This is the break down of guns . And let's go with the person does not reload
I'm going with 7 mm mag
I'm really wanting a 26 inch barrel but that looks tuff
Stainless would be great . No muzzle break . Clip would work . No wood stock .
Would like to keep build at $1500.00
I just did a build on one and that one took me to $3000 gun $1500 range finder and 1500 in reloading . I don't think a lot of people can do that .
And I'm trying to give back to this forum for all the help
- 7mm mag - great idea, very flat shooting, so out to 250-300 yards, more or less negligible drop or wind error in a hunting situation.
- Not reloading - buy the ammo from a custom, precision reloader - example Monolithic Munitions (They are not far away from me, there are other really good ones out there as well).
IMHO, Focus on the long term and ability to upgrade:
- Trigger - just get any old trigger and smooth it out yourself a little. A trigger upgrade is easily added to an otherwise good rifle, and the price point is within the range of a "significant other" gift in the future. This provides a way to bond and share in the hobby.
- Action - I would use a really good quality, new custom action. This is a "core piece", not something easily upgraded. - around $1000
- Barrel - Again, not so inexpensive to upgrade, so buy a good one at the start.
- Scope - I shot a 270 win for many years with iron sights. (no, not long range). You don't need a scope to start out hunting deer with a 7mm mag until things are pretty far away.
Borrow a scope to sight it in, after that you could use 2 painted finishing nails epoxied to the barrel out to 100 yards and still be successful. A really determined person could file some notches into scope rings and make a simple + reticle with guitar string. Its a hack, but they are starting out - right ? Maybe the guitar string is going too far, but a scope is an easy, down the road "upgrade".
A nice fixed 6x IOR scope would work for 3-500 yards of hunting and that is around $600. Brown bag lunch and drink your own coffee for 3-4 months and you can afford the scope.
Stock - similarly - it is an add-on / upgrade. Not quite as easily as something like a scope or trigger, but still something that can be economized at first and "improved" over time.
Range finder - A new long range shooter will likely tie up with someone (or group) with more experience and more equipment. Just hold out on this area.
If they go too cheap in the beginning, they will just waste a lot of money in the future replacing "core" parts trying to upgrade performance, rather than buying a good "core" and upgrading peripherals.