I know nothing about rifles.....

[RW2111]

7mm Mag

 

[davsco]

Also look at Browning a-bolt and tikka t-3 plenty of left handed.

308, 30-06 and 270 all great deer calibers. Lots of offerings available and plentiful at Walmart and gun shops

 

[Franklin]

I didnt see 25-06 on here. groundhogs to caribou. projectile selection is a little dim but what is available works rather well in production loads. as others stated, there is a pletera of fine calibers to choose from. hard to beat any of them.

side note, i am not to happy with current production remingtons. they look/feel cheaply made and the triggers are horrible. with what it would take to build a remington, you could buy a savage,howa, sako or tikka, right out of the box it would be a superior rifle for not much more cost.

 

[Deep Creek Rock]

From a reloading & accuracy standpoint a .308 is ideal. its often hailed as king of the 30 calibers in terms of accuracy. The availabilty of military/surplus brass that can be turned into good shooting 308 rounds is another plus. Lots of bullet choices for that round. Recoil is not bad at all.

30-06 is another great one too - my personal favorite 30 caliber. Very versatile caliber, and a good one to reload for - but the recoil may be intimidating for younger shooters.

A bolt gun in .223 is a perfect target rifle - and capable of outstanding accuracy with a good handload- as long as you keep it in its flat range. The Milsurp/walmart cheapie ammo dont do it justice. Although some will debate it - I dont care for it as a deer round. .223 brass is everywhere, and can be had for free. Reloading for those are less costly then the 30 cals.

The Remington 700 is a great platform. I would look for a pre Freedom Group, and Pre X Mark trigger model, when the quality was better then it is now.

If you ever make it to Western MD for a Hooligan shoot - I have 2 - 700's you could try before you buy. A BDL SS in 30-06, and a VLS in .223.

Another option could be a T/C Encore. You can change out calibers, by just changing barrels which takes a few short minutes. But that gun is a single shot break open.

 

[E.Shell]

Do you want to shoot it, or die with it in your safe? There is really no middle ground here.

If you want to shoot it, a Remington or Savage tactical/target model will perform well and .308 would be my suggestion. There are lighter models that would hunt fine.

If you want to die with it sitting in your safe, a *quality* Garand is a great choice for posterity, not so much for "long range" as per the OP.

 

[huesmann]

Savage 10 or 11 in .308.

 

[rivertamer]

Remington 700 in .308...... serves your purposes well.

Sent from my Galaxy S3

 

[brianong18]

I just so happen to have a R700 BDL Custom Deluxe in 30-06 for sale if the OP is interested. Customary pic with feet included.

 

[browning guy]

Dam Joe,

after you move and move on from shotgun's we have a store full of used 30/06's

 

[Vandy]

I would say go with either a Remington or Savage in .308. Great round for what you are looking to do. Other rounds mentioned will work just as good, but in my opinion the .308 is a great general purpose and easily reloaded round.

Then get you a Garand for the heirloom/collectible aspect.

 

[frdfandc]

I know mos of those above said Remington, but check out Tikka. Imported from Sweden by Beretta. The bolt on these firearms are smooth as glass with very positive engagement.

I've shot quite a few bolt actions - Rems, Mossy, Savage, ect, but when it was time to plunk my hard earned cash down, It was a Tikka T3 Lite.

 

[mark1070]

Everyone should have a .22.

With significant bullet drop at 50-75 yards, you can effectively practice scope skills with a .22lr on just a 100 yard range. And they're a blast to shoot for little kids and big kids, like us.

 

[BlackBart]

Another method of approaching this would be (.22 rimfire aside) "I have a .308 and a 30-06 what could be better and why for my all round deer hunting/long range target caliber"?

The answer would be NONE because if you're going to limit yourself to just ONE the 7mm's 270's, 8mms' 6mm's 25 cals ET AL would be ruled out because of both rifle AND ammo availability would be lesser.

Once one expands beyond that one deer/ long range rifle any and all would possibly have their places. Again my favorite is the 06 but only because that's what I was somewhat familiar with both in the military and hunting many years ago. Also it pulls away from the 308 with heavier bullets should I ever get that dream hunt.

 

[august1410]

There's a guy at my local Walmart who is an actual gun guy. Imagine that. Tonight, I was telling him about my rifle interests and he opened the ammo case while he was tending to a customer and let me physically look at and touch whatever calibers I was looking at. He gave me the key to the case and told me to lock up when I was done.

This may sound silly to some of you, but I have never handled any rifle ammo. It was interesting to say the least when looking at the different calibers.

I looked at everything from .243 to 7mm to .308 to 30-06.....270 as well.....

I'm gonna post on my local forums and see who has what and go out and shoot each one to see what I think.

 

[drewhall]

A cheap shooter that is a lot of fun is a Mosin with a good/clean bore. I love taking mine out and always get interested folks looking at it. Every rifle owner should have one! I agree with 30-06. .308 is a little easier on you but since you are the shotgun guy I doubt you would have a problem with it.

 

[august1410]

A cheap shooter that is a lot of fun is a Mosin with a good/clean bore. I love taking mine out and always get interested folks looking at it. Every rifle owner should have one! I agree with 30-06. .308 is a little easier on you but since you are the shotgun guy I doubt you would have a problem with it.

I had a Mosin....didn't do much for me. Mine musta been a dog, because it wan't terribly accurate.

 

[drewhall]

I'm not going to lie. Mine isn't shooting dimes at 100 yds. I just like the fire balls from the M44.

 

[Franklin]

down my way,there is a store that sells mosins. they are in a barrel with some sks's and some old single shot milsurps. i personally would feel bad if i talked a novice shooter into buying a 50 dollar gun out of a barrel and it blows a piece of his face off.

 

[boss66tcode]

Minute of deer is a reasonable expectation for an average mosin (not sniper, not finn, etc.,).

 

[BlueHeeler]

I went through the same dilemma last year. There are a few variables involved to identify your needs. Is this an offhand rifle or bench rest shooter? The Savages and Rem 700s are so close you cannot go wrong with either.

I looked at Tikka, Howa, Ruger, etc and everything came back to the Remington 700, so I bought one. The accuracy is ridiculous. The set up was affordable with a little coaching from Ed Shell on what to buy with respect to base, rings, and scope.

BTW .308 is the perfect caliber unless the budget offers .338 Lapua. I run surplus .308 while practicing and occasionally shoot the match ammo when I want to feel like a superstar.