Best budget Bolt Rifle

H

Hoffman123

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I’m in the market for a bolt action rifle for punching holes and hunting white tail. I’d prefer to buy a more affordable rifle in .270 or 30-06. I see many newer budget bolt action rifles but I’d like your input on best bang for the buck. Thanks in advance.
 
Hoffman123,

If you intend to hunt with your new rifle, save more and buy better quality. It's very easy to have a few grand and more tied up in a big game hunt. I wouldn't risk wasting money on a hunt with a rifle that's prone to malfunction.

I'd rather buy a good quality used rifle than a new rifle of dubious quality.

My take is the Sauer 100 is the best quality entry level rifle on the market.
 
For me my take and most accurate out of the box for a given price point is a Savage or Tikka. Have never had issues with either rifle in over a 1/2 century of hunting.
 
Best bang for the buck, in roughly the order I would rank them...
Ruger American.
Howa.
Tikka.
Weatherby Vanguard (also a Howa).


Savage makes decent rifles, but I don't like them. Remington's barrel quality has gone down hill. And I just don't have enough experience with some of the other things on the market (Mossberg, etc.) to offer a valid opinion there.
 
I'd pick Savage for features (accutrigger) and accuracy. Over the last couple of decades Savage has taken a lot of quality out of their guns, but not really at the expense of accuracy. Yes, they're a cheap gun, but not to the point such as some of the junk Remington and others have been offering in their super junk big box models with the twenty dollar scopes on them. Those guns have triggers that nothing can be done with, and the tupper ware stocks easily twist like....a piece of tupperware. When you get down to the cheaper guns, Savage still offers something worth buying for the average guy who wants a decently accurate gun with a trigger that works fairly well.
 
I can't give you a wide ranging comparison, but I can say the Ruger American is an excellent, reliable and accurate gun for the price. And I agree that, for a few hundred bucks more, the Sauer 100 is a superior rifle. I have both. The Sauer is smoother, better finished. Comparing accuracy is a little "apples and oranges", since the American is a .243 Win and the Sauer is a 9.3x62. But both put everything inside 1 1/2" and both have shot <1" with at least one bullet.
 
Budget is a relative term. Is it $300 or $10,000?
You don't mention where you live.
I haven't bought a new rifle in decades. New to me, sure! ;)
We also don't know what type of hunting your doing.
Are you looking for a 50 yards, woods gun, or a 400+ yard open plains gun?
 
Define best? There is no such thing. Mostly best is nothing more than a matter of personal opinion! If I was limited on fund's for a new rifle, I'd get one I liked the feel of and the way it looked. That would be best!
 
Most of the budget guns are on the lighter end of the spectrum, most are a pound or more lighter than standard rifles. A 30-06 or 270 will rock you in rifles that light. I'd recommed 308, 7-08 or 6.5 CM in order to keep recoil manageable. With today's bullets no game animal will ever know the difference.

Priced at about $400 or less the Ruger American rifles are hard to beat. The Savage Axis is even less expensive and may be as good. I just don't have any 1st hand experience.

The Savage 10/110 series are in the low $500 range and bridge the gap between budget rifle and are a step up

Personally I think the Tikka's are the most rifle for the money. They aren't the cheapest, but are far from expensive. You won't buy a more accurate rifle off the shelf.
 
If you were me and needed a good bolt rifle but didn't have much available cash, the rifle would be used, it would be a 270 or 30-'06, and it would most likely be a Winchester model 70. The push-feed versions made from 1964 onward are not expensive. They have been much maligned as inferior to the pre-'64 version, but in reality, they are a lot like a Remington 700 except they have the much superior safety and trigger system of the Winchester 70. And me being me, it would have a Walnut stock, a leather, "military", sling, and most likely a Leupold scope. Do I like the model 70 Classic with the controlled round feed better? Heck yeah. But that's around a grand versus a $350 rifle that's still better than a Remington 700. Used gun shopping is fun; you never know what surprises await you.
 
I've got to go with Pathfinder45 on the used gun idea. They're out there and often can be had for a very good price. You can get a real quality gun and it can be affordable. Just don't be in a real hurry and look around. Estates are often a good place to find gems.
 
I'd second everything jmr40 said. I'm also a fan of Howas, so if you can find a good price on them it's be a fantastic option. As much of a fan as I am of Savage, I'd probably pick the Howa over the Savage 110 unless you plan to customize it.

My LGS usually has 30-06 Americans "on sale" for 299.99 plus tax. I've almost bought one just because, haha.

I personally love the used market. You can get a cheap Savage 10 or 110 on gunbroker for less than $300 (and that's after shipping and FFL fees) without too much work. It may be a little beat up, but the deals are out there.
 
I'm a Tikka Fan myself, but also endorse Savage as every one I have had shot light out with no modifications and the accutrigger is very very good.

That said, I sold all my Savages and now just shoot my Tikka T3X CTR 6.5 creed, and a CZ 527 7.62x39 bolt action. Neither are budget rifles, but instead of having 5 budget rifles, I finally decided to reduce my inventory and go with 2 upper tier rifles.

I've spent 2x or 3x as much on budget rifles over the years compared to just buying a quality rifle to begin with.
 
Have experienced the difference between High dollar and entry level. Hunt with Rem 700 MTN in 270 win and hide from the view of strangers my sig sauer 202 supreme take/down 3 barrel set.
The difference between the two I have? Sig 202:__{270_25-06_30-06 barrels} exterior finish_ action smoothness.
The Rem 700 MTN 270-win quality's? _ sturdy_trustworthy and shoulders like a baseball bat._ But both I guaranteed are very able to remove the wings of a Georgia Gnat at 100 yrds.
So my advice:
which ever path in buying you choose? Choose a rifle that fits your shoulder & lift and a sight plane down barrel: >requiring little adjustment of eyes or head.
 
"instead of having 5 budget rifles, I finally decided to reduce my inventory and go with 2 upper tier rifles."

Me too! I'm right in the middle of this transition. Nothing wrong with with volume, but I've hit a point if I have to pick between volume and quality because of budget restraints (and I do) I'm picking quality. I've sold three of my lower quality rifles to fund building a semi-custom hunting rifle.

I got to thinking about how much money I spent trying to find ammo that shot well in my rifle. I also would make small changes to see if the gun would shoot better (tune the trigger, free-flat the barrel, etc) and kept having to go back to the range to test them and some of them never got to a level I was happy with. I realized there wasn't much "budget" about them when figuring in the cost of ammo.

Now I go to the range because I want to enjoy the afternoon, not because I'm trying to figure out some kind of problem.
 
If you want a hunting rifle that's also a range gun the 270 and 06 fill the hunting bill fine but not so much the range side of it. There are a lot of 600 dollar rifles out there that will shoot deer moa but some of them will struggle with range 100 yard bullseye moa.

The Weatherby Vanguards will do it in both 270 and 06 but you won't last long shooting either of those at the range. You really need to be in a heavy barrel rifle if you're going to enjoy range shooting. To get that you're going to need to step up to the plate and throw some cash.

So as others have said, a good 30 Cal alternative is the .308 and a little softer shooting is the 7mm-08. I'm a Weatherby fan so I'm always going to recommend them first but I also have Sako's Tikka T3x and think it's a darn good rifle.
 
If you intend to hunt with your new rifle, save more and buy better quality. It's very easy to have a few grand and more tied up in a big game hunt. I wouldn't risk wasting money on a hunt with a rifle that's prone to malfunction.

I'd rather buy a good quality used rifle than a new rifle of dubious quality.
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Well all the low cost rifles shoot fine, so no you don't have to spend 3 grand for a reliable rifle.

Reliable and expensive are not in the same wheelhouse.

A $300 Axis is as reliable as a Blazer.
 
My savage shoots better than it has a right to. Well under 1/2 moa with a variety of bullets. All for $500. I have a tikka that is a much better rifle but cost 3x more.
 
Alot depends on your definition of "budget." For me, budget was $400 and under but don't know if you are in the same boat regarding funds.
 
If I were restricted to one rifle for all North American big game hunting, it'd be a Sako AV chambered for either .280 Rem or .30''06. I wouldn't need another rifle.

My advice is save enough to buy one excellent quality rifle.
 
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