Thread: Hunting Rifle

I posted this as the second post on the thread -

sharing our personal preferances and prejudices

and here we are , two pages later - sharing our personal preferances and prejudices and getting shitty with each other .
I feel sorry for the original poster - bet he wishes he had just gone down to GC and bought something that the salesman said he needed .......

and he could afford.

Once the rifle is sorted, then hunt some goats. Good practice, and easier than deer. Get some runs on the board, practice your butchery so when you get a deer you're confident.
+1 for getting a cheapie .22 and joining a range. Once you've put 100 rounds through the 22 it's paid for itself ammo wise, and you learn to shoot and sight in scopes etc, plus it's fun!

Identify your target beyond all doubt because you never miss (right?) and I'll be missed.

Originally Posted by Trout

Watching the boys down south on tv with the new Benelli lupo 300wm,nice rifle.Trying to get my wife to buy me one.

You must have a bloody good wife!

Originally Posted by Barry the hunter

bull shit I said a mauser action thats not necessarily a controlled feed - what I meant was not a lever action - keep it simple - at least I did not say a tikka plastic in 6.5 crudmore - I left open a wide range of options - and they all good - read my whole post

Nothing wrong with a lever action! Often that means you can’t lose the magazine or the bolt haha!

true I have nothing against a lever action -just many are 30-30 - not my idea of an ideal calibre - okay for close scrub work - buts its more the trigger it is often not my standard with a lever action - and one has to bush stalk on safety - but if you really like the look of one fine

Originally Posted by Barry the hunter

true I have nothing against a lever action -just many are 30-30 - not my idea of an ideal calibre - okay for close scrub work - buts its more the trigger it is often not my standard with a lever action - and one has to bush stalk on safety - but if you really like the look of one fine

Lever guns are debatably better/safer to bushstalk with given you can chamber a round close the hammer and cock it quick and quiet

Originally Posted by paremata

Buy a rifle with a black stock and stainless barrel.

Then when you buy your next one get one with a black stock and a stainless barrel , your mrs with think that they are the same rifle and you'll stay out of trouble with her.

best advice ever

So far I owned 6.5 CRM, 270 and 308. All did the job well for my fallow/red hunt

@Farmer_John just a quick note on Mauser 98 action, controlled feed verses push feed. This is for you as a novice shooter/hunter, not for the experts on this forum.

The Mauser 98 action (Designed 1898–1936) is the father, grandfather, great grandfather and great great grandfather of pretty much (*there are exceptions) every modern bolt, in every modern rifle, whether it is "Controlled feed," or "Push feed."

What's the difference?

Controlled Feed: The full length extractor on a Mauser 98, or one of its many descendants, engages with the rim of the cartridge as it is pushed forward and lifted up out of the magazine. Which means the bolt and the cartridge are coupled together, as if one unit, as the cartridge goes into the breach. This allows the shooter to either: chamber the round and fire, got to a "half cocked" setting, or stop the forward motion of the cartridge and extract it part way through the motion. In addition, if the cartridge has been chambered, but not fired, it can also be extracted, as it can from a "half cocked" position.

PUSH FEED: As the bolt travels forward, it dislodges the cartridge from the magazine. Subject to model, the cartridge canor may move forward into the chamber under inertial or gravity, it is NOT necessarily connected to, or held by the bolt extractor claw, both are separate. The shooter cannot extract the cartridge from the breech until the bolt has been fully closed into the firing position. The action of closing the bolt engages the extractor claws with the rim of the cartridge. A dangerous hunting scenario would be if an inexperienced hunter was hunting with the bolt open (WHY!?) and climbed over a rock, fallen tree, whatever, the bolt could slide forward and "bump" a cartridge into the breech, or an inexperienced hunter, adrenalized by the chase, could unwittingly "bump" a round into the chamber, then unwittingly close the bolt on a live round without realising it. This will sound far fetched and unlikely to the experienced shooters/hunter reading this, but I'm not writing this for them, I'm writing this for @Farmer_John, a novice, new inexperienced shooter/hunter. Some magazines, on some push feed rifles, which don't have a detachable magazine, or opening floor plates, can only be unloaded by working the live round through the breech, closing the bolt on a live round each time. To my thinking that just adds another level of unnecessary risk.

As a novice hunter I suggest you buy a controlled fed rifle as your first rifle. This may be a Mauser 98 action, and if not it will almost certainly be a descendant of the Mauser 98.

You have had some really good advice from very experienced shooters/hunters on this forum, people like, @Barrythehunter, @Countrycuts, @STC (the first comment), @Rock river arms hunter, @Eat Meater, I'll add one more suggestion: research, find, seek out your local gunsmiths, perhaps two or three of them. Go and talk to them about makes, models, action, calibres. They will guide you (hopefully) without bias and emotion. Gunsmiths also usually have racks and racks of guns, barrels, gun parts and sometime you will pick-up a really good second hand rifle from an estate, or someone who doesn't want to go on the Register, or someone who has retired from hunting.

And remember this, "Dinosaurs will come back to rule the world in 2024!"

@Farmer_John, I recall @DJS asked a similar question recently, and got an equally long-winded/varied response (https://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co....eabouts-97556/). I'm sure DJS wouldn't mind if you flicked him a message asking about his experience, what he ended up with, and how that's gone for him. From what I recall, he ended up with a 7mm-08, and was pretty happy with it.

6.5x55/.243/.270/.308/7mm-08 and any in between will get you started and put down deer within 200m. I concur with the Winchester Model 70 suggestion (maybe a little biased) cracking rifles, and much prefer carrying mine in .270 over my Rem 700 in .308, but .308 gets used more as .270 is not suppressed and I like hearing things.

Great advice above about seeing what fits and what doesn't. I tried a mates Tikka and it really didn't fit me, just felt awkward to hold. Also strongly agree with buying second hand!

As for the advice about giving less advice... well that's the darnedest thing I ever heard.

Good luck in the search! Remember your first rifle doesn't have to be your last. There is a healthy trade to and fro on here, just get something and rip into it!

Helo John,you say you are intending to hunt Canterbury and the West Coast so a lot of different hunting scenarios there, heavy bush, slips, river beds and open country, and a big variety in animal size as well so there's no one answer.

You probably won't be hand loading so you need something with good quality factory ammunition. Most new rifles like Howa, Tikka, Mauser, Bergara are entirely adequate for hunting, calibres from 6.5 to 308 are again all adequate, if possible try some different rifles for fit before buying. Do you have friends who shoot? Try their rifles if you can, look on Trademe for price indicators you can often find a set up rifle scoped and suppressed for under a grand.

Hopefully you can separate the diamonds from the dross in all the replies so far. Whatever you end up with keep us informed we will all be curious now.
Regards

Originally Posted by Hugh Shields

You must have a bloody good wife!

I said trying,mans allowed to dream.

When you’re looking at a variety of rifles, pay attention to the
Magazine . Detachable box mag or hinged floorplate ? For box mags: plastic or steel ? Can you dismantle it for cleaning with bare hannds ? Straight line, staggered or rotary. Is it even the original mag or has it been lost and replaced ? Tokka mags have often been modified to feed longer rounds and have blocks and bolt stops to help that. That because they have the same length bolt and action for everything from 223 to 7mm Rem Mag.

Also look at the bolt. Can you take it apart to dry and clean out sand etc with hands, tools or not at all ?

Another good point to look for is the scope mounts. Most guns have weaver/picTinny rails or short sections screwd onto the action but some have the rail just as part of the receiver and thats one less mechanical to go wrong.

Its amazing how some people will "recommend" second hand rifles with actions that are at least 60 years old to a beginner and then woffle irrelevant stuff about feeding and extraction (all decent modern hunting rifles have ZERO issues with feeding/extracting. Its an irrelevant consideration for a new shooter and even for most experienced hunters)

Presumably some have some old stuff they want to get rid off? That they can't be bothered fixing themselves?

Secondhand rifles for a Beginner is almost always a trap. ONLY when said beginner has an experienced shooter friend that is trustworthy to look at the rifle with him (ideally test shoot and borescope).

Most secondhand "safequeens with 5 shots through it" are being sold at such ridiculous prices that a new one will be the same price anyway. No point.

Yes barrels can be swapped, but second hand rifle+barrel swap will be more expensive than new.