Thinking about buying a new deer rifle.

[WildBill]

fishman it doesn't matter how good the the gun looks in a good looking case if it don't shoot good. The high dollar price of gun does not neccessarily mean that it shoots well. A good looking wood stocked rifle is subject to the vagaries of weather concerning accuracy, unless you put more money into it to accurize it. Wood is subject to swelling and shrinking with humidity changes and will change your point of impact unless you free float the bbl and do a few other things to it. Synthetic stocked rifles are not subject to this as much.

Buy a synthetic stocked rifle from whatever company and put good rings and mounts topped by a good scope on it and shoot the heck out of it. Pay at least 60% to 75% cost of the rifle on the scope. More good rifles have been wasted by cheap scopes than cheap rifles ruined by expensive scopes.

Just my opinion from years of shooting and plenty of mistakes on my part.

I own three Remington 700s and they are great rifles - they are all 60-70s vintage. My most accurate rifle is a .222Rem with a "varmint barrel". It has a gorgeous vintage walnut stock which has cracked, obviously not from excess recoil. I agree with Sidro that a synthetic stock is a wise choice.

[Beiruty]

I have this scope on my Tikka T3. I can lay 5-rds in same the hole at 100 yrds.
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The scope is an accessory. Is it the Tikka T3, the scope or you?

1) It is hand-loaded round, a Premium SKM bullet
2) It is Tikka T3, 1-MOA rifle.
3) It is Bushnell Elite with 30X magnification
4) It is Tulley solid base
5) It is Zeroed in an indoor 100-yrd lane.
6) It is the target with Orange over black.
7) It is the use of Bipod on solid bench.
8) It is the shooter.

It is all the above. Yeah, the shooter in 8) needs all the help he can afford to get a sweet grouping. The hand load finally did the trick.

[The Annoyed Man]

4 rounds into 3/8" at 100 yards.

A $831 rifle, a $535 scope, and a 78¢ handload.

.....oh, and an aging shooter with questionable eyesight. Proof that you neither have to be Superman nor invest a large sum of money in order to get good accuracy, if you're just patient and make good purchasing decisions. This one's a Remington, not a Tikka, with a 14X Leupold scope, not a 30X Bushnell, mounted in Leupold rings and bases, not a solid mount; shot from a bipod, outdoors not indoors, with other shooters on either side of me, banging away at their targets.

My point is not to knock Beiruty's choices—they are all good solid choices. My point is that there are lots of good choices, across a broad price range, and in different brands, that will all get you good results if you do your part. Shooting is like driving. A truly great driver can wring more performance and handling out of a Honda Civic than an average driver can get out of a Corvette. If you work on your shooting skills, you'll get more out of your rifle. And, just like a razor sharp high performance car can make a sloppy driver look bad, a highly accurate rifle will do the same thing to a mediocre shooter who lacks skill and patience. . . . . . .after all, the rifle is just shooting to where you actually pointed it (not where you think you pointed it).

Edited to add: I don't think I am a truly great shooter, by the way. I'm an average shooter who has been blessed with a rifle that seems to have good inherent accuracy, and I have been learning over the years to try and meet what it is capable of, with a modicum of decent results. But it will still shoot better than I am able to shoot it.

[Beiruty]

My deer rifle:

[WildBill]

I like my rifles to be very accurate, but the OP is about buying a deer rifle. If you can afford it and want it go for it, but IMO you don't need an expensive scope for that kind of accuracy. I still have a 4X Weaver on my Remington .308Win. My .222Rem has a 24X Unertl target scope.

Beiruty and TAM - what power do you use when shooting a 100 yards?

[jmra]

I like my rifles to be very accurate, but the OP is about buying a deer rifle. If you can afford it and want it go for it, but IMO you don't need an expensive scope for that kind of accuracy. I still have a 4X Weaver on my Remington .308Win. My .222Rem has a 24X Unertl target scope.

Beiruty and TAM - what power do you use when shooting a 100 yards?

Not Beiruty or TAM, but my deer rifles have 3x9x50 Nikon Prostaff scopes. This scope has worked well in low light and the max magnification is great for estimating width and size of rack. Otherwise the lower magnification allows wider view in case a larger animal comes into view just before a shot. Can't see needing anything "better" for 200yds and under.

[Beiruty]

For my eyes 14X to 24X seens what I use most for target shooting.

[The Annoyed Man]

Beiruty and TAM - what power do you use when shooting a 100 yards?

When I used the Leupold 4.5-14, I spent most of the time at 10X because it was a second focal plane scope, and 10X is where the subtensions on the reticle were valid for measuring/ranging.

The 5-20X SWFA scope was formerly mounted on my AR10. At 100 yards with that rifle, I used 20X as a "spotting scope", and usually either 5X or 10X to shoot with. Kinda depends on how bleary my eyes are on that day. It's a first focal plane scope, so it doesn't really matter what magnification you use.

[fishman]

Sorry, I've been out of town for a couple of days. I want a wood stock for the wood grain, it's a personal thing I guess. I'm not going to get into the caliber debate, my mind is made up after a lot of thought about it, and I'm not entertaining that thought anymore. The last part is the scope, and I'm thinking of a 50mm, but I need to look at them more. I have been bow hunting for over thirty years, and never wanted a deer rifle until now.

[The Annoyed Man]

Sorry, I've been out of town for a couple of days. I want a wood stock for the wood grain, it's a personal thing I guess. I'm not going to get into the caliber debate, my mind is made up after a lot of thought about it, and I'm not entertaining that thought anymore. The last part is the scope, and I'm thinking of a 50mm, but I need to look at them more. I have been bow hunting for over thirty years, and never wanted a deer rifle until now.

There's always a place for a wood stock, so long as you don't mind that it might get dinged up a bit over the years. If I can make another recommendation..... Savage has some reasonably priced kit rifles in various calibers, with wood stocks, and a pre-mounted and factory boresighted scope of reasonable magnification. That might be something worth looking into also.

[WildBill]

Sorry, I've been out of town for a couple of days. I want a wood stock for the wood grain, it's a personal thing I guess. I'm not going to get into the caliber debate, my mind is made up after a lot of thought about it, and I'm not entertaining that thought anymore. The last part is the scope, and I'm thinking of a 50mm, but I need to look at them more. I have been bow hunting for over thirty years, and never wanted a deer rifle until now.

I also like wood. For me, the aesthetics of a firearm are important to me. It's a personal thing I guess.

A wooden stock with a nice grain is a beautiful piece of nature. I even have wooden grips on some of my handguns. Not my EDC, but others.

I would buy a 50mm, mostly because my old eyes need all the light they can get.

[Wes]

Mines a 50 too, well worth it.

[fishman]

Dings on the wood will be character, although I won't put notches on the stock for kills. The only ones I've seen so far have a dark stained wood, I really want a lighter stain. Just need to keep looking.

[The Annoyed Man]

I like the look of a nice wooden stock too, but not for a rifle that's going to get knocked around a bit. My RGS has a laminated wood stock, and it is actually quite attractive; but even that one is better able to resist the effects of weather than a standard wood stock.

One of these days though, I'm going to buy a nice lever rifle in either .30-30 or .45-70, and I'll spend enough to make sure it has a nice wood stock.

[WildBill]

Dings on the wood will be character, although I won't put notches on the stock for kills. The only ones I've seen so far have a dark stained wood, I really want a lighter stain. Just need to keep looking.

Good luck. I have never seen a factory Remington 700 with a light colored stock.