300 Yard Deer Rifle

[patience0830]

Lots of good ideas here. Haunt the gunshops and pawnshops if you have the time. Bargains to be had. It just may take some time invested. I have an old Tikka 595 in .243 that i spent less on than the scope it came with was worth. Just right place/right time . A used single shot H&R in .243 or .308 would serve and leave $ for glass. Savage has been good to me with one notable exception. And i really like the accutrigger.

With that lower in the safe and the price of AR pieces currently, it would be hard to resist building a 6.5 Grendel. .243 WSSM will fit the action too IIRC but would probably break the budget and require some hand loading components.

 

[VERT]

A person can buy a serviceable, new, up to 300 yard hunting rifle for $500. I would stick to .308 or 30-06 for economy and availability. Many of the major manufacturers are offering budget rifles. Savage Axis, Ruger American, Remington 783, Mossberg Patriot all come to mind. Of that group I like the looks and feel of the Ruger American the best, but at around $420 that does not leave room for glass. I have been eyeballing a Savage Axis at Wally World for $269. I see there is a trigger kit available for about $20. As far as glass, Stick with 3-9x40. These are common and tend to be price competitive. Vortex Crossfire or SightTron S1H are serviceable and cost about $150. That leaves roughly $50 for rings.

A Ruger American with above scope and rings would cost about $550 and be ready to go.

To answer the question about those $350 rifle combos. The scopes and rings are pretty bad.

 

[ScouT6a]

F me. I blame it on the phone. The phone blames it on me for not reading the last sentence.

Nevermind...

-Nate

It's all good, brother. Didn't mean to sound snarky. If my post read that way, I apologize.

 

[LarryC]

I like the .243, I purchased a Remington 700 BDL with scope used for $300 about 3 years ago from a private party. The .308 is also a good round and providing you do your part should easily do a 1 shot kill at 300 yards. The recoil is harder for the .308, both are fairly flat shooting - .243 drops about 10" and .308 about 13.5" at 300 yards (both depending on ammo used). I also have several Vortex scopes including the crossfire 2, Diamondback and Viper scopes. All are excellent and in my opinion better than any other for the price. I would discuss the scope power and type with Alan (AAoptics) I feel sure he would help in any way he can.

I collect firearms so have several I feel would be adequate for your purposes but many are above your budget. I have a LR .308 and a Winchester .308 lever action.. The LR is probably more accurate but I have about $1500 with scope. I have a Grendel upper (due at my house tomorrow) to finish up another AR, but again the total cost with scope is quite a bit above your budget. If you are not recoil sensitive a 30-06 would also be a good choice. I also have several Military rifles like the Swiss K-31 (7.5 X 55) and a Swedish Mauser that would work well but neither has many (if any) suitable hunting rounds unless you reload. Actually 300 yards is not a long distance for the .243, .308 or 30-06 and many choices of bolt action rifles are available from Ruger, Savage, T/C and Remington. All of these calibers have many choices of ammo specific for deer. The AR's are fun but in reality the Bolt actions are just as, if not more accurate, and in reality (in my mind) better choices for deer hunting.

 

[slipnotz]

Cabelas has the Savage 12 FV on sale online right now for 369.99 and savage is giving a 100$ rebate until 12-31-17 that's only 269.99 plus tax in the end. That leaves a couple hundred for optics. Or go to the store and get one for the 369.99 with the rebate of 100$ from Savage. They have it in 308 and 6.5 creedmore. I would get the 308. This should fill all your needs.

 

[NKBJ]

Longer range deer rifles typically (though only up to a point) do their work better with larger diameter.
.28 is better than .24 with .30 to .32 being the best balance between atmospheric and terminal ballistics.
Personally I prefer 280 grains of 3/8" diameter wheel weights but hey, I'm not shooting 300 yards!

 

[6mm Shoot]

Last I read in Indiana we are only to use the thirty caliber rounds and rounds with a case shorter than 1.8" with a bullet of 358 or bigger.

Your talking about 243, 6.5s and others. Is this guy being given bad information or am I behind the times again?

 

[ScouT6a]

Last I read in Indiana we are only to use the thirty caliber rounds and rounds with a case shorter than 1.8" with a bullet of 358 or bigger.

Your talking about 243, 6.5s and others. Is this guy being given bad information or am I behind the times again?

You are behind the times, again.
Now we are allowed 6mm/.243 and up rifles.

 

[LarryC]

Last I read in Indiana we are only to use the thirty caliber rounds and rounds with a case shorter than 1.8" with a bullet of 358 or bigger.

Your talking about 243, 6.5s and others. Is this guy being given bad information or am I behind the times again?

Latest information I have found is at these two sites from the DNR: Emergency rule from DNR allows deer hunters to use rifles on public land | FOX59 and:DNR: Deer Hunting Questions & Answers

 

[churchmouse]

Seriously....does anyone in this thread ever take a 300 yard shot on a deer. Just curious as we have issues getting out that far on most private land without serious work clearing/cutting and mowing.

Not read the entire thread so if it has been discussed apology's. Just seems the outside edges of being realistic.

 

[Walking Bear]

I wnet with the Ruger Ranch in 450 bushmaster it handy and since the property I hunt is private it backs up to Hoosier and I wanted a legal caliber for both.

 

[snapping turtle]

Might I throw in a caliber that I think is being overlooked into the mix. The 7mm rem mag.

The only hunter I know that goes out of state very often to hunt big game (and pays a lot to do so) has one big game rifle and it is a 7mm rem mag. He hunts mule deer, Elk, moose has done a couple sheep hunts, pronghorn and all with one rifle. I have shot it at the range (farm land range out to 500 M) a few times and found it to be a great longer range gun. I believe it was sighted two inches high at 100 Meters and that thing shot very flat out to 250 Meters. We shot some longer stuff also but with the targets we were using at 250 Meters (he said place aim top of bullseye.) they shots grouped very well at the bottom of the bullseye. Well enough to in my opinion it was pretty much point and click on deer to 250 Meters.

As as far as flat shooting (got home and looked at ballistic tables.) It was every bit as flat as a 243 and you are running projectiles that were a good 40-55 grains larger with I believe a better ballistic coefficient that the 243. With a one inch high at 100 yard sight in I believe you were talking 10 inch drop at 300 yards with a setup like his sighted two inches high at 200 like I said it should be a paper plate drop at 300 yards and more energy and knockdown power than the 243.

That said aid I have know idea if you can find a 7 mm rem mag in one of the newer cheap bolt actions and keep cost under 500. It is a long actio round. It will cost more to feed it rounds in ammo cost. Follow up shots might be a bit slower as a long action round is a little harder to cycle (this is a petty reason) it will weigh more that most 243’s. I would not call it recoil heavy but I would not call it recoil light. It has a nice sharp kick not a push so I would not recommend if recoil sensitive.

There are few places I can shoot deer 300 yards but my grandmother used a 7mm rem mag one year when I was a teenager to protect her flowers and garden from a pest rogue buck . She shot it out of the kitchen window to the pasture apple trees a good 300-350 yards out. A old farm girl but I never saw her shot a gun in my life. I had to retrieve the deer and land owner tag it for her. If grandma can run a 7mm mag anyone can.

 

[wildcatfan.62]

Just to muddy the waters, I picked up a Ruger American Predator in 6.5 Creedmoor with the Vortex Crossfire II 4x12 scope this year. I changed the rings for $30 and was out the door for $560.00. I've shot out to 700 yards at Youngs Longshot with no problem using Hornady Am. Whitetail 129 gr. picked up for about $21 a box. My son dumped a doe at 160 yards on Saturday at last light. She was quartering away with shot entering the left shoulder, thru the neck and out the left jaw (golfball sized exit hole). She dropped right there, not even a step. My only grip so far is the ammo is not as easy to get as 308 other some other calibers. We looked at the 243, but the 6.5 gives us more range as we're booking an antelope hunt next year.

I do plan on getting with AA to upgrade the scope, but the the max of 250 yards we have with our stands/blinds it works great. Good luck with your choice, a lot of great info here.

 

[phatgemi]

Seriously....does anyone in this thread ever take a 300 yard shot on a deer. Just curious as we have issues getting out that far on most private land without serious work clearing/cutting and mowing.

Not read the entire thread so if it has been discussed apology's. Just seems the outside edges of being realistic.

Member posting in post #15 did a buck out to 362. Pretty long.

 

[churchmouse]

Member posting in post #15 did a buck out to 362. Pretty long.

That is a reach for Indiana depending on here you are and who/what is living around you.

 

[bstewrat3]

Seriously....does anyone in this thread ever take a 300 yard shot on a deer. Just curious as we have issues getting out that far on most private land without serious work clearing/cutting and mowing.

Not read the entire thread so if it has been discussed apology's. Just seems the outside edges of being realistic.

I have seen several permanent elevated hunting structures sitting on the edges of fields along the highways of Indiana. I can only assume they are willing to shoot across them to the opposite wood line.

 

[Woobie]

That is a reach for Indiana depending on here you are and who/what is living around you.

Back when rifles were illegal, I watched a lot of deer walking leisurely out of range. I can think of 3 or 4 properties right now where I could shoot 400+ if I wanted. All the fence rows are gone these days.

 

[two70]

That said aid I have know idea if you can find a 7 mm rem mag in one of the newer cheap bolt actions and keep cost under 500. It is a long actio round. It will cost more to feed it rounds in ammo cost. Follow up shots might be a bit slower as a long action round is a little harder to cycle (this is a petty reason) it will weigh more that most 243’s. I would not call it recoil heavy but I would not call it recoil light. It has a nice sharp kick not a push so I would not recommend if recoil sensitive.

You can certainly find 7mm Mag and even .300 Win Mag in most of the budget rifles (Savage, Ruger, Winchester models for sure) and while recoil should not be a problem for most in a standard rifle, the stocks on those budget rifles are lightweight typically flimsy feeling plastic that does a lot to increase felt recoil. The overall rifles are typically pretty light too making it worse. If one were going to go the magnum route on a budget rifle, it would probably be better to find a nice used rifle with a better stock, IMO. The big 7mm has lost some of it's luster to the current popularity of the 6.5s but it is still a pretty popular round with western hunters.

 

[two70]

Seriously....does anyone in this thread ever take a 300 yard shot on a deer. Just curious as we have issues getting out that far on most private land without serious work clearing/cutting and mowing.

Not read the entire thread so if it has been discussed apology's. Just seems the outside edges of being realistic.

Coming from someone that primarily hunts the thick stuff, I've never had an opportunity past 250 yards and most are well within 150 but even in the thick stuff where I hunt there are places where it would be possible if the deer cooperated. Power line right of ways, pasture/row crop fields, ditch lines and river bottoms are some good examples of areas where 300 yard shots are possible. Think narrow windows, often very narrow, of opportunity for such shots not 360 degrees full surround opportunity at that distance. You kind of have set up for it specifically too from my experience. In any case I suspect the opportunity to shoot a deer that far is much greater than the ability of most people, myself included, to consistently make the shot.

 

[patience0830]

. If grandma can run a 7mm mag anyone can.

Your Granny was a tough old bird and obviously a fan of "use what you have".
But why punish yourself if you don't have to. The 7mm RM punished on both ends. The. 243 is plenty of gun for whitetails, as is the 6.5 Creedmoor and both are more likely to have you practice since you don't have suffer to do it.
Deer are just as dead with less personal self abuse.