Need some help from experienced hunters please
 

I'm new to the sport, I actually haven't hunted in years and just recently finished school so now that i have time I'm looking to get back into it. Anyway I'm looking to buy a rifle but am somewhat confused as to my choices. I'm not willing to buy a .22 because I want a gun I can use for many years to come on large game as well as small. So I've decieded (although not withoout any doubts) on a 30-06 winchester x rifle autoloader. Now first off I'm aware the reliablity of autoloaders is questionable so I'd like to know if I'd have good reason to worry about that gun jamming constantly. Secondly I've read the 30-06 has a wide variety of ammuntion thats good for everything from small to big game ( one of the main reasons I'm interested in this calibre) however I 'd like to know the different grains available and which are best for each species. I'm talking everything from bears (for defence, grizzlys are common where i plan to hunt) to deer to rabbits. If anything here dosent make sense i apologize, im a begginer, please bear with me and I'd really appreciate any help.

RE: Need some help from experienced hunters please
 

You need to ask yourself a basic question. What is your primary game animal and what conditions will you be hunting.

If you want one rifle that does it all from Grizzly to rabbits, you'll be dissappointed. It doesn't exist.

IMO the only thing that comes close is a 12ga., bird shot to slugs, it can do it all within itsrange limitations.

The best basic gun battery is a 30-06, 22LR and a 12gauge.

RE: Need some help from experienced hunters please
 

+1 Popeye's comments. A 12 ga. shotgun comes closest to your needs. I'd not feel all that comfortable with an '06 for grizzly. A .338 Win Mag is the lowest IMO. I would also not do the autoloader thing. I prefer either a bolt action rifle or a pump action shotgun. Good luck.

old
 

removed by RD

RE: Need some help from experienced hunters please
 

As others have said you can pretty much forget finding one riflethat will do everything. Any rifle cartridge that would be consistently reliable in stopping a grizzly charge would be ridiculous overkill on rabbit sized game. And any cartridge that wouldn't explode a rabbit like a watermelon would be way too small and underpowered for Grizzly.

As stated above the one gun that would come the closest to letting you hunt all game in at least some fashion would be a 12 gauge shotgun. Bird shot for dove, quail etc, 6's for rabbit and squirrel, 4's, 5's or 6's for turkey, 4's, 2's or BB shot for ducks and geese, and slugs for all the medium to large 4 legged animals. But a smoothbore shotgun will only fire a rifled slug accurately out to a pretty short range and because of that I would not want it to be my only hunting gun. But ifI had tostay in the woods and live off what I killed with only one gun for a year then yeah, a 12 gauge with a variety of shells would be my choice.

The 30-06 is a fine choice for a good all around cartridge.I wouldn't want to use it as a small varmit caliber for things like prairie dogs (too much recoil) but from coyotes up to moose and elk it would be fine. Probably more bullet choices out there for it than any other cartridge. That said however, a good well constructed 165 grain bullet that your particular rifle grouped well would be all you needed to cover the whole range of animals I just mentioned.

As for rifle type? Me personally I'd rather have a bolt action. Semi-autos do offer a quicker second shot but a lot of them, particularlythe cheaper ones,do suffer from jamming problems if you aren't pretty meticulous about keeping them clean. Some still jam even if you are. The BARsemi-auto made by Browning has been the most trouble free of any that I have had dealings with. On the other hand bolt actionsrarelyhave any feeding problemsand they are also typically more accurate. You don't have to spend a lot of money to get an accurate and reliable bolt action either. Savage makes some good ones at a very economical price. That would leave you with more money to buy a good scope whichI consider as important if not more so than the gun itself.

Good luck, and keep us posted with what you choose.

RE: Need some help from experienced hunters please
 

You can ge a wide range of bullets to suit your needs... maybe not the rabit needs. :P

Go to Hornady.com and check out their bullets, (.308 cal.)
You can use a 110 grain varmint bullet, (coyote,) on up to a 220 grain bullet for grizzly. I like their 208 grain A-Max the best. I would think that would take a grizzly down, just shoot straight and know where to shoot.

RE: Need some help from experienced hunters please
 

I'm with popeye on this one.Buy a 12 ga.,.22, and a 30'06.and you should be able to hunt just about anything.I know nothing about bear,elk,or moose(just a few Honey bears that are protected in MS),but those three should get you by during hunting season.

RE: Need some help from experienced hunters please
 

well my name says it all as to my preference. However the cabinet has 06's, and a 338 and a host of others, mostly bolt. Had a BAR traded it on a ruger M77, got tired of malfunctions...always something stupid causing them. Bolt action is the way to go for sure. Cant go wrong with 06. A friend of mine used to assist a guide for Grizzly bear hunts in BC, he shot backup if needed. Used a bolt action 06 with 220 grain round nose hornady ammo. Never failed, some at very close range. We also hunted coastal blacktails with the 125 grain rounds, also with devastating results, mule deer, moose, and elk usually with 180 or 165's....smallest critter Ihave shot with 06...coyotes

RE: Need some help from experienced hunters please
 

You will be hard pressed to find a more versitile chambering than the 30-06. But you may wish to consider a pump or bolt action over your autoloader choice. Some states do not allow autoloading rifles and should you desire to go to one of these to hunt you will be SOL. If I were you I would purchase a Savage or Stevens bolt action '06 and a reliable relatively inexpensive 12 ga pump shotgun like a Mossberg 500 or Remington 870 Express. Hunting rabbits with a 30-06 will surely raise some eyebrows and possibly question your sanity and the local wildlife officers may pose you a few questions. The .22LR can wait til later.

RE: Need some help from experienced hunters please
 

One thing I would like to add is that a .22 rifle should not be overlooked. Sure you will still be shooting a much larger rifle for hunting, but the value of the .22 rifle comes in cheap and plentiful target shooting which keeps your eyes sharp.

Something to think about, especially with today's ammo prices.

RE: Need some help from experienced hunters please
 

30-06 is a great round and you won't be sorry
but a 12 gauge with a smooth and rifled barrel will give you the most bang for your buck
i hunt with a rifled 12 back home in new york and sabots these days are good out to 200 yrds in a 12g with a scope
no joke

RE: Need some help from experienced hunters please
 

If you're looking for a PRACTICAL one-gun-for-everything deal, then you're only real choice is a 12 gauge shotgun. Of course, this choice has drawbacks too, but a shotgun offers the flexibility to be at least adequate for any game animal within it's limitations due to the variety of shells from light birdshot to heavy monolithic slugs.

If you've got your heart set on a rifle, I'm afraid you're just not going to find a one-size-fits-all solution. A lot of people have suggested and you've considered the .30-06 Springfield, and for big, non-dangerous game it's a great choice. The problem lies in that it's WAY too much for any small game. Pests and varmints it'll do fine, but if you're hunting small GAME animals like rabbits and squirrels, it's EXTREME overkill. I body hit on a rabbit will leave little to no usable meat, so there's not point in shooting them with a .30-06 (or really ANY centerfire rifle, for that matter) unless it's purely for pest control. If you're serious about small game hunting, you're DEFINITELY going to want to forego a CF rifle for a rimfire or shotgun.

If you're primarily focused on big game hunting of animal that won't typically try to kill you back, the .30-06 is an excellent choice.

You also mentioned that you'd like something for hunting, or at least self-defense against, the great bears (like the grizzly). Now, while the .30-06 is certainly better than nothing in a pinch, I sure wouldn't be going out LOOKING for a brown bear with a .30-06 in hand. Even if a close encounter with such a bear were likely I'd want to be packing more firepower than an -06. For that I'd recommend looking at maybe a lever-action big bore like a .45-70, .444 Marlin or .450 Marlin. All three pack plenty of wallop to stop a charging bear, they are guaranteed to make at least a .45 cal hole, and a hard cast lead or copper monolithic bullet will penetrate much better then any .308 cal bullet. Such a rifle would also make an excellent rifle for all N. American big game within the somewhat more limited practical ranges associated with big slow bullets, and again it'd be major overkill for small game.

So my suggestion would be to either consider a big-bore CF rifle for all big/dangerous game, and a rimfire or shotgun for small game use, or go with the .30-06 (and I would NOT go with an auto-loader if my life might depend on reliable operation in extreme conditions, BTW) and the said shotgun/rimfire and use heavy, stoutly constructed bullets that will penetrate well like Barnes, and make darn sure you can hit a charging right where it needs to be hit to stop it.

Mike