Thread: First Rifle choices,

Hey Team, I'm on the lookout for a first rifle, however everyone has a different say and it's driving me bonkers. I've been into nearly all hunting shops in Canterbury and not one have had the same say about a rifle. I'm pretty stuck on .270 for an all rounder but branding of gun is all over the show. Cheap side was Mossberg Patriot (new) but have been told I would be better to take nothing if that's the case, so starting looking at second hand Savage Axis (Gun city) but then others saying might aswell start looking at a new rifle and don't touch them from Gun city. What's the go? I've seen a Begara B14 .243 for 1199 (new but starting to get out of budget) and then that goes and changes calibre and I feel it's just starting to get on the small side. What's people opinions? I don't have access to the Buy/sell/swap on here yet so haven't browsed that yet. Any opinions would be appreciated so I can get a better picture of what's out there. Cheers

I just had a look at the GC trademe listings. They are at the high end of value verse condition. Im presuming you are on a 1000 dollar budget. Here's a few in your region worth looking at.
https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/marketpl...ing/5554503502

Not a 270, but very close performance wise.
https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/marketpl...ing/5552388999

Again not 270 but common ammo and very close.
https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/marketpl...ing/5554504387

And good value for money that would see you completely set up.
https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/marketpl...ing/5546354308


On this site. @Broughton92 has a suitable rifle for sale. Ive mentioned him so that maybe he can find a way to contact you.

270 is an awesome calibre. It's my favourite. But what reason are you set on one? At the price range you are looking at, Id widen my scope a bit and try get a good second hand rifle in a range of calibres from 6.5 up to 308.
The BRNO above is an older rifle, but if the barrel is good condition, then my experience has been they tend too shoot well.

When buying your first rifle there are in my opinion three criteria.
1 Rifle fit
2 Calibre
3 Brand
Go into your local gun shop and try different makes and models, practice mounting the rifle with your eyes closed then open them and see where the sights or scope is. Some brands just feel right and some don't.
Don't get too hung up on caliber as most ot them will do the job. As a new hunter you will only be shooting shorter distances and if an animal is over 150 meters away get closer.
Every brand has its positives and negatives, buy a rifle in your price range, put a good second hand scope on it and try and wear it out by hunting.

Sorry Themounthunter, just gonna check something. Do you have a history of shooting already eg, with an air rifle, or a .22?. If so, good on ya, a 270 will work just fine.
If not, I'm gonna make things more complicated by suggesting that you need to learn to shoot first.

It's far cheaper pulling the trigger of a 22 than a 270.

And if you're hunting a deer/ wallaby/ pig, it helps to be able to bowl it with the first shot.

I’ll get shot but buy a tikka plain Jane but they work and if it’s not suppressed I wouldn’t go 270 something a bit smaller for a first gun


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Originally Posted by buzzmann

I’ll get shot but buy a tikka plain Jane but they work and if it’s not suppressed I wouldn’t go 270 something a bit smaller for a first gun


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My first rifle was an unsuppressed .270, no worries.
Just recommend keeping earplugs on hand haha.

Tikka T3 in .270

Suppressed

Feed it adi2217 and 145 eldx or 140 nbt.

In my opinion the caliber is less of an issue than rifle fit.
Find something that fits you, feels nice in the hand and is affordable, preferably suppressed.
Its a real buyers market with so many quality options at real good prices.

The 6.5x55 or Creed, 270, 7/08, 308, 25-06 and so on are all going to have reasonable ballistics, good availability and well priced quality ammo.

Theirs a tikka elite on here in .270 that’s being price dropped to $1000 with everything you need

Buy something that is guaranteed to shoot, without you having to try 20 different ammo brands (at 70+ per box) - tikka fits that bill. But there are others nowadays

A proper known to shoot well rifle is far cheaper than something that does not shoot and forces you to tinker around with it.

More important is a scope (stay away from ranger) - plenty of decent and affordable options out there. Leupold, burris even give warranty on second hand ones.

And proper rings (stay away from gun$hittys and h&fs cheap rings, they are trash). Talleys are a good affordable option.

Originally Posted by Kelton

Theirs a tikka elite on here in .270 that’s being price dropped to $1000 with everything you need

Sounds like the perfect option for him.

Yes, I've been shooting for years. .270 is what I've been using so far (borrowing a mates rifle) . Ive used .243 aswell but again just felt wasn't big enough. I'll be going for big reg stage, so .270 is what I thought would be best and I was comfortable with. Cheers

That does sound like a perfect option, I'm hoping the buy sell page pops up sometime shortly so I can view it. Tikka was an option I'm commonly told to get, but new was out of price. It will be something I'll be interested in looking at

Be careful about those gun city specials, apparently that bergara lot were duds.

Before picking your caliber consider picking your barrel length and range first although 270 is basically the second best caliber anyway.

edit: if you check used centerfire listings on trademe in Canterbury about 4x a day every now and then a nice deal comes up, lasts a couple hours before someone hits buy now. Make that a habit of you're on a budget. Also enter -NOT "city"- (without the dashes) to get rid of the used gun city slop

https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/marketpl...ing/5547651530

Consider this. Price out the scope, rings and suppressor that you'd add to a bare rifle