ponderosa11
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Great choice
Affordable bolt action
- Thread starter peterk1234
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Don Fischer
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Affordable for me would be a Mossberg Patriot on sale but I know a guy that thinks a Weatherby MK IV is affordable!
Single Malt
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I believe that was 103...
All three are classic calibers for a reason. I am a .308 man and have recently started considering .270 for a longer reach.
Says Tikkaman...
300 win mag
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i suggest a 243 axis or 308 ruder American for a starter but normally i use a ruger precision rifle in 300 win mag
morgaj1
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Not sure what "looks cheap" means. The action looks different than any that I've seen, but it is functional not cheap. The M18 is a solid rifle. My son's 30-06 is very accurate and reliable. Nice trigger, 3 position safety, flush mount 5-round magazine and a 5-shot sub MOA accuracy guarantee. The only thing I don't like is the removable butt plate for storage.
Great hit. I got the same thing back in 2013 in .308. The Nikon scope is much better than the Bushnell scopes they put on most of their other combo rifles. Also, the Model 11/111/110 is a huge step up from the Axis.I found a Savage 111 trophy Hunter XP (barely used) in 30-06 for $425 with the nikon scope locally. My daughter was pumped and now has to fight the urge to give it to him before xmas
Bambistew
Well-known member
The bolt looks like a piece of pipe with a straight piece of rod welded on it. The receiver is another tube with no machining to make it look better (read cheap AF). It looks like something a kid in shop class made. The rifle might shoot great, but its ugly AF and looks cheap... sorry if I offended you. YMMV.
morgaj1
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No offense taken. To each his own...
buffybr
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When I started hunting in the late '60s, the locals that I worked with in NW Colorado recommended that I get a .270 Win or .30-06. I chose a .30-06, and it easily handled everything that I hunted from varmints to elk.
Today it seems like we have a new wiz-bang cartridge coming out about every month, but in reality I don't see them any better than the old standbys. After over 50 years of hunting and living in Colorado and Montana I have filled my safe with, I think, a good variety of rifles chambered from .223 to .375 RUM.
My advice for a new hunter moving to Montana would be a rifle chambered in .270 Win, 7 mm Rem mag, or .30-06. Especially if they don't reload.
I have always favored blued steel in walnut stocks, but I also see the advantage of stainless steel in fiberglass stocks, and that's what several of my latest purchases have been.
I don't know if they're under the OPs $500 limit, but I currently have two Rem 700 rifles and three Weatherby Vanguards. I am 100% satisfied with all of them.
As for scopes, I started out with cheap ones, gradually replaced those with a little better or more expensive ones, and now I have Leupold scopes on just about all of my hunting rifles.
I especially like their VX 3i models with their CDS turrets. And even with the VX 3i Freedom 3-9x40 that I have on my .223 Vanguard, I can simply dial the turret and just about every shot hit the 15" steel gongs that we have out to 430 yards at our range.
Today it seems like we have a new wiz-bang cartridge coming out about every month, but in reality I don't see them any better than the old standbys. After over 50 years of hunting and living in Colorado and Montana I have filled my safe with, I think, a good variety of rifles chambered from .223 to .375 RUM.
My advice for a new hunter moving to Montana would be a rifle chambered in .270 Win, 7 mm Rem mag, or .30-06. Especially if they don't reload.
I have always favored blued steel in walnut stocks, but I also see the advantage of stainless steel in fiberglass stocks, and that's what several of my latest purchases have been.
I don't know if they're under the OPs $500 limit, but I currently have two Rem 700 rifles and three Weatherby Vanguards. I am 100% satisfied with all of them.
As for scopes, I started out with cheap ones, gradually replaced those with a little better or more expensive ones, and now I have Leupold scopes on just about all of my hunting rifles.
I especially like their VX 3i models with their CDS turrets. And even with the VX 3i Freedom 3-9x40 that I have on my .223 Vanguard, I can simply dial the turret and just about every shot hit the 15" steel gongs that we have out to 430 yards at our range.
Buy once, cry once.I’d figure out how to buy a Tikka.
(also own Savage Model 16 Weather Warrior .243, and a Ruger GSR in .308 which is my "go to" rifle when hunting the lower altitudes, and two of the discontinued SS Ruger Americans)
Wise, wise advice.
willie100hank
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Just remember, you can often get a cheap rifle to shoot well, but not so much with a cheap scope...Spend as much as you can on a decent optic, that is often the key...
Dunning Kruger
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I picked up a rap 223 right when the panic buying hit and am not shooting it much to conserve ammo. Surprised how well it shoots though. Getting 1" groups at 200 yards. Not bad for a cheap rifle. Already had a can that i bought for an ar and had a 4-16 viper sitting in my closet so i thought what the hell, may as well buy a cheap threaded bolt action 223.
Uh oh. Sounds like someone is throwing down the gauntlet on my favorite wiz-bang cartridge, the .338 Federal.
If I lived west of the Mississippi, I think I would have no use for this cartridge. Where it shines for me is in woods black bear hunting. I think of it as a ".308 Improved" and much appreciate the big holes it makes.
My first rifle was a .308, and I've never really warmed up to the long action cartridges. I think I'd want something rather powerful, like a .300 Win Mag before putting up with the longer action. (Even there, I seriously considered a .300 WSM).
Your comment about having a "good variety...from .223 to .375 RUM" sums it up nicely: Having caliber options is fun and makes it all more interesting.
KB_
Well-known member
I own many rifles some expensive some cheap (i mean like a 40$ cheap from an estate sale). my mossberg 4x4 chambered in 30-06(now patriot) has been absolutely bullet proof for me. Only used it as a 200 yard gun in michigan way back when and when we moved out to montana and a box of much better ammo i can hit the steel plate at 400 yards no problem. i paid 200$ for that gun at a gun show. Does it compete with my browning gold medallion 7mag beyond 400 yards? Hell no it doesnt, but were talking a 1200$ price difference. Not many people are shooting that far anyway. I just bought my wife a brand new savage axis with the scope combo in .243 for christmas, we'll see how that gun shakes out. Seems nice enough. between the 7mm mauser (40$), .270win (grandpas ol 60s rem 700), Browning gold medallion 7mag(dads gun I inherited, no idea the cost), and my Mossberg 30-06 (200$). The mossberg is my go too for everything. Would really like to get a .308 at some point tho. I need a 6.5 creed like I need a hemroid.
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I hear you about the 6.5 Screedmoor. I don't "hate" it, but I see little use for it. I think its on the small side for black bear and larger. For whitetail I like .243 and 7mm-08 better.
I've been to bear camp six times, well over 100 hunters. Have not seen a 6.5 Creedmoor yet.
I've been to bear camp six times, well over 100 hunters. Have not seen a 6.5 Creedmoor yet.
buffybr
Well-known member
I'm not on the 6.5 CM bandwagon, but I think that it's a well designed cartridge and I think it would be fun to have one if I had a big enough slot in my rifle battery that it would fit in.
I've also never been to a bear camp, but I'm no stranger to bears. I've killed several black bears (I even climbed up a tree and caught a cub once), I've had black bears in my yard with some only feet from my house. A couple of months ago a bow hunter filmed a grizzly bear in the field across the road below my house, and a week later my neighbor found grizzly tracks in the snow on the hill not 300 yards above our houses.
CubSlayer, I'm not attacking you personally, but I have to question your logic that a 6.5 CM is on the small side for black bears and larger but a .243 is better???
First of all, a 6.5mm bullet is 0.5mm larger diameter than a .243 bullet, and the 6.5mm bullets can be 25% heavier than .243 caliber bullets.
If you look at the ballistics of a .243 vs a 6.5 CM you find that:
A 105 grain bullet fired from a .243 with a muzzle velocity of 2900 fps produces about 1960 foot-pounds of energy.
A 140 grain bullet fired from a 6.5 CM at a mv of 2750 fps produces about 2350 f-p of energy.
To me the advantage is clearly with the 6.5 Creedmore.
OK, I know there has always been arguments about velocity and energy as to the killing power of bullets, so I'll go back to two of the black bears that I have killed. Both were one shot kills on DIY, public land, spot and stalk hunts.
The first was with a 220 grain cast lead bullet at about 800 fps from my 1911 .45 acp pistol that only produces about 312 f-p of energy.
The second was with a 250 grain cast lead bullet at about 1400 fps producing about 1088 f-p of energy from my .44 magnum.
Both of these pistol bullets only produce a fraction of the velocity or energy of either a .243 Win or a 6.5 CM bullet. But both bears died within 30 yards of where I shot them, and if I wanted another black bear, I wouldn't hesitate to hunt it with either of those pistols.
So of the 100 hunters that showed up without 6.5 CM rifles in your bear camps, how many have showed up with only a .45 auto or a .44 magnum pistol to hunt their bear with?
That's because you misread my post. I never claimed the .243 was better for black bear than 6.5 Manbun. Reread my post. I said that I thought 6.5 CM is on the small side for black bears - I stand by that. I do think that .243 is a good choice for Whitetail, not black bear. To be clear, I think a 6.5 CM is a better (albeit poor) choice for black bear than a .243.CubSlayer, I'm not attacking you personally, but I have to question your logic that a 6.5 CM is on the small side for black bears and larger but a .243 is better???
So of the 100 hunters that showed up without 6.5 CM rifles in your bear camps, how many have showed up with only a .45 auto or a .44 magnum pistol to hunt their bear with?
You wrote six paragraphs arguing against a point I never made.
As far as .45 ACP and .44 magnum, the only .45 ACPs were pistols carried by hunters as backup. Not one was chosen as a primary weapon, and I know at least one camp that will not allow hunters to use .45 ACP as their primary weapon.
I have seen .44 magnum out of both handguns and rifles selected as the primary choice. I myself have gone in with nothing but a .44 magnum revolver. For black bear at close range, I believe .44 magnum is a better choice than 6.5 Creedmoor because it makes a bigger hole.
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