Best Deer Hunting Rifle?
by admin on Wednesday, July 28th, 2010 | 8 Comments
Hello, I live in Southern Michigan and I’m wondering what’s the best white tail deer hunting rifle is. This would be my first rifle hunting medium game, I had a Ruger 10/22 for four years now and I’ve hunt small game and used it a lot, now I’m interested in medium game and see how good deer taste. Here some charastics I’m looking for.
-Has to be chambered in .308
-Has to be reliable
-Has to be under or at $600
Thank you.
Yes, I’m going up North, what I meant was I live in the lower peninsula.
$640 would be fine, basically anything that’s $700 and above isn’t.
You are going to hunt up north right? You can only use shotguns in the southern part of Michigan. You have to go north to use rifles.
Here is a map that shows the zones.
Savage Model 11 .308
Remington 700 in .308. there are some below $600 and the 700 is considered one of the most accurate rifles
I’m going to mention a newer Savage design, the 11BTH. This rifle can be had in .308, and has a laminated thumbhole stock. I like thumbhole stocks because you can get a near perfect cheek weld when sighting through the scope, and a comfortable reach to the trigger. Sorry, price is usually about $640.
Its not .308 but I will tell you this it is probably the best deer gun out there. Remington ADL .27, they also have it in .308 but honestly you dont need such a big caliber thats something you would use for elk and moose. Comes with a fantastic scope as well and runs for just around 559.99. Check it on cabelas.com
Take it from me best deer rifle possible.
I was raised in Grand Rapids and hunted with a .308 Remington “up north” around Cadillac back when. MJ (as usual) gives you a great recommendation. I have a slightly different take on a great shooting, very durable rifle: the Savage 16/116 Weather Warrior. I know what kind of junk you can get for deer season weather at times. Freezing rain and snow melting on metal is a rifle’s enemy. The Weather Warrior is made for your climate. See for pricing; most under $650.
See Chuck Hawks’ tips on all-weather rifles at .
You might want to consider a Weatherby Vanguard. They come in 308 are available in stainless, are priced under $600 and are guaranteed to shoot 1.5″ or better MOA at 100 yards with premium ammo.
I would go with a Ruger M77 All Weather stainless synthetic. The weather up there is hard on wood and blued steel. The Ruger has an excellent scope mount system. It comes with rings, which saves you $50-100 in mounting a scope.
I would avoid thumbhole stocks. They don’t work well with gloves.