How does a newbie pick a deer gun?

[shawnhu]

I have very limited experience and have only really shot a few rifles one afternoon. I have a basic understanding of calibres at best and no experienced hunters to advise me.

I don't plan on deer hunting this year though I have been going through the motions of clearing stands on my Catskills property, cutting shooting lanes, putting up cameras and scouting just to get my head around what I will need to do for next year. I may let a bow hunter use my stands this year.

So, how does someone with no experience or mentors wade through the multitude of options? Gun shops are great, but they seem limited in what they have on hand and I don't want to get it wrong. Are there ranges that let you rent a wide variety of firearms?

Thanks.

If you're looking to shoot a few deer rifles before making a decision on purchasing, reach out to me and I'll try to let you shoot what I have. If you're lucky, I have a buddy that might also do the same.

I know how hard it is to get started.

[shawnhu]

anything from savage is great.. they are American made and on paper straight out the box I have it in 30-06 and I love it.... not too expensive also comes with Nikon bdc scope accu trigier depending on what combo you buy

I think most are made in Canada, but yes, still "American".

[chas0218]

On 9/12/2016 at 8:30 PM, 22Plinker said:

I am hardly an expert deer hunter, the last deer i took was just over 20 years ago when i would go out with my grandfather.  However, this year my son wanted to "upgrade" from small game to deer.  He specifically wants me to cook a venison roast

 

Anyway, to the point... He shoots a 30-06 Rueger American and I just picked up a Remington 783 chambered in .270.  Years ago i used one of my grandfathers .243s.  All of those will kill a dear just enough... not too much and not too little... just perfectly dead.

The Remington i got at Cabela's on sale for $299 with a $40 mail in rebate.  The scope is a generic 3-9x40 but you can't beat an entry level rifle for $260 plus tax!  and .270 ammo ranges from $14 per 20 rounds to $40 per 20 rounds.  30-06 you are going to average just over $1 per shot.  (good reason to get into reloading)

Those scopes are the Bushnell sportsman 3-9x40 one of bushnell's cheaper scopes but they work well on those guns. I have basically the same rifle 770 in .243 for my wife and have taken that rifle when walking and stalking because it is so light. The 770s were hit or miss you got a good one or a crap one. I don't know much about the 783 just know it was a take off the 770.

Edited September 16, 2016 by chas0218

[chas0218]

34 minutes ago, Rattler said:

That man should be fired from that position then.

I apologize if I am wrong just what a factory rep told me. I figured they would know best. My father and I just looked at each other with that Holy $H** face when he threw out the numbers.

Edited September 16, 2016 by chas0218

[bugsNbows]

3 hours ago, Rattler said:

A bullet that goes 100 fps faster than another isn't going to be any worse for the barrel than the former one is.  A 100 fps difference is a minuscule amount when talking about muzzle velocities exceeding 3000 fps.

Besides, this thread was about a rifle for a newbie.  The .257 Wby and .26 Nosler, as well as any other "exotic" round rifle, would not be a good one to recommend to any newbie.  A novice is best served by an all around rifle, in an all around chambering, where ammo is practical for the expected applications, easily available and not expensive.  These other exotic rounds are specialty rounds for the hunter that requires specialized tools, for a specific type of hunting.  The novice may move on to such exotic rounds and rifles later on, but in the beginning they are best served by standard versatility. 

Very well stated. Concur 100%.

[22Plinker]

6 hours ago, chas0218 said:

Those scopes are the Bushnell sportsman 3-9x40 one of bushnell's cheaper scopes but they work well on those guns. I have basically the same rifle 770 in .243 for my wife and have taken that rifle when walking and stalking because it is so light. The 770s were hit or miss you got a good one or a crap one. I don't know much about the 783 just know it was a take off the 770.

The scope on my 783 looks just like the Bushnell on my sons Ruger but it doesn't have any corporate stamp on it.

Edited September 16, 2016 by 22Plinker

[chas0218]

Check on the eye piece usually it's etched into it. My wife's 770 looks like below. Also that scope looks identical to my wife's.

Bushnell
Sportsman
3-9x40

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[Jaeger]

WoW!  That's a ton of information since I last posted!

A brief scan leads me to believe (3pages a lot to read) that you are a leftie, yes?

12 guages are good and the older wingmasters are great but slugs can kick hard, more of a shove but still in the 30-06 feel class.

Tikkas are excellent values for the money, built by the same co. that makes Sako's and are extreemly accurate out of the box, I have two - a .308 compact lite and a .204 stainless lite.

Be careful with choosing a synthetic stock, the kick thing again, as they can make the gun on the light side.

My Tikka .308 Lite compact with it's 20" bbl weighs about 6 1/4 lbs and around 6 3/4 with a simple 2-7 x 33 scope.  It kicks.  Somewhat surprisingly hard. Relatively hard for what you would expect.  Only gun I almost got a crescent moon eye from.  A fantastic woods gun, but I would not recommend it for beginners at all. 

[NFA-ADK]

These are the popular rounds many will recommend and any of these rounds will work for deer.

270, 30-30, 30-06, 35, 308.  Nice thing about these rounds is you can probably get ammo at any location for these guns as they are so popular.  If you are hunting primarily woody area I would recommend the 30-30 or 35 if you might have shots past 100 yards I would go with the flatter 308 in bolt action or a 30-06 or 270.  All great rounds that have taken a lot of deer.

Now I think it's time to get the 44 Mag ready for the rifle range think the 30-30 need some bench time too!  I will save the 30-06 for colder weather so I can protect my shoulder with a little more padding.

[Jaeger]

On 9/18/2016 at 9:36 AM, NFA-ADK said:

These are the popular rounds many will recommend and any of these rounds will work for deer.

270, 30-30, 30-06, 35, 308.  Nice thing about these rounds is you can probably get ammo at any location for these guns as they are so popular.  If you are hunting primarily woody area I would recommend the 30-30 or 35 if you might have shots past 100 yards I would go with the flatter 308 in bolt action or a 30-06 or 270.  All great rounds that have taken a lot of deer.

Now I think it's time to get the 44 Mag ready for the rifle range think the 30-30 need some bench time too!  I will save the 30-06 for colder weather so I can protect my shoulder with a little more padding.

Raised a very good issue in choosing a gun.  Padding, it can greatly effect the length of pull and your ability to see through the scope.  Either get a shorter length of pull than you need in summer and add a pad or mount the scope farther back and use a pad during the summer.

Get the scope mounted with the clothes you will be wearing.  If not, the eye relief may be too short and you will not be able to see and shoot that huge buck come dead of winter with multiple layers of clothes on!  

Speaking from a hard lesson learned!!

[left field]

Thanks for all the continued advice.

Jaeger, thanks for the clothing tip, but my camp is clothing optional so I'll just hunt in the nude.

[JimR]

Another leftie here, I have and love a Ithaca model 37 in 12 ga it bottom ejects, also have owned a Marlin 336 in 30-30, also bottom eject.  Both of these are fine for deer and accommodate the left hand shooter. I do wish, after some further research I had bought the Marlin in 35 cal rather than 30-30, I liked the ballistics better.

 

[Pygmy]

23 minutes ago, JimR said:

Another leftie here, I have and love a Ithaca model 37 in 12 ga it bottom ejects, also have owned a Marlin 336 in 30-30, also bottom eject.  Both of these are fine for deer and accommodate the left hand shooter. I do wish, after some further research I had bought the Marlin in 35 cal rather than 30-30, I liked the ballistics better.

Jim...I was not aware that a bottom eject lever action rifle existed...All Marlin 336s I have seen were side ejection.

Perhaps I can learn something today...<<grin>>....

 

[JimR]

Indeed Pygmy, you have learned that my memory is failing ! Sorry to the OP for the bum steer.

As an aside I have just recently stumbled across this website selling left handed firearms.

http://lefthandedgun.com/index.html

Edited September 20, 2016 by JimR
addition

[Pygmy]

No problem, my friend... I have trouble remembering what I had for breakfast this morning....<<smile>>...