Suggestions - Budget Deer Rifle For Friend

[Squaregrouper]

How do know that. I looked at their Black Friday add and didn't see it mentioned.

Front page of their BF mailer.

 

[Uncle Duke]

How do know that. I looked at their Black Friday add and didn't see it mentioned.

Yep. Black Friday ad, Front page. The $349 starts Friday 11/25.

 

[6-Pack]

I’ve ordered some rifles at Bass Pro online and picked them up in the store. Last time I did this it only took a couple days (ordered 8/28 and picked up 8/31). Just saying that may be an option if they don’t have exactly what he’s looking for.

 

[MeatGrinder]

That Axis ll has the very good factory Accutrigger. At $349.95 with a Bushnell 3x9 Banner with the Black Friday sale starting November 25th, he's got a plenty good rifle with a servicable 3x9 scope.

I'd be all over this combo for an occasional hunter. This combo is worth 350 of anybody's money.

That is indeed very tempting. How bad will the crowds be on Friday? Is this even realistic?

 

[rseymorejr]

That is indeed very tempting. How bad will the crowds be on Friday? Is this even realistic?

I wonder if you can buy them online and pick up later?

 

[trickg]

If I'm reading the first post correctly , the friend is looking for the upcoming season , as in starts in less than a week . Not enough time for extensive practicing from field positions .

He's hunted this piece of ground before, with a rifle, ranges are going to be 100 yards or less, and he's not going to need extensive practice. He's an experienced hunter and I know him from the national guard - he knows how to shoot. He also did this hunt last year using one of my rifles. I think he'll be ok.

He ended up going with the Savage Axis package in 6.5 Creedmoor, mainly due to ammo availability - there wasn't a single piece of 243 in the store.

 

[Hibs]

That is indeed very tempting. How bad will the crowds be on Friday? Is this even realistic?

$299 if you have a BassPro club card.

Doors open at 5am. I went last year at like 9am. It was busy for sure and by 9am they only had like one caliber left, 6.5 maybe? If you want your choice of caliber, I’d suggest getting there at 4am and standing in line.

 

[trickg]

We got the rifle back to the house and we did a couple of things - first we made sure that the rings and bases were properly torqued using a Wheeler Fat Wrench, then we used the laser bore sighter we picked up to do a basic bore sight - it was not even close, so I'm glad we got that tightened up, and it will be a lot easier to get it on the paper and get it zeroed tomorrow.

I also checked the trigger - 4 lbs on the nose out of the box, and he didn't feel a need to adjust it from there - he's used to shooting M4s with heavy gritty triggers, so this thing is beautiful by comparison.

I'm pretty excited for him. 6.5 Creedmoor wouldn't have been my first choice, but there's no denying the popularity - there's more ammo on the shelf than you can shake a stick at. He went with Winchester Deer Season XP for ammo - I hope it does well in this rifle, but either way, if he can hit a snack plate sized area, he's good to go - he's not going to need it to be super accurate, and that can be addressed at a later point.

 

[calicojack]

He's hunted this piece of ground before, with a rifle, ranges are going to be 100 yards or less, and he's not going to need extensive practice. He's an experienced hunter and I know him from the national guard - he knows how to shoot. He also did this hunt last year using one of my rifles. I think he'll be ok.

He ended up going with the Savage Axis package in 6.5 Creedmoor, mainly due to ammo availability - there wasn't a single piece of 243 in the store.

Nice! Interesting that 6.5 CM is edging out 243 Win in terms of ammo availability. One argument for 243 Win is that the ammo is always available, well, at least it used to be.

 

[trickg]

Nice! Interesting that 6.5 CM is edging out 243 Win in terms of ammo availability. One argument for 243 Win is that the ammo is always available, well, at least it used to be.

There were hundreds of boxes of 6.5 CM on the shelf - a lot of variety to choose from with lots of different brands and different bullets. Lots of 308 as well, and a bit of 270. There wasn't even a single solitary box of 243, and I don't think I saw any 30-06 either. Most of the ammo shelf was crammed full of 223.

 

[Uncle Duke]

Good on you to get your buddy squared away. I'm also a big fan of .243 Winchester. But as an optimal whitetail cartridge, and as a cartridge that most can still comfortably shoot in more extended sessions, it's hard to beat the various 6.5mm flavors.

 

[trickg]

Good on you to get your buddy squared away. I'm also a big fan of .243 Winchester. But as an optimal whitetail cartridge, and as a cartridge that most can still comfortably shoot in more extended sessions, it's hard to beat the various 6.5mm flavors.

He'll definitely do well with it. My suggestion of 243 was based mostly on some articles I've read about it being light recoil, and how it's a great cartridge for Whitetail. I've seen article after article over the years that says that.

I know that 6.5 CM is the current darling of the rifle world, so it wasn't hard to find him the rifle or the ammo for it. We'll find out how it shoots today. Either way, the deer is going to care - inside of the 200 yards he's probably going to be limited to, it's going to hit with authority.

 

[outrider58]

He'll definitely do well with it. My suggestion of 243 was based mostly on some articles I've read about it being light recoil, and how it's a great cartridge for Whitetail. I've seen article after article over the years that says that.

I know that 6.5 CM is the current darling of the rifle world, so it wasn't hard to find him the rifle or the ammo for it. We'll find out how it shoots today. Either way, the deer is going to care - inside of the 200 yards he's probably going to be limited to, it's going to hit with authority.

I'm a big fan of the .243 Winchester cartridge.

 

[Todd S]

Maybe I missed it but did he get an Axis II?

 

[trickg]

Maybe I missed it but did he get an Axis II?

I think this is the exact setup he got.

https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/savage-arms-axis-ii-xp-truetimber-vsx-bolt-action-rifle

If there's a complaint to be had, it's that the initial lift of the bolt is pretty tight - it takes a good bit to rack the bolt up to the point where it can be pulled to the rear. Otherwise though, it's pretty slick - we put some oil on the locking lugs and lubricated the raceway, and it's pretty slick moving forward and to the rear, and the trigger breaks clean right at 4 lbs.

The stock is a bit soft - it flexes to the point where it will barely contact the barrel, but that's a later problem - if he wants, at some point he can put it in something like a Magpul Hunter that has a bit more clearance.

 

[Slhaney]

A recent pass of the Walmart ammo shelf, only had .308 Win in stock.

Hopefully Bass Pro has more of a selection.

Walmart in Abingdon has lots of centerfire ammo of varying calibers.

 

[1time]

I went to bass pro today to pickup a axis 2 in 300 blk. They wouldn’t sell any of them before Black Friday. They made the listed of places I won’t shop. Harrisburg, not AM.

 

[Bountied]

If I'm reading the first post correctly , the friend is looking for the upcoming season , as in starts in less than a week . Not enough time for extensive practicing from field positions .

Most shots are within 100yds or shorter. If you don't think you can make a shot past 100yds don't take it. No need to practice not shooting.

Most of the time you don't have more than 10 seconds to get the shot off and your adrenaline is kicked in. All of my shots have been off hand usually in weird over the shoulder situations. Tough to practice those.

You may get lucky and they are grazing, taking their time. It again will depend on where you're hunting. On the edge of a large field or in the woods on a trail.

Again if you don't think you can make the shot don't take it. Good luck.

I'd go to a pawn shop or LGS and see what they have used. Probably get something decent like a Win 70 or Rem 700 with a scope for under $500. If I had to choose, 7mm, .308, 30-06, or .270 are all good deer calibers and ammo is available.

 

[SkiPatrolDude]

It's too bad the TC Compass rifles have been discontinued. My 308 shoots MOA all day with good ammo and sub 2MOA with a few cheap factory hunting loads. I bought the thing for $150 a few Black Fridays ago. Slapped a Vortex Viper 4-16 I found on sale for $250. For $400 total I've got a nicely capable rifle that I don't mind dragging through the mud.

I wonder if you can still find any of these in stock.

And despite other rifle cartridges being more capable out to range, I find the 308 to be wholly adequate for our local geography. It's also not near as much of a barrel burner as some of the others.

 

[trickg]

I went to bass pro today to pickup a axis 2 in 300 blk. They wouldn’t sell any of them before Black Friday. They made the listed of places I won’t shop. Harrisburg, not AM.

That's dumb. They wouldn't even sell at regular price? My friend is leaving Friday morning for this trip, so he needed to get it all done ASAP, and he paid the extra for that luxury of time.

I will say this, I wasn't overly impressed with the guy we were working with behind the counter because he kept blathering misinformation about various things. He told a customer who was looking for home defense ammo that Maryland ranges don't allow you to shoot "hollow nose" bullets, and he tried to steer him to the range fodder ammo on the shelves.

Me being me, I jumped in and made the correction, and he wanted to argue the point. I told him that I'd never come across that rule, and that I'd shot hollow point ammo (no one who knows anything calls them "hollow nose" - it's hollow point) at all of the indoor ranges I go to, and cited that I'd fired some 45 auto 185 gr XTP HPs at Cindy's Hot Shots, and some 125 gr Montana Gold HPs at On Target. He argued again saying that he has a membership at Cindy's, and they don't allow it.* To that I countered with the question regarding how a person would test their home defense ammo if they weren't allowed to fire it at the range. He doubled down by saying to find range ammo with a similar bullet weight. At that point I let it go - because he was on that side of the counter he clearly knew more about it than I do.

I don't get irritated when I know more than the person behind the counter. That's actually not unusual because I've been around guns literally all my life - guns, ammo, reloading, bullet casting, etc - but I'm pretty open to the idea that there's still a lot that I don't know. What irritates me is when I overhear someone on the other side of the counter blathering misinformation as if it's gospel because being on that side of the counter, the average consumer is going to trust them because they don't know any better.

* I looked it up - Cindy's doesn't allow steel core or bi-metal - there's nothing there about hollow points.