So many choices for hunting rifles...

[Bravery]

I'm in the market for a new hunting/general purpose rifle. I initially was thinking of purchasing a 30.06, maybe a Rem700 or Savage 110 but the I started researching .308 and I think I'm headed in that direction now. My issue is that I am A) fairly inexperienced with hunting rifle qualitative reasoning and B) I want a good somewhat multipurpose rifle that I could target with and also take down a deer and around 200 yards. Looks matter a little to me, feel matters most as well as reliability. At the moment I'm really liking the Savage model 10 FCM scout in a .308 but the Howa 1500 in shadow desert camo is also another one that I like. I've only shot an AR10 so as far as long guns go I have no clue where to start. I held a tikka t3 and hated how chinsy it felt, heard bad things about the new (freedom) rem700. My price range is up to 700. Iron sights are a plus (savage 10 scout). Sorry this post is all over. I'm on my cell.
My goals are
1) inexpensive to shoot (relatively speaking)
2) Will take a deer down accurately at 200ish yards
3) Long lasting and have few issues (won't be modding it)
4) Slim trigger
4) no more than 8 lbs bare
I'm up for suggestions. Any advice helps. (BTW don't need anything necessarily bigger for elk have a .300wsm for that)

[scrappy]

The savage you metion is great, but you should look into the Ruger All American in 308. Great buy, well made and generally splendidly accurate. Same goes for the Savage. Get whichever one seems to fit you best.

[Bravery]

The scout?

[Rigger28]

I'm a sucker for weatherbys and thier Vanguard S2 series doesn't dissappoint. For $700 you could get a new .308 and a decent scope. Good luck

[edzz]

Drop in and talk to Ron at River City Pawn in Post Falls he typically has a good selection of deer rifles and can help narrow down your selection. If he doesn't have something in stock he can normally can get it quickly at a fair price. The Ruger and Savage rifles are both well worth looking at.

[scrappy]

The scout?

The All American is a completely different rifle from the Scout. I have a Scout in 308 and it is absolutely fantastic, as well as extremely accurate, but at $900 or so plus optics, its a bit more than you were suggesting spending. The All American is more of a dedicate hunting arm and is very well suited to the task.

[ron]

I think Savage rifles have a lot going for them, They're accurate, reliable and can be upgraded easily with different bolt-face sizes and interchangeable barrels, stocks, anything that you might ever want to do with one of them. And even if you never do, They're easy to service or repair and are known for their xlnt out-of-the-box accuracy which as slowly improved over the years while Remingtons are not as good as they used to be in terms of overall quality and particularly not customer service these days since they ere bought out by "The Freedom Group".

The Howas are good, The Weatherby Vanguards's are the same gun as a Howa but seem to be a little bit better quality, but my recommendation would be to go with the Savage.

[Bravery]

Ok so I went with the savage. tIs a model 10 FCM scout, there is a forum/blog about this gun and its pretty sick. I'm happy with it, especially since its a .308 and the ammo is as low as 13.99 a box for FMJ 150gr. I read that the best projectile to use for most accurate shots would be a 175gr and over. The biggest concerns with this scout is the mag capacity along with the ghost ring/fwd brass pin (round). The blogger said something about making it flat instead of round. Also had a short tutorial on polishing the bolt and ejector, which IMO I like a bit of a stiffer bolt, and essentially over time if will "gall" itself smooth... I know that sounds bad but its metalergically true. I'll probably still polish it. So the gun is black, I put legs on it and now looking at it I'm very tempted to paint it a brush/forest camo that somewhat matches the blind I use on my property. Do any of you have experience in painting patterns?

[Low Trq]

An AR-10 could be your hunting/target rifle.

[DustinJ]

I just watched a couple of youtube videos on it. Went to Wal-Mart and bought tan, green, brown and clear matte spray paints. Tan for the base, brown for the first series of patterns, green for the second and then a couple coats of the clear coat to finish it all off. This was my first camo paint job and I was very impressed on how it turned out.

[roger]

I'm a sucker for weatherbys and thier Vanguard S2 series doesn't dissappoint. For $700 you could get a new .308 and a decent scope. Good luck

+1 I recently picked up a Vanguard S2 in 30.06 and a Vortex scope and couldn't be happier. If you go to White Elephant you have to order it but they sell them for less than anyone else in town.

[ron]

Ok so I went with the savage. tIs a model 10 FCM scout, there is a forum/blog about this gun and its pretty sick. I'm happy with it, especially since its a .308 and the ammo is as low as 13.99 a box for FMJ 150gr. I read that the best projectile to use for most accurate shots would be a 175gr and over. The biggest concerns with this scout is the mag capacity along with the ghost ring/fwd brass pin (round). The blogger said something about making it flat instead of round. Also had a short tutorial on polishing the bolt and ejector, which IMO I like a bit of a stiffer bolt, and essentially over time if will "gall" itself smooth... I know that sounds bad but its metalergically true. I'll probably still polish it. So the gun is black, I put legs on it and now looking at it I'm very tempted to paint it a brush/forest camo that somewhat matches the blind I use on my property. Do any of you have experience in painting patterns?

"I read that the best projectile to use for most accurate shots would be a 175gr and over. "

Don't believe everything that you read. 168 grain projectiles can be very accurate and often times more so than heavier bullets. And it especially depends on the individual rifle and the rate of twist of the barrel. You need to try diferent brands of ammo and see what your rifle likes best. Most people know that 22 rimfire rifles each have a particular brand of ammo that each rifle will shoot best with and one rifle will shoot very well with one brand that another riflw will not. Centerfire rifle are like this to some degree.

Also before you start polishing and modifying things, shoot the rifle as it is first. No sense in taking something that works and "fixing" it so that it doesn't work as well. With the bolt/receiver interface you want a tight fit for best accuracy and sometimes the worst thing you can do is loosening it up by polishing. It's far better to let the parts wear in so that they're a more precise fit.

I've painted patterns using natural foliage as a "stencil" and then going over that with another layer of other leaves and branches and another color. Some people are better at this than I am even though I have an art background. Spray paint holds up surprisingly well as a finish but Mauser 54 here on this forum can do a nice pattern for you in Duracoat. The main thing that you want to do is create the illusion of light and shadow and break up the outline of the gun, so don't be afraid to use plenty of areas of flat black over the colors of natural foliage.

[Blacklion66]

a pre 64 model 70 in 270 cal is hard to beat.

[Flawlessfoose]

a pre 64 model 70 in 270 cal is hard to beat.

I had one in 30-06, and why the hell did I get rid of it

There is a new savage scout released this year at shot show

It's the model 11 scout with a 10rd mag.http://www.gundigest.com/tactical-gear/ ... rifle-shot

[badorderbob]

For the price you are not going to get better than Tikka T3 , period. Nothing wrong with a Remington 700. I have never owned a Savage or a Weatherby, but from what I have read/heard, both good rifles. Don't be cheap on a scope. Most of all just practice shooting. Simple and easy.

[Khavic]

The 7-08 will suit you much better than a .308. Better ballistics with lighter bullets and is very lethal on deer or elk well beyond 200yds. Able to shoot targets beyond 1000yds and offered in all the models by all the manufactures previously mentioned. Look for 9.5 twist barrel or faster and you will not be disappointed.

[scrappy]

Ok so I went with the savage. tIs a model 10 FCM scout, there is a forum/blog about this gun and its pretty sick. I'm happy with it, especially since its a .308 and the ammo is as low as 13.99 a box for FMJ 150gr. I read that the best projectile to use for most accurate shots would be a 175gr and over. The biggest concerns with this scout is the mag capacity along with the ghost ring/fwd brass pin (round). The blogger said something about making it flat instead of round. Also had a short tutorial on polishing the bolt and ejector, which IMO I like a bit of a stiffer bolt, and essentially over time if will "gall" itself smooth... I know that sounds bad but its metalergically true. I'll probably still polish it. So the gun is black, I put legs on it and now looking at it I'm very tempted to paint it a brush/forest camo that somewhat matches the blind I use on my property. Do any of you have experience in painting patterns?

Good choice on a good gun. I dont understand your concern regarding the ghost ring sight. Is it that the apature is large? If so worry not. You will be suprised how accurate such a sight can be. If the round post bothers you after trying it for a bit then contact RLhass on the site here. He can easily correct it in some manner Im sure.
Ron is correct in that you shouldnt place too much faith in general statements regarding best bullets, etc. Rifles are as individual as women, no two will behave exactly the same. With exactly the same loads it is not uncommon for two rifles to behave quite differently. As Ron suggested try several different loads and pic what shoots best and forget what anyone else tells you "should" work.
Yes, the action will smooth itself up over time. Play with it when you have time, just working it a lot. This will get you there without expending ammo.
Do you handload?

[ron]

The 7-08 will suit you much better than a .308. Better ballistics with lighter bullets and is very lethal on deer or elk well beyond 200yds. Able to shoot targets beyond 1000yds and offered in all the models by all the manufactures previously mentioned. Look for 9.5 twist barrel or faster and you will not be disappointed.

I have to disagree on that point but it's a minor disagreement. The 7-08 is a superb hunting cartridge but so is the 308. But if anything both cartridge are very close to being equal and the smaller of the two is not superior to the larger one especially considering the 308 can handle heavier bullets with decent sectional density and ballistic coefficient. The optimum weight for the 308 is 165 grains, the optimum projectile wieght for the 7-08 is 150 grains though most factory ammo is 140.

Both cartridges are known for their accuracy and both have been used competitively in various competitive shooting disciplines.

If I were going to go to a 7mm I'd rather have a 7mm Mauser or .280 rem which can handle 160 grain projectiles that have better sectional density and ballistic coefficient than the 165 grain .308. The 7mm WSM is anothe contender but like the 7mm mauser the only way you're going to find a rifle in those calibers is to build one and both of them really need long actions so in that case a 280 Ackley improved would be a better choice because it feeds better than the WSM which is the ballistic twin of the 280 Rem AI. But all this is splitting hairs and the 308 also has the advantage over the 7-08 with a greater variety of commercial ammo loads and lower cost and greater availability than the 7-08 for factory ammo. If you reload.

[Khavic]

The 7-08 will suit you much better than a .308. Better ballistics with lighter bullets and is very lethal on deer or elk well beyond 200yds. Able to shoot targets beyond 1000yds and offered in all the models by all the manufactures previously mentioned. Look for 9.5 twist barrel or faster and you will not be disappointed.

I have to disagree on that point but it's a minor disagreement. The 7-08 is a superb hunting cartridge but so is the 308. But if anything both cartridge are very close to being equal and the smaller of the two is not superior to the larger one especially considering the 308 can handle heavier bullets with decent sectional density and ballistic coefficient. The optimum weight for the 308 is 165 grains, the optimum projectile wieght for the 7-08 is 150 grains though most factory ammo is 140.

Both cartridges are known for their accuracy and both have been used competitively in various competitive shooting disciplines.

If I were going to go to a 7mm I'd rather have a 7mm Mauser or .280 rem which can handle 160 grain projectiles that have better sectional density and ballistic coefficient than the 165 grain .308. The 7mm WSM is anothe contender but like the 7mm mauser the only way you're going to find a rifle in those calibers is to build one and both of them really need long actions so in that case a 280 Ackley improved would be a better choice because it feeds better than the WSM which is the ballistic twin of the 280 Rem AI. But all this is splitting hairs and the 308 also has the advantage over the 7-08 with a greater variety of commercial ammo loads and lower cost and greater availability than the 7-08 for factory ammo. If you reload.

Congrats to the OP on picking a rifle he likes and will shoot enough to to be proficient when the time comes to make that kill.

I would love me a 280 AI though.....