.270 or .308

I have a twelve year old soon to be step daughter who is looking for her first hunting rifle. I said I would help buy one. Now I need to know if anyone has a decent .270 or .308 they would part with for a reasonable price. Even a youth model .30-06 would be fine. She has been saving her money and should have enough by Sept or so to buy one. If anyone has such a beast let me know. You can email me or just reply here. Thanks all.

Big Jim
Wow, thats a nice thing for a soon to be new Dad to do. My compliments to you. Sorry I don't have anything for sale but I have an idea for you to think about. First, the 270 is a fair amount of less felt recoil than the 308 if I remember corectly. It is not as versitile a round as the 308 assuming that this is any concern. The 270 is light in recoil but is usless in heavy cover or brush. The 243 will do a good job at ranges one would assume a junior hunter is going to shot. It is still lighter in recoil than the 270 which might be of value with this young lady. Most 243 rifles can be rebarrelled cheaply to a 308 as the are the same case. This could be done as she gets bigger and can handle the recoil more easily. Just a thought, you may have gone through this already, I just thought I would bring it up as possible food for the decision process. Good luck and how about posting what you finally do.

BigShark...how can you say the .270 is useless in heavy cover or brush? Even a .458 win mag is likely to be deflected enough by even a small twig that you'll miss the target unless the animal is very close to the twig that the bullet hits. I'd rather take my chances with an accurate rifle and scope combo to pick an opening in the brush,rather than relying on a big bullets ability to "bust" some brush.

A .270 with a 22" barrel makes a nice lightweight,handy rifle in the thick stuff. Besides...shooting into brush thick enough to deflect a bullet goes against the safety rule that says you should be sure of your target. If the brush is that thick it's going to obscure your vision and you shouldn't be shooting anyways!

If you're not already, keep an eye on the Little Nickel ads. Always a few hunting rifles that might be worth a look. And look at Walmart. They sell new guns cheap. I've seen new Savage stainless-synthetic .270's priced very cheap there.
Aren't you going to tell us what it's for?
.270 useless in brush? No more than any other caliber.

Yep.........useless is too harsh. My favorite load uses the 130 grain bullet. At over 3000fps that bullet doesn't do well if it touches much of anything on the way to the target. That is just my opinion however, but it is my opinion and is based on only my experiences. Better bullet weights and construction are fine and other opinions and experiences may be more valid. But I haven't any reason to change my mind until I live it.

She will mainly be hunting deer and varmits maybe. Although she said she wants to try elk and bear too. Her Mom got her first deer last year with me and now she just can't wait to hunt. She went to Montana two weeks back and her Grandpa and Uncles showed her how to shoot a .38. All she could talk about when she got back. Maybe I could curb her excitement about shooting by letting her fire my .454. J/K, she would probably like it. I hunt with my .30-06, but shoot Federal High Energy 180 grains. They basically turn the '06 into a .300 mag. I do not think she would like my rifle. We have talked about .243, .25-06, and other small caliber guns. But if hunt bear or elk, I feel those are too light hitting. She is an OK shot, but I would not want to track a gut shot shot elk for ten miles, or track a mad as hell bear who got hit in the shoulder and not the vitals. So we decided on a .270 or .308 like her Mom. Maybe something bigger if she doesn't mind the recoil.

Big Jim,

I have a nice Saco Forester .308. this gun is a beauty. I can let you check it out or shoot it if you want. I wanna sell it but not right now. I would like to do some bear hunting first then sell it and buy somthing bigger. so September sounds perfect. If you want it then I will hold it untill she has the money.

dc

Just in case she has trouble with the recoil of the .270 or .308 see if you can get your hands of some handloads that have been backed off a pinch. Remington has that new model 710 out that sells brand new for right around $400 and that is one heck of a good gun for the buck. good luck to ya and your future daughter.