Best budget hunting rifle

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

oneof79

Sharpshooter
Special Hen
Joined
Feb 2, 2008
Messages
1,435
Reaction score
0
Location
Moore

crg1372

Sharpshooter
Special Hen
Joined
Aug 9, 2010
Messages
864
Reaction score
1
Location
Durant
You can get a CVA Stalker Elite from academy for $159 with a blue barrel or with a stainless for $179. Top it off with a Nikon Prostaff 3-9x40 and you have a great budget rifle for under $300 including scope. The CVA comes in many calibers but the .243 would work great for almost everything in OK. From varmints to medium size game. .270 is also a great caliber and I have yet to drop anything that I hit with it. Packs a nice punch with little recoil and has a really level trajectory. My tikka will shoot 5 shot clovers at 100 with cheap walmart federal 130's and a nikon buckmaster 3-9x40. My CVA would shoot 1moa with a nikon prostaff 3-9x40 at 100 with any 130gr box ammo. Side by side tests with remington, federals, and monarch (yeah even monarchs) would hit within an 1" of each other. That is good enough for my neck of the woods. I had to try to find a place to shoot a 150 yard shot.

I would say the CVA or Stevens. I have had both and have had good exp with either. although I recently sold my CVA cause i found a great deal on a savage 10 in 308. Anything other that the lower remingiton's

+1 on the CVA Stalker Elite. I've got one in 30.06. Its cheap, looks good and they are good shooters. Balances well and CVA puts great recoil pads on them.
 

Relentless

Sharpshooter
Supporting Member
Special Hen Supporter
Joined
Feb 17, 2009
Messages
693
Reaction score
6
Location
EL Reno
I agree on the vortex, I had a 4-12x50 on my old 7mm and I really liked it. I will probably go with a viper model on my 243. The guys at gunwerks(old best of the west and new long range hunting hosts) use them as an alternative to nightforce. I also had a millet tactical mil-dot on my 22-250 and I was in love with it for the price.
 

ripnbst

Sharpshooter
Special Hen
Joined
Dec 17, 2010
Messages
4,831
Reaction score
46
Location
Spring, TX
I have the Mossberg 100 ATR and have had good experiences with it. Mine is chambered in .270 WIN. A buddy has one also and likes his as well. I put a Nikon prostaff 3-9x40 on it with BDC reticle. So far I've been happy and so has he.
 

whiskeysnoot

Sharpshooter
Special Hen
Joined
Sep 7, 2008
Messages
571
Reaction score
25
Location
Tulsa
iMO rifle/scope combos are normally decent rifles coupled with POS scopes. Scope may seem all right in store or daylight but can ruin your hunt in low light conditions. Test a scope in the first or last 30 mins of daylight(no sun).

Bought my 9 yo daughter a Mossberg 100 in .243 and attached a Burris Fullfield 3x9. Nice setup for around $500. Even on a budget look upwards of $200 for a scope.
 
Joined
Apr 5, 2009
Messages
3,936
Reaction score
4
Location
Midwest City
First I've heard of the CVA Stalkers; thanks.

How do they measure up against the NEF & Rossi?

I had an NEF that had sticky chamber ejection problems, and then a Rossi that flew open when you shot it. Both .243, so I'm leery of cheap single shot break actions. The Rossi had better features/innovation, though.

And oh yeah, listen to whisky - don't get packages - the scopes and rings suck.

and yeah, I'd get a Marlin or Stevens before Mossberg, simply because of the allegations (unproven) of catastrophic failure and bolts going through faces. I hope they're not true. In a way, I kinda hope they are true, since their reputation has been damaged - be nice to think it's deserved. But if it's not true, I hope they clear their name and sell a lot of them.

http://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/2797707/1

http://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/2621471/1

If you look at that 2nd thread, in my limited understanding of exactly how the bolt action on a Mossberg works, it *might* be possibly to turn the handle and have it slip due to the press fitting, and not actually have the bolt close up and engage locking lugs. Which *could* turn into bad mojo if the gun would fire. But I don't see how it could fire if the bolt isn't closed - surely there's a mechanism for preventing the rifle from firing when the bolt isn't closed, just like every other turnbolt design since the Mauser brothers? So I dunno.....

Regardles, a Marlin or Stevens is better period.

Here - they settled out of court, so we don't really know the merits of the claims:

http://www.boliven.com/legal_proceeding/8:07-cv-00262-JSM-TBM?q=

Looks to me like the $600/hour New York & Atlanta lawyers for Mossberg buried the little lone plaintiff's attorney in paperwork, who is working for free unless and until they win or settle (look at the hundreds of entries she had to respond to), just wearing down the plaintiff until they settled - happens all the time. So we don't know what really happened from that link. There was an allegation that it was the plaintiff's fault, because he disassembled the bolt and re-assembled it incorrectly, but who knows....
 
Last edited:

Relentless

Sharpshooter
Supporting Member
Special Hen Supporter
Joined
Feb 17, 2009
Messages
693
Reaction score
6
Location
EL Reno
The savage axis is out too, I have heard nothing but good things from the people who actually own them, the people who don't are the naysayers.

http://www.gunblast.com/Savage-Axis243.htm

Here is a review on the xl7

http://www.gunblast.com/Marlin-XL7.htm

If I was going for cheap it'd be an axis and a vortex, they feel more like a real gun than an xl7, the mossberg or a 770. The worst of which was the 770 to me. I haven't handled the CVA though
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom