I want to start getting my daughter setup for deer hunting, and I am looking for a rifle to buy. Anyone have one of the calibers listed above that they are looking to sell. She is RH so it needs to be a RH gun. Gun only or gun and scope does not matter. Open to brand as well. I’d prefer the 7mm-08 but willing to look at any other offers.
7mm-08 is the best “adult” caliber to start a kid on if you ask me. Good luck in the search.
BW – You didn’t list your location, so I have no clue where your at. Cabelas has some great deals running right now as part of their fall classic sales. I prostaffed at the store last weekend and was surprised on how good some of the sale items were. It may pay to take a look if your close to one.
rumor mill was the Savage axis combo was on for under $300. I didn’t see the read the current ad, so I don’t know which stores had them.
Cabelas Axis combo
Sorry. I did not realize that my Profile did not have my location on the hunting side. I live in the South Metro Area of the Twin Cities. I may have to take a trip to Cabela’s to see what they have. I was just hoping to get a complete setup and save a few $. Thought someone might have a rifle that someone outgrew or one that the wanted to sell to buy something different / new
I like .243s but I’d recommend a 7mm-08…marginal difference in recoil, but a lot more energy and bullet weights for whitetails.
If you are on a budget consider the Savage Axis rifle…I have seen them for under $369
I bought my son who is on the small size a youth .243 a few years ago. I wish I would have gone with the 7mm-08 as it was my second choice. There was never any recoil issues. I bought the Marlin youth rifle on GunBroker.com for around $300. Very nice gun. I actually used it last year when it took my local gun shop 2 years to fix my .270wsm. 
DT
I would check out the new Savage Axis. Heard it was nice. Looked at the Remington 770 because of the price and it was junk. The bolt functioned horribly.
DT
I just bought the Axis from Cabelas for $249.99. That’s a great price. After seeing Randy rave about the Burris line of scopes for a few years, I’ve decided to get one of the Fullfiled E1’s. I can’t wait to get this combo put together and get to the range. 
Kooty, that’ll be a heck of a package once you get it together and dialed in! 
which caliber?
pm sent. if you did not get it feel free to send me one
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Kooty, that’ll be a heck of a package once you get it together and dialed in!
25.06 I have a buddy doing a reload in 110 Nosler that will work great for deer. We are going to brew up a round for coyotes.
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I would check out the new Savage Axis. Heard it was nice. Looked at the Remington 770 because of the price and it was junk. The bolt functioned horribly.
DT
Beware of the stiff trigger pull on the Savage Axis. It’s stiff enough for an adult but for a kid…… might make accurate shooting a challenge. Look into a Marlin XS7 or Mossberg ATR100. Marlin has an adjustable trigger and the ATR100 is good out of the box, plus has a much smoother bolt action, both in the throw and the slide. Any difference in accuracies will not be significant enough to ruin a kill. A really stiff trigger pull can ruin a killing a shot……
I have both an Axis and an ATR100 so I have personal experience with both offerings. Between the two, the Axis I have is incredibly “WOW” accurate, but my ATR100 groupings are only different by 3/8ths of an inch! Better trigger and bolt action lends me to believe that an ATR100 is a better choice for certain.
Down side is that I’m not sure if the Marlin or Mossberg is available in 7mm-08. .243 is certainly available.
Defintitely steer clear of the Remington 770’s…..
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Beware of the stiff trigger pull on the Savage Axis. It’s stiff enough for an adult but for a kid…… might make accurate shooting a challenge.
While the trigger was one of my chief concerns with the Axis, I don’t think it falls into the “stiff” category nor do I think it would be enough to impede accuracy even for a young shooter. I was able to shoot perfectly acceptable groups using the box-stock Axis and discount store factory ammo. Also, I fired several hundred rounds from my Axis while writing my review article for this site. While the trigger is set on the heavy side it only became noticable after a few dozen rounds. I think it’s helpful to look at this in perspective. The average big game hunter fires less than 20 rounds per year.
The Axis, IMO, represented the best gun in the budget category because, as you mention, of the tack-driving accuracy. You can fix or replace a trigger, you cannot replace or fix poor accuracy due to a low quality barrel.
BTW, I notice that DIY instructions for doing trigger jobs to reduce the pull weight on the Savage Axis are now posted on every gun site on the net. While I do NOT encourage amateurs to modify non-adjustable triggers, it seems as though the process is easy enough that any gunsmith should easily be able to modify an Axis trigger in short order.
I sent mine to a gunsmith friend and even though he had not worked on an Axis before, he did a trigger tuning job that reduced the pull and cleaned up the release. The problem is that with a fully adjustable Rifle Basix drop-in aftermarket trigger on offer for less than $100 shipped, I couldn’t recommend anyone pay a gunsmith to do such a procedure.
The central theme remains: Even if you drop $100 on an adjustable aftermarket trigger, the Axis is still a better gun than many other offings at or above the price.
Grouse
The XS7Y is available in .243, 7mm-o8 and .308. There is one on gunbroker right now for $308 with free ground shipping.
DT
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The central theme remains: Even if you drop $100 on an adjustable aftermarket trigger, the Axis is still a better gun than many other offings at or above the price.
Grouse
For an extra $100, I respectfully disagree. The extra $100 could put you into a Thompson Center Venture that has a better trigger, bolt throw, and stock. You have a nice accurate barrel but again, realistically speaking, we’re talking about people that shoot less than 20 rounds a year, right? As long as the barrel shoots 1″ or less groups at 100yds, the same person isn’t discouraged by suttle differences. We’re not talking about a target competition where it’s all about pinpoint, round after round accuracy. Things like bolt throw factor in when we’re out there in the field. Sometimes, a second shot is desired or needed and unless you’re well practiced, (well, even if you are with an Axis) chances are you’re going to lose your target acquisition during the throw, more so if shooting prone.
I have an Axis. The trigger is exceptionally harder than ANY other gun I own, or have ever owned. You yourself have seen the need for improvement/modification. I think it’s a good gun for the money, but ONLY because of a good barrel. Trouble is, a “good” barrel is no longer as hard to find as it once was. The technologies available for duplicity are astounding.
AT the price point the Axis is offered, it’s great! But, if you add $100 to it and still claim it’s the best all around tool available, I just disagree. Nothing more.
I haven’t tested a Venture, Stillakid, but I would agree with your premise. Except. . .
Where have you seen a Venture for $369 – $419?
The Axis base model is commonly on sale for $269 with a regular shelf price of $289-$319. Adding $100 for an aftermarket trigger gets us to no more than $419.
I accept that I could be looking in all the wrong places, but I’ve been seeing the base model Venture blued version at $489 and I believe I’ve seen it on sale for as low as $469.
So, IMO, you’re talking about apples and oranges here. The Venture is, again IMO, a step above the Axis. You’re right, you are probably getting more with the Venture in terms of refined cosmetics and function. But you are also moving into a different price category. Of course, that brings us to the very subjective area of which features are worth paying for…
If Kooty and the iDo bigwigs could lean on the manufacturer reps to cough up test rifles, I’d LOVE to do a head to head test with a whole stack of rifles in the $269 – $400 class. From a rifleman’s perspective, we’ve never had it so good, with so many choices combined with so much accuracy in this price point.
Grouse
Come on guys. If we are talking about upping the price lets get away from the mediocre stuff and get into quality. While quality triggers are a must, so is a quality barrel. Kimber has been good to us over the years as far as a factory rifle with quality components.
I won’t even get into custom made stuff.
Pardoning the extra cost of shipping, which is available for as little as $20.00, there are “buy it now” offers on Gunbroker.com for as low as, coincidentally, $419.99. The price point is so close, that to the way my mind works, it would seem to be worth the extra to step up a class.
The entry level/economy packages available are getting mind boggling aren’t they! Blued, stainless, realtree and MOB camo, black synthetic, multiple predator camos, with or without matching bore sighted optics…… A guy just getting started certainly has enough out there to get confused! I too wish you had the level of support that you could test all of the major offerings and share all the pros and cons from your perspective. That’d be great!
Would you like to field test a Mossberg ATR? I’ll let you work over my .243 for the sake of a report if you’d like! I’d truly be interested in hearing how you feel it stacks up as an entry level offering.
Ruger2506,
Define “quality barrel.” Accuracy? Durability? What? I don’t have a clue on how long a barrel should last before it’s “shot out” but on accuracy, I think we should put a Kimber next to an Axis and see if the difference is worth an extra $1000. I’ve never shot a Kimber or Kimber barrel. I have fired an Axis and out of the box, the groups at 100yds are “Shah-WING!” tight! I could be wrong but I don’t think Grouse and I got the only two accurate barrels out there. With today’s lazer machining, a good formula can be mass produced quite easily. The only questions I really have is if the steel wears out sooner than other makes and would I ever wear one out?
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The only questions I really have is if the steel wears out sooner than other makes and would I ever wear one out?
Jeff H would be a great source to talk about the accuracy on long range. I have my own range at my farm and have targets/shooting positions that will go to 900 yards max. Most of my longer range is the 500-700 yards and that is where the accuracy differences in different ammo/barrels really shine. Many guys site in at 100 or 200, have their scope dialed in to the POI and think that they are good to go. The problem comes into play that even though at that given point of impact they see a 1moa or less, the bullet is wobling or fliers are still in a “reasonable” range of the moa. When adding an extra 2 or 3 hundred yards to the trajectory, all the very very minor things become much more apparent. But then, how many guys are truly shooting those distances?
Common numbers kicked around for barrel life on a .270 or 30-06 is about 4000 rounds out of a typical or mass produced barrel. Naturally, heat, bullet material, maintenance, all influence this to be more or less.
Another factor is gas or pressure loss at the chamber. Higher end barrel manufactures will have much tighter tolerances for the chamber and lands. I reload for a number of my friends and I am still surprised on the variation of depth to the lands I see on so many different firearms. That’s why people need to shoot so many different loads to find the sweet one. Contrasting to that is the consistency you find with higher end and custom. Generally, most ammo will reflect a better performance out of these barrels because parts are where they are suppose to be.
So how many rounds per year are you anticipating to shoot and at what type of distances?
Stillakid…. Randy pretty much covered most of the answer to your question. I wasn’t attempting to call out the entry level products. They do in fact work fine for most hunters needs.
However there are some of us that like to shoot accurately over 400/500 yards. Our best load/gun combo shot an inch and nine-sixteenths group at 400 yards over a bench without a lead sled. We never did test that laoding with a lead sled. Point is I just don’t know if a entry level rifle could pull that off.
It is usually all about accuracy. I know very few guys that “shoot out” a barrel. Very few.
Along those lines I do not own one rifle that doesn’t have a custom trigger in it for the same accuracy reasons.
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I have fired an Axis and out of the box, the groups at 100yds are “Shah-WING!” tight!
I commend you for going to the range and working up your rifle. I see way to many guys buy a rifle off the shelf. Go out and shoot at the range. Get a “pie plate” group and being satisfied. “ok, lets go hunting”. And they wonder why they wound deer and have to go searching for the deer they shot. “bullets must not be working right or caliber is to small. Better go get a .300 Win Mag for next year.”
This is what I love about the people on IDO….. good, factual information I can learn from! Thanks to both Randy and Ruger for pointing out the incomplete coverage of my ponderings!
I relate so well to the 100yd staple because so much of my hunting woods doesn’t even offer a shot that long. In the 400+ catagory……. I don’t even relate to that because I’m a brushy swamp guy!
Now that the light bulb is on, I want to ask you guys if you think I should be looking to upgrade my long distance rifles. I have a Howa that might get some long shots this winter and a pair of Tikka T3’s that I plan to take west someday. I’d like to keep my shots under 300yds but in the possibility of shooting further, do you think I need a higher grade rifle? I thought the Tikka’s were supposed to be good out to 400/500yds, just as I talked to a Howa owner that claims his groups at 400yds are within 2″. Just wondering what you guys might know and what opinions/conclusions you may have regarding those rifles.
Thanks again for the concrete, fact base replies guys!
In short……I personally know of 1 (maybe 2) guys who can shoot to the full capability of the rifle they are behind. Both are professional snipers.
Point being that Howa, Winchester, Ruger or Tikka or whatever other rifle will most likely do more (be more accurate) than you as a shooter will ever be.
Find a loading that works great for your needs (and the rifle/barrel likes) and you will be very happy out to 300 yards. A MOA grouping at 300 yards (3″ group) from a factory rifle is well beyond acceptable (and lethal).
Randy,
Unsure of how many rounds I’ll shoot this year but I guarantee that no one barrel of mine will see more than 100 rounds…… that one being the Howa 1500 .223. All my other rifles will see maybe a box each at the very most because I really want only to make sure they’re still tuned up for my hunts. I rarely shoot just for the sake of shooting…. I don’t reload and ammo is expensive enough. Once I find a round my rifle likes, I tune it tight to 100yds. Many of them will expand the same hole by the time I’m done so unless I mess around with new optics or they somehow get knocked outa whack, they don’t get much range time once dialed in. Typically a half box at most, if just for giggles!
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A MOA grouping at 300 yards (3″ group) from a factory rifle is well beyond acceptable (and lethal).
I’ll sleep a little better tonight! Thanks again! I do appreciate your insights!
“Find a loading that works great for your needs (and the rifle/barrel likes) and you will be very happy out to 300 yards.”
Well stated Wade
Stillakid – how do expect the ammop industry to stay in business if your not out shooting for the sake of having fun? Some people are addicted to fireworks, I’m addicted to BOOM! 
Seriously though if your considering an Antelope or mulie trip, I would be zeroed at 200 or 250 pending caliber and practice to 400. There is definitely a need for practice (speaking for myself) when looking to shoot with confidence out to 500. I practice longer distances for fun and a little competition with my daughters.
As for Howa and Tikkas, generally very good out of the box. The M-1500 action of the Howa is sold under a lot of different names. Last I checked, Howa was also factory pillaring all the actions. The triggers come factory tight (4-5#’s) and $50 to $75 takes that to what you want. I adjusted my trigger on my 22-250 to 3.0# and it is tight. No slop, no play, just apply a little pressure and its all down range.
I love the Tikka barrels from the experience I have with them through a few friends. With thousands of rounds through them, they are still as accurate as day one. I personally don’t care for the plastic stocks and like the laminates. Again, that’s personal to my taste. I decided to get my 14 year old daughter her first NEW rifle. We have it narrowed down to two options. 1. Howa Thumbhole Sport 7mm Rem Mag in stainless 1:9.5 twist 24″ barrel or #2 Tikka T3 lite in stainless 7mm Rem Mag 1:9.5 twist 24″ barrel. The Tikka Lite is about $200 less than the Howa, but we will be replacing the stock with a laminate thumbhole, thus about the same in cost.
Going back to what Wade stated about the right ammo. That is so critical that people try different bullets, manufactures, weight bullets, and so on. Every out of the box rifle is different (individually) in manufacturing. What shoots sub-MOA in one rifle may not hit the broad side of a barn in a different rifle. I have 4 .270s in my home and every one of them likes a different flavor of powder.
Regardless, may all the copper you send down range be spot on to your target, and deliver that perfect punch!
Throw a wild one in that grouping Randy? 
I was trying to make a perfect triangle – dang human error 
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Stillakid – how do expect the ammop industry to stay in business if your not out shooting for the sake of having fun? Some people are addicted to fireworks, I’m addicted to BOOM!
LOL…… When the time comes to prepare for out west, perhaps I could twist your arm into teaching me right??? I just don’t have anywhere to practice 400yd or longer shots so any help or suggestions would be great!
One of my T3’s is the hunter model so I have the wood stock. I like that better than the synthetic.
I really like the stock trigger setting on the T3’s as well. I don’t notice any creep or anything. If I pull, *BOOM*. It’s tight and where it gives, it releases so it feels almost instantaneous. I swear, I’d like a collection of Tikka’s…… For the price, I really like them. I’m wanting a .243 in T3 but it’s not high on the priority list. I’m wanting a SS and maybe putting a Boyds laminate thumbhole on it. I dunno……I come and go on it. Anyway, I’d be tempted to go Tikka over Howa. I like them both but I lean toward the Tikka’s, if for nothing else, the 60 degree bolt throw. Either way, it’ll be great! Lucky Girl! 
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