Have you found the "perfect" factory hunting rifle ... at any price?

My Sako A7 in 30-06 is my (admittedly subjective) perfect hunting rifle. I’ve only developed a load for 180g Accubonds and that bullet has worked very well from antelope all the way to elk.

It’s very accurate, handles well, and has ideal weight and balance. Equally important, the trigger is fantastic and the bolt locks closed but the action can be run with the safety on.

I may play with some Barnes 130g TTX here soon to try on mule deer, but have zero complaints using bonded 180g for everything.

Sorry I got off the thread.

For a more reasonable price rifle the Savage model 16 (under 1k)
Weatherby Mark V ultra lightweight a 2k rifle.

FN/Winchester M70 EW/SS/ Leupold VX-3i 2.5-8x36mm/ Talley LtWt mounts. (chambered in .270 WIN.)

~ $1350 all up.

Consider it unbeatable.




GR

My perfect rifle is a Dakota chambered in 280. I bought it in the first year of production. Serial No. 82. I don't see how it could be improved. I've shot a lot of stuff with it from Africa to Alaska.

Perfect hunting rifle .......


Browning Abolts came close......

My Christensen Ridgeline comes close.
Locking bolt on the Christensen, and there would probably be very little for me to complain about. It's the only gun i haven't done SOMETHING to.


My unicorn hunting gun would have a few key features.

Stainless action and barrel, some engraving.....I'm pretty sure I want it blacked somehow.
Pushfeed, locking bolt, tang (or rocker) safety.
Top end wood stock, pillared, bedded, and checkered. Oil finished all pretty like.

Basically I want it to look like you wouldn't want to hunt with it....but built to do exactly what my Christensen does with a bit more style.

All still pretty nebulous, as I'm expecting to need some serious cash to build or buy it.

The best that I have had for whitetails in my region was a Compact Ruger 77 in 260 Rem. It wore a 2-7X Leupold Vari-XII and was a light handy rifle and deadly on whitetails. I bought it for a song at a yard sale. If it had been Walnut and Blue I would still have it. Gray Laminate and Stainless isn't my cup of tea.

I rarely hunt more than two or three years with the same gun. For me it is not really a search for the perfect rifle but more about seeking for the next challenge or exploring the next weird cartridge that comes into my interests.

This years weird cartridge/gun to hunt with:

Pre 64 Winchester Model 70 Featherweight chambered in .270 Winchester

Not perfect.
Close enough
View attachment 956715

It wears a 2-7x now and with it at 7x was getting 1 inch groups @ 100 yds. Bone stock trigger too.

.35 rem w Hornady factory ammo.

Its a great little rifle.

I've got several I consider perfect for what I need them for.

Ruger 77RSI in .308, this is an early model with a 4x Leupold, very accurate for the first three shots, then it strings them out badly but I've never needed to shoot 3 shots when hunting.


Sako AIII in 30-06 with a 6x Seeadler scope.


HK SLB 2000k in 30-06, I have 2,5 and 10 round mags for this one.

Yep. My Ruger No. 1V in 300 WM checks every box for me in a hunting rifle. It’s a tad heavy, but perfectly balanced to the point that the weight does not seem burdensome. It is extremely accurate for the first three rounds, specifically with hunting bullets. Recoil is quite tolerable. And, it is chambered in a cartridge that will reliably kill anything I am apt to pursue. There’s not much more I could ask for. It’s the rifle in the center.

browningguy said:

I've got several I consider perfect for what I need them for.

Ruger 77RSI in .308, this is an early model with a 4x Leupold, very accurate for the first three shots, then it strings them out badly but I've never needed to shoot 3 shots when hunting.
View attachment 956720

Sako AIII in 30-06 with a 6x Seeadler scope.
View attachment 956721

HK SLB 2000k in 30-06, I have 2,5 and 10 round mags for this one.
View attachment 956722

Click to expand...

I am a fan of a Mannlicher stocked rifle. Very nice.

Factory, not perfect. Good enough to do the job? Most every rifle I've owned. There are some 'classics' I'd like to own and hunt with, but I wouldn't say they're 'perfect'.

Perfect is subjective.
My Mauser is nice.
Getting a Mark 5 tomorrow. It works for me.

I wonder if a full custom rifle can ever be truly perfect let alone a factory job.

Larry Potterfield always uses the term “nearly perfect” even when it applies to full on customs.

My 700 ADL is pretty decent.... now.
Had to stiffen the factory stock, swap to a steel trigger guard and dump the j lock for a Gre Tan FP and shroud.

Had another one before, that got stock work only and was half incher. But it went bye bye to help fund a divorce.

Have not reloaded for the current one or bedded the lug so dunno how good it is.
.75" w factory ammo....good enough.

Mentioned Tikka in another thread....if thats a long action, for short action cartridges thatd be a deal breaker for me, no matter what all else it gets right.

If so, be looking at Steyr CL II SX

You have to remember that perfect is the antonym of good. Search for perfection is doomed to throw so much good out the window that the end result is likely to be pretty bad when everything is said and done.

hq said:

You have to remember that perfect is the antonym of good. Search for perfection is doomed to throw so much good out the window that the end result is likely to be pretty bad when everything is said and done.

Click to expand...

At work we call it simply; "Perfection is the enemy of good enough".

Used a SAKO Finnlight in 6.5x55 for hunting. Real nice - but NOT perfect. Bolt is too long and sometimes a little clunky to rechamber a round - you can't hurry it. But it is cheerleader quality for me. The other "near perfect" gun was a Winchester Model 70 in the same caliber. Extremely accurate, in fact, the most accurate gun I have ever owned. But - (there is always a but) it was a little on the heavy side. There is no perfect hunting rifle (or handgun for that matter) but some are so close that it doesn't make a difference.

For a hunting rifle to work out for me, all I ask is utter reliability, acceptable accuracy, and handiness for the expected tasks. There are so many different scenarios where different rifles would fit the bill so no, not any one “perfect” rifle, but there are some fairly recent rifles to hit the market that get close. The AR mag budget bolt guns are by no means perfect out of the box, but with a little elbow grease they can get stinkin close. Put on a Boyd’s stock and the guns are pretty well there. A couple options exist where they come factory with laminate, but not in the calibers I would be interested in typically with the exception of 450 bushmaster. So if I had to pick a centerfire rifle to be as close to perfect as possible it would likely be that rifle. A similar rifle using ar10 mags in 7-08 would supplant that in a heartbeat to take the crown. I’m considering building such a beast but it would cost too much to buy the rifle and then rebarrel it, also would cost too much to buy a 7-08 rifle and rework it, but one of these days I will throw money into a rifle and end up with what I want.

hq said:

You have to remember that perfect is the antonym of good. Search for perfection is doomed to throw so much good out the window that the end result is likely to be pretty bad when everything is said and done.

Click to expand...

One word.

Satisfice.




GR

My RAR predator in 6.5 CM is as close to "perfect" as I am likely to ever get, at least for my purposes. It was $424 OTD and shoots about 1/2 MOA with a 140 grain softpoint that costs less than $20 a box. Accurate, rugged, reliable, competitively priced, and backed by a company famous for excellent products and superb customer service. I would feel fine using it for any critter in the lower 48. 2 downsides to this rifle: 1- Its ugly as homemade sin. That said, critters don't care if they are shot by an ugly rifle, and when I am in the tree, I'm the only one who needs to look at it. 2- expensive/weird magazines. I was able to score 2 extras for the price of 1, so my magazine problem has been solved. I have the version that takes the original rotary mags- the AI version came out after I had bought mine.

The following sounds pompous even to me, but I've thought the question over and it's my honest opinion.

Perfection is the enemy of good enough. Some people think Stalin coined the phrase, but Voltaire is an earlier candidate and the basic idea goes all the way back to ancient Greece and the Golden Mean. Also, to me perfection means unable to be improved and that is a tall order. I suppose the the pursuit of perfection is an OK thing, as long as the process remains fun and doesn't become burdensome or obscure your goal. Which is presumably a more satisfying and successful hunt. For myself, I would be as satisfied with any suitable rifle as with the absolute perfect one, if the end result was the same.

The search for a rifle suited to task should start with a list of must-have characteristics: chambering, accuracy, weight, fit, reliability, etc. Eliminate rifles that don't qualify and see which of the remaining speaks to you, functionally and aesthetically. Take it for an extended test drive and see if it lives up to your needs. If so, learn to live with it; if not, try again. If everyone did something like this when courting a life partner, the divorce rate would plummet.

Since I'm no longer able to hunt at present, the preceding is academic and my rifle purchases are more about history and aesthetics than perfection. FWIW, I'll add that I like Mauser 98-based actions, including the 1903, M70, Kimber 84, etc.