Any opinions on the budget bolt action rifles made by Ruger, Savage, Thompson Center and Winchester?

Just some comments. Rather than spending all the extra for a premium version, you'd probably be better off spending that cash on ammo and practice. At least in the past. Can't get ammo these days. OK, spend it on reloading stuff.

Rule #1: learn to shoot.

Used isn't always a bargain. Can't tell by looking, gotta put it on paper. New is probably a better selection than used. Someone sold the used one for a reason. If you don't know guns, take along someone that does. Be careful of their biases. With old guns, older is better! They have field experience. Nearly new guns were sold for a reason, maybe not a good one.

As much as I like quality stuff and "fancy" stuff, I'll tell you our most common way of taking a deer.

Come home from 12 hour shift, change your shirt, head out back to the woods in jeans and clean shirt, sit on a 5 gallon bucket against a tree or in a stand and wait for them to come to the food Plot or natural food source.

This means all you really needed was a 12 gauge, simple rifle, or bow.

Now this may not be feasible based off your terrain, baiting laws, gun laws in your area, but while 400 yard shots and $5k worth of equipment makes for good TV and talk, we've never not had deer meat growing up and back when I was in the states. This is with old Remington 870, Remington 770, etc.

Gonna sound like a broken record,but whatever works and you know how to shoot.

Shotgun and slugs

Shotgun barrel with rifled slugs or rifled barrel with sabots.

Get a Savage 110 in 308, 30-06, 270 or 7mm-08 and call it done. I know Savage has rifle/scope combos with Vortex scopes for around $600-$750.

Ditto for the Ruger American.

Both are great rifles on a budget.

A while back I bought a Savage 12FV from Cabela's for $250 and swapped in a Criterion 308 stainless featherweight barrel. The barrel was more expensive than the gun, but it was a 10-minute barrel swap and I got sub 1" groups out of it right away.

Topped it off with a Zeiss Conquest I had laying around and it's a solid hunting rifle.

I like Savage rifles because they're just so easy to customize with minimal tooling.

Tony.

Ruger, Savage, new or used can easily make the common <75 yard shot at a deer.

I’d be swinging through the used rack too, give some thought to chamberings.

I’m not a big Savage guy but couldn’t pass up an Axis at Walmart a few years ago, clearance for $194.

I have a Ruger American in 450 Bushmaster that is solid to 200 yards. I bought it for hunting in Ohio but use it here in FL as well. Inexpensive, accurate, deadly, and I can almost always find ammo. Hornady.

I have a Savage 110 in 30:06 I bought probably 15 years ago. It's my go to gun whenever I hunt here on the farm...which is every season. It's light, rugged, and exceptionally accurate. I've taken more than a few whitetails with it. I forget what I paid for it but I doubt it was more than 3 bills.

My dad has a Savage Axis (not Axis II) in 243 that is a surprisingly nice shooter.
He replaced the pretty horrible stock trigger with a Timney & it transformed the gun.

I think he has less in the whole pkg, trigger & scope included, than I have in just my Tikka T3x.

Marlin 336 could be a contender for a budget focused option, depending on intended max ranges.

I see a lot of them up here in Alaska and in my opinion the Ruger American is one of the better options. They are accurate out of the box and I think they actually feel pretty good in the hand.

+1. Absolutely agree

quote:

Originally posted by newmexican:
I see a lot of them up here in Alaska and in my opinion the Ruger American is one of the better options. They are accurate out of the box and I think they actually feel pretty good in the hand.

I have three of the Ruger American Predators, .223, 6.5 Creedmore and .308. For what they cost they are excellent rifles. All will shoot MOA or less and I've gotten quite a few groups that run 1/2 MOA out of all of them. Yes, I am impressed with them.

We have several regular Ruger American's. Just the plain old entry level model.
A .270 and a .243
They are great rifles for the money, you can't go wrong with a Ruger American.

For a good deer rifle on a budget the Savage 110 has been one of the best choices for a very long time and for the right reason. They’re good shooters.

I'll also vote Savage. And the nice thing about them is you have the ability to easily change barrels as well as good aftermarket support.

A Remington 788.

I have a Savage 7mm-08 bolt action that has dropped several deer in their tracks over the past few years, it's a great rifle.

I have a Ruger American Predator in the Magpul Hunter stock. Great rifle for the money.

I’m also going to add a less common option to the list: Howa 1500. Also a subMOA rifle and it has a better trigger than the Ruger.

I don’t own a Howa, but always heard good things about them.

https://www.eurooptic.com/Maus...n-Rifle-M18065C.aspx

Here’s an interesting choice, a tad different than the average Remchesteravage.

Check your local pawn stores. Sometimes there are real gems on the racks with nice optics already installed. You might get a higher quality rug at budget a price, especially if you’ve bought there before.