New Hobby: Help me pick the right cartridge

[silvertip-co]

30.06 works great for eastern hunting and Colorado. Wife and I came here from PA and we both elk and deer hunt here with 30.06.

270 is good too with Hornday Superformance 130gr, very flat shooting for the wide open spaces and hard hitting. Ammo for either cal is relatively cheap in bulk which is always a consideration for lots of practice and hunting. I like the 270 for antelope but also have a 300 win mag for reachin out further.

Good luck finding the right rifle and calibre for you, and thank you for your service.

[JP100]

Just my ten cents worth. I would reccomend the .308 or .270. both are great alrounders cheap and plentiful ammo. .308 will be cheaper but if you are shooting open country a .270 will help with longer shots.
In terms of what rifle I would reccomand Tikka T3s. I dont know how popular they are the US. But I have not seen any brand to shoot so well out of the box and be consistant and reliable. Alot of profressional hunters in New Zealand use them. We own two and they both shoot 1/2 MOA groups with factory and handloads.
Good luck. Im sure whatever you choose will work well for you

[Manualman]

I have to agree with most of these guys. A 308 or 30/06 will do it's job if you do yours. Shoot whatever you are comfortable with and put the bullet where it belongs. I also want to thank you for your service. By the way does your wife have any sisters? LOL

[iknowftbll]

Originally Posted by Manualman

I have to agree with most of these guys. A 308 or 30/06 will do it's job if you do yours. Shoot whatever you are comfortable with and put the bullet where it belongs. I also want to thank you for your service. By the way does your wife have any sisters? LOL

Haha, yeah, she's pretty awesome, isn't she? Sorry, she's also an only child! Here's a pic of my Remington after I got the scope mounted.

[TX Shooter]

Congrats, nice looking weapon. I didn't catch what cal. you ended up with but I'm sure it will do the job. Don't forget to break in the barrel properly in your first trip to the range.

[iknowftbll]

Thanks. I went with the .30-06 for this one. In a couple of years I will probably get the same rifle in .243 for my wife and kids for when they accompany me on deer hunts.

[TX Shooter]

Exactly what I did and then om down the line a 270 split the diffrence. All good choices to do the required jobat their effective range.