New Rifle Purchase Opinions Wanted

So many good thoughts above, I’ll try somewhere different.

on the .243 vs .270/30-06 debate and wanting a rifle they won’t outgrow. The questions above center around bear and elk, meaning big game.

There’s another way to outgrow and I did it. I was the geeky kid who got the .270 at 14 because that was the best choice based on all the analytical reasons and it was a deer rifle.

Three years later I bought a .243 because I “outgrew” the .270. Game got smaller, not bigger. Coyotes and dreams of antelope permits were the reason. Super versatile. Sold it to my little brother a short while later and he still has it. Worked great on coyotes and he took a few big mule deer between 150-200 yards with it. This 20+ years ago before all the advancements in bullets.

I would recommend the 30-06 Remington as well…. if hunting in Iowa is like MN, you will rarely have shots over 150 yards.. I have shot the Remington Managed recoil rounds and see no difference at 200 yards on paper, but you can sure notice it in the butt plate I have also heard good things about the Tikka line, but have not shot one…yet. I also echo .270 to 30-06, not much difference in recoil really, I own 2 30-06 and one .270, blindly shooting, I’d be hard pressed to tell you which is which. Either way… happy gun shopping !!

3006 Would not be the first rifle I would have any kid shoot. 243 , 6.5 Creedmoor.

Every sport has their entry level gear to get a person started. Anything I look at getting into now I figure I’ll be updating equipment at some point. With that in mind I would go with a Tikka .243 to ease him into shooting. If you do some bigger game down the road, you can always buy another gun.

For reference.. an average .243 load puts out 11 lbs of recoil energy… a 30-06 with Remington Managed Load, puts out 11.6 lbs…

6.5 creedmoor

A – Aron wrote:

6.5 creedmoor [/quote
It’s what I downsized to after getting beat up by a 30-06 for so many years. A 130 grain at 2800fps is more than enough for whitetail in WI.

Thanks for everyone’s input and advice. After giving it quite a bit of thought, reading all the comments here, and talking to friends who shoot rifles, I decided to go with the Tikka T3 Lite stainless in a 270 WIN. I know I’m taking a chance that the recoil might be too much for him, but I plan to start with the managed recoil loads and if he’s not having any problems with those, go with a more powerful cartridge. He shot a round of trap and two rounds of skeet yesterday using a light weight 20 ga. and the kick with that gun doesn’t bother him at all.

Some people say anything more than a .243 is overkill for a whitetail, some say get the 30-06 and shoot managed recoil cartridges if need be, some say there not much difference between the 270 and 30-06 so go with the 30-06 while others say go with the 270 for the same reason. I just thought the 270 would be big enough for any whitetail he would ever hunt. The 30-06 would be better for elk but I didn’t want to get him a gun for something he may never hunt. And should he choose to hunt elk some day, we can get a gun then that’s more ideally suited for elk.

The stores have a lot of choices for both the 270 WIN and the 30-06 so ammo is readily available.

Thanks again. Now I have to choose a scope.

Boone

boone wrote:

Savage 16/116 Trophy Hunter XP with Nikon Scope, 8.2 lbs, $699

This is the exact gun I just purchased my 14 year old (at the time) last year. I bought a .270. Less recoil. Readily available caliber so it makes it easy to find them.
That price is high, I paid over $100 less than that.
This gun shoots amazing. It has the accutrigger so it can be adjusted to lighter pulls if you want.
My son bagged his first deer last year with it. A nice 8 pt. Very happy with that gun.
One thing to consider is when buying a new rifle you will need to break in the barrel and buy 2 boxes of rounds at the same time and go to the manufacturer site for recommendations on procedure for breaking it in. You can buy cheap ammo for the breakin and then look for better ammo. You will be shooting it a lot. I think I went through a box and a half during the procedure.
The gun shoots incredible now. Can pound nails at 100 yards.

There are plenty of old timers out west that shoot elk with a 270. Keep in mind, elk hunting generally happens at higher elevations, which translates to extended range. Run the ballistics, a 150 at 5000′ may be close to a 130 at 1100′.

You made a fine choice with that Tikka, Boone. As mentioned, it’s a great shooter and will perform for you and your son as long as you want to keep it.

404 ERROR wrote:

Once you find the rifle and caliber you like, DO NOT overlook a good scope and mounts. There’s no faster way to damper a quality rifle than putting a crappy scope on it. Leupold, Vortex, and some Nikon scopes are very well made. Some say you should spend as much on a scope as you do the gun, that does not need to be the case. I have found that most any scope from a quality manufacturer in the $2-300 range is a good balance of quality and affordability. Sure, a $40 Simmons scope will work, but once you hold it up to a better option, you will know why I recommend a quality scope.

Will also echo ^^^ in addition to buying quality rings for the scope you purchase. When I worked the gun counter at Scheels in college, the old saying from the department manager was “you can’t hit what you can’t see”. Good luck with what you decide.

The Tikka is an absolutely excellent rifle and will give your son a lifetime of use.

I have a T3 Lite in .22-250 from the first year they were available in the US. I’m over 3000 rounds fired from this rifle with no loss of accuracy and I have never had a mechanical issue of any kind. If I can do that with a Tikka, imagine how long it will last the average deer hunter. Or deer hunters, as the case will clearly be. I have for some time expected to start seeing a fall-off in accuracy as the barrel ages from high-test varmint loads leaving in a hurry, but so far there is no sign of the Tikka letting up.

The only warning with a Tikka is do not lose the magazine. They are hard to find and ungodly expensive. Tikka must have them patented because there have never been any aftermarkets available or at least not when I last looked.

Scopes. IMO, it’s hard to look past Zeiss’ Conquest or Terra offerings. I’m shocked that Zeiss would ever offer scopes at this price range, but they are.

Grouse

Wow….. I don’t visit here enough! This was a lot of reading!

Boone, I was happy to hear that you chose the Tikka T3 Lite SS in 270win.! It’s going to be an excellent gun that will, as previously stated, last your son a lifetime. I own 4 Tikkas and they are so high on my “go-to” list of manufacturers because they shoot so well right out of the box. I don’t feel Remington is what it used to be. IMHO, they’re comparatively crap. I own several older ones and I just can’t seem to find a reason to buy any of the newer ones. At every price point, I’ll find someone with a better offering for the dollar. Savages can be great but for the price and quality of build, again, Tikka is just better. Now Ruger…… I’m finding are like Tikkas. It’s really hard to find anyone that owns one that regrets choosing it. I do not own any Ruger rifles but I have some handguns that I do like!

I have a blued T3 Lite in 270win. and it seems to really like those Hornady Lites in 120gr. You can feel the reduction at the butt plate vs. regular loads but I was impressed with how interchangeable the gun is with 150gr. loads when dialed in with 120gr. Lites. At 100yds, I only had 1/2inch difference! So, I’d feel like you’re pretty safe if you’re son decides to take a lighter load for any reason.

Congrats on your purchase. You WILL NOT regret it!

Nice Remington rant rage… glad you could help him.

I just wanted to give an update about the rifle I got for my son and thank everyone for sharing their opinions. It was his birthday present for his 14th birthday. I ended up going with:

1.) Tikka T3x Lite, Stainless barrel, synthetic stock in 270 WIN. The T3x is the new version of the T3 with some upgrades.
2.) Leupold VX-R, 3-9X, 40mm Objective, 30mm tube with the Ballistic Fire Dot. This has the illuminated reticle.
3.) Leupold scope base and rings.
4.) The Claw sling from Quake Industries.
5.) Cabela’s hard-sided case.

I purchased the gun and scope from a friend who is a firearms dealer. He mounted the scope for me and bore sighted it.

We took it to the Oakdale gun club range this weekend. At 50 yards, it was about 3 inches low and to the right. We made some adjustments and went to the 100 yard range. Here he shot the Hornady Lite cartridges which has a 120 gr bullet with a muzzle velocity of 2675 fps. The recoil wasn’t bothering him as we worked to get the scope sighted in. After we got the groups looking pretty good using the Lite cartridges, I switched him to a Hornady SuperPerformance which has a 130 gr bullet with a muzzle velocity of 3200 fps. Without making any adjustment, these bullets shot about an inch higher than the Lites. He did say the recoil was noticeably bigger but not enough to bother him. We then went to the 200 meter range (220 yards) to see what he could do there. Without adjusting the scope, and holding the reticle on the center of the target, and shooting the SuperPerformance cartridges, he was about 2.5 inches low and about 1 inch to the left. I don’t know if it’s the correct thing to do, but we put the scope to maximum magnification (9x) for all the sighting-in work. With the naked eye, that target looks pretty tiny at 220 yard. I was happy he did as well as he did. I don’t know how Randy and those other guys can hit prairie dogs from 400 yards or more.

The package cost a lot more than some of the options that I listed in my original post. But like I stated then, I wanted him to have something that he can be happy with for years to come. Hopefully he will be.

Right now I feel good about the decision to go the with 270 WIN. I feel it was kind of in the middle of the .243 vs. 270 WIN vs. .30-06 debate but leaning more towards the heavier end. The kick shooting the SuperPerformance cartridges didn’t seem to deter him but he only shot about 12 rounds of these heavier loads.

So it looks like my son can shoot adequately using sandbags on a bench. But as my buddy says, “Most guys can shoot well from a bench. The real test is in field when a coyote hangs up at 150 yards”. I’d like to get him some practice shooting from the two-man ladder stand we put up but I don’t think we’ll be able to before the season. Hopefully he’ll be steady enough using the shooting rail.

Thanks again. I learned a lot.

Boone

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Boone
Excellent choice and he literally could have this rifle for a lifetime. Like most quality items, not cheap and we usually spend over our original budget. But considering 30 years of use, it becomes a small investment.

I HIGHLY recommend that you buy him a quality bi-pod. Something like a Harris HB25 that runs around $95 OR Harris HBH that runs around $70. There are other manufactures and price points, so you can get something within a reasonable budget.

For his age, size, and stature it will really help in his accuracy and confidence. My daughter Olivia was similar in size as she got into shooting. She excelled so fast in accuracy in sitting with a pod. By 13, she was plinking 400 yrds and earned her first prong hunt. Not that your son is on a fast track for an “out west hunt”, but what every hunter wants – accuracy. Olivia has plugged more heart shots than all other vitals combined on all the deer she has shot so far. Shooting with a pod has been a great aid. Additionally, we picked up a couple of the Caldwel tripods. I love them for prairie dogs and reaching out 300-500yrds

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Terrific report and I’m so glad your son is happy with his rifle and most importantly is comfortable shooting it!

In 25 years, you and your son will both marvel at how inexpensive guns were back in the day! It has always been this way, an investment in quality looks like a bargain as time passes.

I agree with Randy in terms of getting a bipod or if you stand hunt mainly, I think a shooting rest like a Bogpod may be a better option if your stands are set up such that it’s usable.

For practice, I think air rifle is the way to go. I just liked to shoot when I was a young man and so I shot hundreds of rounds of air rifle a month. I did it for fun and never really gave it much thought. My father had made me a little “steel target” that had 10 dimes that fit in a small groove in a board in front of the backstop. At 33 feet, I got so I could hit over 100 of these in a row, from a standing position. I just assumed everyone could do that. I didn’t realize until years later that air rifle practice DOES translate to field shooting success.

Grouse

Great update and I’m glad to hear all the good news! Congrats on putting it all together! Keep a journal of all your hunts together and a traditional photo album to. The memories and reflections grow numerous quickly and the stories are always fun to read, for it’s often that some of the details become forgotten. Best wishes to you both!