Favorite hunting rifle/caliber

Sako A7 with 180g Accubonds at 2,875 fps. Drew mule deer and pronghorn this year and she’s ready to go again!

Bipod in first picture was for an unsuccessful late season elk hunt last fall, most off the time I go without one and shoot up close. Longest shot so far with her has been 120y but I do practice out to 500.

 

For almost 30 years my go to for deer was my Winchester M70 Featherweight XTR in 30-06. I've hunted WY and MI with it a number of times. My last two deer have been taken with my Ruger American in .243. These days I take two rifles to camp.

-Jeff

 

I live in one of those limited states so I hunt deer with a 350 Legend.



And squirrels with a .410.

 

I have several rifles I can grab to shoot deer, and the 20 ga I had in hand sufficed last year. But my "do everything" rifle is a Tikka t3 lite in 30-06. Put a Leupold 3.5-10 by 40mm on it and a butler creek neoprene sling. She's light and insanely accurate in the field, but I haven't shot any large game with it....yet.

 

First of all, @Peakbagger46 that is some beautiful country. MInd saying where it is?
My hunting rigs are nothing special. I have two Stevens M200. One in .223 and the other in .270.

 

The top picture is on the Uncompagre in Western Colorado. Mountains in the distance are the La Sals in Utah. It’s a trophy elk unit but I’m a meat hunter who chases cows.

 

Narrowed down to two, that'll cover everything I'm liable to hunt in the lower 48, I'd take my .308 Sako Forester and for small game it'd be an older Winchester model 61 .22 LR pump.

The Sako's got a Leupold compact scope in 2-7 power that's just about bullet proof and the gun is still good for ~MOA (it's a 1970 build that my wife gave me for our first Christmas together in December of that year on my return from Vietnam).

The Winchester I found in a Louisville gun show in '88 and gave the princely sum of $300 for it. In almost new condition then, it wears one of the ancient Redfield .22 scopes at 4x with a 3/4" tube. The gun's unbelievably accurate with decent ammunition to the tune of 3/8" for 5 shots at 35 yds.

From rabbits to elk, these two will do quite nicely (and have). Best regards, Rod

 

Man, that's tough. I love all my rifles. Not sure I could narrow it down to just one. For hunting in Texas, I think my 7mm Weatherby Mag is probably a solid choice. Close runner-ups would be my 250-3000 Savage, 7x57 Mauser, and 8x57 Mauser.

 

I'm not what you would call a hunter. I've killed a few squirrels with a .22 when I was hungry.
The last deer that I killed was a cripple that my Siberian wolf/German shepherd cross named Moose brought in, still alive.
I put it down with a hammer.
Moose ate it, hide, hooves and all.
The only other deer that I killed was accidentally taken out by a large chunk of shale.
I'll hunt when I need to but I get no pleasure from it.
Darn my early medicine man training... .

 

Stainless steel Tikka T3 in 7-08. Sorry thought rifle was in picture. Me, my son, my hunting buddy and his son opening day.

 

Most M200's that I have seen and played with were fine with a little trigger work. I had a 270 that was pretty darned good.

 

For me, a T/C Contender with a 16.5" (Barely Legal!) barrel and shoulder stock, in .35 Remington with a lightweight scope. Hunting in the Maine woods, it's light and handy to carry around all afternoon, or maneuver in a tree stand.

And, if you need some .35 Rem ammo, we have it at www.cavalryammunition.com

Bob

 

Last year I had a 270 in a T/C platform built with a custom barrel from Bullberry, liked it so much I’m having another one build in a 260 caliber

 

Depends on where I am and what I'm hunting but last year it was my PA10 in .308.

 

I almost bought the same rifle when Eurooptic was blowing them out but I couldn't find factory ammo.

 

I don't have a favorite- I have a harem.

 

Curious as to why. What are the advantages of this round in your view.

 

That is why I have 2 Creedmoors. I almost bought the PRC when I ordered the M18, but the cost and lack of available brass sent me to the CM. The higher cost of ammo didn't justify the difference in performance over the CM. Well, not for me.

 

Haven't hunted with it, because Illinois won't allow, but my favorite is my Uberti 1876 45/75.

 

Which cartridge?

 

Hard to believe that I've been hunting (deer to exotics) for 70 years, so have quite a list of favorites. Shot my first buck with a model 92 in 38 WCF (38-40). A bit on the light side for deer, so quickly updated to a 98 Mauser on which a dear gunsmith friend mentored me into building the first .308 Win. in our area in 1953 or 54 which quickly became my first really favorite hunting rifle.

Next came the 30-06 in various platforms from 1903(s), to Garand(s), to pre-64 Win over a number of years.

Several years later, an FN Mauser in 308 Norma got the nod for the flatter trajectory and when I shot out that barrel, replaced w/a Douglas 300 Win Mag barrel .

When I took up hunting some larger critters (to present), my favorite big game hunting rifle is a Savage 112 in 338 Win Mag. Consistent sub MOA & is a hammer on anything I choose to hunt; flat shooting w/210 NP's for Nilgai & shoot 200 gr NBT's to same POI for smaller deer and whatever up to 300# or so.

If I ever get to hunt another eland, plan to do so with the .338 after working up a load w/275 gr Swift A frames or maybe the new 265 gr. Nosler ABLR's, whichever shoot the best. Shot this bull w/a Mod 70 in 375 h&h, but am confident the .338 will get 'er done.


Predator hunting is now my main focus, and for that, I prefer a semi. The Dtech 243 WSSM was my all time favorite for that niche, but unfortunately AR's were banned from the ranches I hunt, so next best choice is a .308 Win in a BAR. Not nearly as accurate as the 243 was, but with a bit of tweaking it now shoots MOA (most of the time) w/110 gr Varmageddons.

First trip out it performed well enough: http://www.predatormastersforums.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=342647&Number=3214841#Post3214841 but still doesn't fit me like an AR does.

Guess you could say I'm partial to .30 cal (or a tad larger) and the .308 or 30-06 will pretty much do it all. I've gone full circle and it only took me 70 years to get there.

Regards,
hps