New hunters. Cheap vs expensive? What do I actually need and what are realistic expectations?

[bigeyedfish]

I wish I had that kind of success. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places but I've about given up on getting one any time soon.

I was able to track down a 6x in MOA in a couple weeks. It wasn't my first choice, and I probably overpaid a little bit, but I am sick of the feeling of uncertainty surrounding crappy scopes.

 

[doc holiday13]

2-schools of thought, but I push people to nice first time purchase. If they scimp on something they're better off buying cheap glass for a first rifle.

I generally tell people if they "just want to try it out" to buy a nicer high end gun. Great chance it'll shoot amazingly and they'll be very happy with fit an finish.

IF they don't like shooting or its "just not for them", they'll be able to offload the high rifle and not take a huge hit on resale.

 

[zrodwyo]

shoot gear is the cheap part.

I spent $1,000 on gas this year and never left my home state.

 

[hereinaz]

Bottom line, it a new person is serious, this is the golden age to find someone local to help them. (A serious person puts in the effort.)

If they don’t have money to buy gear, someone would help them.

If they have “budget” money, there are ways to save money and get a rifle that kills.

If they have some money, they can buy off the shelf rifles that rival customs for a third of the price or less.

If you have money, me and a few dozen of my friends on Rokslide will spend it all for you.

 

[hereinaz]

shoot gear is the cheap part.

I spent $1,000 on gas this year and never left my home state.

That really does suck, the hidden costs we don’t really count up.

 

[JFK]

I don’t think money plays heavily into people hunting or not. I see people with the best, most expensive gear, and guys with their granddads rifle wearing jeans. Both kill stuff. Nowadays the real currency that matters is willingness to put in effort and spare time Both are in short supply for many.

 

[SDHNTR]

Under no circumstances, price even being completely irrelevant, does anyone need to use Christiansen Arms and Swarovski scopes, nor should they. Any number of rifles and scopes costing half as much make far better shooting platforms.

Hunting is as expensive as you want to make it. Using expense as an excuse, is just that — someone coming up with BS reasons to avoid the dedication it does require, which is far more important than any money spent.

$1000 bucks on a gun setup, clothes likely already in your closet, and some desire is all it takes. The naysayers probably spend more than that on bar tabs after a couple months.

That said, I guess it’s good that there is still some perceived barrier to entry left.

 

[NRA4LIFE]

Just for nostalgic purposes, I'll hunt with my old 8mm Mauser that was handed down from my grandad and then my dad. No scope. So the whole shebang was basically free to me. It makes things die just as well as all my other fancy-shmancy toys.

 

[SDHNTR]

FWIW, there’s a Rem 700 ADL in .308 with a Japanese Sightron 3-9x on 24hr CF right now for $575! One could do a lot worse for a lot more money!

 

[Pony Soldier]

Although I don't see the volume of used rifles and shotguns in the stores any more, I see used weapons at my local gunsmith and at the gun shows. Although not being given away, I see many at reasonable prices. Half the fun is shopping anyway.

 

[doc holiday13]

Hunting is as expensive as you want to make it. Using expense as an excuse, is just that — someone coming up with BS reasons to avoid the dedication it does require, which is far more important than any money spent.

While this is true, there are people who enjoy hunting and are having to buy gear for the first time. I have 2 friends(both brothers) who were in this category. They don't have tons of disposable income, and they both picked up a savage at some big box that was on closeout. I think the rifle was like $200. Then they picked up some random cheapy scope for another $200. I think they split a 200rd case of ammo. I think they're probably into their rifles and ammo maybe $550 each. One brother has used up his 100rds between sight in, semi-pleasure shoot and 2 seasons tagging out with 3-4 deer both times. I found him like 8 boxes of Norma 150g so he should be good for another 10 years since he's not a pleasure shooter

ON the flip side, if someone doesn't know if they want to get into shooting/hunting a cheap rig could likely be a waste of money OR it could turn them off if they don't know if they want to get into hunting.

I will always recommend someone buy a high end scope. For a newb who's unsure of his desire to get deep, I'd recommend a used high end scope because at minimum he can sell it for what he paid. If he sticks with hunting he can buy a nicer rifle later and already has the good glass

 

[Kurts86]

I truly don’t think money holds back that much hunting. A few years ago I got to know a new hunter halfway across the country from a non-traditional hunting background. They did not have a ton of disposal income but I offered if they flew to meet me I would lend all the gear they needed for the hunt and take them to our usual public land spots. Without hesitation they bought a cheap flight and a deer tag. Long story short they flew out, killed a great first buck and did the whole trip for around $500 total. In the following years they prioritized budgeting to repeat that trip and made it happen while they accumulated, borrowed and were given hand me down gear. Ultimately they wanted to learn to hunt and their drive eventually found them people that could help them out. I have offered similar hunts to other people and few have ever followed through.

As far as budget guns go there are now so many great budget rifles between $400-$800. Cheap hunting clothes are now mostly synthetic and budget optics are better than they have ever been. I feel like access is the biggest barrier to entry with hunting.

 

[KenLee]

I have the same gun. It's a tack driver. I think we have the same issue with the bolt. It's so light that even the slightest movement will taken it out of battery. The trigger will still "click" however the round doesn't fire. Actually cost my son the first 2 deer he ever shot at since we were close and he cycled another round through.

Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk

I won't hunt with a 700 or clone, as the bolt doesn't lock

 

[KenLee]

I have bought hunting rigs for over 30 newbies over the years.
Some of the best money I ever spent.

(Edit for ATF purposes): "bought reasonable firearms when I came across them, and later provided them to newbie hunters."

 

[Steelhead]

No experience with the Savage Axis model but my old 110 has been super reliable.
Started with a used/shared/hand-me-down rifle. Then 20+ years ago I bought a Savage 110 in 30-06 and put a cheaper Vortex scope on it and that rifle has killed several elk, mule deer and pigs, never had a jam and the Vortex was upgraded before the rifle was. Plus I put a crap-ton of rounds through it plinking and dialing it in.
All depends on what he wants to use it for. IMO there are enough inexpensive hunting rifles out there he can get setup modestly and get his chops in and take as long as he wants figuring out if he wants to keep going with it or not.

https://www.cabelas.com/shop/en/savage-arms-110-vsx-hunter-xp-bolt-action-rifle-with-vortex-diamondback-scope-combo

Then comes affording ammo LOL!

 

[ddowning]

It been some time since I looked at budget guns. I built my first prs rifle with a Savage 12fv special from cabelas. I bought a used hsp stock in online classifieds and topped it with a Burris xtr2 4-20. I had to do a lot of things to make that gun reliable for prs, but it would have been fine as is for hunting. With a Criterion prefit in 243AI I was under $2k all in.

Before that I spent years hunting with budget rifles and cheap azz scopes. I had to zero before every outing, but we killed a lot of stuff as kids. I finally bought a 700 all at a flee market with a Weaver Grand Slam on top. That scope was very reliable. I gave it to a new shooter when I changed jobs and started upgrading all my stuff. As far as I know he is still using it.

I think the best bang for your buck is to buy used. You can then resell for roughly what you bought for. I almost never buy anything new anymore unless I need it right now and can't find it used. It doesn't take much $$$ to shoot to 250 or 300 yards. It can probably be done for under $500. You can manage a somewhat reliable rig for around $2500 or maybe less to shoot to 1000 yards. The ammo to reach the capability to consistently and ethically shoot 1000+ yards in hunting conditions will run into multiples thousands of dollars though.

 

[Ronjobinson28]

I buy expensive items and gear I don’t need but to me the place to always spend is optics and rings. Don’t compromise there

 

[Unckebob]

Biggest value I see is used guns. As long as you dont get snookered by a pitted bore or something egregious like that, I thinknits easy to stretch limited $ that way, and usually wind up with a gun that in the long term is more likely to be a keeper.

With inexpensive rifles like the Axis II and American available, I don't think it is worth buying a used gun unless you personally know the seller and know you are getting a shooter.

If I was building a deer rifle from scratch, I would buy a Gen II Ruger American, a used Leupold scope (with the Lifetime Warranty, there is little risk) (or an new VX-Freedom 3-9), and Burris Rings.

If I had a little more budget, I'd get a Tikka.

 

[Macintosh]

Fair enough, different strokes. Bottom line is, you absolutely do not need to spend more than a couple hundred dollars on a gun—anything more is a nice-to-have.

 

[bigeyedfish]

I kind of don't want to know how nice a good gun is. I bought a Ruger American Predator a couple years ago, and it was so much nicer than the old Savage 110 I had been shooting before I couldn't believe it. It feeds so much more reliably and feels way more high quality. Would I like to upgrade at some point? Yeah probably, but it doesn't have much to do with function, at least in the settings I find myself in. If I were shooting under stress or in extreme weather, I'm sure issues would pop up, but so far I haven't found myself in those situations. I'd bet most hunters are the same.