Looking for a new bolt action deer rifle. Any suggestions?

[oldgun]

I'm looking at Ruger, Savage and Remington rifles. Any experiences are much appreciated.

I have caliber narrowed to 308, 30-06, or 300 winmag. Any suggestion here?

My preference is blue/wood.

Also, feel free to share any info about other brands. From the expense standpoint I'll probably avoid FN/Winchester, Blaser, and Weatherby.

[Pa. Patriot]

Need more details.

"Deer hunting" is not a specific enough role of the gun, IMO, to give good advice to you.

Where do you usually hunt? Location (Pa., etc) terrain, temps, weather/climate.

What kind of deer hunting do you do? Remote?, drives, stand 100ft from the road, 12 mile hike and camp out for the weekend, stand over beanfields, forest?

[oldgun]

Where do you usually hunt? Location (Pa., etc) terrain, temps, weather/climate.

PA, Washington County, terrain is hilly, open farmland in some areas and a lot of jaggers in other areas. Typical PA weather.

What kind of deer hunting do you do? Remote?, drives, stand 100ft from the road, 12 mile hike and camp out for the weekend, stand over beanfields, forest?

Park, walk in half mile (depends), sometimes move, sometimes sit. Sometimes have a pusher, sometimes do the pushing.

It doesn't need to be that specific though. I'm looking more for first hand, in the field, experiences as it relates to the gear. Considering this is a PA forum I didn't expect a response from someone who hunts mule dear in Colorado so it should be pretty much in line with the same weather/terrain/etc as I experience but I'm happy to keep the discussion more open ended if need be.

[Plain Old Bill]

Savage in .30-06. Cheap, reliable, accurate as heck. Get some good glass on top- Leupold or Burris, maybe. Incredible range of ammo to choose from.
Second choice- Ruger in 308 or 30-06.
Third choice- maybe a Win. Ranger Model 70, nothing fancy.

You need something handy for in close, and something capable of reaching out with across a field. My closest shot over the years was seven yards (the scope was one big brown blur, lucky I had Millett scope sights on...these take the place of the tops of your scope rings and look like pistol sights) and the longest was 300+ (had all the time in the world on a dead calm day).

[DCChris]

I'm in the same boat and leaning heavily toward a Savage 110 in 30-06. Everything I've read says its a winner.

[TonyF]

I have caliber narrowed to 308, 30-06, or 300 winmag. Any suggestion here?

Magnum calibers suffer from accelerated throat erosion. You don't need a magnum for deer.

My preference is blue/wood.

Also, feel free to share any info about other brands. From the expense standpoint I'll probably avoid FN/Winchester.

Avoid Winchester?

IMHO, the winchester model 70 classic featherweight in .308 is the ideal deer rifle. In fact, it's light weight and the controlled feed mauser extractor make it the ideal rifle.

[WVneighbor]

You can't go wrong with a Savage.

I bought my 110 (.270) about a year ago. I've put around 500 rounds through it, a mixed lot of waaay too expensive ($60 for a box of 20) and extremely cheap ammo ($14 for a box of 20), and have yet to have a single problem. Except for a sore shoulder after one afternoon.

I've seen 100 yd accuracy down to dime sized 5 shot groups and have shot quarter sized 5 shot groups myself, consistently, with the cheap federal ammo.

For around $630 you can get a nice, straight shooting rifle and a "fair" quality scope. Mine came with a Simmons Blazer 3-9x40 scope mounted and boresighted and a basic leather sling. The scope is on the low end of the scale, but is a good starting place until you decide what you eventually want to put on it. I chose the package deal because I didn't want to dick around with trying to choose between the different scopes, I wanted something I could take out of the box, and head to the range with. Down the road I will probably get a better scope, but for now, the Simmons has done everything I've asked of it and has given me no problems.

The Accu-Trigger is great. Mine is set (factory setting) at about 4lbs or so, but if I wanted I could back it down to 1.5. There is no creep, no over-travel, just a nice clean, crisp break.

I also opted for the wood/blue and I'm satisfied with the appearance of the gun itself. It has nice checkering on the forestock and grip, nothing fancy, but it does what its supposed to.

Overall I'd say it was money well spent and if I had to do it all over again, I'd do the exact same thing. Except for buying that $60 a box ammo, WTF was I thinking???

[Pocat6]

Kar98 and a reproduction scope on it. If your not familiar with this gun it shoots 8mm mauser bullers which caliber would be .323

[Karys]

I picked up a Remington 700 SPS a few years ago and I'm real happy with it.

The barrel and action looks parkerized and the stock is black synthetic. I think Remington came out with the SPS to have a less expensive rifle in their line to compete with Savage.

[Pocat6]

my bro has a r700. he tried sighting it in and hes got it all the way to the left on the adjust knob, and it still shoots right, we changed the rings twice, and tried two scopes.