Whitetail Deer HuntingGain a better understanding of the World's most popular big game animal and the techniques that will help you become a better deer hunter.
I am a big dove hunter here in south texas, and am trying to get into deer hunting this season. What would be a good gun to buy for under $500, and what caliber? I've hear alot about the remington 700, and am considering it. I'd like to use it for hogs and varmint too.
For under $500 you can't beat a Savage, they are affordable and accurate, not much to look at but they will definitely get you in the game. As for caliber, if you want to have a rifle that will kill deer and hogs and not completely evaporate varmints then .243 would be a good choice. If you want to evaporate varmints then go with .308, .270, 30-06, the options are limitless.
Id go out and handle the rifles that are in range of what you are looking to spend and go from there. There are tons of options if you go for a used one too.
Depends on what I was wanting from the rifle. If I wanted a good synthetic stock hunting rifle that was accurate and would take some abuse without me worrying about screwing it up, then yes I would go Savage. If I wanted a nice wooden stock rifle that I could pass down to the kids I would go for the Remington. The Savages are alot more respectable than they were 20 years ago, the new accutrigger is a good trigger and they are just as accurate out of the box as all of the more expensive brands. If you ended up going with Savage, stay away from the package models with the scope included, the scopes and rings are not good quality.
With the limit of $500 you can get a nice rifle (a wood stock Rem will be higher), but you don't have anything left to get a scope. Allow at least $270 for a Bushnell 4200 Elite and another $50 or so for rings and bases.
Either a Remington ADL or a Ruger in .243 or 7mm-08....
Reason to buy a Remington...The factory trigger is easily adjustable down to
2 1/2 to 3 pounds...This is a big advantage for good accuracy...The Remington 700 is known for excellent accuracy...
Reason to buy a Ruger...You get a clean barrel (no sights)...You get Ruger rings that have bases that dovetail into the action, these are the strongest setup in the industry...Advantage, you can check your screws that attach the scope to the rifle any time, on other systems you have to take the rings off to check the bases...If you buy a Ruger, look at the new Hawkeye, I understand its trigger is easily adjustable...
Remington 700 action is the strongest most accurate action out of the box. It is milled from a solid piece of steel. The safety is rock solid. The barrels are arguably second to none for accuracy and squareness to the bolt face.
A Ruger action is an investment cast action. Ruger pays about 18 dollars per barrel for their guns from another manufacturer. I have had some rugers that drive tacks and others that were terribly unpredictable, despite exhausting efforts to find good loads. I have no rugers anymore. It's Remingtons or Weatherby. Although those savage 110 series are very good guns for the money. I have seen several of them print sub minute of angle groups with several different typew of ammo.
good deer rifle to buy
