So my primary hunting gun is a marlin 1895G I do not own any bolt action firearms. I am planning on purchaseing a .30-06 as a general purpose rifle in either a Remington 700 or CZ550. However I want to get a light weight hunting rifle I have looked at several. I have checked out and like the Tika rifles along with the Remington modle 7 and a few others. What do you think would be a good rifle and caliber combination for a light weight deer and pig rifle.

7mm-08 or 7mm mauser,6.5 swede and several other 6.5s inthe same power range,243win 6mm rem.These are a few light weight rifles with low recoil,easy to shoot and will do the job if you do yours

Not the lightest, but I absolutely love my CZ 550 FS in 6.5x55. A very handy, accurate little rifle. If you really want lightweight, I really don't think you can beat the Tikka T3 Lite, unless you spend a lot more cash.

Jim

Model 7 in 7-08

Don't forget to look at savages, my preferred caliber is 243, but your mileage may vary.

I have realy been evaluateing and concidering either the .243 or the 7mm-08. I am leaning twards the .243 because there is a greater selectoin of ammunition choices however I kinda like the heavier weight of the 7mm-08. The .243 is way more common around here than the 7mm-08 and the ammo selection is more limited for the 08. I do reload so it opens up more opprotunity for the 7mm-08. However i have had the forgot ammo problem before so more common is better. However i hear nothing but great things about the 7mm-08. I rairly hear anyting bad. How does it handle heavier weight bullets. I have hurd of people loading up the 175g bullets for it. Or is that too heavy for the velocity and you get reduiced proformance such as greatly reduiced expansion? I have nothing wrong with more penetration I hunt with a .45-70 the majority of the time and I preffer a pass through shot.

If you reload.....7-08. Lots of bullets(100gr thru 195's),most with great BC's,easy to load for,not picky about powder,in fact you probably already have the powder that can be used,more "useable" than the 6mm's on a varity of game,etc,etc.

Take a look at the Ruger line of short bbl'ed weapons and the Remington Mod 7.

I have a Ruger 77 MKII Compact that with a little trigger work(1 hr job)shoots great. Mine is in .308 but the 7-08 was my second choice.

The 175gr NosPart would go thru 'bout anything that you would want to kill,especially at the reduced velocity of the 7-08. They do with my 7mag. To me the perfect hunting bullet in the 7-08 would be the 140gr NosPart. Even on Elk at the closer ranges.

Good luck in your qwest. -----pruhdlr

So my primary hunting gun is a marlin 1895G I do not own any bolt action firearms. I am planning on purchaseing a .30-06 as a general purpose rifle in either a Remington 700 or CZ550. However I want to get a light weight hunting rifle I have looked at several. I have checked out and like the Tika rifles along with the Remington modle 7 and a few others. What do you think would be a good rifle and caliber combination for a light weight deer and pig rifle.

If your looking for a flat shooting rifle to compliment your short range 1895 you might consider the 7mm Rem mag. It has no more recoil than the 06 and handles a wide variety of bullet weights from light to 175 grains. My old shooting partner has been whacking elk with his for lots of years and I don't know how many deer he's killed.

It' shoots very flat for open country hunting and can be had in some light rifles. Oh just for your info the Remington model 7 is a short action rifle and isn't chambered in 06 length cases.

When I started looking for a lighter rifle than my Rem 700 8mm mag I settled on the Remington 700 Mountain rifle in 280 Remington. It's light and very comfortable to shoot. I use 140 grain bullets in it and am very satisfied with it's performance.

The folks above have also given you some very good suggestions.

I'm a 308 guy, and would recommend it highly. But any cartridge based on the 308 will do quite well for a short, light all-purpose rifle. The 243 is light duty enough to be a bit controversial as a deer round (a position with which I agree) but anything from the 6.5mm (.260) up is just fine for anything in the Lower 48. You'll find the broadest selection of bullets in either 7mm or .30-cal, and good choices of factory ammo in either.

Tikka, Howa, CZ, Browning, Savage, Ruger, Remington, Weatherby and Winchester all make or made trim lightweight versions of their rifles, and all of them chamber for a 308-based cartridge of some type. All things considered, this is the most practical of all rifles.

for a light 30 cal everybody seems to ignore the 7.62/39 in a boltaction. i,ve had mine for about 15 years and its downed a lot of deer (chittal) on vermin control. i can hear the howles from the purests we used spotlights. i,ve since fitted a 303 barrel (.312) and load 115g 32/20 projs. for hunting. i also shoot military cal. out to 400 m.using chinese ammo.

2 years ago I borrowed my father in law's remington 7mm-08 model seven and dropped a 4 point with a quick kill. The gun was fairly light weight and was pretty easy to tote around. I recoverd the round and it performed beautifully as it was rested on the skin of the back of the animal and it liquified the lungs and part of the heart so I was very happy with bullet performance.

I recently bought a tikka t3 lite SS in 270 wsm and I have some scope mount issues that are probably my fault but I LOVE the gun. It handles well and has a very nice fit to me and I am 5'9" weighing 180 lbs. If I had to buy another gun again I would have opted for the tikka t3 lite SS in 7mm-08. for the price you cant beat it and you would be very happy with the quality of the tikka.

I would see which one fits you best and use that as a base as they are both great guns but I would lean toward the tikka. Hope this helps.

If you're like 90% plus of the hunters east of the Mississippi, a Marlin or Winchester carbine in .30-30 will serve you perfectly well. I know -- plenty of folks sneer at the old round. They are ignorant.

As Bob Stated, the 7mm Rem Mag is great. I have an older savage 110 Sierra lite that is exceptional. 400 yard plus hunting is on the shelf for a few years, but I bought a Husqvarna M1600 in 6.5x55 that would fit the bill. Only about 6lb.s w/ 4x32 scope and mounts. A great 300 yard gun. I'm loading 87 to 160gr bullets for it. I love it. 139..140gr are the norm, very accurate and hits much heavier than you would expect.
For a lever gun, pisgah has a great suggestion. I would not run a .30-30 out past 175 yards, but that is me. Still a VG round. JP

The longest kill I've made on a whitetail with a .30-30 was 215 yards, with a scoped Marlin 336. The cartridge is easily capable of that kind of shot -- but candidly, such shooting is not its strength.

I stopped counting deer kills 15 years ago when I passed the 200 mark. Just a guess, but I'd say I've killed 300 now. In my hunting environment, the longest shot I've ever been offered was no more than 275 yards, and certainly fewer than 100 deer shot were at over 100 yards. The vast majority were at 50 yards or less, and I'd say this is more or less typical in Eastern woods. Out to 150 yards, IMO nothing beats a .30-30, although many can do as well. I've owned rifles in .30-06. .270, and 7mm magnum, but other than a very few shots one of my Marlins would have done the job every bit as efficiently as any of them. Deer just aren't that hard to kill.

i'd staret with the 25/06 and go up from there, actually i'd start with the 257 roberts in retrospect. there are a lot of good rifles out there, your best bet is to go to a larger sporting goods store and shoulder some different rifles and see if anything jumps out at you.
i think that the quality of bullet and shot placement are much more critical than the bore diameter and velocity.

It might be nice of you could get one of the old Savage 99Fs in .308 cal. They're light, fast, and accurate in my experience. Although a bit hard to find. That would certainly drop a deer or a hog easy enough.