Thread: Hunting rifle

Originally Posted by mudgripz

Hmmmmm...

Josh - a thought or two from a veteran. 60+ years since I shot my first animal. No idea how many taken since then, plus years of competitive shooting.

Am quite often helping new hunters and have to say (kindly) I'd never suggest spending $6k on your first rifle setup. Good luck if you do this, but it is certainly putting the cart before the horse. I would not recommend buying a particular rifle/scope setup for you to grow into over the years. Rather I'd suggest take the years to learn your hunting and shooting skills with perhaps a variety of arms, gather experience, grow your capabilities first, then buy the right rifle to suit those.

And I suggest you are spending at least 4x more than you need to for an efficient hunting setup for northern (or most southern) hunting conditions (Palmy?). Some like to spend on big name brands but it NOT a necessity, and is certainly not needed for 0-500m hunting. There are excellent, very accurate rifles you can buy and have scoped for $1500 or less - Savage, Marlin XS7/XL7/, Howa, Browning, some Remingtons etc. These are the arms I'd recommend for you - and all (with right loads) will be far better than you for some years. Many every bit as accurate and more so than your proposed Tikka.

And I agree completely with Micky, Padlo above - I'd drop the one big purchase idea. Go buy a 22LR, join a club and begin basic learning process to shoot accurately. Do this for couple of years at least - learning positional pressures, techniques etc. And take that 22 and go shoot rabbits - this is great training for centrefire. If you can drop rabbits at 100m with a 22LR, you'd hit a deer in the head, though heart/lower chest shot of course preferable. A 223 might be an excellent next step for added range, and for medium frame targets eg wallabies/fallow etc. Then join a good centrefire club (NZDA etc..), learn rifles, loads, and gather experience/understanding with bigger caliber options. Be prepared to try a hunting centrefire or three - and spend good time in that northern bush and out on range learning to use them. I've never seen anyone shoot an animal or win a competition with a laptop yet.

Acquiring good hunting and shooting skills is often the product of decades of experience, and becoming a competent match shooter also takes time, takes the years. At this newbie stage, gaining good training, and building good personal experience are far more important than acquiring an expensive brand rifle/scope setup. In our own team there are past club, provincial and NZ champions, but aside from competition use, none of them buy their hunter rifles for high price/brand name kudos etc. None. Almost all rifle setups are $1500 or under - but they are deadly effective for purpose.

Find a good club or two, a good team with guys who can teach you, and have some fun years growing into your firearms. Then, at the right time, you'll make the right Josh decision on that special setup.

All the best, Mike.

I agree with most of the above but if a tikka is within the budget id never recommend otherwise

I think a Tikka is the right choice here, seriously hard to beat with the level of aftermarket support options available as from the sounds of things you will want to upgrade it. I grew up shooting a .308 from 16 years old and probably shot well over 2k goats over the years (and carried them all out, nothing left to rot) and I remember thinking that the cartridge would be perfect if it was a slightly smaller diameter bullet (this was pre dial up scopes though) I now run a 6.5 Creedmoor and love it.

The feeling I get is you might be happier with a 6.5 Creedmoor but if you get a dialing scope you might appreciate the extra energy down range of a .308. You also have to factor in how available ammo is, nothing beats experience with the rifle you plan to use, failing that a .22 is your next best bet. If you plan on reloading eventually- 6.5Creedmoor otherwise .308 here I think

@mudgripz thanks for the advice mate! Have shot a 6.5 creed and 308 plenty of times shot my first stag with a 308 was just curious of everyone's opinions have locked in a 308 tikka and ill go from there no point having a 8 gun safe if your not going to fill it! Haha ill master my 308 over the years and go from there very excited to dive in to this hunting Era!

Tikka has one advantage:

the 308 and 22lr come essentially in the same action and stock. Get the same scope for both and voila you have a great practice rifle that you will likely be able to take to many smallbore ranges, to practice (itll also be great for rabbits and possums), that handles very similarily.

Getting enough practice with a centrefire is just not realistic anymore with the cost of factory ammo AND reloading components

Originally Posted by STC

Tikka has one advantage:

the 308 and 22lr come essentially in the same action and stock. Get the same scope for both and voila you have a great practice rifle that you will likely be able to take to many smallbore ranges, to practice (itll also be great for rabbits and possums), that handles very similarily.

Getting enough practice with a centrefire is just not realistic anymore with the cost of factory ammo AND reloading components

thats very good advice STC and practice makes perfect

You will not be disappointed with a 308. Ideal all round gun from bush hunting out to 4-500 yards it’s more than Capable (once you are) One thing I’d suggest if your are to get a Tikka is to get the bolt done so you have a decent half cock for safety factor whilst learning.

@STC 100% right there mate especially with the cost of ammo when I go in guncity I will have a look at them and look at getting one! @mattstr how do you mean getting the bolt done what do you specifically get done to it?

Originally Posted by STC

Tikka has one advantage:

the 308 and 22lr come essentially in the same action and stock. Get the same scope for both and voila you have a great practice rifle that you will likely be able to take to many smallbore ranges, to practice (itll also be great for rabbits and possums), that handles very similarily.

Getting enough practice with a centrefire is just not realistic anymore with the cost of factory ammo AND reloading components

I have this - both in .308 & .22 for this reason. Great little shooter the .22, knocking over bunnies out to 120 without much trouble and the familiarity aspect is

Originally Posted by joshlidz

@STC 100% right there mate especially with the cost of ammo when I go in guncity I will have a look at them and look at getting one! @mattstr how do you mean getting the bolt done what do you specifically get done to it?

Don't worry about getting a half cock machined on the bolt mate. It's an nz wives tale thing. Just carry the rifle on safe when you need one up the spout and make safe the rest of the time by emptying the chamber like the rest of the world does.

Spend the money on ammo and go practice instead

If you want some help/advice to start reloading, or you just want to yarn about the pros & cons and how it works in person let me know @joshlidz

Originally Posted by Nick-D

Don't worry about getting a half cock machined on the bolt mate. It's an nz wives tale thing. Just carry the rifle on safe when you need one up the spout and make safe the rest of the time by emptying the chamber like the rest of the world does.

Spend the money on ammo and go practice instead

Tikkas half cock are basically non existent. If all you’re doing is walking to your glassing knob and then set up and shoot from there then 100% wouldn’t bother but if you’re doing a lot of active hunting in closer quarters I would look at it. Each to their own but for what money is getting spent the $70 odd dollars is minimal.

As some others have mentioned, my opinion is you would be silly to spend big dollars on your first rifle because i can almost guarantee a year from now it wont be your ideal rifle, likely it will be completely wrong for what you want/need and will just lose money.. As time goes on and you do more hunting and learn more about the sport, your needs will change. What you think is the right rifle for you now may not be what suits your needs best a year from now.

If i was in your position i would purchase whatever you can find thats a good deal. Calibre could be anything from .243 to .308 its really not going to matter that much, as long as you can find good factory ammo for it & its accurate, its going to do the job. Tikka would be a great choice. Get out hunting with it as much as possible. As you progress, you will learn more about what you want/need, depending on the type of hunting your doing & then invest more money accordingly.

Thank you all am sticking with your advise will just be purchasing a cheap 308 and already have a nice vx6 scope and @-BW- that would be great to mate are you manawatu local or?

Yep, Shannon. I'm in and around Palmy fairly often. Also a member of RRGC if you shoot there.

I have to disagree with the idea of buying a second rate rifle then trading up after couple of years. You will learn quicker easier and better with good equipment like the tikka and VX6. In a decade they wont be state of the art but still good. “The man with one gun” is what you want.

With a 22 you can get a servicable gun and scope cheaper eg Norinco JW15 with tasco 4x and it will do the job for marksmanship practice. Working range for hunting with a 22 is 30m not 100 by the way . Rabbits are challenging small targets.