I always try to kill the first deer of the year with my 1886 40-82. After that I will go to the 45-70, and then maybe the 38-70. Anybody who was any good would probably stick to the same rifle and learn it, but it makes little difference to me after enough years of shooting these rifles. I am an old man, and I can't see the front sight all that well in low light. Last year I shot one at maybe forty feet with the 40-82, so close that all I had to do was lift the barrel, and another one at sixty feet with the 38-70. Maybe the old rifles have a memory of my youth and their youth, and they don't let me down.