For a hunting rifle what would be your choice of only one hunting rifle?

[sappyg]

Hard question to answer. So many options and they are all good.

Of the rifles I own I usually take the Ruger RSI in 308. Lots of energy in a short light weight set up. Should be good enough out to 200 + yards for anything I'm likely to hunt and then some.

In the end I don't think caliber matters as much as the feel and confidence you have in a rifle. That brings an easy case for a CRF Winchester 70. Make mine with an 18-20" barrel. Short action would be nice with a 1-6x scope and call it good.

 

[meanmrmustard]

For anything I can hunt in my state, plus a few others I could afford to hunt, from animals ranging from hogs to elk? Predators too?

6.5 Swedish Mauser. Boom, drop the mike.

As for bears, I've no interest in hunting bears. Too beautiful, and I don't care for the meat.

 

[Picher]

I agree with the .30-06 if the larger animals were to actually be hunted in the next 5 years, or so. If not, I'd opt for something like a .270 Win, 7mm-08, or even a .243 Win.

In a .30-06, 125 grain bullets work fine for varmints, 150 to 165 grain for deer, 180 for larger game. I haven't had any occasion to use 220 grain bullets, since they're usually too hard for anything in Maine, including moose, IMHO.

Reduced Recoil 125s are hunting bullets that could be used for deer, by younger hunters and women, or for practice, but will often shoot to a different POI.

Reloading makes any cartridge more flexible. I presently use a .270 Win for deer and larger game, but am careful about choosing bullets that make that cartridge way more deadly than it was several years ago. Sierra 90 grain HPs loaded lightly for target practice shoot to the same POI as my hot 130 grain Hornady GMX or Barnes TSX loads. However, the number of choices for .308 caliber bullets are the greatest.

 

[T.R.]

My choice would be .308 as well. Stellar accuracy, moderate recoil, good ammo selection, plenty of power at typical hunting distances.

TR

 

[eclarsen]

I'd keep the first big game rifle I bought in grad school in 1976 or 77. Ruger M77, 270 Win. I listened to the 30-06 guys and the 270 guys. The Rem 700 guys and the Ruger M77 guys. The Ruger was on sale for a few bucks cheaper and it was a .270. Sorta embarrassing that a few bucks was the deciding factor. But then again, it seemed a Chevy vs. Ford sort of argument. Haven't looked back.

Yup, more cartridge options for the 30-06. I'm satisfied w/ my faster/flatter choice.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

Same here. I bought my first real big game rifle in '70 when I got back from my second tour in Viet Nam. I looked around, and didn't want the post-'64 Winchester, couldn't afford a pre-'64. The Ruger was a few bucks cheaper than the Remington -- and in those days, Remington finished their stocks with the same stuff used on bowling pins, a sort of transparent plastic.

The Model 700 I saw had impressed checkering, and there were splinters raised all around the edges of the checkering. They just slathered on the finish and out the door with it.

The Ruger M77 by contrast had a classic stock design in oil-finished walnut.

Mine, of course, was in .30-06. I mounted a Weaver K 2.5 scope on it -- the same kind my dad used in Ethiopia in the '40s, and it's been perfectly satisfactory these 40+ years.

 

[doc2rn]

30-06 my Weatherby is my favorite do all gun.

 

[280shooter]

280 Rem.