Mossy Oak Forum / Hunting / Rifle Range / Need help choosing a deer rifle / Latest Posts

RE: Need help choosing a deer rifle

justsay937 — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 20:20:42 GMT

Let us know how the test runs go. I'm interested in the accuracy of the T/C in .25-06.

RE: Need help choosing a deer rifle

jj127 — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 21:07:56 GMT

that is what matters the most. that you like the gun! the rest will fall into place with practice! good hunting!

RE: Need help choosing a deer rifle

kendallmartin — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 18:22:33 GMT

Thanks for all your in put. I actually just bought the 25-06 encore. It's just preference, but i like the 25-06 better. For some reason it has just stuck with me. The .243 is a good gun though. I did not look at the Tikka a whole lot. I had sort of settled on the encore and since i had never heard of the tikka brand i did not look into it as much(I did not see your post Jeff before I bought mine). I am happy with what i got though.

RE: Need help choosing a deer rifle

camskipper — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 18:59:04 GMT

You can put a good scope on a cheap gun but never put a cheap scope on a good gun.My saying.You should also consider a .243 they are great for deer and yotes.

RE: Need help choosing a deer rifle

jj127 — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 11:21:51 GMT

you asked about the tikka. this is one of the best deals of any rifle on the market. i personally own one and you cannot go wrong with it. they are tack drivers. smooth action, great trigger. mine will clover 3 different brands of ammo. honestly it shoots better than my steyr. i have owned a vanguard to. it was a good rifle but after the first 3 shots when the barrel got warm it would do good to hold 3 shots on paper. i know hot barrels cause groups to open but ive never owned another rifle that opened up like it did. once i finally got the scope zeroed it was good to go because how many shots you going to take at deer? lol i've owned a encore too. it was a awesome shooting gun. my only complaint with it was the trigger. my local gunsmith wouldnt touch it. i dont know if this was just him or if they are that hard to work. i also have a ruger m77 in 25.06 (not a hawkeye) after a trigger job its a awesome rifle. it all comes down to what you feels fits you best and your wallet can afford. you pretty much cant go wrong with any gun your considering. BUY THE BEST SCOPE you can. this is probably more important than which gun you buy. sorry for being long winded. just my opinion and experiences i'm sure others have different ones.
jeff

RE: Need help choosing a deer rifle

kendallmartin — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 13:45:13 GMT

I know you think a lot about the 257. weatherby, but i don't think i can cut it. I want to go with the encore because it will give me more options later on. sorry about that.

RE: Need help choosing a deer rifle

ZachByron — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 12:01:22 GMT

Your killin' me man

RE: Need help choosing a deer rifle

kendallmartin — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 00:34:53 GMT

He lives up in Nevada about a 9 hour drive from here. I don't get to see him that much.

RE: Need help choosing a deer rifle

ZachByron — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 00:09:40 GMT

Oh man, I could be wrong, but didnt you mention that you had a friend that reloaded? Becuase if so, even if you paid him 5-10 bucks for reloading 50-100 bullets for you, you would be getting ultra premium ammo and would be shooting arguably the best .25 caliber round you can find! You never know when you are gonna want that extra energy and speed, especially on the shot of a lifetime...haha...but in all honesty, think hard about that!

RE: Need help choosing a deer rifle

kendallmartin — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 23:25:34 GMT

I know i really like the vanguard accuracy and price, but since i do not handload that ammo will make me pay over $100 before i know it. I was really considering it because of the price but that ammo is expensive. I knew that before i was thinking of getting it but i hadn't looked into it as much. Now i am considering the 25-06 in the encore. If i would be handloading i would get it for sure. For the price of the vanguard and the accuracy you get with it that is really hard to beat though.

RE: Need help choosing a deer rifle

ZachByron — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 22:19:46 GMT

Well, I found you a gun man, Weatherby Vanguard in a .257 Weatherby Mag. for synthetic and blued barrel runs 439.99 while a stainless is 479.99, they all come with a target shot from the factory with that gun, and I gotta tell you, the ones I looked at today, all the bullet holes were touching, and that is from 100 yards. Some may say thats normal, but when you can have similar groups out to 300 and just a little more spread at 400, for a great gun at a price like that, you really cant go wrong. Hope this helps you out a little more man. Im glad to see your considering the .257, with the 100 grain bullets, they have enough energy to turn the lungs of a 500 lb. animal into pea soup.

RE: Need help choosing a deer rifle

kendallmartin — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 18:09:31 GMT

Thanks a lot for the info. i am seriously considering the 257. mag, but any other suggestions would be helpful also.

RE: Need help choosing a deer rifle

ZachByron — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 00:28:02 GMT

Well you know my opinion of the .257 Weatherby mag, there is another .257, but the weatherby is gonna have the most velocity and energy. HOWA makes the vanguard for Weatherby, so they are comparable, and for the money they are great guns.

RE: Need help choosing a deer rifle

kendallmartin — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 23:40:01 GMT

I got to cabelas today. I looked at some different guns including the tc and the hawkeye rifles. I then looked at the weatherby vanguard. I really liked it and it was priced good. The ammo though i do think would be hard to find. I think you can also get it in the tikka brand. I am not familiar with that gun. Could anybody give me an idea of what it would be like comparing it to the vanguard. What do you all think about the 257. mag.

RE: Need help choosing a deer rifle

bucky2882 — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 17:52:41 GMT

oh i'm not offended, and i'm sorry if it sounded like i was, i was just saying that there is quite a few places that carry 25-06. but ya i could definately see that happening where people forget stuff and the nearest place to get it is a couple hours away. and that is a good thing to look into is the availability of ammo for your new rifle. like i said in my last post it may just be a south dakota thing too.

RE: Need help choosing a deer rifle

MadJack — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 16:33:46 GMT

I did not intend to offend anyone's choice of caliber. As a guide, I have seen my share of folks showing up at camp and forgetting their ammo or bumping their scope and having a hard time sighting in. The nearest Walmart to that camp was two hours away and they carried the "standard" shells but were still limited.

All I'm saying is think about availability of the shells your new rifle will shoot.

RE: Need help choosing a deer rifle

bucky2882 — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 12:00:35 GMT

MadJack in reference to your post i shoot a 25-06 and have had no problem finding ammo for it. i usually buy it from cabelas but have bought it from walmart, runnings farm and fleet, k-mart. but maybe its just a south dakota thing, but i doubt it, i worked at walmart last summer and every store pretty much has alot of the same stuff so i'm sure any walmart with a gun section will have 25-06 rounds.

RE: Need help choosing a deer rifle

MadJack — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 04:44:05 GMT

One thing to remember BEFORE YOU BUY A GUN.........

Will you be able to go into any general store or sporting goods store and buy ammo off the shelf????

You can do that some places with the 25-06 but not so with most Weatherby products. Better to stick with 7MM-08, 7MM Mag, .308, or the 30-06. These four cartridges also give the the best range of bullet weights so that one rifle WILL do for different game species.

And remember that Hornaday has not only "super-loads" with a great selection of premium bullets, but also "reduced-recoil" loads that will save your shoulder if you're shooting a hundred woodchucks a day.

If you really WANT a 25-06......BUY IT and make damn sure anyplace you travel to hunt, you take at least three boxes of ammo in three different pieces of luggage!
Any difference in BRAND OR BULLET WEIGHT will affect point-of-impact greatly.

Good luck and have fun with whatever you choose!

RE: Need help choosing a deer rifle

ZachByron — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 00:13:14 GMT

right, i was just speaking if you could get your rounds hand loaded, cuz its a hell of a gun if you dont have to worry about paying 50 bucks for a box of bullets. You can get 50 bullets loaded for about 28 bucks!!! That price is hard to beat, but as I said either will work, it just depends on if you can get your loads hand loaded, if not, the 25-06 will be just fine, just for the extra "umph" that .257 weatherby is prime time!

RE: Need help choosing a deer rifle

kendallmartin — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 23:53:08 GMT

I really like the ballistics on it. But all the ammo I seen for it was pretty expensive. I could find cheaper ammo for the 25-06, but I aggree with you I really like the ballistics on it.

RE: Need help choosing a deer rifle

kendallmartin — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 23:43:02 GMT

I messed up i was comparing a 257 Roberts not a 257 weatherby that was a mistake i made.

RE: Need help choosing a deer rifle

kendallmartin — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 23:23:17 GMT

I don't reload my cartridges I have thought about doing it sometime though. I have some friends that do it though. I went onto federals website and compared 25-06 ammo to 257 ammo. I had a 117 grain in the 25-06 and 120 grain in the 257. I then compared the two and it came out that the 25-06 had more energy the whole way. Do you just get more energy with handloads. I don't know much about it.

RE: Need help choosing a deer rifle

ZachByron — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 23:07:22 GMT

You really cant go wrong with the 25-06, it shoots flat and chambers well(compared to the .25 short mag). If you can afford it, I would definitely go with the .257 weatherby mag, just for the fact that it has a higher velocity and carries energy further than any other .25 caliber gun. It is also one of the fastest rounds to get to 500 yards. If you reload your own rounds, DEFINITELY go with the .257, but if you dont plan on doing a ton of shooting, the .25-06 would be adequate.

RE: Need help choosing a deer rifle

bucky2882 — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 22:54:22 GMT

I shoot a Remington model 700 BDL 25-06 and its been an amazing gun. I use it for everything (except coyotes i use a .223 cheaper ammo) but i have used it for coyotes. I go mule deer hunting every year and have had no problem with it not being strong enough. It is definately a very flat shooting gun, I also used it to drop an elk at 300 yards. I have a buddy who shoots a tika 25-06 and thats a nice gun for a great price, bolts really nice too right out of the box. If i were you i would definately go with the 25-06, probably one of the most versatile rifle's made.

RE: Need help choosing a deer rifle

kendallmartin — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 14:33:37 GMT

In your opinion I like the 308. also, but isn't the 25-06 a little flatter shooting. I might be wrong. How do you like the m77 Hawkeye, does it work good for you.

RE: Need help choosing a deer rifle

FL_Cracker — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 11:16:50 GMT

I've got a Ruger m77 Hawkeye in .308. Works great on deer and coyotes. That's the best caliber for a m77 in my opinion....

RE: Need help choosing a deer rifle

kendallmartin — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 22:31:54 GMT

I agree with you. I like the encore because you can change barrels. It is cheaper for me than buying another gun if i need a bigger gun. The only draw back is that it is a single shot. I don't mind that for deer but for coyotes I would prefer a bolt action. When I get to Cabelas I will do some looking around. I'll send some pics. when I get one.

RE: Need help choosing a deer rifle

CharlesB — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 17:34:28 GMT

Coyote and mule deer. The 25-06 will be the ticket, although some will believe it is a little light for the mule deer. The heavy for caliber bullets will do the trick. The TC will give you more options if you later decide you want a different caliber or muzzle loader.

Need help choosing a deer rifle

kendallmartin — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 17:08:17 GMT

I got a Mule Deer tag this season and since it is my first time I need to get a gun. I have been looking at different calibers and I kind of like the 25-06, any suggestions would be helpful. I want a caliber that would work good on both Mule Deer and coyotes. As for a gun I have been looking at the T/C Encore and The Ruger M77 Hawkeye. I have been looking at some of the Remington Models any suggestions on that would also be helpful. The most I would want to spend is $700.