dell30rb
Final Approach
After a bunch of research I bought a pretty decent new rifle/scope combination for $600. Some of these deals are "holiday sale" prices. I deer hunt 2-3 times per year and have always borrowed my friend's rifles, usually a .270 or 30-06 remington or browning costing $800-1000 with a scope that costs as much or more $$.
Anyway I decided I wanted a rifle but really didn't want to spend that much. I have a friend who has a range out to 400 yds and found a combo that should offer good performance at the range and in the deer stand. And be of sufficient quality to last through the years.
Here is what I ended up with.
Browning A Bolt III in 30-06 from Bass Pro. On sale for $399 with $100 mail in rebate. Rebate is not advertised on Bass pro shops and the guys in the store didn't know about it until I asked them to verify it was available and they looked it up. Link to rifle and rebate form.
http://www.browning.com/products/catalog/firearms/detail.asp?fid=034B&cid=035&tid=800
http://www.browning.com/support/file...oupon-Comb.pdf
For a Scope, I bought a Bushnell Legend Ultra HD Mil Dot Reticle Riflescope, 4.5-14x44mm from Amazon.com $240 shipped. Retail at BPS is $320. I read a lot about the scopes and the Legend series is a relatively new line from Bushnell. According to reviews and stuff I picked up from scouring the internet, the Legend series bridges the gap from the low priced bushnell stuff which is generally considered entry level, and the 'elite' series which is very good but priced high enough you could consider buying other, more established and expensive brands.
Bushnell has a 1 year money back guarantee on the scope and a lifetime warranty against manufacturing defects. I hear the lifetime warranty is actually pretty good. For the price, it had the best features. Mil-Dot, good zoom and side parallax adjustment.
To mount the scope I bought a set of integrated scope mounts from Browning. $50 online. The A bolt 3 has different mounts than previous A bolt rifles. Specifically, it's a little bit beefier with larger screws that hold the mounts to the rifle.
So there ya have it, $590 for a new rifle combo. According to reviews the rifle out of the box will shoot about 1" groups at 100 yards. Hopefully with break-in, cleaning and good ammo I can get sub 1" groups. I am impressed with the rifle for the price. Once I cleaned it and lubricated with a little Break-Free CLP the action is very smooth. Testing the trigger on a snap-cap, it's about a 3 pound pull and very crisp break.
Should get it sighted in either this weekend or next weekend. My friend has a range with 100, 200, 300 and 400 yard shooting stations so I should be able to put the rifle through it's pace and let you all know if it lives up to expectations. This is mostly a whitetail hunting rifle so I will sight it in at a calculated PBR for the 22" barrel and 150 grain standard federal power shok ammo. Works out to be 2.5" high for a 6" diameter target. I can't remember what the max range is for PBR shooting but it is around 300 yds. I bought a great app called isnipe that helps calculate all that.
Anyway if someone is searching for a good rifle on a budget, hope you can benefit from my hours and hours of research that went in to this purchase
Anyway I decided I wanted a rifle but really didn't want to spend that much. I have a friend who has a range out to 400 yds and found a combo that should offer good performance at the range and in the deer stand. And be of sufficient quality to last through the years.
Here is what I ended up with.
Browning A Bolt III in 30-06 from Bass Pro. On sale for $399 with $100 mail in rebate. Rebate is not advertised on Bass pro shops and the guys in the store didn't know about it until I asked them to verify it was available and they looked it up. Link to rifle and rebate form.
http://www.browning.com/products/catalog/firearms/detail.asp?fid=034B&cid=035&tid=800
http://www.browning.com/support/file...oupon-Comb.pdf
For a Scope, I bought a Bushnell Legend Ultra HD Mil Dot Reticle Riflescope, 4.5-14x44mm from Amazon.com $240 shipped. Retail at BPS is $320. I read a lot about the scopes and the Legend series is a relatively new line from Bushnell. According to reviews and stuff I picked up from scouring the internet, the Legend series bridges the gap from the low priced bushnell stuff which is generally considered entry level, and the 'elite' series which is very good but priced high enough you could consider buying other, more established and expensive brands.
Bushnell has a 1 year money back guarantee on the scope and a lifetime warranty against manufacturing defects. I hear the lifetime warranty is actually pretty good. For the price, it had the best features. Mil-Dot, good zoom and side parallax adjustment.
To mount the scope I bought a set of integrated scope mounts from Browning. $50 online. The A bolt 3 has different mounts than previous A bolt rifles. Specifically, it's a little bit beefier with larger screws that hold the mounts to the rifle.
So there ya have it, $590 for a new rifle combo. According to reviews the rifle out of the box will shoot about 1" groups at 100 yards. Hopefully with break-in, cleaning and good ammo I can get sub 1" groups. I am impressed with the rifle for the price. Once I cleaned it and lubricated with a little Break-Free CLP the action is very smooth. Testing the trigger on a snap-cap, it's about a 3 pound pull and very crisp break.
Should get it sighted in either this weekend or next weekend. My friend has a range with 100, 200, 300 and 400 yard shooting stations so I should be able to put the rifle through it's pace and let you all know if it lives up to expectations. This is mostly a whitetail hunting rifle so I will sight it in at a calculated PBR for the 22" barrel and 150 grain standard federal power shok ammo. Works out to be 2.5" high for a 6" diameter target. I can't remember what the max range is for PBR shooting but it is around 300 yds. I bought a great app called isnipe that helps calculate all that.
Anyway if someone is searching for a good rifle on a budget, hope you can benefit from my hours and hours of research that went in to this purchase
Last edited:
