Arizona hunters, what rifle do you use?

For this upcoming season, I will be using a Winchester Model 70 .270. I am using Federal 150 grain round nose. I will be hunting black bear, mountain lion, and coues deer. I think this is an adequate choice for these species, but if I were to be hunting elk, I would definitely get a different bullet, but a .270 will take down any game in AZ. I'm not sure what brand of scope I have on the gun, but it is a 2-7 power scope.

I currently use a .308 Winchester but will be switching to a .300 Win Mag.

BikerRN

Rem. 700 BDL in .308 Win. w/Tasco 3x9 BDC-Range Finder

Don't hunt, but make sure you invest in a camelback water carrier, too. Rifle is a CZ 527M 7.62x39mm with Bushnell 3-9 scope, but I hunt the wiley paper targets.
What city are you going to? And welcome to Free AZ!

If you come to the Casa Grande area,(50 miles south of Phoenix area), there is a great free public range just south of the city. Phoenix has several nice pay ranges, including the incredible ben Avery range setup. Hope you make it down here!

The .308 is a mini 30-06 and the .300 Win Mag is a 30-06 on steroids.

My reason for switching is to extend the range that I can take animals with. The .308 will take any game animal in AZ one cares to hunt, but it does not have the power needed on some game at longer ranges.

If one talks with various folks familiar with Arizona hunting one thing remains consistant. Most knowledgable people will select the .300 Win Mag if they could only have one rifle to hunt the state with given the variety of game available.

BikerRN

200 - 700 Yards.

My personal limit is 500 Yards. Right now I only feel confident out to 300 Yards, but that will change as I spend more time on the Range.

Deer, elk, antelope, black bear, and mountain lion.

I don't know what hunting atmosphere is like where you currently live, but in Arizona we have public lands that are so immense you can drive for hours and hours and never see civilization. Shots can often be long distances. I've taken a lot of game out past 500 yds.. I recomend a .243, .270, or a 7mm rem. mag. for some flat shooting choices. Also wouldn't be a bad idea to invest in a decent spotting scope and glasses along with a couple of tripods, cause you'll be doing a lot of long distance glassing. Road hunting is strickly prohibited here and can get your hunting rights revoked and a heffty fine if you even appear to be road hunting.
We use the above in addition to radios and ear buds to guide each other in for the shot. Arizona is challenging to hunt, but there are a quite a few book animals here!

Just bought a .243 for deer hunting. I drew out for Coues deer in one of the southeast units.

I will likely also use it for coyotes, lions, and anything else bigger than a rabbit I decide to hunt here. .270 was my second choice, but since I haven't even put in for elk, I decided to go with a round I know I like shooting a lot.

It's a lot different than back home, where I could use a muzzleloader and pretty much get a doe any time I went out. (you can't even hunt does here, btw). You don't realize how far away things can be until you get here. I saw ONE buck the last time I hunted in this state, and he was way outside my rifle's range, hence, the .243.

Rem 700 mnt rifle in 7mm Mauser, Leuy M8 4X scope.

140 gr for Deer, 175 gr for elk.

AZ is very similar to NV where I used to live - any good medium cartridge from 25 to 30 will do the job. Personally, I like my 7mm mag for deer and elk, with something a little lighter for antelope. As to glass anything 6X and up in a fixed or 3x9 in a variable. With BLM land, as mentioned, you will be covering lots of open territory - no tree stand deer waiting in the West There is some very remote country in those parts of the country - you'll find all sorts of gear you'll be wanting and needing

Where I hunt in AZ, we only have feral pigs but I'd still use my 20" AR, 5.56 loaded w/ A Speer 70 gr sp bullet in LC brass, on 25 grains of Varget and a Rem 7.5 primer. COL 2.207. Extreme spread is usually under 20 fps at 2810 fps average. I use a 1x4 Burris scope on a Larue mount.
Deer are taken with a .243 WSSM chambered in another AR w/ a 22" barrel. Using a Speer BTSP, 85 grain bullet on 39 grains of RL-15 Win brass and Fed 210 primer.
Elk has only been taken in New Mexico some years ago and I used a Ruger Model 1 B chambered in 270 Weatherby mag and the heaviest bullet available from Weatherby at the time. I cant remember now. The elk was dropped in its' tracks from over 300 yards. I never felt under gunned. I tend toward lighter calibers generally but for dangerous game.

Where are you that you have feral pigs, stack? The DWR only just admitted that there were any recently, and they talk about them like they're really rare.

My bother in law has taken every large game animal in Az with the exception of big horn sheep. He uses, I believe, Remington 700 bolt in 270 with a 3-9 power scope. He has used this out to aprox. 500 yds in my presence. I had pneumonia when he got his buffalo tag and we flew our son out to go on the hunt, Kaibab in winter. Our son could not believe the countryside or the skill of his uncle. Three shots at 140 yds into a running herd of 13. Nine hours later after they dragged the buffalo to camp there were three shots all in the heart. This is an old and worn rifle and scope, He has run an outlet and sporting goods store for several years and has a walkin closet full rifles taken in trade or to settle debts, but he shoots that old worn 270 to put meat in the freezer.

blindhari