4 gun hunting battery (not including rimfires)

[Jason_W]

Now that I'm finally back to work for a decent salary, I'm beginning to save to rebuild my collection. I want to start by filling most hunting niches while keeping my caliber collection small. Here's what I'm thinking and why:

1. Short barrel 12 ga threaded for choke tubes. I've found that short barrel shotguns are awesome when hinting grouse in the thick brush. They are also a decent up-close deer gun when loaded with slugs.

2. Longer barrel 12-gauge for waterfowl hunting (I don't really have the money for all the gear needed for waterfowl, so this is at the bottom of my list).

3. .44 mag carbine. I handload and cast so I can make light kicking, inexpensive fun rounds or load hot for large game at close and medium range. Additionally, some day I may be able to add a .44 mag revolver to my collection again and there is just something cool about a revolver/carbine pair that take the same round.

4. Something chambered in a reasonably flat shooting medium bore round for longer range hunting and hunting larger game if I ever have that opportunity. I'm going back and forth on the ,338 win mag and the 9.3x62mm.

I'm intentionally avoiding military rounds and .30 cals as they tend to be harder hit by panic buying than the slightly more unusual stuff.

 

[Dr.Rob]

1. Remington 12 ga. 3" 870 shotgun with 2 barrels. Easy to swap for any occasion. 21 inch with rifle sights, 26 inch vent rib- both with RemChoke. Everything from deer to ducks and doves.

2. 30-06. Wide variety of commercial ammo available, wide possibilities of rolling your own ammo. Enough gun for 99% of all North American Game. (some people think 8mm, 270, 308 are about equal to this task--some even say a .30-30 will do.)

3. Bigger rifle. .375 H&H for the other 1%, big bears, moose and exotics like muskox that most of us will never see of hunt.

4. Dedicated Varminter. Long range centerfire designed for varmints. .223 on a precision rifle, or heavy barreled 243, 25-06 etc. (benefit of 24 cal + is they are big game legal in Colorado and are dandy on antelope, but you can certainly take one with the aforementions 30-06)

 

[RoboDuck]

22-250
12 gauge
.308 Win.
.338 Win. Mag.

 

[bannockburn]

For grouse I usually preferred a lightweight 20 gauge with as short of a open choked barrel as I could find. I don't know what your budget is like so for now I would say go with versatility and look for a 12 gauge pump with the provision for adding extra barrels and choke tubes as the need arises.

In a .44 Mag carbine maybe see if you can find an older Marlin Model 1894 or else a Rossi Model 92. I have a Rossi in .45LC to go with my Ruger Vaquero and Beretta Stampede and it is one slick shooting little carbine.

As to hunting larger game, I would think something chambered in .338 Winchester would serve you very well for just about anything you might find on the North American continent.

 

[Jason_W]

I have the short barrel 12-gauge covered. I just need to replace the barrel with one threaded for tubes.

For the .44 mag, I have handled and was pleased with the Ruger 77/44 bolt action.

 

[beatledog7]

My non-22LR long gun battery includes these:

.223 Remington, .257 Roberts, 7mm RemMag, .357 Magnum, 45-70 Gov't, 12ga. My bases are covered pretty well, but I'll slip something more powerful in between the Big 7 and the 45-70 eventually. I'm currently thinking .338 WinMag.

 

[gdcpony]

.223- I handload it, so panic buys don't hurt me as much. Very adaptable and light kicking.

.257Roberts- Again I handload it in +P brass to modern specs and get awesome performance on predators and deer. I am actually building an AR in it soon. It replaced the 7x57 as my mid-long range shooter. I can match about any factory .308 "tactical" rifle with my old Mauser at any range.

20ga- I am a slug hunter so my H&R Ultra has the most kills in my current firearms arsenal. I have shot it out to short rifle range (226yds) and it just plain shoots.

1911- I know it is not a common hunting gun, but while I have yet to get a deer with it, there are several 'yotes that are cursing that thing from above right now.

I have to add my bow. I have killed far more deer with it than all others combined. I have also managed more than a few squirrel, 'yote, rabbit, and other game kills with it too. Something about being silent in the woods that I like.

 

[CB900F]

Jason;

I agree with obtaining a longer barrel for your 12 guage if the platform will support it. A second barrel is usually not all that expensive.

Therefore, centerfire rifles: If you don't already have an A/R, forget it, the present market is through the roof & headed to Mars. So, since you're a handloader, my first choice would be a modern 6.5 X 55 Swedish Mauser. Then the .338 Winchester magnum. Those two cover the bases quite nicely.

Which leaves room for the handgun of choice. Lot's of options available, but need may vary upon your location. Do you have large predators in the back 40? If not, then probably a .357 in one of several platforms. But if so then perhaps a .45 Colt or .44 magnum. Unless of course you're a masochist & want something that produces recoil in significant amounts. However, those do tend to be more expensive.

900F

 

[doc2rn]

I gotta go against the grain
Ruger Red Label SxS 20g
Winchester 30-30
Weatherby 30-06
Ruger 77/22 Mk II v-bolt .22WMR

 

[Ford]

1. Fastest lightest shotgun I have ever shot or owned is my Remington 1100 light special field. Is great for quail or pheasant. I use it more for quail though. Is a 20 ga.

2. My favorite shotgun. Benelli M2. If you feel the need to shoot 3 1/2 step up to the SBEII

3. You want a .44 mag Carbine/Revolver combo? Go Ruger.

4.Savage or Remington rifle chambered in .30-06 will kill anything in the US cleanly. 180-200gr bullets for Moose.

 

[joeschmoe]

28" 12ga = Nova
30.06 (Garand or bolt)
.357 mag 6"
.223 (AR or bolt)

That plus .22lr pistol/rifle should take every kind of game on earth.

 

[22-rimfire]

I would choose either the Remington 870 or Browning BPS for a field gun in 12 ga. Grew up shooting an Ithaca M37 and the Browning feels just about the same and has the botten ejection that I love.

I'd go with a 375 H&H over an 338. When you are dealing with that much recoil in a sporting rifle, I'd just go with the tried and true 375.

Have you considered a Marlin lever gun in 44 mag? They are nice handling little rifles.

Hard to beat a good 223 as a varmint rifle. If that isn't enough horse power, maybe the 243 win.

 

[Old judge creek]

... some excellent suggestions here. In my case I would choose the following:

Shotgun would be without a doubt a Mossberg 500 12 ga combo with a "short home defense barrel" and a longer ventilated rib "hunting barrel" with screw-in chokes.

My light rifle would be a Ruger M77 in 243.

My medium rifle would be a Ruger M77 RSI in 308.

My big bore rifle would be a pre-Remlin Marlin 45-70 Guide Gun.


And truth be told I'd be never be happy until I replaced my Marlin 1894 Cowboy Limited in 44 magnum, but I'd probably fill the first three hunting rifle slots with the choices listed above.

 

[1911 guy]

12 guage should be at the top of the list. Too versatile to ignore. most pumps and autoloaders, you can get a spare barrel to change application rather than getting another shotgun.

Since you're avoiding military calibers, go with a .243 bolt gun. Can be used for varmints and deer both. I personally prefer the .22 caliber centerfires for varmint, though.

Between the two large game cartridges you mention, the .338 and the 9.3, I'd opt for the .338 simply because 9.3 is practically unheard of in my neck of the woods. Might be different near you.

And I'm never one to talk someone out of owning a decent levergun.

 

[Jason_W]

I'm not too concerned with adding a centerfire varmint round. Long range varminting options are few and far between around here and that niche can be covered with rimfires and shotguns.

The reason the .44 carbine is near the top of my list is the round's versatility when handloading is factored in. Fat, straight-walled pistol rounds are fun and easy to load as well.

 

[22-rimfire]

Good reason for choosing the 44 mag. Now you just have to decide on a rifle.

I would love to own a 375 and have almost bought one at least 10x. But a little voice keeps telling me that it is a pure waste of money for me and I would be better off with something I might actually shoot every now and then. It would be different if I lived in AK.

 

[Jason_W]

Handloading adds a little more versatility to rounds like the .338 win and .375 H&H. You can load down fairly easily for deer sized game and go full power should you have a chance to hunt something bigger and tougher.

If I obtain a .338 win, I'll likely load it down to .338 Federal levels when hunting deer over clearcuts.

 

[gbran]

Croddfire MK1

If I could only have four, this would have to be one of them. .223/12ga.

 

[kludge]

0. A rimfire is essential, but this is a freebie, thus it is number zero.
1. If you must have a shotgun get two barrels, or three.

Since you get four choices overall and three choices left, you get a dedicated small game caliber and a dedicated big game caliber and something in the middle that is versatile. Choose these rifles, action types, and lengths by the terrain and game most commonly hunted.

First, my big game caliber... a .338/.280AI, .35 Whelen, .350 Rem Mag, .325 WSM, .338 Win Mag, .338 Fed, .358 Win, .338 MX.

Second , my varmint/predator rifle... I'm thinking .204 Ruger, .223 Rem, .22-250, 6mm Rem, .243 Win

And last the do-it-all caliber... 7mm-08, .280, .284 Win, .260 Rem, 6.5x55, 6.5 Creedmoor, 6.5 Rem Mag, 6.5-.284, .270 Win, .264 Win Mag, .25-06, .25 WSSM

If you don't need a dedicated varmint rifle, and the do-it-all will take of your need for the occasional long range critter, then yes, a .44 Mag wold be a great do-it-all short range rifle, including the critters.

 

[paintballdude902]

12ga super back eagle

.223 bolt gun for varmints

.30-06 for deer

.375hh for biggins

 

[TexasPatriot.308]

you picked a bad time to buy firearms...unless you just dont care what you pay.

 

[Manny]

I followed your link to Lo-Fi outdoors and enjoyed the site. One comment though, the pics, while nice, when used as background for text often make it impossible to read the text of the article.

Your Nova tactical shotgun is a nice versatile piece that would be morso with a threaded or poly-chocked barrel. Briley or someplace similar should be able to fix you up there.

For a waterfowling gun I'd just get a second Nova with the appropriate barrel. It's not that much more than a spare barrel and I like redundency.

For a big game rifle, after reading your site, you reminded me of another practical outdoorsman, Marshall Stanton of Beartooth Bullets. His favorite hunting rifle is a Marlin in .444 Marlin. With the proper bullets it makes a 200 yard elk gun and utilizing handloads is a tremendously versatile rifle. He wrote a three part article that details his results with this rifle & cartridge that can be found here:

http://www.beartoothbullets.com/tech_notes/archive_tech_notes.htm/17

I'd skip the seperate .44 mag rifle, handload the Marlin .444 instead and get the .44 mag hand gun you're thinking of.

 

[josiewales]

Barret M82
Browning M-24
S&W 500
Winchester 1878 8 ga.


Well he said battery!

 

[Scrumbag]

1.) Shotgun: Combo barrel Mossberg 500 / Browning BPS / Benelli Supernova 12g (Short slug barrel with rifle sight and a multichoke for bird hunting)

2.) .222 or .22-250 for varmints / small stuff

3.) .270W for deer hunting

4.) .338-06 (Should be able to resize off same '06 brass as the the .270W. Although having said that, I really like my 9.3x62).

ATB,

Scrummy

 

[cal30_sniper]

For use strictly in North America, here's what I would pick:

1. 12 Gauge
2. .223, .44 Magnum, or .30-30
3. .308, .270 or .30-06
4. 300 Win Mag

They are all easy to get ammo for. That would be my number one concern.

12 gauge can be used as an all-purpose weapon to hunt just about anything under the sun. No arsenal is complete without one.

.223 is great for practice/plinking, a good sustenance rifle (doesn't waste much meat, nor is ammo expensive or hard to carry), or great for varmints. However, if you wanted a pistol caliber carbine, I would use replace the .223 on the list with it. The .44 Rifle will hunt all the same stuff with most of the same benefits. The only thing you lose is range, but knockdown power at short ranges is greatly increased. The .30-30 will do pretty much the same thing, and ammo is cheap and easy to find, but I think I'd rather have the .44 if you can find one.

.308 or .30-06 depending on your personal taste. The '06 is a bit better on performance, but can also more expensive to feed. Either round will work just fine to kill anything from varmints to moose and elk. Most say they would work sufficiently for anything on the North American continent, at least at shorter ranges. I tend to agree. If you're personal taste lies with a slightly smaller bore, you could easily insert the .270 here instead.

.300 Win Mag is your go to rifle if the ranges are longer or the beasts bigger than you feel comfortable hunting with the .308/.30-06. If you're not going to Africa, you don't need anything bigger. It's easier to find ammo for than any of the other big magnums, except maybe 7mm Rem Mag. If you reload, you get the added benefit of being able to use the same bullets as you load the .308 or .30-06 for in a pinch.

Now, if you want to get less practical, I would personally go with the following, because I like reloading for oddball calibers and old Mausers:

12 Gauge
244 Remington or 220 Swift
7x57
9.3x62

Same purposes as above, just a lot harder to find ammo for.