Buying your Deerstalking Rifle.
Removing the Risk
At Serious Shooters we understand deerstalking and shooting.
Calibre: Suitable calibres include .243Win, 25-06, .260Rem, 6.5x55, .270Win, .280Rem 7mm08, 7x57, .308Win, .30-30Win and .30-06, .303
Calibres with a bullet smaller than .243, such as .222, .223 and their more powerful cousins may be suitable for goats but are generally not suitable for deer. Cartridges, larger or more powerful than those recommended above are not necessary for NZ hunting. Magnums are un-necessarily powerful except the 44 Magnum, which is used in some short range deer rifles.
Action Type: Most NZ deer rifles use a bolt action, which combines safety, simplicity, reliability and strength suitable for our conditions. Lever Actions, Semi-Automatics and single-shots have their following but a beginner is usually best with a bolt action. Lever actions are also popular with many left-handed shooters. A commercial action is usually better than an unaltered military one.
Handy Tip. .270 and other longer (and of course Magnum) cartridges usually have a longer, heavier gun than say .243 or .308. The gun seems to get heavier as the day goes on.
Scope: While the most common choice of scope is either a fixed 4x power or a 3-9 variable (zoom), most NZ hunters are best served by a low-power variable such as a 1.5-5 or a 2-7 power. Handy Tip. Dont expect a $100 scope to be as good as a $500 or a $1,000 one. Buy the best scope you can afford. You tend to get what you pay for and this is most true in rifle-scopes.
Ammunition: Buy quality soft point hunting ammunition and sight your rifle in with the ammunition you intend to hunt with. With .243 the 100 grain factory ammo is preferable for deer.
In larger calibres it is not necessary to use the heaviest bullet loaded for your particular cartridge.
New v/s Second hand: Everyone wants to buy new, but we stock a constantly changing range of second-hand guns, all with a Serious Shooters guarantee. Quality rifles dont wear out easily.
Cleaning and Accessories: Modern rifles do need careful cleaning. Most people dont realise that the biggest problem is copper-fouling in modern rifles. Serious Shooters staff can recommend the appropriate cleaning equipment, sling, bag, case, bipod and other accessories.
Gunsmithing, Tuning or Customising: We are experts in advising if your new (or old) rifle would benefit from a trigger-job, re-bedding, customising, or any other type of work. We can recommend how much is economic to spend on each type of gun or job.
The information contained in this leaflet is copyright of SERIOUS SHOOTERS LTD
For further information contact:
Serious Shooters Ltd
The Best Gun Shop
726 Great South Road, Penrose,
Auckland, New Zealand.
Phone 64-9-579-3006