I am not a expert deer hunter. In fact I just returned to deer hunting this year after having not hunted since I was a teenager. I returned to deer hunting this year with my 10 year old son and we were hunting out of the same blind and sharing a rifle. My purchase was a Thompson Venture 25-06. I paid $460 I think for the rifle and $175 for the scope (Nikon Prostaff 3-9x40).
Me and my sons first season out together we both got a buck with the same rifle.
Being prior military and good old country boy growing up my only prior experience was a Marlin lever action 30-30 as a teenager and primarily a .223 (m16a2) while in the Marine Corps. For me and my boy's first hunt I wanted something with 1) long range capability, 2) low recoil, for him not me 3) minimal bullet drop over long distance thus requiring less scope adjuistments (easier for him).
The 25-06 fit that bill perfectly. I did my homework before purchasing my rifle by coming here and posting, also looking at ballistic charts, and reading lots of rifle reviews online and hands down if you criteria is the same as mine your not going to find a better rifle than the 25-06.
1) Are there rifles that have longer distance than the 25-06? Yes, but they either have more recoil or the bullet weights are too low and arent legal for deer in my state (anything under 55gr I believe for Oklahoma which means about anything under a .223).
2) Are there rifles that have less recoil than the 25-06. You bet, but are the bullet weights legal for your state? Most popular factory loaded ammo for the 25-06 comes in 85gr, 100gr, 115gr and 117gr and do they have longer range. Nope.
3) Is there a rifle with less bullet drop over long ranges. Guranteed there is but again do they meet the minimum bullet weights and do they have less recoil? The 85gr hornady rounds I used show to drop only 6 inches at 300 yards. I couldn't find anything that was less than this, "that also meet's the two prior criteria".
The only complaint my 10 year old had about our Thompson rifle was that it was loud as hell. He would only shoot it with ear plugs in. It didn't bother me but my hearing isn't the greatest anyways. Shooting this rifle is like a laser beam in terms of accuracy. One shot - One kill on his deer and the same for me. I would not pick another rifle If given the oppurtunity to repeat this year over again.
My only complaint for the 25-06 is the price of the ammo and finding it. I knew these issue going into the purchase so thats my own fault. Your best bet is to order it offline as it's cheaper and you have a better selection. You're most likely not gonna get good premium ammo from walmart or some other big box store (at least I couldn't here in Oklahoma)
Here's the post I put up, when I came here asking for advice on this same subject. Maybee it can save you some time researching:
http://www.huntingnet.com/forum/guns...le-advice.html
It's kind of funny though I came back here to today to ask advice on another new rifle. My son has pretty much claimed the 25-06 for next year and want's to hunt on his own stand so I'm gonna have to find myself a new rifle. I want maximum range and don't care about recoil so I'm looking at a couple different options. Gonna post my own thread on that shortly.