Best Bang for your Buck

seeth07 said:
I can't say for this exact moment but back in February I just bought my dad a gun with a scope on it for 250. Do prices vary state by state maybe?
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Yeah pre-covid and civil unrest craziness prices were magnitudes cheaper for all guns...
 
Different angle for your buddy, gun shows! There are a lot more common on east coast and am sure WV has them. When i was stationed in VA i would find amazing steals on rifles just had to have cash and bring your own bore light. I picked up used 336 made in 1982 in 35 rem for $185 cause stock had some dings(character) and surface rust. Rust came off very easy and little oil on stock and gun looks great. I can make 3 holes touch with open sights at 50 yards on good day with leverloution ammo. Point is doesnt need to be new gun and scopes are not a necessity in WV, atleast where i have been.
 
ccc23454 said:
Different angle for your buddy, gun shows! There are a lot more common on east coast and am sure WV has them. When i was stationed in VA i would find amazing steals on rifles just had to have cash and bring your own bore light. I picked up used 336 made in 1982 in 35 rem for $185 cause stock had some dings(character) and surface rust. Rust came off very easy and little oil on stock and gun looks great. I can make 3 holes touch with open sights at 50 yards on good day with leverloution ammo. Point is doesnt need to be new gun and scopes are not a necessity in WV, atleast where i have been.
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No doubt used guns can be hidden gems, but new to hunting first time hunting rifle buyers may not be well served by trying to separate the bargain from the trash.
 
I agree with going to the used rack. My personal go-to for a used classic all-around would be a Rem 700 BDL 30-06. For a scope, a 1-4, ~1-8, straight 4...depends on definition of “budget”. BDLs are factory equipped with iron sights so you could skip a scope all together.
 
Rem. 783 or Savage Axis on the best deal you can find, with or without scope. Then throw a $200 Vortex Diamondback 4-12 scope on there. You might up spending less than $500 and have a tack driver out to several hundred yards. Man, I bought a Savage Axis 243 with the weaver scope in youth size for my kids as they grow during black Friday and that thing flat out shoots. I think it was $200 after rebates. I won't be fussing with it at all for several years.
 
ajricketts said:
Rem. 783 or Savage Axis on the best deal you can find, with or without scope. Then throw a $200 Vortex Diamondback 4-12 scope on there. You might up spending less than $500 and have a tack driver out to several hundred yards. Man, I bought a Savage Axis 243 with the weaver scope in youth size for my kids as they grow during black Friday and that thing flat out shoots. I think it was $200 after rebates. I won't be fussing with it at all for several years.
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A quick search on Google found a Savage Axis in 7mm-08 for $270. That's what I would tell him to get. It will work fine and is cheap. Put a reasonable scope on it and you'll be able to kill any deer in West Virginia. Or substitute any of the other calibers they're offered in above 243.
 
Last year on black Friday sales i saw Thomson centers for 199.99 . it don't get no cheaper than that. Savage axis or he can really spurge and move up to the 400.00 ruger American 👍
 
A friend of mine is upgrading from his savage axis and offered it to me for $200. Probably less than 2 boxes shot through it, just a big box scope package. I passed the other day, but y’all are making me rethink that choice 🤔 I don’t need it but could always have another truck gun I guess.
 
VikingsGuy said:
The two links below will get you started in the right direction from a bolt action perspective and cartridge selection - these will work in the WV woods and in the west if he every tries that. If he is only doing whitetail in the woods I would go with a Marlin 336 lever action in 30-30Win.
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Although I had a 300yd shot on public land in KY last year, so maybe 30-30 is inadequate for that type of shot. I've noticed that people really love their used Marlin 336, even the Remington ones so it may not be as cheap as off the shelf bolt actions.

I bought a T/C compass in 6.5 CM that was dirt cheap, and you can tell but with rings and Nikon scope it was ~350. Shoots well enough for any eastern hunting and most western hunting for that matter.
 
asdew1880 said:
Although I had a 300yd shot on public land in KY last year, so maybe 30-30 is inadequate for that type of shot.
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From a ballistics standpoint 30-30 was generally a 200 yard cartridge, but with the "LeveRevolution" ammo by Hornady, probably more like a 250 yard rifle with a scope. In the woods of MN mine never shot an animal past about 70 yards.
 
VikingsGuy said:
From a ballistics standpoint 30-30 was generally a 200 yard cartridge, but with the "LeveRevolution" ammo by Hornady, probably more like a 250 yard rifle with a scope. In the woods of MN mine never shot an animal past about 70 yards.
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What part of MN? When I hunted with family around Pierz, there were beaver ponds that made shots ~300yds so everyone was using .30-06 or .270. It is hard to beat the class of a lever action though.
 
Shoot, find a rifle you can afford and like to feel of and get it. The actual difference's in rifle's don't amount to a hill of beans. I happen to like older Remington's but the last two new rifles I bought were Mossberg Patriot's, darn nice rifles and inexpensive. Don't worry about getting a more expensive scope. For the most part that has always seemed to me to be more about ego than anything else. Been Hunting over 60 years now and have seen few POS scope's. Shoot I've even had a few Tasco's and with one exception they worked fine. People make buying a scope sound like a search for laboratory equipment. It's hard to buy a bad scope if you stick to name brands. Guy's looking for a hunting rifle, how hard can that be?
 
I can comment only about the Remington 783, but I don't care for the trigger that comes with it, mostly because I'm used to Jewells or tuned factory triggers like are on the 700.
 
asdew1880 said:
What part of MN? When I hunted with family around Pierz, there were beaver ponds that made shots ~300yds so everyone was using .30-06 or .270. It is hard to beat the class of a lever action though.
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North shore woods, few clearings. But of course, there are exceptions and a lot of guys used 30-06, .308 and .270 bolt actions - I just like my 336.
 
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