....but I don't know a thing about what to use.

I'm used to military weapons but I don't know anything about what would be good for deer hunting. I keep hearing that a 30-30 or a .270 might be my best bet?
This year is the first time I'll be going out but I don't know much about it. I don't want to waste time reading through every hunting magazine on the shelves, but I do want to educate myself about hunting.

Any advice about what would be the best simple rifle to use? Also, my teen age son is going with me so any advice about what would be good for him to carry would help too. We're also planning to do the hunter safety course(s) too.

Help.

.22 lol

The official gun of n00b.

lol- probably just what I need to begin with.......

First of all, what are you going to be hunting?

A "Small" game (deer, antelope, yotes) rifle that I would suggest for a "n00b" would be a Remington M700 .243 (http://www.remington.com/products/firearms/centerfire_rifles/model_700/model_700_CDL.asp) with a 3-9x40 scope (http://leupold.com/hunting-and-shooting/products/scopes/vx-ii-riflescopes/vx-ii-3-9x40mm/). This is a good "Do all" rifle, with the right bullets you can kill elk yet you can still load it down to explode p-dogs with.

A "Large" game (mountain goats, elk, moose, bear) rifle that I would suggest would be a Remington Ti in either 280 REM or 300 WSM (http://www.remington.com/products/firearms/centerfire_rifles/model_700/model_700_Alaskan_Ti_specs.asp) with the same scope on it.

Or you could bow hunt, but thats a whole nother can of worms.

Can't he go to some gun shop that allows to try out different gun models? If I knew that a 30-30 blew my shoulder off, I'd use another kind of gun.

hah! if you think a 30-30 is going to blow your shoulder off, you are a pussy.

A .243 set up right doesn't kick hardly at all. I can shoot it all day. A 7-08 in the right stock is going to be about the same way.

yeah. I shot a 30-30 and it hurt. really bad. Wasn't very happy with that. I was happy with the sling shot

.243 is a good choice though some might say a big light in the loafers. Ive seen plenty of small to medium game taken by it, and you can shoot it all day. Another good choice is 30-06. It WILL take down the game and ammo is CHEAP. It does kick a bit, but if you're too much of a pussy to take it, stick with knitting. Then theres eleventybillion other calibers in between and far beyond what i've mentioned. At that point, do your own research.

some might say a big light in the loafers.
bullet selection >>>> Caliber selection.

Roll your own for greatest effect.

Thanks for the help so far.

Handling the kick is not a problem. I guess what I am asking is what is best concerning price, punch, and accuracy.

Supper, the answer to your question is small game. Deer, mostly, to start off with. I'm not concerned with the amount of kick. I'm in my 40's and in decent enough shape. My son stands an inch taller than me, so kick will most likely not be much of a problem for him, either. I don't know what I'm looking for, actually. I just hear the numbers of some of them and have to guess. Like I said, I'm not too familiar with hunting rifles and I don't know what the numbers equate to concerning power, range, and what size of a hole the various rifles will put into my potential dinner.

There are several places around here where I can go and try out various guns. I guess that will be my best bet. Get the feel for them and see which ones work for me. Price is an issue, too. I have to keep it around $200- $500.

Thanks.

$2-500 will get you something decent USED, but new is kinda cheap. Remington 700's start at 5 IIRC and you can get those in pretty much any caliber you want.

It's not the hole size you should really be worried about, it would be more ballistics and stopping power. You dont want the bullet to go THROUGH the animal, you want it to impact, expand, destroy the lungs or heart and impart all of its energy into the animal making for a quick clean kill, cause trust me, it sucks to have to track them for hours after. Most calibers will do this though. Range isnt terribly important (even a .22 mag will be dealy past 500 yards if you can hit anything) and most of your shots will be 200 yards or under if you're hunting in the forest.

For rifles find a good quality (Savage, REmington, Winchester and the like) in the caliber you want. To find that, go from .243 up to .30-06 or 300WSM. After that is kind of overkill unless your going for large and/or dangerous game. Find which ones suits you best, and for the best price too. I know i hate shooting my .243 as opposed to my M1 because those .243 rounds are over a buck a round while i can shoot the M1 all day at 41 cents a round! If you really get into it this fall, you should look into reloading to save you a ton of money.

Another option of course is to get a shotgun and use slugs or buckshot, especially if you have dense forest and you'll be forced to get up close where a shotgun would be more suited. Shotguns are generally a lot cheaper for a good one, and shotshells aren't too expensive either since they have a lot less brass in them to waste.

My shoulder still hurts
http://www.grunt.com/images-bs/TOPIX_IRAQ_US_MILITARY_WAR_143200349%5B1%5D.jpg

Thanks for the info, Steel. Every little bit helps.

Good to hear people taking up hunting....around here very few of my friends do, where as when my dad was young it was more popular.

I started out deer hunting with an old single shot 20ga savage. when I was 14 I bought a rem 20ga 870 with 2 barrels for I think around $400. Now I'm using my great-grandfathers rem 740 30.06. Never had an issue with either one

Good to hear people taking up hunting....around here very few of my friends do, where as when my dad was young it was more popular.

I started out deer hunting with an old single shot 20ga savage. when I was 14 I bought a rem 20ga 870 with 2 barrels for I think around $400. Now I'm using my great-grandfathers rem 740 30.06. Never had an issue with either one

It's been something I've been meaning to get to, but never had the time to do. At this point in life I have a little more time and a little more money. Time to do the things I want to before I check out.

Whacking a deer and dropping some into the turkey fryer is something I've been wanting to do for a while.

Someone today offered me a sale on a rifle but I already forgot all the numbers. I'll get them tomorrow and put the info here for some of you to look at to see if it's worth it or not.

trusty .30-06 is a fine for deer...my first gun

375 H&H or .378 Weatherby if you are serious ;)
overkill much? In my not so humble opinion you shouldn't use any of the .30 or larger calibers on deer. Hell, a lot of the calibers bigger then 6mm are too big sometimes.

With that said, I have killed deer with everything from .243 up to .45-70 Gov't

Get a .223. You won't kill the deer; just knock it down. Then the hunt begins when you have to run up on it and cut it's jugular.

Get a .223. You won't kill the deer; just knock it down. Then the hunt begins when you have to run up on it and cut it's jugular.

lol
Reminds me of a guy we have at work. He claims to be ex-"Black Ops", Marine Sniper, all that stuff. When you first meet him, you feel like calling him on his obvious bullshit, but then we have to stop ourselves. Calling him out would stop the flow of endless free entertainment...
The joke around work is during this time of year is usually about him going out deer hunting with just his K-Bar.

But....the rifle I was talking about a post or two ago is some Russian built (or commissioned thing costing about $100-$150, depending on the version. I, of course, forgot to bring the numbers home again, but I do remember one number- 7.62X54
I guess that's the bullet size/ caliber and not the nomenclature of the rifle. I think the rifle was used by the Russians as a sniper rifle in WWII and earlier. I wish I could remember shit like this of the top of my head. I think the name of the thing had two names in it.

Either way, it's not one of the ones I had in my head as what I would be getting for hunting. Not sure if I'll get it now.

Mosin Nagant is the rifle the guy is talking about. I guess from what little research I've been able to do lately that it was made in several countries. I can't remember which one his are from. He has a hex receiver version that he's not selling, and some of the round ones.

The link below is like the one that he has for sale. He has a few of them, both long and short versions. I don't know if it would be worth it for hunting, but the idea of having one sounds cool.


http://www.surplusrifle.com/russianmosin189130/index.asp