bigbulls

#1 You should really try to save up a little more money. Even on the cheaper rifles $250 is pushing it. I suggest looking at the Stevens 200. It is the same rifle that Savage sold as the model 110 before they updated it. Not pretty but reliable, functional, and generally very accurate. In order to get a good and reliable gun and scope package you will need to spend about $450 - $500. I do not consider the scopes that companies put with their package deals a reliable scope.

#2. The 30-06 or .270 will be the cheapest two cartridges to shoot and ammunition is available any where ammunition is sold. The 30-06 will have the advantage on elk because of the heavier bullets available for it but both are very effective elk cartridges. You DO NOT need a magnum of any kind to hunt and cleanly kill elk.

#3. The new Mossberg is by no means the same rifle that the old Mossberg was. The old one was a Howa 1500 built by Howa for Mossberg. The new Mossberg is just above the Remington 710 in regards to its build quality. No offence to any that have one of these rifles. They do what they are suppose to do, which is send bullets down range, but they leave much to be desired when it comes to a quility built rifle.

Eagle 338, having the safety lock the bolt closed while on safe is not a really desirable feature to have on a rifle as it forces you to take the gun off safe in order to unload it. It is much much safer if the safety is engaged while unloading. The best safety is a three position as it allows you to lock the bolt closed while walking around in the woods but still be able to unload the gun with the safety engaged. Having the safety lock the bolt closed when it is engages is the least desirable safety feature you could have. At least as far as being safe is concerned.

goose caller

the $250covers the gun only... ill be looking at scopes ltr. on.

goose caller

bigbulls,

the best gun that I have ever bought was a remington! So if the mossberg is half as good as the remington I will DEFINATELY buy it!

lethalconnection

ok so yah i have the older mossberg and i cant see a problem in it because im shooting animals at 500yds and still knocking them down, and the safety can be engaged while unloading but im not to sure on the new one but according to bigbulls it aint the best so i would do some shopping.

txhunter58

30-06 or 7mm mag. Flip a coin.

One of these are usually cheaper to buy and cheaper to shoot. Ammo at any Wal-mart anywhere. Other guns ammo are slightly harder to find and usually more expensive.

You WILL buy another gun later, so don't worry that you might not be getting everything you might ever want in one package.

goose caller

is that new "fusion" ammo any good?

bigbulls

Lethal, that Mossberg you have is a dang fine gun and one of my favorites. The Howa 1500 receivers are one of the strongest production receivers made. I don't think I typed it the same way my brain was thinking it. [8D]

Goose, you would do much better with a Remington 700 than the Mossberg 100 ATR.

In the under $300 budget there are basically three guns I would be looking at.......

* One of the left over Remington 700 ADL's that were discontinued and replaced by the SPS. Or the SPS if you can find one at that price.
* A Howa 1500 Lightning or hunter model.
* Stevens 200.

Any of these three will be absolutely reliable and last your entire life.

Eagle338

You are certainly entitled to your opinion and you are right 3 position safeties are nice and offer the best of both worlds as on win 70s & ruger 77s etc.Two positon safeties are a compromise, so you have to choose what you consider the lesser of evils. Personally I'd rather trust my own smarts to getthe cartridges out of the gun (30 seconds of identifiable focused task specific effort) with no screw upANDhave a bolt lock down safety thata personcan trust to make sure that duringthe course of a day of brush busting, tree branches, and slinging up against backpacks and backpack straps that you won'tend up with a lifted bolt, an open action, and your live round on the ground 200 yards back, and debris in your action.Now a shot opportunity pops up unexpectedly like they some times do, you unsling your rifleand whoops what do we have here an open action.Seen it happen. My revolver doesn't have any safety at all, trapdoor 45-70, old win 94 isprettycrude too, just hammer trigger muzzlecontrol. Both count on operator smarts but at least the action stays closed.I think I could handle unloading the rifle safely with NO safetyso I'll take the bolt lock down safety system hands down if we are talking 2 position safeties.

handloader1

The .300 Win. Mag would be your best choice. Good luck.

SILVERTIP-CO

Get a 30-06. You can get rounds in any general store in any country in the world. Ammo is cheap too, you can practice with cheap mil ammo if you dont reload. That's all the gun a big game hunter needs.