How To Choose The Best Hunting Rifle
It doesn’t matter if it is your first deer hunt or number one hundred, choosing the best hunting rifle that fits your style of hunting and the game that you’re chasing it paramount. At IN-RUT Rifles, we build and repair a lot of custom hunting rifles for hunters around the globe. When choosing the best hunting rifle for your task on hand, we suggest you base the start of your search off of the criteria listed below. While every hunter is different and has different needs, these basics are a good place for anyone to start.
1. Do plenty of online and in-person research.
Buying a hunting rifle means doing research and reading hunting rifle reviews before you head out to shop. Decide which models you’d like to look at, then read up on them. Consult manufacturer websites and online forums. Use other information sources as well, hunting forums are a great place to start, but make sure to read reviews thoroughly as some companies “Sponsor” these forums and get biased reviews. Talk to knowledgeable friends or ask a gunsmith you trust if he has any opinions about a particular rifle. Trust me, he will!
Make sure to check out our show schedule so you can check out our custom hunting rifles when we are at a trade show near you!
2. Choose the right rifle cartridge for your target species
With so many factors influencing your rifle cartridge selection, it is important to understand the minute details of each that will affect your choice. Bullets come in all kinds of different sizes, but the two most common measurements are inches and millimeters.
Things to consider. . .
Penetration
This refers to the bullet’s ability to go deep into the animal’s vitals, preferably all the way through, exiting on the other side.
Placement
This is by far the most important factor in ethically killing any animal. A poorly placed shot with a high power, the high-speed cartridge will likely result in a wounded and lost animal.
Wound Channel
This is another necessary factor. The wound channel is the damage that is caused as the bullet passes through the body cavity. It does not make a clean hole, but instead makes a ragged, expanded chasm through its path. The larger the bullet the larger the wound channel.
You’ll need to think ahead if you’re going to be hunting very large game, as you may need a rifle you won’t find in a basic hunting collection. If you’re new to hunting or are looking for a basic hunting setup, consider a gun that’s designed to shoot a .30-06 Springfield, .308 Winchester or .270 Winchester.
3. Choose an action that fits your needs
The rifle action is responsible for kicking out fired cartridges and loading new cartridges into a rifle’s chamber. When it comes to actions, hunting rifles are designed to fire either single shots or repeat shots. Choosing the right type of action is largely a matter of preference. Some hunters like single-shot rifles, which increase the pressure to make an accurate shot the first time. Others prefer repeating rifles, which decrease pressure and are an ideal choice for newer hunters.
Defiance Rebel Actions
The action that started it all, the Rebel has countless options. There is truly a configuration for every custom rifle application. It has it all, precision, quality, reliability, and class. Choose the perfect action for your next match, hunting trip, or a family heirloom.
The Defiance Rebel is a very versatile custom bolt action. The Rebel can be used in long-range hunting as well as competition shooting. All options can be configured in endless ways. The Defiance actions have a unique manufacturing process ensuring precise, accurate custom bolt actions every time, and is designed to your custom specifications.
4. Custom hunting rifle components
You’ll find hunting rifles at a variety of price points, which is good news. However, it’s essential to know what sets the good-but-affordable rifles apart from the just-plain-cheap rifles. You can avoid a bad investment by choosing the right barrel and stock materials.
Most hunting rifles feature either stainless steel or carbon steel for the barrel and other metal components. All IN-RUT Rifles use stainless steel barrels as it’s more prone to rust than stainless steel. If you keep up on regular rifle maintenance, this shouldn’t be a deal breaker. When it comes to choosing stock for your custom rifle, you’ll likely be able to choose from wood or fiberglass. Both are good choices so long as they’re well maintained. At IN-RUT, we choose fiberglass as it is a lighter option, and when lugging around a rifle 5 miles in the backcountry, every ounce counts. When it comes to wood, it’s also important that you choose a good species.
You can check out the breakdown of an IN-RUT Rifle on our rifle tech page. Here you can see a complete breakdown of our custom hunting rifles and the components we use to make your custom one of a kind hunting rifle.
5. Budget for rifle optics
Many a hunter has fallen into the trap of buying a great rifle and then having no money left for a rifle scope. Think ahead and budget for your optics so that you’re not stuck with a rifle you can’t use. In terms of budgeting, you can plan to spend between 50 and 100 percent of what you spent on your rifle on a scope. If you already have a suitable scope, remember to mount it, site it and get comfortable with it before you head out to hunt.
IN-RUT Custom Hunting Rifles
With originality, quality and accuracy, IN-RUT Rifles – remains committed to its primary goal of providing the shooting sports industry with innovative products and services, using world-class manufacturing techniques and proprietary technology. Setting our custom rifle quality, accuracy, and service standards higher than our competition ensures that you, the customer, receive the highest quality custom hunting rifle available anywhere.
Superior Design
InRut Rifles are designed to be one part of a shooting system. With a complete configuration, you will add a scope, ammunition, a ballistic rangefinder and the finishing services of a break-in, accuracy validation, and long-range ballistic profiling. A matched ballistic turret for your individual rifle is the final component of an IN-RUT Custom Deer Hunting Rifle System.
Long Range Precision
Ultra long range. Ultra lightweight. One mile shot. The IN-RUT Typical Rifle has the capability. It is designed to be your ultimate mountain hunting rifle. With a guaranteed 1/2″ MOA, The Non-Typical Rifle is sure to make your shots that much easier in the backcountry!