The Ruger American is the best deer hunting rifle you can buy on a slim budget. And, again, the user becomes accustomed to it … To help with this, the hammer is grooved to accept an extension. Be warned, though; at 11 pounds, this isn’t a brush gun. First off, we decided to limit ourselves to the most common deer hunting calibers: .30-06, .308, .300 Winchester Magnum, 6.5 Creedmoor, and .30-30 Winchester. If you’re looking for a type of long-range hunting rifle that doubles as a target rifle, the Model 12 fits the bill. The traditional rifle was a Winchester Model 70 in 30-06. It weighs only 7 pounds. Dominic Griffith debates the merits and drawbacks of the various shooting aids on the market. Like any serious sport, deer hunting makes a number of demands on its adherents. The Ruger Precision Rifle isn’t for deep-woods hunting. Once calibre is decided a hunter then needs to select the best performing projectile from the wide variety available in the calibre range. Our only real disappointment was the aluminum magazine, which is surprising on an otherwise excellent rifle. Screw an optical sight into the pre-drilled holes, and you’ve got yourself a rifle that can’t miss. It’s not a huge deal, but composite is harder to bend, which means composite magazines last longer. If you’re looking for a wood-stocked rifle that doesn’t cost a fortune, the Mossberg Patriot Rifle is an excellent, accurate choice. The rifle is chambered in .308 Winchester, and ships with a removable 10-round magazine. The .308 Winchester was developed in 1952, and is the commercial cartridge on which the current NATO cartridge is based. This rifle has a beautiful walnut stock, with stippling on the fore grip for a better grip. Athlon Optics Argos BTR Rifle Scope 6-24x; 1.4.5 The Final Verdict; 1.4.6 4. © 2019 -2020Outdoorworld.reviews - Reliable Outdoor Reviews. (Above: Peter Jones in action with the hugely popular Tikka T3x hunting rifle). It combines a .308 Winchester cartridge with a longer, but narrower 6.5mm bullet. If you forced someone to pick their ‘one-rifle’ calibre for UK game, they would be most likely to say the .243 Winchester. Are you familiar with the turn bolt action of a Sauer 404 for example? Like the Ruger American Rifle, the Predator puts most of your money into a high-quality, free-floating barrel, which is why it’s so accurate. 1.3 4 Best Deer Hunting Rifle Scopes; 1.4 1. It also has a recoil-reducing Pachmayr Decelerator butt pad, which you’ll appreciate in a .30-06 rifle. This is partially due to the fact that it has so many iterations, making it ideal for a number of purposes when on the hunt. Unfortunately, the scope doesn’t have any reticle, so it’s basically decorative. For this reason, rifle choice is a highly personal and subjective one. Thanks to improvements in smokeless powder between 1906 and 1952, it was no longer necessary to have such a large cartridge, and the shorter cartridge allows for shorter action than a .30-06, which means it’s easier and faster to cycle the bolt. The argument could be made that the stand out Savage 99 was an American approach to a “stalking rifle”. Considering that this is a budget rifle, we were impressed by the solid, composite stock. These are important questions to ask. If you are trying to decide if the.308 is the best deer rifle caliber to do just that then you are in the right place. If .30-06 isn’t your thing, you can always choose the .300 Winchester Magnum, .308 Winchester, 6.5 Creedmoor, or nine other calibers. Throw a quality sight on it, and you’ll be shooting within .5 MOA. Any light sporter that puts three shots closely together will be an effective deer rifle; you don’t need a five-or-ten shot group to kill a deer. The Ruger American Predator is the most popular 6.5 Creedmoor rifle on the market, and it’s not hard to see why. At only 7 pounds in weight, it’s ideal for hunting in deep brush where other rifles could be inconvenient. August 1, 2005. When considering a rifle caliber, there are two main considerations: the size and shape of the bullet, and the size of the cartridge. We will also help you decide which.308 rifle is right for you. The price of this extreme power and accuracy? 3 Browning BLR. (Above: The new Sako S20 hunting rifle with Synthetic thumbhole stock and traditional turn bolt action). By Lawrence Pyne. This email address is being protected from spambots. The wood stock is beautiful, with a smooth, satin finish. The Brownells BRN-10 is a clone of the AR-10, with a 20-round magazine and a fast, semi-automatic action. var path = 'hr' + 'ef' + '='; Semi-automatic rifles automatically load the next round when they’re fired. Once again, here at 'County Deer Stalking' we have seen a host of different rifle, calibre combinations, with guests having arrived for an outings deer stalking with anything from a beaten up, old, second hand Remington 700 to a highly prized and valuable double rifle. Factor that into the price, since a sightless rifle isn’t very useful for hunting. At 9.25 pounds, it’s on the heavier side, and it’s also long, with a 26-inch barrel. The Ruger American Rifle is a lightweight, .30-06 hunting rifle with a 4-round removable rotary magazine. how comfortably the shooter can hold the rifle and to some degree application. 2. Enter your email address below to receive the Almanac: Best Hunting Rifles for Deer - For those just getting started in deer stalking, professional UK Deer Stalker and big game hunter Peter Jones considers how to choose the best hunting rifle.