First Rifle

4

4whln

New member
I am 14 years and am looking for my first rifle. I am looking for something that, when scoped, won't cost me over $1000. i doubt I'll be taking shots at over 200 yards, and would like the gun to be capable of bringing down a deer, but be small enough to go coyote hunting. Any suggestions?
 
From your description

I would recommend a good bolt action in .243 winchester caliber.

Now the rifles I have (and really like) are manufactured by Weatherby, Thompson Center (the Venture model) and a Winchester model 70. All of these should come in under your $1000 budget and shoot very accurately. I suggest the .243 win caliber because it has very little recoil and over the counter ammunition is readily available and fairly cheap.

Now, since the rifles set up with a less than $200 scope should leave you a few hundred dollars, I would also recommend you pickup a something in a nice .22 lr rifle. They are very cheap to shoot and should provide you with a lot of practice for deer hunting and give you a good rifle to hunt small game.
 
Welcome to the forum! I would recommend you take a look at a .243 or .25-06. Great cartridges. As far as the rifle goes, anything in the approx $600 range should work fine. I personnally would look at a Remington or Savage, but there are certainly other options. Spend about $300 on the scope, $50 on Leupold base and rings and $50 on 2 boxes of bullets to see which one your rifle likes better.

As you probably know, you won't be able to purchase your own rifle since you are only 14 (sorry to bring it up, but just incase..).
 
I know that about not being old enough, but I can get my dad to sign for it. I'm looking for something with a wood stock, so I know that will raise the price some. What scope would you reccomend for either of these guns?
 
The .308 is another consideration. It's extremely common. I'd look at Remington 700s, Ruger M77 (used), or the Weatherby Vanguard. The .308 has a great bullet selection. The .243 is another good one. Action length will be the same on both. As far as a scope goes, there's nothing wrong with the Weaver Classic K series. My buddy has vortex and pentax gameseekers and they both work very well. Those are in the neighborhood of 300 bucks and under. Assuming you get your rifle for 700 or less, you're good to go. I have no experience with the TC Venture, but they're nice looking rifles.
 
I will make a few recomendations. Please do not think I am trying to condecend you due to age. The recomendation I will make I would do so for any young person.

First I would recomend taking a hunters safty course. If you are going to hunt with the rifle you will have to take the class any way.

Next would be make sure both parrents are OK with it. (Keep dad out of hot water.) A good selling point in being able to get one would be having succesfuly compleeted the above mentioned class.

Now with that said. I would actualy recomed a starter rifle to build marksmanship if that is avialable. A good .22 lr would be good to start with. (economicly practical to buy, and cheap to shoot a whole lot. More proper practice makes for a better shot.)

It that is not practical then I would be in the .243 Win, or a used .30-30 (It works well on deer, it will drop a coyote if you hit it, though your distance would be limited. Ammo is readily available for both at just about any store that sells rifle ammo. (Though on a 14 year old's budget it is expensive even for the cheap stuff.)

A used .30-30 scoped should run under $600 at most pawn shops. A lot of guys have had nice .30-30's that they dropped good money into putting nice scopes on. That ended up broke with some kind of financial need that caused them to pawn said rifle. Then for some reason or other they were unable to afford to get back out. Hard luck for them. Good news for some one that wants a good rifle that will last a life time for a bargian price.
 
Mossberg 4x4 composite rifle in .243 Win is about $400

Burris Fullfield II 3-9x is about $200

Scope mounts and a soft case another $100

That leaves about $300 for ammo and practice. Save all the brass in their original boxes and ask for reloading equipment for next couple of Christmas and birthdays.

Then . . . welcome to the addiction! :D
 
I like the mossberg 4x4 in .270, and is the burris fullfield II a good scope? Is the 4.5-14x42 too big a scope for a .270?
 
The Remington 700 is a very good rifle all around, the ADL you can get for about $300-$400, and the .270 is a good caliber to start with. Or even a .243. And you'll need to look for an aftermarket scope because the ones Remington mounts at the factory are crap.
 
when I started hunting at the age of 13 I started out with a remington model 700 in .243 that I inherited from my father. I got both my first doe and my first buck with that rifle. you can get one for around $500 at any of your local sporting goods stores. a good scope that has served me well is the nikon prostaff 3-9x40. that scope usually runs around $120-150.

welcome to the forum and good luck hunting.
 
You can get a solid great shooting rifle with a scope for well under $1000. I would seriously consider getting a cheaper (but not cheap) rifle and leaving money for a .22. Nothing can be a .22 for actually being able to afford to practice you marksmenship skills.

And for the center fire I agree that a .243 or a .270 would be a great choice.
 
4whin,

Welcome to the forum! I bought my first deer rifle when I was around your age. Dad's 30-30 is what I used to deer hunt before I bought my own deer rifle. What is your rifle shooting experience? Hopefully, you have a .22LR that you have shot a lot to work on proper form. Have you been trained in the proper handling of a rifle? I ask this because most people have not been trained where they have hands on experience. We want you and others to be safe.

Don't pick out your scope until after you have purchased your deer rifle. You want to make sure the scope will work with the deer rifle you choose. Example - is the mounting area of the scope tube compatible with the distance between the front and rear scope base? With the scope mounted, is the objective lens in the proper placement for you? Does the eye relief work for you when the scope is mounted? Is there enough clearance for the bolt handle to clear the scope?

Here are a few things to consider when looking at scopes.

Warranty & Customer Service - I would choose a scope from a company that has a lifetime warranty. There are several manufactures that offer lifetime warranties, but the coverage varies. Some do not cover damage from the gun owner and some may or will cover this type of damage. Some are warrantied only for the original purchaser (would not be covered for a used purchase) and some are transferable for the current owner (if a person bought it used they should still have coverage). Also do a search for how well satisfied people are with the customer service of that company.

Clarity & Light Transmission - pick a scope that has clear optics and gathers light well for legal shooting times of early morning and almost quitting time. Fully multi-coated lenses will gather more light.

I suggest picking a scope that is shock, water and fog proof.

FOV (field of view) - This is an indicator of how much you will see when looking through the scope and is typically for 100 yards. The larger the FOV, the easier it will be to quickly find your target in the scope. A FOV of 35 ft at 100 yards means you will see 35 feet of area from left to right in the scope when the objects are 100 yards away from you. If you have a variable scope, there should be a FOV for the lowest power and a FOV for the highest power. IMO, the FOV for the lowest power is an important factor for a scope on a deer rifle as the larger FOV makes target acquisition quicker and easier. IMO, FOV is more important than the lowest power level of the scope - there are some scopes whose 3x setting has has a larger FOV than another scope with a power setting less than 3x. The FOV for scopes at 3x can vary widely from scope model to scope model.

Reticle (crosshairs) - Don't pick a scope that has a target reticle (thin crosshairs). I like a heavy reticle that has a small center area with thinner crosshairs. This gives me the heavy reticles for quick target acquisition and also thinner crosshairs at the very center for better precision when sighting in the scope. The Z-Plex (Reticle 20) is the type of recticle I prefer for deer hunting. There are other scope brands that have recticles similar to the Z-Plex.
http://www.zeiss.de/C1256BCF0020BE5F/Contents-Frame/4CE72FBC4859816A85256BCF00613D9E

Here is an informative page on Optics Planet regarding scope reticles.
http://www.opticsplanet.net/selecting-reticles.html

In no particular order, here are some brands that may have what you are looking for.

Redfield - still made in USA to my knowledge
http://www.opticsplanet.net/redfield-riflescopes.html

Bushnell
Elite http://www.opticsplanet.net/bushnell-elite-riflescopes.html
Trophy XLT http://www.opticsplanet.net/bushnell-trophy-xlt-riflescopes.html
Bone Collector http://www.opticsplanet.net/bushnel...0-doa-250-riflescope-with-5in-eye-relief.html
Banner http://www.opticsplanet.net/bushnell-banner-riflescopes.html

Burris http://www.opticsplanet.net/burris-rifle-scopes.html

Leupold http://www.opticsplanet.net/leupold-rifle-scopes.html

Zeiss http://www.opticsplanet.net/zeiss-rifle-scopes.html

Pentax http://www.opticsplanet.net/pentax-riflescopes.html

Vortex http://www.opticsplanet.net/vortex-riflescopes.html

Nikon http://www.opticsplanet.net/nikon-riflescopes.html
 
Is the 4.5-14x42 too big a scope for a .270?
Click to expand...

That is a great scope, I have one with the Ballistic Plex on my .30-06. I hunt out west with shots in the 300-400 yard range common. My only complaint is the reticule is a little thick for that long of a shot. For 200 or less it would be perfect. FFII in 3-9x would save you a little money and still be enough magnification for 200 yard shots.. that would also be a good option.

.270 is an excellent cartridge. Can take elk, so bigger than you need, but definitely not overkill for deer. It would really do a number on coyotes though.

You should be able to find a Howa 1500 with a pretty nice wood laminate stock for a good price. They are excellent rifles, but for some reason tend to fly under the radar. snipercentral.com builds a rifle package from their barreled action. Or look into Savages 114 series. They are notoriously accurate and have the wood stocks you are looking for.
 
as for the issues with the 700 accidentally firing. it is not something to really be worried about. for some of the older run guns(60s-early 80s) if you dropped the gun on its butt with a chambered round I think one in 10,000 would accidentally fire.

when I started my brother always taught me to never use the saftey but instead when I chamber a round to only drop the bolt knob enough to where it would not fly open but not enough for the bolt to lock in place. that way the firing pin is completely disengaged and it is physically impossible to accidentally fire and once you are ready to fire just completely close the bolt to lock the bolt in place and engage the firing pin...it takes some work to master dropping the bolt without making noise but it's much safer than any safety on the market...and the best safety is always pointing the barrel in a safe direction.
 
Got my first centerfire rifle at about age 8 and it was a Winchester 94 in 32 special - recoil and handling about same as 30-30 IMO. I "needed" a coyote gun and felt 22 LR inadequate. Shot that gun a lot of years and loved it - but, somehow in the zillion moves, I lost it.

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Guess I was in the minority but never took to bolt action and lever action is still my favorite action.
 
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