Looking to pick up a bolt action hunting rifle. Mainly for deer hunting, looking at 7mm08 or 270. Looking for a few options and would like your reasons, TIA!
I'm not going to recommend a particular brand of rifle, because there are quite many in bolt action that cover the price range of inexpensive to open your wallet much wider!
Personally, I'd recommend the 7mm-08 over the 270, and I do own and have deer hunted with both in the past. In most deer hunting, the 7mm-08 will perform just as well as the 270, with much less felt recoil, and the 270 only has a slight advantage at some more extreme ranges. IMO, the 7mm-08 is just a more efficient cartridge. If you reload, there are way more projectiles in 7mm than in 270, and it takes much less powder charges to achieve the same ballistics results for most hunting applications, with much less recoil, making the rifle much more pleasant to shoot.
Savage Arms 57369: Savage Arms Axis bolt-action centerfire rifle blends affordability with unflinching performance and impressive accuracy. It sports a modern design that includes sleek contours, recoil pad vents and a textured, easy-to-control grip. It's drilled and tapped for scope mounts and...
In this 7mm-08 Rem vs .308 Win cartridge comparison, we are going to examine two cartridges that behave very similar in the ballistics category.
www.snipercountry.com
these are so close, with the edge on power marginally going to the .308, and .308 is generally about half the price of 7mm08 if i remember correctly, and is definitely more available. both perfectly adequate deer cartridges though.
plus you can run .32 acp in the .308 rifle for small game/pests.
Either one should be available in most places. Or at least before all this nonsense with ammo shortages. But these are rifle calibers, and not 223 or 5.56, so maybe they are still available.
Both are good choices and both can take down a deer and even up to and including Elk. I would make sure that you can get the ammo or if you reload the necessary components. Myself I prefer the 7mm-08, no good reason, I just do. As stated by others there are a lot of choices out there and it comes down to the amount of $$ you want to spend. And then you will spend almost as much fo rthe optics. I have a Ruger American, but you can get one from Savage, Tika, Thompson Center and the list goes on.
Remington is in bankruptcy, and though they will probably survive, I think it's a consideration when purchasing from them. Plus, their older 700 rifles had serious issues with the safety (which only applies if you're buying a used rifle). I'm fond of the Winchester Model 70, but Ruger and Savage both make excellent rifles. As an earlier poster pointed out, Savage is super competitively priced. If recoil is an issue, keep in mind that the heavier the rifle, the more it will absorb the recoil. For a while it's been very popular to use lightweight rifles - even in magnum calibers. Yes, they're easy to carry, but you pay for that every time you touch the trigger. I ran into a couple that was complaining about the recoil on a .270, which I consider to be very average. But it was a synthetic stock, light barrel rifle, and it put all the recoil into their shoulders.
For a budget rifle Id go with a savage axis and not be disappointed. For a better quality gun, I would go with a Bergara or Weatherby. I have had very bad luck with Ruger Americans so I cannot recommend them to anyone
I think the 7mm-08 is a great cartridge and would probably pick it over the 270. Also if you dont reload, you usually will have no problem buying 7mm during a panic buy at most stores. I would say it is a bit more obscure than 270
there are actually a lot of different rounds you can jam into a .308 or 30-06.
you can find these cheaper, i think i got a few on fleabay for less than 7 bucks, i jsut had to sand the base down a bit on them a bit as they were a few thousandths to long. turns that relativley short ruger american into a real handy little pest controller, and not as loud as a full on rifle shot.
<p>Bergara's B-14 Hunter Rifle is ideal for serious big-game hunters. It has a 4140 CrMo steel barrel, which features a matte blued finish, and is drilled and tapped. The molded synthetic stock is made of glass fiber reinforced polymer with bedded integral pillars for stability and enhanced...
My experience reloading the 7mm-08 actually pushed me away from the cartridge. My rifle was a cheap Stevens lightweight and it kicked worse than my 280 Remington. Lightweights always sound good but they are no fun at the range.
My hangup with the 7mm-08 was that I couldn't reproduce factory velocities without blowing out primers. Tried several powders. Heck, even Hornady superformance blew out primers. Seemed like they were trying to get too much out of the cartridge.
My tried and true hunting rifle is a Ruger M77 mkii chambered in 280 Remington. I bet you can still find 280 ammo out there. Anyhow if I was starting over and didn't reload I'd buy a Tikka or howa in your choice of caliber.