Deer Rifle Recommendation?

[Tarasdad]

Ruger American in .308 with a Leupold 4.5-14x40 or 3.5-10x40. Other rifles I'd recommend are the Winchester Mod. 70 Featherweight, Extreme Weather Stainless, or Ultimate Shadow Stainless. Tikka or Howa would also be good options.

One caliber option I'd consider is the 7mm-08. Superior ballistics, easy to shoot, known for exceptional accuracy. Plenty of loads for everything from small game to elk.

[ElvenSoul]

This is perhaps the best scope deal for a hunting rifle

http://kentonindustries.com/riflescopes/nikon-prostaff

Get a Nikon Prostaf 5 with the Nikon XR Package and Kenton will give you a 2nd custom Scope Knob. You will basicaly have 3scope in 1.

[thomashoward]

Good choices on caliber. With good bullets they will take anything you will encounter in the lower 48. exception of big bears.
Rifle type/format is subjective, try them all before deciding. .308 is short action

[Barbarosa]

Since you mentioned wanting to hand it down some day the Browning Lever Action is a great gun and would make quite a keepsake. It is available in .308 and .270, as well as a few others. The lightweight version helps trim oz's for backpacking. It comes in either a straight grip or pistol grip; blued or SS.

I have a BLR in .308 that is my go-to gun. I think you can find it in 30-06 and .358 if you wanted to go up from the .308,, but I doubt you would need to.

[ccoyle]

I was just recently in the same boat as the OP -- wanted a quality, durable, mid-priced rifle for mid-sized game. There's two factors that I don't think have been addressed yet:

1) Are aesthetics important to you? Do you want a nice-looking rifle as well as one that shoots well, or will any ol' gun do the trick?

2) Do you handle recoil well?

For me, I wanted something nice-looking. I don't care for synthetic stocks, whatever virtues they might have. And I also wanted something that kicked about as much or perhaps a little more than my Winchester 94 and the various .243s I have hunted with. .270 and .308 are both great rounds and will do the job, no question about it. But there are softer kicking rounds that will work equally well on deer and hogs, such as 6.5x55 Swedish and 7mm-08.

For $1,000 or less there are quite a few options available for you. I'd take a look at the rifles that have been recommended, but be aware there are many others that have not been mentioned yet.

For me, I ended up buying a CZ 550 FS in 7x57 Mauser. The ammo is pain in the butt to find, but the rifle is gorgeous, by all accounts durable and accurate, I got it at a steal of a price, and it will definitely get passed down eventually (hopefully not too soon!).

Have fun shopping -- to me that's one of the best parts about getting a new firearm. There are good deals to be had out there -- my LGS had a great price on a new Weatherby Vanguard Sporter in 7mm-08 that was very hard for me to resist (but I have a weakness for Mannlicher stocks).

[Kdzimmer]

I just bought a .270 Winchester model 70 featherweight and mounted a Leupold vx-3 3.5-10 40 mm scope on top. Beautiful gun. The new FN built model 70 is awesome

[ElvenSoul]

I just bought a .270 Winchester model 70 featherweight and mounted a Leupold vx-3 3.5-10 40 mm scope on top. Beautiful gun. The new FN built model 70 is awesome

Yup i would say just a bit better than a pre 64. They have really nailed it. After years of being subpar the new Winchesters are good to go!

[SB1964]

Tikka T3 "hunter" or if your manly "SS LITE" .270 or .308. I have a SS lite in .308 & I like it. Wanna stress over a long hike & carrying another rifle, go for it. Then again, I'm not a kid anymore.

[Dnele928]

The Marlin 336 mentioned above can now be a 200-300 yard rifle with the new Hornady LeveRevolution ammo in 30-30. Plus there is a matched scope calibrated to that ammo. Some of us are lever action types...just sayin'

[kayaker]

A Marlin 336 with scope will weigh more than most bolt action rifles that shoot faster, flatter shooting cartridges. I know because I had one and after feeling the heft of my Marlin with a 4x scope vs. my hunting partners Rem 700 Mountain rifle in 30-06 with a Leopold 3-9, I sold my Marlin and picked up a Ruger lightweight .308
I agree with a previous poster that a good 2-7 scope is all you need. If I were buying a rifle for California deer only I'd probably get a .243, but IMO the versatile round on the market is the good old 30-06.

[duckman1]

.270 Win is minimum cartridge for African Game. Works well on most all American Game Animals.

Are you sure?

[Thanatos2203]

Are you sure?

+1

.375 H&H maybe.

[ElvenSoul]

Are you sure?

Yup!

I almost got to go 3yrs ago so did a bunch of googling and calling...was very surprised. I thought it all required a magnum.

http://www.africanhuntingsafaris.net/guns-used-for-big-game-hunting.html

http://www.africahunting.com/threads/270-winchester-for-plains-game.3657/

I called Suppliers and Gun Shops to see what was on the shelves they all had .270 and 30-06'

[God Bless America]

30'06 is always the answer to that question.

every single time.

add a good 3-9x40 or x50 scope and you are good to go.

there is nothing in the hunting world a 308 will do that a 30-06 won't, but the opposite is not true. at 180+ grains, the 30-06 outperforms the 308.

my first hunting rifle was a winchester model 70 in 30-06 with a leupold 3-9x50 and it has never let me down. I have plenty of others now, but none will do anything it won't.

[duckman1]

Don't be confused with Outfitter minimums, much smaller calibers are used often. Remember that Africa is a Continent with many countries and they all make their own rules about firearms and hunting.