Looking at the Remington 700 adl, Savage 111 and the Ruger American in 270 or 30-06. I will be hunting in Kentucky and don't foresee shooting over 150 yards. Would I be better served with a 12 gauge slug gun? Thanks.


Thanks for all the suggestions. I picked up a Tikka T3 in 270 Winchester and put a Nikon Prostaff scope on it, this should be plenty of rifle for me no more than I'll be hunting. Thanks again.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: techguy,

are you hunting in wooded areas?

quote:

Originally posted by Ronin101:
are you hunting in wooded areas?

Yes, at times I will be. Wooded areas and open fields.

So gun, chambering, & scope are the main questions? Do you reload? Will it be mostly stand/blind hunting?

I lean towards lighter, shorter rifles & do a combination of stand & 'still' hunting. The Browning X-Bolt 'Micro-hunter' in 243 or 7mm-08 is something I'd gravitate towards.

If you want to share duty & ammo with a SHTF rifle, a 308 will do. I would get a simple bolt gun, then a 2-7, 2.5-8, or 3-9 scope of at least mid level quality.

A 243 with a good big game bullet is plenty for deer, then you also have a coyote rifle.

I'd much rather a rifle than most any slug gun, especially past 75 yards.

quote:

Originally posted by sourdough44:
So gun, chambering, & scope are the main questions? Do you reload? Will it be mostly stand/blind hunting?

I lean towards lighter, shorter rifles & do a combination of stand & 'still' hunting. The Browning X-Bolt 'Micro-hunter' in 243 or 7mm-08 is something I'd gravitate towards.


If you want to share duty & ammo with a SHTF rifle, a 308 will do. I would get a simple bolt gun, then a 2-7, 2.5-8, or 3-9 scope of at least mid level quality.

A 243 with a good big game bullet is plenty for deer, then you also have a coyote rifle.

I'd much rather a rifle than most any slug gun, especially past 75 yards.

I'm open to any suggestions as I have no experience with deer hunting rifles but I was wanting to stay at around $500 for the rifle. It looks like the Browning x bolt is over $750 just for the rifle alone. I will be hunting from a stand. I do not reload. Thanks

The Browning A bolt fits your budget. I've seen them online for $500. Of the rifles you mentioned, I'd choose the Browning. They make an excellent hunting rifle. Caliber choice really doesn't matter. If it were my rifle, I'd probably get a .308 simply because it's a short action vs .270 and 30-06 being long action calibers.

I'd buy a used Ruger M77, personally. Old ones with the tang safety had good triggers but barrels were spotty in later years. MKII's are 3 position safety which I prefer, but triggers are bad. A Timney drop in is an upgrade you might want to make, although I just learned mine and stuck with it. It'll shoot 1.5" all day. The Hawkeye fixes both issues and is very nice.

All 3 are much better rifles than the American and I see them around 500, or with a scope for 700, all the time.

And no to the shotgun. I'd take just about any rifle over 6mm in dia than a shotgun.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: YellowJacket,

I don't think you'll be better served with a shotgun. I've been hunting 23 years and have been using a Remington 700 270. I like a 270. Its a nice flat shooting round and capable with pretty much all north american game. 308, 270 or 30-06 will all serve you well!! And when you do find yourself having to make a shot over 150 yards, you'll be able to with any of those calibers, but not a shotgun.

Browning A Bolt .308 with Nikon scope from Bud's for under $600...might be worth a look. A 150 grain .308 will be a good deer dropper...it always was for me ...

https://www.budsgunshop.com/ca...+NIKON+COMBO+308+WIN

I have a ruger m 77 tang safety 30.06 bought it new in 1978 hunted with it for deer elk and pronghorn great all around gun Have a leopold 3x9 gold ring scope.
I haven't hunted in 18 years or even shot it maybe I should get out and put a few rounds thru it. It has a walnut stock nothing fancy just clean nice looking lumber. that would be my choice if you can find one.

Any of those rifles you mentioned in either caliber would be great.

quote:

Looking at the Remington 700 adl, Savage 111 and the Ruger American in 270 or 30-06.

Yes.

we live in a veritable Golden Age of affordable hunting rifles. The above rifles all are good options, though, with Remington's issues of the past decade, it would be lower in my rankings.

CDNN has a deal on Savage 111's. This is a package deal with Bushnell Tropy 3-9x40 with DOA 600 reticle.

With the $100, it makes the price $349.99

https://www.cdnnsports.com/fir...E&price_sale=449,450

I can vouch for Savage's....great, very accurate rifles.

I'll second the 243 or 7-08 suggestion if Deer is your primary species. The 7-08 could even step it up if need be. I personally run a 6.5x55 but its not very common compared to 243, 3006, etc.

Of the rifles you listed the Savage would be at the top of my list. A few suggestions you havent mentioned would be Tikka and Howa, I would take either of those over the 3 on your list.

I bought a Savage 11/111 with the Nikon 3-9 BDC scope. I got it in 25.06

I bought it for my daughter to hunt with. I'd hunt with it if I go back up without the kids

I shot that out of the box, got it dialed in at 100 yards, then I switched to my Remington 700 XCR and now I want a new trigger for my 700 simply because I really liked the AccuTrigger on the Savage.

Ruger M77 30.06

I hunt deer with a savage Model 14 in 308 and it kills quickly and is an excellent rifle.

quote:

Originally posted by YellowJacket:
I'd buy a used Ruger M77

quote:

Originally posted by XLT:
I have a ruger m 77 tang safety 30.06

quote:

Originally posted by Mars_Attacks:
Ruger M77 30.06

Yep. A Ruger M77 in .30-06 would be my choice for one hunting rifle to do it all.

I shot a friends Ruger American in .308 the other weekend and boy that thing was rough. It had the clunkiest action I have ever experienced. The bolt handle would get stuck about 95% of the way up, you had to hammer it to get it the rest of the way up before the bolt could be opened. It also grouped horribly at 50 yards. I handed it back to my friend and suggested that he not spend any more time and money on it. I'm sure they are not all like that but I can't fathom how this one even made it out the door.


EuroOptic has some great closeout deals on several Tikka T3 rifles that meet your needs and price range. If I needed another hunting rifle in .243, .270 or .308 I would be picking one of these up in a heartbeat.

http://www.eurooptic.com/tikka...a318-with-rings.aspx

http://www.eurooptic.com/tikka...a315-with-rings.aspx

http://www.eurooptic.com/Tikka...ainless-270-Win.aspx

http://www.eurooptic.com/Tikka-T3-Lite-308-Win.aspx

http://www.eurooptic.com/Tikka-T3-Lite-270-Win.aspx

What size are the deer there? What other critters could you encounter?

There was not a year that my grandfather didn't get a deer. He lived in 4 different western states and basically got a deer on or close to opening day. Being poor, all he had a beat up 30-30 lever action with open sights that was close to 100 years old when he passed away. I don't think he owned a pair of binoculars either.

It always astounded me given how much some other folks I knew would spend on all kinds of hunting related things and still never get a sniff of a deer. I wish I'd learned to hunt from him.