Recommended caliber/rifle for a new hunter

[j-bird]

Good choices you have and good luck with your new addiction. I personally am a 270 caliber person. I like all those but have shot the 270 to 300 yds with virtually no adjustment in aim. I have for severely years now shot a Remington 700 series short mag 270 that is a tack driver out of the box. But for a new hunter I would have to suggest one of my favs, the 243. I've shot more deer and most have dropped on the spot with that caliber than any other. Easty recoil and good out to 200 yds with ease. Don't matter, you will buy more over the years if you are like most of us. Have fun. BTW, my first deer rifle in my poor, hand me down days was a British 303 that weighed a hundred pounds and a full barrel stock. Had a flip up, fix sites for shooting out to 1000+ yds!!!! Not sure how many men it had killed in the War, before I inherited it from my Grandfather.

I got one of those Enfield british 303 guns as well. Can't use it to hunt anything here, but certainly an interesting gun. Mine came back from WWII as well and was sporterized for hunting by my grandfather. Sure is a heavy thing.....I guess if you ran out of ammo you had a club!

As for the OP - I was in the same boat and I think l if I get me a new gun for ME - it will be a .308 and you can find good package guns from Ruger, Savage and Remington for a real decent price as well. Lots of ammo options and should handle pretty much anything you want to hunt in the lower 48 from a big game perspective.

 

[dogghr]

The 303 is especially effective since I have the bayonet that attaches. Mines all original, no rework of stock or barrel. Good for conversations with the type of person whose post got deleted today.

 

[j-bird]

The 303 is especially effective since I have the bayonet that attaches. Mines all original, no rework of stock or barrel. Good for conversations with the type of person whose post got deleted today.

Yep - I agree that guy probably thinks we all hunt with AK-47's as well!!! And you know those "black guns" are especially bad! My 303 was used and abused but it still does the job. My grandfather told a funny story about using it in Canada back in the day to black bear hunt. A buddy of his wanted to shoot it so he propped it up on the hood of his pickup truck to shoot across the hood. He wasn't real bright I guess because this guy fired and the round cut a nice semi-circular hole in the ridge that ran down the center of the hood of the truck! Turns out it was a fairly new truck to boot!! He wouldn't confirm it, but I bet there was some beer involved as well. Not sure why but I was enamored with that gun as a kid and he finally passed it on to me before he passed away. I will say I have shot it out to 300 yards and it isn't a tack driver but if you where a bad guy it would certainly scare the crap out of you or worse. Those guns in original configurations can be worth some money....mine isn't but some are.

 

[Drycreek]

What Chestnut said.

 

[FTG-05]

Ruger American Compact in 7mm-08. Perfect sized gun for hunting in the woods, accurate enough to use in the blind over large food plots and fields. Won't break the bank, Walmart has them on sale, and easy to work on. GA aren't very large, just like AL and TN, 7mm-08 is all you need. http://ruger.com/products/americanRifleAllWeatherCompact/specSheets/6938.html

Good luck!

 

[Steve Daniel]

I am 19 years old and have just recently gotten into hunting. I live in Georgia, so I will be hunting whitetail for the most part, and maybe go on the occasional hog hunt. We have a large piece of private land, consisting of both a field and thick woods. A shot in the field would be between 90-120 yards, in the woods shots will range 20-50, maybe a little longer. My friend who is helping get me into hunting has offered his opinion, but I felt it couldn't hurt to ask here. So, my range is $300-$400, I was looking at the Remington model 783 that comes in multiple calibers. it is $300 and comes with a 3-9x40 scope. The calibers available are .308 (22 in.), .270 (22 in.), .30-06 (22 in.), and 7mm rem mag (24 in.). Initially I thought the 7mm mag would be the go to, since it is a large, powerful round and comes with a longer barrel it might be more accurate. Once again, Im not really sure if i have the right idea. My friend says you can't go wrong with any of those. So, which of those calibers do you reccomend, or is there any other model/caliber i should look into? I do have shooting experience, but nothing really serious.
EDIT: For now i will be hunting behind a blind till I get used to everything

Go with the .270 or the .308 hard to beat either. If your more likely to hunt thickplaces the .308 is the ticket. Longer power line cuts and cross field shots and the .270 is hard to beat. I would go with either over the 30.06 or the 7 Mag. I have hunted with em all, but something along the lines of a 308 is hard to beat.