Buying your first hunting rifle is incredibly exciting. After all, this is the weapon that will accompany you into the field and fill your freezer. Here’s a quick guide that will help you make the best choice for how you hunt.

When it comes to choosing a rifle, form follows function.

Start with What and Where.

First, decide what game you’ll be hunting the most and where. A hunter targeting whitetail deer in corn fields will likely not need the same rifle as someone chasing elk in high country. (To be clear, many rifles and calibers can easily take both elk and whitetail deer.)

Where you’ll be hunting is crucial for several reasons. First, carrying a heavy rifle long distances will be exhausting, so if you’re covering ground, a lighter rifle helps. On the flip side, if you’re hunting box blinds and not walking long distances, heavier rifles can reduce felt recoil.

[NOTE: Always check your local hunting regulations to ensure your weapon is legal. Specifically, many regions restrict the use of centerfire rifle cartridges (the type of round we’ll discuss in this blog) and require either shotgun (sometimes also called a “slug gun”) or straightwall hunting only.]

You don’t have to empty your bank account to get an effective hunting rifle.

What’s Your Budget?

When you’re budgeting for your rifle you’ll need to budget for a riflescope and riflescope rings. It’s not as expensive as it sounds: Our Triumph® HD 3-9x40 comes with riflescope rings right in the box, and optics like our Crossfire® HD gives you a feature-rich optic that will save you plenty of cash for ammo. (For more on choosing a riflescope, check out this blog). We recommend spending as much as you can on your rifle, while still leaving yourself a budget for your optics.

Used guns offer another, less expensive choice, but it’s buyer beware. If you buy used, it’s best to lean on someone with experience. In addition, if you inherit a rifle, having a local gunsmith take a quick look to ensure it’s safe and effective is a good idea. (For more on choosing a budget rifle, check out this episode of Cartridge Talks.)

From large caliber big-game bullets to small game rounds, rifles fire a dizzying variety of bullets.

Choose the Right Caliber.

Start narrowing down calibers by considering what you can comfortably shoot. This will take getting to the range, but it’s important. Not only will you fire this rifle while hunting, you (should be) shooting it at the range to get more proficient as a marksman. If the recoil is painful, makes it difficult to execute follow up shots, or causes you to develop bad habits like flinching, larger calibers might hurt more than help, especially as you learn to shoot.

Another consideration is ammo availability. More common cartridges (like the .30-06, .308, and more recently the 6.5 Creedmoor) will be easier to find in stores and will have more bullet weights and features for a variety of applications.

Prioritize calibers with low recoil that you can shoot accurately. Shot placement is paramount for quickly dispatching big game, so the biggest bullet isn’t necessarily the best bullet. A few calibers that fit the bill and can take deer-sized game with proper shot placement: .243, 6.5 Creedmoor, and .308.

Though there are several rifle actions to choose from, we recommend bolt action for your first rifle.

So Many Actions, One Simple Answer.

If you inherit a gun, or get a hand-me-down from a friend or relative, you might not need to choose your rifle’s action. Here’s a quick rundown of rifle actions:

• Semi-auto, where the rifle uses energy from a spent round to chamber the next round.
• Pump action, where the shooter pulls a slide back to eject a spent round, then forward to load a new one.
• Break action, which opens to allow each round to be hand-loaded into the chamber.
• Lever action, which uses a lever below the trigger to cycle rounds.

We’ll make this one simple: If you have the choice, go with bolt action.

Bolt action rifles use a hand-thrown bolt to cycle spent rounds out, and to load new rounds in. They’re renowned for their accuracy, durability, and fool-proof reliability. They’re also usually more affordable than other actions.

Fit and Feel.

How a gun fits you is just as important as how it fits your hunt. The best advice we can give you is to go to a dealer and handle several different rifles. (Need help finding a dealer? Check out our dealer locator for locations near you.) Try rifles with wood and synthetic stocks. Experiment with heavier and lighter builds. (For more on proper rifle fit, check out this blog.) While you can find rifles that fit your needs online, nothing will replace handling the gun to make sure you’re comfortable with it.

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