05-29-2009, 10:39 AM
I agree that the .30-06 is your best option for now, but we need to educate you just a bit on guns so that you get to buy more and suffer less wife aggro.
.30-06 is your fine white tail, mule deer gun. but you need to explain to the wife that if you are going to go out west sometime and hunt antelope you will need a .243 or similar for a bit more range and flatter shooting trajectory. if you are going farther west and hunt Elk, you will need something with a bit more knock down power like a .338 and of course for practice to save on ammo when you are just plinking you will need a .22 after you decide you want to do a little serious target practice that will require another gun all together.
to not forget, inflate the price to whatever number is just below her going ballistic. you are going to need money for scopes, and they are not cheap; plus when you report back that you spent far less than what you expected it will make her as happy as buying shoes on sale.
*note the alternative of this is having some of your own squirrel hole money, but that can end badly.
also the same method can be used for shotguns. if you hunt geese or turkey you might need a 10ga. i would never use my quail gun to go duck hunting even though they are both 12ga. and my trap gun is not the same as my sporting clays gun.
my .30-06 is a made in England Birmingham Small Arms about 40 years old with a fixed 4x Leupold scope. (yes, BSA is the same company that made the English motorcycles) shot my first deer with it over 30 years ago.
.30-06 is your fine white tail, mule deer gun. but you need to explain to the wife that if you are going to go out west sometime and hunt antelope you will need a .243 or similar for a bit more range and flatter shooting trajectory. if you are going farther west and hunt Elk, you will need something with a bit more knock down power like a .338 and of course for practice to save on ammo when you are just plinking you will need a .22 after you decide you want to do a little serious target practice that will require another gun all together.
to not forget, inflate the price to whatever number is just below her going ballistic. you are going to need money for scopes, and they are not cheap; plus when you report back that you spent far less than what you expected it will make her as happy as buying shoes on sale.
*note the alternative of this is having some of your own squirrel hole money, but that can end badly.
also the same method can be used for shotguns. if you hunt geese or turkey you might need a 10ga. i would never use my quail gun to go duck hunting even though they are both 12ga. and my trap gun is not the same as my sporting clays gun.
my .30-06 is a made in England Birmingham Small Arms about 40 years old with a fixed 4x Leupold scope. (yes, BSA is the same company that made the English motorcycles) shot my first deer with it over 30 years ago.