Thread: Hunting rifle

Originally Posted by Bagheera

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.

man..you need to get out more..30mtrs for rabbits!!!! I shoot them further than that with the shotgun...now 60-75 is about my personal limit these days with .22lr as dont get it out often but when your using it a lot 100mtrs is perfectly doable.
and after a couple of years you dont trade up...you KEEP the cheaper first rifle for wet days,loaner to mate hunting with you...etc etc the OP says he has 6k to spend....... already has scope sorted.....plenty of VERY good rifles come up on here around the grand mark would do 90% of all the hunting most folks will ever do with ease..... the other 10% will wait till the training wheels are off.

Agreed Micky.. where do people get these ideas from?

30 meters effective range for a 22LR? Good heavens no!

Things a bit quieter for us in Canterbury last few years - biggest tally last year for an evening shoot plus couple morning hours was 403 rabbits. However prior to that for many years we were shooting by tens of thousands - over 1000 an evening at times. In heavy consistent shooting like this you put real pressure on the rifle makes, optics, ammo types, truck setups, night lights etc - and under max duress you learn what gear work best. Ours were all basic but extremely effective arms - Norinco, Savage, Marlin, CZ etc. Our average distance shot was 70m, our 22LRs all shot in for 75, and we would all expect to drop the bunnies at 100m. And did - by the thousands. Bench test the rifles well, tune them, precise ammo choice, then from bipod or truck 100m is no problem. No random opinion here - this is what we've done for years.

And you do not need to go buying top end rifles, optics - at all. I've had getting on for 100 rifles/shotguns - some very expensive ones for competition and field use, many medium price makes, and many cheapies. They've all been thoroughly worked on range and in field. The fact is for standard barrel 22 or centrefire sporters that price is often an indicator of build quality, but is not necessarily of accuracy. Of huge number of 22s I benched, the most accurate were not expensive arms but rifles that cost me $2-300. That makes for precision field shooters. And with the centrefires the medium price rifles can be excellent off the bench and consistently lethal in the field. My present 223 for example is a Howa with a $300 Mueller scope on it. With factory Fiocchi ammo it shoots 0.4 - 0.8" groups on the bench, with a worst ever 5 shot group of 0.9". Worst! And it is absolutely deadly in the field.

No problem to spend more on a name rifle. Can be fun - but is it necessary - no. The main hunting criteria is how effectively your rifle fulfills the field shooting task. Precision for the purpose.

Originally Posted by mudgripz

Agreed Micky.. where do people get these ideas from?

30 meters effective range for a 22LR? Good heavens no!

Things a bit quieter for us in Canterbury last few years - biggest tally last year for an evening shoot plus couple morning hours was 403 rabbits. However prior to that for many years we were shooting by tens of thousands - over 1000 an evening at times. In heavy consistent shooting like this you put real pressure on the rifle makes, optics, ammo types, truck setups, night lights etc - and under max duress you learn what gear work best. Ours were all basic but extremely effective arms - Norinco, Savage, Marlin, CZ etc. Our average distance shot was 70m, our 22LRs all shot in for 75, and we would all expect to drop the bunnies at 100m. And did - by the thousands. Bench test the rifles well, tune them, precise ammo choice, then from bipod or truck 100m is no problem. No random opinion here - this is what we've done for years.

And you do not need to go buying top end rifles, optics - at all. I've had getting on for 100 rifles/shotguns - some very expensive ones for competition and field use, many medium price makes, and many cheapies. They've all been thoroughly worked on range and in field. The fact is for standard barrel 22 or centrefire sporters that price is often an indicator of build quality, but is not necessarily of accuracy. Of huge number of 22s I benched, the most accurate were not expensive arms but rifles that cost me $2-300. That makes for precision field shooters. And with the centrefires the medium price rifles can be excellent off the bench and consistently lethal in the field. My present 223 for example is a Howa with a $300 Mueller scope on it. With factory Fiocchi ammo it shoots 0.4 - 0.8" groups on the bench, with a worst ever 5 shot group of 0.9". Worst! And it is absolutely deadly in the field.

No problem to spend more on a name rifle. Can be fun - but is it necessary - no. The main hunting criteria is how effectively your rifle fulfills the field shooting task. Precision for the purpose.

100% agree, 30 meters effective range !!!! , . With a half descent .22 you should be shooting 70 meters with ease . A bit of practice and getting to know your rifle / scope / ammo combo then 100 meters plus .

Decent springer air rifle 30m, head shots.

@mudgripz
You illustrate my point.
Someone who has shot thousands of bunnies, bench tested rifles, precisely verified ammo, owned and thoroughly worked 100 rifle/shotgun is in a position to sight in at 75 and shoot around 100m with a 22LR.

What rangefinders did you use at 70-100m and are there techniques to using them in the light ?