Thread: Newbie from Dunedin

Hi team.

It's been awesome being a part of this forum, soaking up some of all the (mostly) good advice.
I've got a couple of questions, so i figure an introduction would be a good ice breaker!

My name is Sander, 28 years old.
I'm originally from Denmark and came here for what i though would be a 6-12 month OE.. Now my wife and I are permanent residents and loving NZ more and more every day.

When we first came here, we lived in Dunedin.. We took the opportunity to live in quiet Queenstown during Covid and hastily fled back to Dunedin once the boarders started opening!
We're now living in the Karitane area, loving coastal life..

I'm in the process of getting my firearms license and have spent what feels like an eternity researching what caliber to go with.
I know, i know.. Heaps of good options out there, and very few straight out bad options.

Considering ammo price, availability and selection, external and terminal ballistics, rifles being chambered for it, what sort of hunting i am interested in etc. etc. i have chosen the 270 win.
Feel free to comment on that choice, but i feel like with every other interesting option presented to me, i only feel better about going for a 270 win.

Now here is where it gets confusing.. Recoil.. sure there's heaps of info on "the numbers", free recoil energy, recoil velocity etc. but that only serves to compare between calibers..
If you listen to seasoned hunters and shooter on Youtube etc. they see the 270 win recoil to be quite mild, but they've also been shooting big caliber stuff for decades!
But then i see several people on this forum describing how a 270 kicks like a mule in a light rifle like the Tikka T3's..

I've been doing target shooting on range with a 22LR for sport since i was 10 years old or so.. In other words.. I don't have any experience with real recoil.
I only have one mate in the area who's hunting, and he's got a .308 in a fairly light Bergara (B14 i think), suppressed, which i haven't shot but probably could do some time.

I don't really know any other way of finding out if the 270 recoil is going to work for me, besides buying one and finding out the hard way, and I'm quite keen to buy something decent from the get go.

I plan to go with a light-ish rifle (Tikka T3x, Sako A7, X-bolt etc.) with a suppressor, bipod and 4.5-18 Zerotech scope.
Expected hunting will mostly be deer, goat, sheep for meat, but i also want to have something capable of taking on some bigger animals at decent range.
(also signed up for HUNTS course and will be joining Deerstalkers when i get my firearms license)

So the long and the short of it: do you think i am going to be flinching like a little girl if i get a 270 win?


Bonus question: is buying used a good idea as a novice who wont really know how to judge condition of action and barrel?


I hope combining an introduction and a question in this category is okay, it is my first post.
If anyone in the area is keen to team up with a novice on a hunt (or fish) some day, get in touch, I'm always looking for good company!

Cheers, Sander


TLDR: Is the 270 win (recoil) a good choice for someone completely new to anything bigger than 22LR?