will waste a lot less time.

[ponycarman]

Thanks a bunch for the advice. Ill take as much as I can get haha. I cleaned the rifle up last night. I was kinda surprised because the barrel was so dirty. I expected some gunk in it assuming from the test fireing. But this thing was pretty bad. About as bad as my mosins when I first cleaned them up. I guess they used some nasty dirty ammo when they tested it. No problem though, its clean now

[Darryl]

More deer taken with a Winchester 30-30 than any of the other rifles made. I've taken bear with mine without any problem.

Light, short, has a great round and will reach way out there. I started on it (well first year with a No.5 Jungle Enfield) and never changed. Great for a long shot and great to carry in the brush.

There are many nice rifles for hunting deer.

Dolk

[ponycarman]

Nice! I wouldnt mind getting a 30-30 lever action myself. All in due time I guess. I have a very long list of potiential firearms that I want.

[knssrtrd]

Being a member of the Savage rifle club is a good thing, it will never let you down.

[Junk Yard Dog]

Only thing I don't like about my Savage is the lack of iron sights, should the scope bust, and they do, I have no backup. The Winchester '94 has iron sights to back up the scope.

[polymerase2]

I'm starting to pick up a Chevy vs Ford vibe here.

[MN Fan]

lol

[desdem12]

Ford

[WeldonHunter]

A deer at under 200 yards? Winchester 1894, or Marlin 336 in .30-30, or 35 Remington, served me well when I was still hunting. Savage 110 if you want a bolt rifle, affordable, dependable.

You read my mind. The Marlin 336 is probably the most widely used and most versatile hunting rifles ever produced besides the Winchester 1894. I have a 336 marlin in .35 Remington, my first deer rifle and it's (was, another story) a deer slayer for sure or anything else for that matter. Shoots through brush, trees, telephone poles, you name it. Only thing is for that caliber there's few choices for ammo. Remington makes a Core-Lokt for it that's a nice cartridge. Marlin 336 in 30-30 is probably the next best thing. Great stopping power and not to hard on the wallet. They run about $450. Cheaper if you can find one on sale.

I'll add this. There's nothing wrong with using a Mosin Nagant to hunt with, first hunting rifle or not. Just use some good hunting ammo and not FMJ. It'll more than get the job done. Just make sure you know the rifle first. That way you can buy about 4 of them for the price you'll pay for a Marlin or Winchester new. Just a thought.

[Ironnewt]

Haha I didnt know it would be so hard to choose between the two calibers. I think 308 would be fine with a little less recoil and Im thinking of getting a saiga 308 sometime so they would share ammo. And the on the other hand I think 30-06 because well come on its a 30-06 its powerfull, has been proven time and time again, more versitile, and is very awesome. I have been researching some on the both of them to try to help me descide and I still come up with a stalemate. I did read that the 308 barrel would last a little longer and its slightly more accurate. Oh this is so hard to descide lol.

The .308 (AKA 7.62 NATO) is the same round as the 30.06 but shortened to work in semi-autos a little better. You can find loads for either with bullet weights all over the scale for any type of game. There probably is more variation in the 30.06 readily available but if you handload you can get just about anything.

[Ironnewt]

BTW what model is your Savage? Looks like a nice one

[Junk Yard Dog]

Prices have gone up, the Winchester set me back about $150 and the most expensive Marlin I bought was the 1895 45/70, $389. My friend with the gun shop back in the 90's knew full well I wouldn't be able to resist the 45/70 once I saw it. He put it out on top of the counter the moment he saw my car pull into the parking lot so it was the first thing I saw walking in the door. I never had any money back then, he took it all as fast as I got it

[MN Fan]

I saw a Marlin 1895 45/70 on the rack at Cabela's. When I first saw it, I thought it was a 20 gauge lever action lol. I knew Marlin made a .410 version of this rifle, but I didn't think they made anything bigger. After picking it up, I saw that it was a 45/70. Man, that's a BIG hole in the end of the muzzle!

What's it like to shoot?

[Greasemonkey]

I saw a Marlin 1895 45/70 on the rack at Cabela's. When I first saw it, I thought it was a 20 gauge lever action lol. I knew Marlin made a .410 version of this rifle, but I didn't think they made anything bigger. After picking it up, I saw that it was a 45/70. Man, that's a BIG hole in the end of the muzzle!

What's it like to shoot?

Ahh, the .45-70, my favorite hunting round. you can get mild to wild, lead cast cowboy loads, very little recoil(I enjoy the true black powder loadings), I bought a box of Buffalo Bore rounds, WOW 500gr. All I have to say is, I have 18rounds left, the rest are tucked safely away from my shoulder. Very flexible round for hunting just about anything. Most commercial ammo is down loaded due to all the Trapdoor rifles floating around, but there are ones like Buffalo Bore that push the old round to it's limits. Used within it's usable ranges, it's an excellent brush cartridge.

The only .45-70 I currently have now is the H&R SB2 singleshot w/4 power shotgun scope, great inexpensive rifle, accurate, the Leverevolution rounds are the best I found for it. Nothing as of yet has walked, ran or crawled away from it. Always reminded me of loading a howitzer, a local shop has one modified to chamber the old .45-120 round, using cast bullets. Also I've been looking at the H&R Buffalo Classic for my next one.

My grandfather, big .45-70 fan, always told me, the .30-06 might expand, but a .45-70 won't ever shrink!

[ponycarman]

BTW what model is your Savage? Looks like a nice one

The rifle is a model 110. On the tag at walmart it said model 110 fxp3. I don't know what the difference is. All this marlin talk makes me want one all the more haha. I guess having a backup hunting rifle isn't a bad thing or two or three haha:D

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