I havent found the perfect rifle, had some good ones. Do think perfect handguns exist. HK VP9, Smith 629-3 6" and a gov 1911 w adj sights
Man’ if that’s a 760 game master I’m jealous cause I’ve had a set in 270 and 3006 , excellent rifles indeed
Perfect rabbit shotgun.....870 special field 20 ga, 21" fixed choke mod. Perfect goose gun... 1100 magnum 12 w 30" full ( or RC ). Bismuth 3" #2s. If you have a Ruger#1B in .243 that shoots.....Id call it the perfect groundhog rifle. If it had good wood of course A #1A in stainless w a synth stock ( yes, black plastic injection molded type) in .35 rem or 250-3000 Id call the perfect woods deer gun. But they never made one like that. Would be neat if Remington made the 7600 in .350 legend.
My Remington 700 Titanium .308, loaded with Barnes 168 grain TSX handloads, checks all of the boxes for me. Other hunting rifles are just clogging up the safe. Here it is after crawling on the ground during a snowy, mucky antelope hunt.
Winchester M70 Sporter-current production-.270 Winchester M70 Alaskan 30-06-current production Rigby Highland Stalker-6.5x55 and .275 Rigby Mauser 98 STD Diplomat 9.3x62
When no one has mentioned (that I saw anyway) is “perfect for what?” The perfect rifle for elk in heavy timber versus eastern white tails may vary from the perfect flat plains antelope rifle. My “perfect for me” is my X-Bolt 7 Mag. Super flat shooting. Hits hard. It’s got a super squishy recoil pad so recoil is actually quite tame, even with 168’s even though it’s light for caliber. Extremely accurate. Weather resistant barrel coating and synthetic stock. It’s got a 2-12 VX-6 so it’s good from 20 to 400+ yards. I’d take it for anything from antelope to elk. Actually, it’s the only big game rifle I have/need The only downside for some guys (a trade-off for exceptionally flat shooting) is the 26” barrel
Isn't it funny how management likes to say good enough is the enemy of perfect but front line workers KNOW perfect is the enemy of good enough. My was a tool room supervisor (tool and die maker) and he likes to tell a story about a particular group of lathe operators. The spec was .005 but they kept getting it to .001. They kept saying if .005 is good enough then .001 is better. The truth is that it takes twice as long to get the parts to .001 when .005 will work just fine and just as good but your input costs twice as much for the just as good .001 which ends up costing you more. The question really is, how much are you willing to pay for perfection. Not just talking about money here. I guarantee the cost will be too high.
BTW, the new Terry Weiland book contains much useful information applicable to this quest: Great Hunting Rifles: Victorian to the Present
Hehehe, that's where my thinking is.....Time, energy, money, and luck.....get enough of any one of those and its not too bad a project, but the total investment is still gonna be far from average. Understanding what one REALLY wants tho...that's (imo) the hardest part of the whole deal.
No one is saying that you can't have multiple "perfect" rifles. The things that are easy to change like cartridge, barrel length and optics are not the deal breakers in this quest. Back to my Tikka example. I can easily add an adjustable comb, and buy a properly twisted barrel from Proof Research or similar. What I can't do easily is fix sloppy extraction, 90 degree bolt throw, cheap plastic magazines, ridiculous magazine catches, or a stock with poor fit and flex. Some rifles have zero support for aftermarket triggers or stocks so that might be another problem area. So the quest for me is to find something for which the difficult fixes are already fixed. Does that make sense?
Build your own with custom action , barrel. Trigger, stock etc. maybe even a wild cat cartridge, hells bells do a quick change barrel to have several calibers
My Ruger MKII 30-06 is perfect to me for MY Intended Uses. Is it a perfect rifle? I dunno. Its also Good Enough for the game I will hunt with it. I have no Prairie Dogs or other small varmints to hunt. But for deer, elk or mule deer it works fine. It would even work as a Pronghorn rifle if I was lucky enough to score a hunt for them. It shoots Sierra 150gr Pro Hunter bullets in a group that measures just over an inch. I haven't tried any 180s yet but suspect they would also shoot well enough for an Elk hunt. I glass bedded and floated the barrel. The trigger didn't need any work and I have a Ruger front sight band I can install and a NECG rear peep if I want to switch to open sights. And I only paid $450 for it used. Perfect for what I need a rifle for.
Yes, you are correct, the cartridge is 30 Remington AR. I am a big fan of the 450 Bushmaster and hunted the previous three years with it. The 30 Remington AR is derived from the same parent case, 284 Winchester, as the 450 Bushmaster. 30 Remington AR runs higher pressure (55ksi vs 38.5ksi) than 450 Bushmaster. 450 Bushmaster, 30 Remington AR, 300 AAC Blackout, 5.56x45mm I believe I may have the last 30 Remington AR ever assembled, maybe. From the middle of last year through the first of this year I manage to acquire, finagle, barter and horse trade for the parts I needed to build one. The upper, charging handle and bolt (all proprietary to the 30 Remington AR) were new-old stock. I found two well used but still serviceable 22-inch barrels. The lower was a blemished Bushmaster lower I had and the rest of the parts are bargain-bin pieces-parts. The magazine was the hard part, the funny looking magazine on the left in my earlier post is an original Remington factory 4 rd magazine. It only feeds from the left side and was very difficult to find. The other magazine is a factory 450 Bushmaster magazine that after some grinding on the follower and just a little bit off the feed lips I have a reliable 7 rd magazine that will lock open on the last round. Left: 30 Remington AR upper, Right Standard AR-15 upper. Left: 30 Remington AR bolt, Right: Standard 556 AR bolt. Up until the the second bankruptcy Remington was still running a small annual batch of ammo for 30 Remington AR. Looking at the new Remington/Vista website it appears they are dropping support for the cartridge. Thankfully I found some of the original 150 gr Core-Lokt on sale and stocked up. I am only getting 2400 fps from the ammo though it is listed at 2575 fps. Not sure if that is due to the age of the ammo, wear on the barrel, or both. Should still be more than adequate for deer. I am getting about 1.5 MOA groups at 100 yards with it. I did mange to pick up some dies so I should be good to go until something new and shiny comes along.
No not perfect, but I have a few that are close. And not trying to get anyones goat, but one of my favorites is a Kimber. My Weatherby Mark V has a 26" barrel and is not the smoothest action ever, and is just a half pound heavy. But it is very nice. Perfect for me would include: A synthetic HS style stock, properly glass bed. 24" Weatherby or Rem sporter contour. Creep free 2.5 lb trigger. holds 4 or 5 rounds total 13.5" LOP with a 1" pad included. MV 3150 fps. Sling swivel studs properly installed, not touching the barrel. Made in the USA. Cerakote grey or matte stainless. Reliable steel magazine. I am not picky on safeties
I own 2 Rem 700 BDL Stainless in .270 and love them, but also have a Tikka T3 in .243 Win (picture) and really love its features more. If I were to do it over, I'd get a T3 in 7mm-08, a cartridge that works great for deer and loves the Tikka.
Euros got them starting at 425ish right now, they sometimes have them as low as 399. Which H&S stock? You might be interested in the Christensen Mesa line, Im not sure what the weight of their sporter barrels are tho.
Nothing is perfect. All depends on how and what one might hunt. The Mannlicher Schönauer 1950 and Mauser M98 are supreme choices though.
I'm not going to 'Do it over' at my tender age near the mid-seventies. My hunting days are waning and I'll make do with the two .270s and .243 Win rifles I own. They'll get it done easily, should I desire to hunt deer. Meanwhile, other rifles do a great job on varmints, including eastern coyotes. My favorite walk-about varmint rifles are in .223 Rem and .243 Win. The .243s are fantastic for longer shots on running coyotes, who tend to run straight-away across the fields...BIG mistake so far! (Got two that way...at about 150 yards.)
