r/canadaguns • u/Western_Wish4280 • Jun 01 '26

Buy recommendations Best first hunting rifle to buy?

Hi all!

I have recently got my PAL and wanna go hunting this fall.

I dont wanna hunt moose for a couple years. The only reason for getting a gun rn is to hunt whitetail deer.

I know people would say buy a tikka t3x lite and all.

But i dont wanna buy it right now. Wanted a rifle chambered in 270 Winchester/ 6.5 CM for the forgiving trajectory and recoil as im super new to shooting. But in a couple years id go buy a tikka t3x chambered in 308 winchester.

I have narrowed down my search and these are the rifles i would pick one from:

  1. Winchester xpr bolt action (270 win)

  2. Weatherby vanguard (270 win)

  3. Mossberg patriot predator(6.5 CM)

  4. Ruger gen 1 bolt action(270 win)

  5. Savage axis xp2 (6.5 CM)

Please help me choose and if need be advise on other models.

Edit: I thank all of you who have given me excellent advice. I really didnt know the gun community in Canada is soooooo friendly. You guys are all amazing !

13 Upvotes

79% Upvoted

65 comments sorted by

View all comments

8

u/apatheticAlien Jun 01 '26

Just get the tikka

1

u/Next-Swimming-4270 Jun 01 '26

Ruger gen 1 is pretty nice. I got mine for 500 dollars and it goes bang every time, pretty reliably too

2

u/apatheticAlien Jun 01 '26

Fair enough but he specifically mentioned he's already thinking about buying the 308 in a couple of years. May as well get it now and start practicing/becoming familiar with with it. He can still start with deer, in a couple of years he can use it on moose rather than having to get accustomed to a new gun all over again.