Best hunting rifle? (In your experience and opinion)

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700 BDL is my first choice, although I haven't bought a new one since 2004, so cannot personally speak to the quality issues they've had the last few years.
 
Kimber Classic 270 WSM is what I am most impressed with right now. Very flat and hard hitting. The rifle scoped is 7.5 lbs or less. Very accurate. Glass bedding, adjustable match grade trigger.
 
But make it the tried & true CZ550, not the new & unimproved (except to corporate coffers) CZ557 push-feed.

900F
 
Savage99 said:
Depends on what you hunt or target shoot.

If there are varmints like PD's or chucks around a dual purpose rifle such as a 243 will be easier for a youngster to learn on and shoot all summer at pests and later for deer.

I like rifles like the Kimbers, Rugers and Win. M70's. I would not have or give a 700 type rifle because of their inferior design. They lack decent safeties, triggers, extractors, CRF and have soldered on bolt handles and bolt lug sections.

IMG_00677.jpg
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How long have you been posting that photo?
I was just looking up some info on the 243 on Google and a post from 2012 came up with a similar photo and description.
 
This one is clearly the standout of my rifles: a "pre-64" type Winchester Model 70 left hand in 270. In this photo it is in a Richards aftermarket laminated stock. This was probably one of the last few LH Model 70's out the door from the old Connecticut Winchester plant before they closed their doors, and if it is representative of the rest then they ended on a high note. The factory walnut stock was beautifully finished and perfectly fitted, and the polish, fitting and bluing of the metal is just superb. It also happens to be tied with my LH Tikka 308 as the most accurate rifles I own. It wins over the Tikka as my "best" because of the aesthetic factors, the Mauser derived action, and the slightly more powerful and versatile chambering.

DSC_0536.jpg
 
Best doesn't exist. I wouldn't really want to hunt with my most accurate as it's a 15# rifle.
My bolt hunting rifle is a sleek short and light Ruger RSI in 308 with a 1-4X Leupold It won't do a MOA group but it'll stay under 2 iffin I don't get it hot.
And there are literally dozens of other calibers just as capable as the 308.
I also have 1/2 dozen classic lever guns that are worthy of being afield
 
Elkins45, that's a nice looking rig. Much as I like laminate stocks, though (I have a couple myself), hard to argue that they are "classic." To me, "classic" is solid walnut and blued metal.
 
Elkins45;

Regarding your Winchester model 70. Although it may be a pre-64 type, it's properly designated a USRAC Classic. There were no factory produced left handed pre-64 Winchesters . A very few LH conversions have been made by various smiths, and of those an extremely few worked as well as the right handed versions. USRAC was, I believe, the employee owned entity that bought the rights to the Winchester name from Olin when Winchester itself folded. Your gun was probably made in the late 90's by USRAC.

The really rare ones are the Classic stainless left hander's. Valerie, a USRAC New Haven employee, told me that the production run for stainless LH actions was 200 units. I do not know if there was another run of them, so I'm not saying that 200 is hard upper limit, but it may in fact be all that were made. So, if you see a lefty stainless, buy it. If you see a lefty stainless with BOSS, just hope that the seller doesn't know what he's got. If you ever run across a stainless lefty with BOSS and BOSS CR, both versions of the system, you're probably looking at one of the rarest modern production guns ever produced by anybody. It'd be interesting to see if the actual numbers could be found out, but I'd think it would be in the single digits for the double BOSS.

900F
 
Regarding your Winchester model 70. Although it may be a pre-64 type, it's properly designated a USRAC Classic. There were no factory produced left handed pre-64 Winchesters . A very few LH conversions have been made by various smiths, and of those an extremely few worked as well as the right handed versions. USRAC was, I believe, the employee owned entity that bought the rights to the Winchester name from Olin when Winchester itself folded. Your gun was probably made in the late 90's by USRAC.
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Thanks for the info on the stainless LH guns. I'm always on the lookout for them but now I will redouble my efforts.

I realize it's not a true pre-64 gun, which is why I put "pre-64" in quotes. That's how USRAC designated them for marketing purposes and that's what they printed on the hang tags. I have to dispute your dating because I'm pretty confident this one was made sometime around 2005. It was bought NIB from Bud's when he was still selling out of his Paris location and at gun shows. I know I bought it sometime after 2006 and it wasn't new old stock.

I wonder if there's a web resource with a Winchester serial number database?
 
Elkin45;

I knew as soon as I saw - "pre-64" type - , that you weren't trying to pass it off as a true Winchester pre-64. The bolt handle gives that away as soon as seen also. I apologize if I made it seem that you were, to you.

Now I've kinda got my curiosity meter over to the max side about the true numbers of LH stainless USRAC guns. I'll see what I can find out.

900F
 
CB900F said:
Elkin45;

I knew as soon as I saw - "pre-64" type - , that you weren't trying to pass it off as a true Winchester pre-64. The bolt handle gives that away as soon as seen also. I apologize if I made it seem that you were, to you.

Now I've kinda got my curiosity meter over to the max side about the true numbers of LH stainless USRAC guns. I'll see what I can find out.

900F
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Nothing to apologize for. The main reason I responded was about the production date, not the pre/post thing. We moved into our current home in 2006 and I know I bought it after the move. It's really improbable that it sat in a warehouse for 10+ years before Bud's dragged it to the Lexington gun show where I bought it.

The LH stainless 70's are in the category of stuff like $89 SKS's and $139 police trade-in S&W model 10's: if I had known then what I know now I would have bought a warehouse full of them. I wish I had a spare of this gun, but it was the first (and last) one I ever saw for sale.
 
As many have noted, an impossible question to answer.

But if I had to choose today, I'd get a new M70 Featherweight, 270WSM.

Laphroaig
 
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Sunray said:
Please reduce the size of your pictures. 1024 x 768 will cause extremely slow page loading for a member on dial up.
There is no "best rifle".
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People still use dialup? 1024x768 is pretty low res by today's standards.

Anyway, my pre 64 featherweight M70 in 30-06 is my go to field rifle. Still using the same brass my dad hunted with and its never even needed to be trimmed. Its a very tight chamber and shoots damn near as well as my heavy barreled rifles. I've shot a few new 'classic' model M70s with CRF, they're damn nice rifles but the actual classic rifles are a cut above. More handwork went into the old rifles by artists who were proud of their work.
 
Tough to beat a Steyr Mannlicher-Schönauer carbine in 270/30-06/308:

GVB2-Z-F2-L.jpg


Nothing smoother or more reliable.
 
Levergun. Any of them. Any caliber. Winchester is the classic but I hate shells bouncing off of my hat and down my shirt burning everything it touches. I grew up a marlin kid and now I'm a marlin man. 336, 60, levermatic, another 60, a clip fed version of the 60, trap gun....they are good guns.
 
remington700.jpg


A nice Remington BDL in 30-06 topped off with a leupold 3.5x10 scope is always a nice choice.

Jim
 
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