First Rifle - 3k Budget

[roosiebull]

To make a long story short, I have had a dedicated fishing obsession for the last 15 years and knew if I started down the path with the hunting community it would be a real slippery slope… well here I am. Shot my first deer this last year with a borrowed 270 and have been researching/obsessed ever since.

That brings me to this… looking at buying my first hunting rifle and have a 3k budget for just the rifle. I feel comfortable saying I have a 5k budget all in to give some reference. 3k seems like it is the real teetering point between custom and higher end production guns. I have researched a lot but, seekins, proof, and APR seem to have good feedback within the budget. My ideas for cartridge have been centered on 6.5PRC, 7RM, and 7Saum. Will be used for deer/elk. Appreciate all the posts so far, I have read what feels like thousands, but would love some feedback if you don’t mind. I live in Oregon. Thanks!

If it was my money, I would have a hard time not getting a seekins havak element

You have some solid options in your budget regardless

 

[SuperDUECE22]

Spend half your budget on scope/rifle combo and then sign up for an in person long-range shooting class. The stuff you'll learn in a 2–3-day course will be a solid foundation to build on for the rest of your hunting career. By day 3 of your class, you'll probably able to outshoot half the guys on this forum who own a safe full of custom rifles but can't shoot for shit.

 

[Bluumoon]

If I knew then what I know now, I’d buy a Tikka .223 (if not legal to hunt big game in OR with a .22 center fire then 6CM), SWFA 6x milquad mil/mil, Sportsmatch TO84 rings, Tikka vertical grip module and a suppressor. I’d then spend the remaining $$25-2600 on ammo. TMKs out of both. I’d purposefully pursue becoming a rifleman, specifically tailored to efficient killing.

Problem is finding one...

 

[brushape]

You can literally hunt anything in North America with any of the budget rifle and scope combos in a basic cartridge like 30-06. Having said that I would look at buying something more basic and spending more time in the field to see what you really want or “need” before diving in and spending 3k on your first rifle. I’m from California and beyond what most people think of this state we get a lot of hunting in between 2 deer tags, bear and unlimited pig tags and I can count on one hand how many people I know are carrying $3000 setups


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[nvHUNT3R]

To make a long story short, I have had a dedicated fishing obsession for the last 15 years and knew if I started down the path with the hunting community it would be a real slippery slope… well here I am. Shot my first deer this last year with a borrowed 270 and have been researching/obsessed ever since.

That brings me to this… looking at buying my first hunting rifle and have a 3k budget for just the rifle. I feel comfortable saying I have a 5k budget all in to give some reference. 3k seems like it is the real teetering point between custom and higher end production guns. I have researched a lot but, seekins, proof, and APR seem to have good feedback within the budget. My ideas for cartridge have been centered on 6.5PRC, 7RM, and 7Saum. Will be used for deer/elk. Appreciate all the posts so far, I have read what feels like thousands, but would love some feedback if you don’t mind. I live in Oregon. Thanks!

Been down this road before, bought and sold a few different rifles at a loss and guess what, now I’m back full circle to looking at tikkas where it all started for me. Imagine that. But In my defense, at the time tikka didn’t have near the aftermarket support that it does now. I’m just trying to really figure out what caliber I want before I start ordering stuff. Go with a tikka, and over the next year or so you can build yourself a custom. Again, I’m trying to really nail down my caliber before I start ordering stuff as I don’t want the last few years of not being happy with a rifle, selling, and starting over to repeat itself. And this way you can build it exactly how you want, for much cheaper than most full blown customs. For reference this is what I’m looking at for my build.

Tikka T3x-caliber undecided
AG Composites Alpine Hunter Stock
Carbon Six Barrel 20-22in
Banish 30 or TBAC 7 Suppressor
Lots of little parts like bottom metal, action screws, mags, and other little goodies from Mountain Tactical-They make A LOT for tikkas
Nightforce NXS 5.5-20x50 scope
All in all you’ll be under $3000 for the rifle(excluding suppressor)
and just under $2000 for scope.

And again, this is something you can do on your own, over time as you learn to shoot. Good luck with your search/build and future hunts.

 

[Longleaf]

Bergara cut to 20" spend the rest on glass and can.

Nightforce NX8 F1 Rifle Scope 30mm Tube 2.5-20x 50mm ZeroStop 1/10

The NX8 2.5-20x50 F1 riflescope is an ultra-compact and capable riflescope. Building upon the legendary durability of the NXS family from Nightforce,...

www.midwayusa.com

R30 Suppressor – KGM Suppressors

kgm-tech.com

Thunder Beast Arms Corporation [TBAC] | Products | ULTRA-5

 

[Nick87]

Cooper

 

[coossalmon]

Thought I would follow up on my original post. After a lot of research I went ahead and placed an order for a Seekins PH2 in 7mm. Excited. Now I need to hone in on a scope!! Thanks to all who provided feedback.

 

[TheViking]

Thought I would follow up on my original post. After a lot of research I went ahead and placed an order for a Seekins PH2 in 7mm. Excited. Now I need to hone in on a scope!! Thanks to all who provided feedback.

Solid choice man!! Love my PH2 in 6.5 PRC. I have almost 50 rounds through it, excited to get back behind it. I'm having a custom brake installed on it right now. What a sweet gun!

 

[sodaksooner]

Thought I would follow up on my original post. After a lot of research I went ahead and placed an order for a Seekins PH2 in 7mm. Excited. Now I need to hone in on a scope!! Thanks to all who provided feedback.

I was thinking this as I just caught this thread. Great rifle and saved a grand on your budget! Awesome semi custom rifle. Not even that far from you.

 

[7MMMAG]

5k Budget:

FFL(25-50)
Actions:
Bighorn Origin Action(875-975)
BAT Machine Igniter(1000)
Defiance Tenacity(900)

Barrel:
Proof Pre-fit(850-900)
Bartlein Pre-fit(1000)

Brake:
Area 419 Brake(170)
TI- Pro Brake(200)

Stocks:
AG Composites(600-700) depending on Camo on rails
PEAK44 Stock(600-700) depending on camo

Trigger:
Trigger Tech/Timney trigger(150-200)

Optics
Hawkins ultra lite 30mm rings(165)
Zeiss conquest v4 4-16x44(1000)

Bottom Metal:
hawkins m5 bottom metal(200)
Wyatts box and follower(40)

Tools:
Barrel Vise(50-200)
Action Wrench(85)
Go/No-Go Gauges(60)

There's some different options, should keep you around $5000 w/o tax