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I want to trade in my 15 year old sons Savage .243 for a new rifle for big game hunting in Calif. I am thinking that a .270 or something similar should be fine for deer and pigs (most Calif pigs are under 250lp or so I have been told although there are some bigger ones taken)and not recoil to much although my kid is pretty strong. I like bolts since they are simple to clean and In Cal with its open country( in a good part of the state anyway) there are long range shot opportunities. I am not against lever or semi-auto rifles if the price is right. I am also debating the fact that there are suppose to be good new rifles such has the Marlin, Mossberg, TC and Wheaterby under $500 MSRP. I also know I need to put a nice scope on the rifle to complete the package. A lot of tough decisions. What would you folk recomened and how much is to much for a given model/

Thank You;
Leftyhunter

aLefty, I am a 700 fan..that would b e my choice...I would look at the used rifle selection and go with either a .270 or and old 06...the chief adv. is it can be sold or traded if you don't like it or on the off chance it doesn't shoot well. and you don't loose a bundle...some times a nice scope can come with the deal....

For <= $500 there are some nice options out there. Most of the rifles from the major vendors will work just fine and give decent to excellent accuracy. I've bought Savage, Rem, and Weatherby bolt guns and not been disappointed with any of them. Stevens and Mossberg also have gotten a lot of good press from owners. You may want to hold on to the 243 even if you are going to go with a 270 as a) a guy's first rifle has great sentimental value when he gets older b) never hurts to have a back-up and c) few people complain that they have too many guns I'd not rule out a 7-08 or 308 either as they are comparable to the 270 and work well. Price for a given rifle in new or used condition, hmmmm, depends on your geographic region and how much competition there is among sellers. I always check the on-line auctions and local stores and that helps me figure out what a reasonable baseline is for price.

Depends a bit though on your boy and how much growin' he is going to do and what fits him best. I'd recommend you take him around to some of the shops and shoulder different models and let him get an idea of which one feels best to him, nothing like an ill fitting rifle to turn a lad off from shooting with heavier calibers. Regarding glass, there are a lot of good options out there and having a good scope makes a rig even more pleasant to shoot.

Good luck and have fun, getting a new rifle and scope is always a fun task and while there are many models to choose from, it is better to have a feast rather than a famine when it comes to choices.

I am a big Remington 700 fan. That said I probably would not sell your son's .243 for sentimental reasons. There are a lot of reasonably priced used guns out there and some deals can be had on new "combo" bolts. I have seen Remington 700 SPS combos for around $450 at Cabela's. Similar deals on the Savage 110.

You say long range shots. What does that mean? 300 yards is a long shot for a lot of guys, and for most 15 year olds.
As far as calibers go, a .270 and .30-06 are close in recoil if similar bullet weights are used.

Already having a .243(assuming you keep it), I would probably go .30-06 if he can handle the recoil, which isn't that bad with lighter bullets, 150 gr or less. A full power 120 gr load out of a 270 is about the same amount of powder as a 125gr '06 load, so the recoil difference will not be anything he will notice. I shot 125gr Barnes X and 130gr XLC bullets for a long time out of my '06 and never trailed a deer or recovered a bullet. I use 150's now and can't tell the difference anymore.

A .308 has less recoil than the '06, a 7mm-08 a little bit less than a .308. The 7mm version will shoot a little flatter, but not a lot. The 7mm-08 shoots very flat with 120gr bullets but average with 140's and up. Same for a .308 with 125's but Nosler lists a 150gr max load at 3,000 which is very flat shooting. But to make the 7mm-08 and .308 shoot this flat they are using almost as much powder as their bigger cousins, which means they will recoil almost the same.

I would find a friend and shoot a .30-06. It's more than enough gun for deer, and personally if you want to shoot a gun that recoils like an '06 (.270) you might as well get the '06, which will handle much bigger bullets if the need arises someday.

I forgot to add, in a choice between the 7mm-08 and .308 I would pick the 7mm version. It kicks like a .243 and shoots flatter than the .308 with less recoil, if that is an issue.

Can't go wrong on a Remington 700.

Thanks guys Good points. Is theere a good 120grain 7mm-08 in cooper. In much of Cali hunters must use cooper.


Thanks Again;
Lefteyhunter

Barnes makes a 120gr TSX if you handload otherwise the same bullet is available from Federal.

thanks take Em

Leftyhunter

I was a licensed guide in California (#2725) from 1995 until 2006. I conducted many a pig hunt in that time.

I saw plenty of pigs go over 250# on the hoof during that time.

I carried a .30-'06 for backing up clients. I moved from there to a CZ 550 in .375 H&H. As a guide, I'd only be shooting to "clean up a client's mess" and the shot I'd need to take in that kind of situation would very likely be less than ideal -hence the heavy artillery. That said, I would personally rather conduct a hunt with a client who shot a .243 stoked with premium bullets well than one who shot anything bigger poorly.

If I ever have to move back there, I don't think I'd ever need more gun than my .243 shooting Barnes 95 grain TSX bullets. That combo doesn't seem to me to kill any less quick than a .25-'06 or .270 does on the game that I'd be applying it to, which would be Central Coast pigs, coastal A zone blacktails, and inland mule deer. I hunted open country, too, but the farthest shot I ever took (outside of guiding) in 30 years of hunting there was a 275 yard poke at a mule deer. Most of the deer and pigs I shot out there were within 150 yards, regardless of the terrain.

I'm curious as to what the original poster thinks his boy will accomplish in California with a .270 that can't be done with the .243 he already has shooting a premium big game bullet? Pigs die pretty quick if you hit them in the right spot. I killed more than a few out there with a .223 without trouble. I killed more blacktails there with a .223 than any other caliber. I killed most of my mule deer with a .30-'06 but could have done just as well with anything from .243 on up.


I think a .243 could cover most hunting in CA well in the hands of a good shot, and its light recoil makes getting good a piece of cake.