Advice on first hunting rifle

I am in the same boat. I landed on a savage axis 6.5 creedmore that comes with cheap optics. With rebates right now you can get one around ~300.

$600 doesn’t have to include optics. And thanks to all for the responses so far!

For $600 you can buy yourself a very nice rifle, savage,tikka, browning and so on. .270 or 30-06 will kill any deer on the planet. I would not cut corners on your scope though. Good luck hunting!!

Ruger American predator in 6.5 creedmor. Mine is a sub Moa gun with pretty much every loading

Buy this rifle in .270 or .30-06. I honestly prefer 6.5x55 but it seems it is out of stock and not included in this sale. Either .270 or .30-06 will serve you well. Same case but different diameter bullet. Between the two, I prefer .270.
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An optic budget would be helpful so we can steer you in the right direction. I always recommend Meopta for around $500 to $600 up to $1500 (for their higher end models) and Nikon Monarch or Leupold vx3i for below $500. Trijicon Accupower in 3-9x40 and 2.5-10x56 are both around $500 online too and they are great for the money. Give me a budget and I can post specific deals.

Man I can’t believe the OB hasn’t just completely buried any recommendation other than a tikka t3x.


It’s annoying how well they shoot for what they cost. You can find one in a pawn shop for $400 all day long. Or new for $650ish.


Slap a leupold vx3 or meopta ontop on a DNR one piece mount and you’ve got a damn fine hunting rig. (Spend as much in the scope as you did the rifle) 3x9x40 or 3x9x50 will cover your needs plenty well. Do not buy a higher magnification scope that costs the same as a lower magnification scope. I know that’s a gross generalization buttt if you don’t bump your budget as you go higher in magnification the light gathering ability and clarify of the higher power scope suffers greatly.


.308 .270 30-06 in that order would be my choice. I’m a huge .308 fanboy but that’s because I love the rounds sound suppression advantages over the .270 and the guns mild recoil compared to the 30-06 which is somewhat inefficient when it comes to felt recoil vs kinetic energy transferred to bullet.

It’s hard to mess up with 308 165gr nosler accubonds. Would be an awesome all around do everything gun.

I bought a savage .308 a few years back with a Nikon prostaff for around that price. Very well made gun and the glass is pretty good. Luepold vx3 is the best IMO but I’m liking my prostaff a lot for the price

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An optic budget would be helpful so we can steer you in the right direction.

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Budget is probably $400-500 range. I've heard a lot of good things about Nikon and Leupold so have them on a short list.
Having said that, again I know I'm coming here to get mostly the experience of the folks here that do this a lot. I also plan to have the rifle/scope combo for the rest of my life, so if there is a significant difference between a $500 scope and a $1k one I'm open to hearing about it.

Thanks again for the recommendations all, got a short list now of rifles to look at this month. Only follow up Q on the rifle side, does synthetic or wood stock matter at all? I'm assuming no, other than wood looks prettier

If your budget is allowing $1,000 + then disregard my recommendation

For that budget you can get something that is functional, beautiful, and you could proudly pass down one day.

This thread is going to be awesome.