Can I ask for some friendly advice? I mean I am a newbie (no wait - I'm a &quot;wannabe&quot;... I'm going to take the Hunter Education course next week for the first time). I have never gone hunting (yet), but have respect towards hunters and hunting in general. In other words, you guys rock! <img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle>

You see, currently I own these firearms:

Marlin Model 60 .22 rifle
Remington 870 12GA shotgun (lefty model)
Taurus 85, 38 special snubnose (arriving at dealer next week).

Yesterday, I was up at Green Top Sporting Goods looking around at holsters for the soon to arrive 38 special and so on. Anyway, I came across the ultimate rifle that seemed to fit me like a glove. It was a Remington 700, with a huge Bushnell scope on it. The amazing thing was it was a Lefty model too! But when I saw the price tag of $750.00 I had to put it back down and now have to figure out how to tell my wife that I want it.

My main questions (put yourself in my shoes for a second....)

Would you go hunting with a Marlin .22?
Can you successfully hunt deer with the Remington 870 12GA and use 00 Buck?
Would the Remington 700 be a great choice for a first deer rifle (seeing how I'm a lefty)?

Thanks....

Butch

The .22 is a good choise for squirrel, rabbits and the occational fox (on short range shots). I use to trap along with my hunting and use the 22 rimfire to dispach all my traped game.

The 12 gauge shotgun is one of the best hunting tools created by man. I use mine for everything from squirrel to deer. My recomendation as far as deer is concerned, would be a 2 3/4&quot; slug instead of buck shot.

The Remington 700 is a great rifle....if the one you loked at is a good der gun depends on the caliber.....I would like to say that everything from .243 and up will do the job (althoug some would disagree)...as for all hunting the shot placement usually is of more importance than the caliber of the gun.

God luck with your hunting. Wichever gun you choose to Use ...see to it that you spend enough time at the range to put your bullets where you want them.

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Everythig so far is good advice except for that &quot;huge Bushnell scope&quot;. For deer hunting you will want something around a 3 or 4 power, especially in the woods.

ButchA, I was stationed at Ft. Lee over 30 years ago, and when you mentioned Green Top Sporting Goods, it brought back memories!! Glad to hear they are still in business. In hunting deer, the worst failures I have ever seen were when shotguns were used, and buckshot is the worst!! There is a reason buckshot is illegal for deer hunting almost everywhere. Foster-type slugs are not much better. But, if hunting where you have to use a shotgun, use slugs whenever possible. For your 870, I suggest you get a RIFLED barrel for it, one that has the scope mount base made integral with the barrel. Put a good 2.5X, 3X, or 4X scope on it. Then use the new Winchester PARTITION GOLD slugs!! These are much better than regular slugs, and turn your shotgun into a powerful, accurate, large-bore rifle, that will really do a job on deer. Later, when you can afford it, get the rifle you like, if you still think you need one in addition to the rifled-bore 870!! Good luck!!

Larry

I have to agree about the 00 buckshot. I was so excited to use 00 on sika deer on the eastern shore in MD. I am lucky I had a pumkin ball for my third round in my shotgun that day or I wouldn't have dragged out a 6 point sika. The shot was 40 yards away and the deer was relaxed just walking thru. The 00 did knock him down but he quickly got up. The second shot didn't phase him, but the slug put him down. Never again 00's. While butchering him, I noticed the 00Shot didn't penetrate more than 1&quot; in most places.

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The 700 is a great choice. The 700 is a good action very acurate. I just bought a browning a-boltII 25-06 and I'm very pleased with it. The caliber and size of the scope has alot to do with where you are hunting. If you plan to hunt anywhere you might take a long shot 100yds and up than I would go with a large scope and a long range rifle and dependig on the amount of recoil you can handle would determine the size of the caliber. And as far as the buckshot or slugs go if you plan to shoot 40yds or over you better leave them at home. And as for your wife goes just buy the gun she will quit fussing after awhile it will be worth it.

Thanks everyone for the advice.... I always thought 00 buck was some lethal stuff. I guess not. I don't have a slug barrel for my 870.
Anyway, yeah that Remington 700 was a 30 caliber (I think it had 300 stamped on the barrel). It was real nice and felt right in my hands. You don't come across too many lefty rifles. My Remington 870 is a lefty model (I don't know if they make the slug barrel in a lefty style).
Oh one last thing that's kinda cool... Man the power of a newsgroup forum (Hunting BBS) is awesome. Talk about small worlds! Thanks to XX Mag, I found a hunter right up the road from me. This tripped me out... He emailed me asking about Richmond, VA and so on since he moved here. The dude lives right near the end of my street!! LOL!

Butch

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