4 gun hunting battery (not including rimfires)

Some useful insight here. Thanks, all.

Now, for the hard part. Saving up for this little endeavor.

My two top priorities are obtaining a choke-tube threaded barrel for the Nova and then a .44 mag carbine.

I'm going back and forth between a Rossi '92 clone and the Ruger 77/44. I once owned a '92 and it was cool, but I'm thinking the 77/44 is a bit stronger, easier to clean, and more practical for hunting. Since it would be a dedicated hunting rifle, the l,low magazine capacity is not a concern.

 

I guess it depends on where and what you're hunting... a 16" barrel '92 sure is handy.

 

I'd say go with the 92. The 77/44 would be a better "dedicated hunting rifle," but that's what you have the bigger rifle for. I would think that the .44 would fill the slot of a carry anywhere and tackle anything kind of rifle. For myself, the lever handles much better than the Ruger as well. The Ruger might be a bit more accurate, but that's going to be lost on the ballistically imposed range of the .44 Carbine. You won't ever hurt the lever firing pistol rated loads through it either.

A Win 94 would be awesome, but the price has gone through the roof on those since they quite making them. Do the research and figure out who makes the best 92 clone in .44 and go with that. Alternatively, check out the Ruger lever guns and autoloaders that were made in .44. Any of those would make a super handy carbine.

 

Mossberg 535, 12 ga, with 28" field barrel and 20" alternate barrel.
AR 15 in 223/556
Ruger M77 (tang safety) in 308
CZ 550 FS in 9.3x62

The only one I don't own is the CZ. I am comfortable with all of the others and trust them. I'm sure the CZ would be a fine addition, but for the life of me I can't find anything in Alabama that needs to be hit with the 9.3x62. lol If I lived in one of the heavily infested hog zones I would already have one. I would love to see what a stout 9.3x62 would do to a hog.

 

I have a 9.3x62 FN Commercial. One heck of a piggy stopper...

 

Only need two, based on no intention of hunting the really big or dangerous game and no .22 for this thread. Note, this is need not want

1: 12g pump, long barrel/interchangable choke tubes. Covers everything from squirel-short range deer-birds

2: .270/308 for longer range deer sized game

Just for the sake of op 4guns

3: .223 for long range varmint

4: maybe a 12g with dedicated rifled barrel instead of just diff tubes for better performance

 

Well, I'm half way complete on the 4 gun list as I own two of them already:

1.) Browning Gold Fusion 12ga with choke tubes. This covers everything from small game to deer here in Indiana. (own)

2.) BLR in 257 Roberts. Great little 200yd+ setup for varmints and everything up to elk. (own)

3.) Model 70 Winchester in 375 H&H Mag. Need this for hog, bear, and larger deer species.

4.) Pedersoli 50 caliber Hawken Rifle for muzzleloader season.

Now, this list covers almost all my needs (98% ish), but I would need two more rifles to finish it:

5.) Weatherby Vanguard Sporter in 257 Wby Mag. Dedicated 200yd+ gun. The 257 Roberts would become a 200yd and under gun after this purchase.

6.) Pedersoli 1874 Sharps Sporting Rifle in 45-70. Theres quite a few places where I'd like to hunt that have some odd rules on rifles. The 45-70 would give me a lot of cheap custom options for hunting in different places.

 

You can buy another shotgun for the price of a nova barrel.

 

May be a WANT, but there is no hog, deer species or bear outside of grizzly where this much gun is necessary - if you want it, go for it

You didn't say where you hunted grouse - but if it is in the thickets and coverts of NE, you'll want a nice and LIGHT 20 gauge, like an AyA SxS
Since that won't do for waterfowl that you mentioned, a 12 GAUGE SEMI becomes the next choice
For whitetail and down, including antelope, goats and sheep, the 257 WEATHERBY will do the job
For the larger critters like mulies to moose, the 30-06 gets the nod, or if including grizzly and polar, then a 338, or 9.3, or 375 - a bit much for all but the bears though

 

Theres a bit of logic there. Yes, a 375 H&H is overkill for anything in NA (other than grizzly's), but I am also interested in doing an Africa trip at least once in my life for buffalo and the 375 H&H gets the job done. And for the record, the 375 H&H is most powerful cartridge I can comfortably shoot. I would know, spent alot of time shooting a 405 Win from an 1895. A 9lb recoil pad equipped M70 Safari model 375 H&H is the ticket for me.

Just curious, who is this directed at?

If its at me, I'll go down the list:

Northern Indiana is not NE, so a 12ga is easy to get around with. I've also taken my 12ga into the broken back country of SE KY and believe me that 12ga was the easiest thing to get around with.

Waterfowl here in NE IN happens in alot of wooded swamps unless you have about $6k worth of decoys for a farm field. Either way, I am very comfortable with my 12ga in tight quarters hunting.

Since Indiana doesn't allow rifles for deer hunting and all the places I go (MO, KY, IN, AR, MI, WI) generally have 200yds or less of clear shooting space, a 257 Roberts is just fine for me. Some places in IN allow for shooting out to 300yds for varmints which is pushing it for a Roberts which I why I would like the 257 Wby.

For the larger deer critters & bears, I agree with the 30-06. But theres no rifle in that caliber that I particularly like. Go to the 338/9.3 caliber and the rifles are out of my price range for a common use gun which was why I settled on the M70 Safari in 375 H&H.

 

I only need 3 really if we aren't counting rimfires.

• Medium caliber scoped hunting rifle for deer.
• AR with a 20' barrel free floated barrel and a Trijicon Accupoint TR22G 2.5-10x56 Scope
• Semi 12 Ga. Shotgun for dove and clays.

There's one on the want list though :

• Marlin lever or Winchester Trapper .44 Mag rifle

 

"You can buy another shotgun for the price of a nova barrel."

Technically true, I suppose.

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/32...nova-12-gauge-3-1-2-18-1-2-ramped-front-sight

 

Why not a Husqvarna 640 in 9.3x62? Built off a commercial FN Mauser action, D&T for scope with swept bolt handle, very accurate, excellent workmanship fit and finish (i.e., Swedish Mauser), and you can usually score them for $500 or so used on gunbroker. One comes up ever couple of weeks, sometimes with the scope included. That would make on heck of an Africa rifle

 

Personally, I'm not a fan of cheap guns. However; I also don't require custom made guns either. My price point for quality vs price is a Browning or Winchester. Also, the standard for DG hunting without a Double Rifle is an M70 CRF action.

In regards to Africa, while the 9.3 can certainly do it, not all places allow it. Depending on where you hunt DG, your rifle cartridge will most likely have to meet certain minimum requirements (diameter & ME) or be approved by your PH prior to the hunt. And even if you meet the nations requirement for caliber & ME and your PH approves it, the locality you hunt in may have a bit more stringent requirement. Given that quite a few places still require a 375 H&H for DG, why not go with it especially if you know you can shoot it well?

 

I completely agree that the .375 H&H is a better all around choice. I was also aware that some places in Africa allowed the 9.3 for DG, while others still require the .375 as a bare minimum. I mentioned it because you had just said that you would go with a 9.3, but they were out of your price range. The custom and semi-custom built rifles you typically find in that caliber are very expensive, that is for certain. Was it the x62 you were referring to, or the more powerful x64? IIRC, the x64 is legal in a few more situations than the x62 is.

Also, for anyone else that may be considering this cartridge, the Husqvarna 640 is not a "cheap gun". It is a 100% original, controlled round feed, Mauser 98 action. In fact, during the entire run of 640 production from 1944 to 1953, Husqvarna didn't even make their own actions. They bought completed FN Herstal Model 98 actions and fitted them with barrels and stocks to be sold under the Husvarna name. The Mauser 98 was the standard that the Winchester Model 70 CRF was designed to try to meet, not the other way around. An FN commercial mauser is about as cream of the crop as it gets without going full custom. The Husqvarna is just that, with a different name stamped on the barrel.

 

223 bolt gun
30-06 bolt gun
20 ga o/u
12 ga pump

I have all of these now, could sell all of the rest and never look back.

 

Well, what I would do is somewhat different than others. But that's normal for me.

I would get a 2 barreled pump or semiauto 20 or 12 guage, one long and one short. Reasons for it are obvious and you stated them in your OP - upland rabbit and birds, close range deer with slugs.

I consider your .44 Mag carbine to be redundant when you are going to have a short-barreled shotgun, but that's just me. If most of your available deer hunting is in brush, then either will work great for that kind of hunting, but if you are starting from no hunting guns, getting both at the same time is kind of redundant. Just wanting one is sufficient reason to get one, of course, but you have to recognize that the .44 isn't giving you any real increase in hunting capability when you will already be setting up a short barrel on the shotgun for slugs.

So, start with the 2 barrel package shotgun from Remington or Mossberg.

If the biggest game you will hunt now is deer, then pick a rifle that will give you that and coyotes and other varmints with little fuss. Get a .243, .260, 6.8, .257 Bob, .25-06, 7-08, or .270. Or something like that. You said you are avoiding getting a .30 cal at present due to panic buying drying up ammo. I would agree with that, with the exception of the .30-06, since that seems to be on the shelf everywhere around here, but that's probably a regional thing. It's not hunting season anymore here, so few people are thinking "buy a stack of that .30-06 for in case there's none of it in October." But the -06 is bigger than you need for deer and coyotes. If you just want one rifle for everything in North America, of course, then it's your Huckleberry.

Later on, as your hunting needs and finances increase, pick out your big rifle for that Africa or Alaska trip, and pick up that .44 carbine you're wanting.

My advice is to run your priorities for hunting guns like this: Just a shotgun w/2 barrels and necessary chokes, one good rifle that is adequate for your local game, and a .22, and you're set until you are going somewhere that requires something different, or until you've saved up enough to get stuff that is more of a 'want' than necessary to accomplish your 'needs'.

And of course, there is the muzzleloader if you are interested in hunting during one of those seasons, but you didn't mention that.

 

I would add, IF Africa DG is on the menu, you might want to step up the 375 to a 416. Friends who go to Africa a lot use them on DG, with the 300 or 375 for large plains game and a 243 or 25-06 for smaller plains game

 

for me the list would be as follows:

1) ruger m77 hawkeye (wood and blue) in 30-06. i already own this rifle and i am 99% sure that white tail deer is the largest game i will ever get a chance to hunt. if i ever do get the chance to go after moose (my dream hunt) i will simply load a better constructed bullet in the '06. i have no interest in shooting brown bear, or going to Africa, so the 30-06 is all i will ever need.

2) remington 11-87 12ga. with standard field barrel, short smooth bore barrel, and cantilever mount fully rifled barrel with 1-4x scope. this will easily cover all my shotgun needs. standard barrel for turkeys and clays, short barrel for HD, and the rifled barrel for deer hunting during shotgun only seasons.

3) ruger redhawk .44 magnum 5.5" barrel. i like to carry a sidearm whenever i am hunting and currently i am using a ruger super blackhawk in .44 magnum with a 7.5" bbl. for my purposes, the 5.5" bbl of the redhawk would be more than sufficient, as well as making it a little more compact. double action would be preferred for ease of loading and just in case i ever found myself hunting out west where i could find myself using it for critter defense.

4) this one is a bit of a toss-up. the first three would fill any hunting need i may ever have (with the exception of rimfires). good choices here would be an ar-15 in .223/5.56, or a smaller caliber bolt action rifle like a 7-08. the ar-15 would be good for varmints as well as HD and three gun shooting, and is just a great all around "fun gun." also you would have the option of swapping uppers later on if you wanted to go to a larger caliber more suitable for deer type game. this will get expensive though and i would more than likely never get around to actually dropping the cash to get different uppers. the 7-08 is one i have been thinking about very seriously for some time now. lighter recoil than the 30-06 and a nice flat trajectory would make this a very appealing hunting round. it would easily be able to cover anything the AR could do in a hunting situation, as well as double as a back-up rifle to the '06 for everything up to and including deer and even elk if the ranges are kept reasonable.

 

1. rem 870 20 guage magnum

2. (pre 64) 270win model 70

3. ruger blackhawk in 45 long colt (4.625" bbl)

that's all i need.

murf

 

Praise the Lord I can still own more. If I had to pick from my current guns...

Mossberg 535 (doves to geese)

Remington M722 in .257 Roberts because it was my grandpas and I killed my first deer with it 49 years ago. It's all I really need with where and what I hunt now, hogs to deer.

Savage 110 in 7mm Rem Mag since I could use something bigger if I ever get to hunt elk or nilgai

Hmm, I have a 4th I can have and it can't be a rimfire? Cool, since the Mossberg is all I REALLY need (though I like my 20 gauge SxS on dove and my 10 on geese), I think I'd go with my Hawken Hunter Carbine for black powder fun. I like my CVA inline, but I have to have something primitive weapons legal.

I have hunting handguns, but I have to triage here.

 

BTW, a .357 carbine can handle squirrels to 50 yards (.38 light loads) to deer and hogs to 100 yards. Very versatile gun if you like versatility. But, I've had one for 25 yards and only ever shot one deer with it and usually hunt squirrel with either a .22 rifle or handgun.

 

For the varmint gun, kick it old school. Go 220 swift. Something unique but still available enough for handloading-