Expert: Steven L. Ashe - 3/8/2009

Question
I am looking for an all-around hunting rifle.  I want to be able to shoot rabbits (head shot) to a coyote or larger animal.  I would like to have a gun with a magazine for multiple shots.  Also would like a scope.  Don't want a bunch of bells and whistles - special locks, egraved wood etc.  Also don't want to pay for a name that may be overpriced (winchester?).  Was looking towards a Marlin Magnum?  Can you direct me to a brand and model # that would fit my needs?  Doesn't have to be Marlin.

Thanks!

Answer
Okay serenity, you are asking a question that a lot of us ask when we first get serious about hunting. My criteria would be to look for one rifle that can serve you on a large variety of game animals. One rifle/scope combination that is reasonably priced, but provides excellent accuracy and hits hard enough to make quick clean kills. Plus, you need to address the ammo. Is the ammo easy to attain anywhere? Does the ammo use reloadable cartridge cases? Remember, all the components for ammo have gone way up in price. Therefore if you have not thought about handloading, perhaps you should!
Which cartridge fits all my outlined factors? Only one and that is the 22 caliber, .223Remington. Here are my reasons. The .223 is heavily used by many militaries around the world. Military ammo is only stored for a number of years, before it is surplused and sold very cheaply on the commercial market. Today, you can buy case lots of military surplus .223 at a fraction of what you'd pay of regular commerial ammo, even less than .22Mag ammo. Military .223 uses full metal jacket bullets, which kills quickly, yet cleanly on game animals hit in the head. For body shots, like on the coyote that you mentioned, the FMJ military bullet can be pulled and hollow point or other varmint bullets can be put in the place of the FMJ. Very inexpensive hand loading tools are available to do this. I like Speer TNT bullets for all varmints, as that bullet explodes into tiny fragments when it hits the body mass and kills very quickly. After you shoot up a case of .223, the cases can be reloaded and you can use those cases many times over.
Now, which rifle? From all that I have read, the Savage package rifle in .223 is the best value. You get a scope on the rifle already bore sighted. The Savage is among the best, off the rack accurate rifles offered today. The black stock is not fancy, but it is indistructable and will not cause your point of aim to "walk" when it gets wet, or is exposed to large degrees of temperature change.
Sure, you can go for the .22Mag. but you lose a lot when the brass cannot be reloaded and that ammo is not cheap!
In many states, the .223 is legal for deer. In the hands of an accomplished rifleman, the .223 is deadly on deer. You can, again, exchange the FMJ bullet in military ammo for a premium deer bullet, like the Nosler, and do a number on any deer.
If the bore is taken care of and properly cleaned, you can expect to get many thousands of rounds fired, before any noticeable loss of accuracy occurs in the bore.
Summing up: You asked for an "all around hunting rifle". Up to and including deer, the Savage package rifle in .223 fits the bill. You asked to make headshots on rabbits. My hunting rifle in .223 will put five rounds into a nickel at 100 yards. That is head shot accuracy. You ask for a magazine rifle, and the Savage provides that. You ask for a scope and while the Savage package rifle does not mount the finest world class scope, they do give you a scope that will serve you many years and give clear optics.
A Savage package rifle has the scope and sling and is ready to go to the range and do your final zeroing and practice. It cost a bit more than would a Marlin rim fire rifle, but it will produce much more and be much more an all around rifle when used to take animal up to and including deer, which the rim fire cannot legally do in most states. If you decide to get a rifle in .223 and do not now have enough money, than wait a bit longer and save the extra bucks. You will never be sorry that you waited, because you will own a real centerfire hunting rifle that will do multiple tasks and outshine any rimfire rifle.
Ask me more if you like.
Please leave me feedback, as that is my only pay for taking the time to do this.
Best,
Steven L. Ashe