Hunting Rifles - Did I Make A Good Choice?

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4552ZULU

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Among my various semi-automatic rifles, I have an AR-15 fluted, floated, flattop in .223 with a 24" barrel, a Browning BAR Mark II BOSS in .30-06, and a M1 Garand in .30-06.

My family of bolt action rifles consists of a Ruger 77/22 rimfire and 4 Remington 700 Senderos with 26" barrels in .22-250, .25-06, 7 mm Rem Mag, and .300 Win. Mag.

If you could exchange one or two of these bolt action rifles for another caliber, what would it be or do you like my choices???
 
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Looks like to me that you can hunt everything on the planet except, perhaps, the African big five now. You NEED a .416 Rem, a .458 or some such-just for fun you understand.
 
26" barrels on all make sense for the calibers chosen, but seem a little unweildy for hunting. You clearly have a taste for long range barrel burners. And you have both the high and low end well representated, but an empty middle ground. Nothing wrong with that, but not my cup of tea. Me, I would keep the 7mm Rem Magnum, and maybe the 22-250; and replace the 300 Win Mag and 25-06 with a short action bolt rifle in 260 Rem, and either a traditional lever action - Marlin 30-30 would be my choice - or as has been suggested a medium to large bore caliber.
 
Of all I'd keep the .25-06 but I'm a big fan of that cartridge. That one covers the middle ground extremely well.

I might be tempted to lose one of the .30-06's though as you have the 7mm Mag and .300 Mag.
 
keep what you have and add a lightweight 22 inch bolt gun in 06 or something simular for days you dont want to haul around all that iron.
 
If you could exchange one or two of these bolt action rifles for another caliber, what would it be or do you like my choices???
Click to expand...
Everything on your list, except for the 77/22, are long & heavy rifles. Your greatest caliber overlap is 7mm Rem Mag, 30-06, 300 Win Mag. If it was me, I'd trade the 7mm Rem Mag Sendero for a Winchester Model 70 Featherweight (compact for my short arms) in .308 Win or 7mm-08. If you'd rather stay with Remington change in the Model 7 in the same calibers. If you prefer Ruger, then the M77 All Weather in the same calibers; or the M77 Compact Magnum in .308 to get closer to Model 7 size & weight. Getting into a more comparable price & prestige with the Sendero you could look at the Kimber 84M, again in 7mm-08 or .308.

If you wanted to get crazy trade the .25-06 Sendero & one of the magnum Senderos for a Cooper Custom Classic in any short action from .257 Roberts to .308 Win.

Alternately you could branch out into lever guns and get a nice older Winchester 94 in .30-30. You could also go semi-exotic caliber, and get an AR-15 carbine in .300 AAC Blackout, or 6.8 SPC II; or a T/C Contender carbine in 7-30 Waters.

Lemme know if you need more ideas on the carbine concept. :D
 
If you reload, maybe consolidate on .30 cal? Trade the 7mm and either the .22 or .25 for a .308 bolt gun and a .45-70 lever (since you don't have a thumper). Or trade the .300 mag and either the .22 or .25 for a 7mm-08 bolt and 45-70 lever.
 
All great ideas!

I do reload.

I failed to mention that, my family of lever action guns consists of a Marlin 39A in .22 rimfire, a Winchester 1894 in .30-30, and a Marlin 1895 in .45-70. I also have a Freedom Arms .454 Casull with a 10" barrel.

I guess I was just concentrating on the calibers I chose for my bolt action guns and included info on what other guns I had in .30-06 so that you guys wouldn't think that I didn't cover the .30-06.

I also have a T/C Contender in .223 with a 14" barrel and an Encore frame but I haven't bought any barrels for it yet. I've been leaning toward a .45-70 barrel for starters.
 
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Well I'm older and I'm still buying, but for reasons other than caliber, and selling when I have something that's not getting used. So which have the least time on them? Which are your favorites? That's a pretty big battery and lot of ammo types to stock and reload for. I think I'd be thinning the herd?

What I don't see is 6.5 Swede and 375 H&H ?? Yeah, the 45-70 hotted up will fill in for the H&H, but it's such all time classic, I think you need one :) The 6.5 Swede will give you a fair test of the other medium calibers so you can look at which of those is redundant?
 
The bolt action rifle I've been most impressed with in the last few years is the Ruger Scout in .308. A Remington Model 7 in .308 would also serve.

If you're missing anything, it's a short action rifle.
 
mljdeckard,

"Is there a power range or distance requirement you have that isn't being met?"

Thank You!

You have refreamed the real question better than I did.

Is there something else that I need?

Why would I need a short action rifle?

I hate to admit this but I have been so busy working for the last 10 years that, before I retire completely in one month, I haven't shot my .300 Mag and my .22-250 that I bought 10 years ago and fitted with Leupold scopes with target knobs and mil-dots. I ordered a .25-06 and a 7 mm Mag a week ago.

In another month or so, all I will do is shoot my guns and chase my wife around the house ... I promise!!!
 
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Since you have the 300 Mag. (is it a 300 Rem. Ultra Mag.?) I'd swap the 7mm mag. for a 7mm-08 Rem., 280 Rem., 308 Win. or 30-06 Spr.

I'm a 223 Rem. fan, but I've always been intrigued by the 22-250 Rem. as well, just haven't owned one yet. I had a Remington 700 Classic 25-06 Rem. The only reason I got rid of it was because Remington chambered the 700 Classic in 280 Rem. I love the 280 Rem. it's one of my favorite cartridges so I had to do the trade. I really like the 308 Win. and 30-06 Spr. too, having owned a 308 and my main deer, hog and black bear gun is my Remington 7600 Carbine in 30-06 Spr. They're both great cartridges. I've heard nothing but good things about the 7mm-08 Rem.



Good luck, NYH1!
 
I would try to cover all your bases with as close to one caliber as you could such as the 300, 30-06 and 30-30.

Your 300 if loaded right could do all the jobs needed from 308 power to Alaskan coastal brown bear.

And since your 300 can cover such a wide range I would look into swapping out the 06 for the 308 because you can down load that or burn them hot if you want and it can be had in a small package for use as a scout gun or you can have it in a full blown target package. All with a short action which is going to consume less powder that the others and be lighter to carry.

The 30-30 could work quite well for scout gun duties and lower to mid range weapon as well if you opted for going full target application with the short action 308. Plus as you probably realize they are just plain old fun to shoot.

The 25-06 I think is a keeper simply because I think it would make a great antelope and coyote gun. Plus if you have a grand child that wants you to take them deer hunting or elk hunting it would make a great gun for that if loaded properly and used within an acceptable range.

The 22-250 would also be a keeper since you can still get that fast flat shooting trajectory in a more economical cartridge to load for than the 25-06 and would also make a great varmint gun.

I do think I would pass on the 7 mag since you can do every thing it can with a 300. yes it is a little flatter shooting but the 300 can go bigger and heavier.

either way you choose to skin the cat it wont be wrong but it better be fun.
 
It's a .300 Win. Mag.

I wanted to stay with standard calibers and not get too far out into the weeds.

I will be retiring to Western South Dakota.

I guess I wanted the .22-250 for ground hogs and coyotes, the .25-06 for deer and antelope, the 7 mm Rem. Mag. for long shots in the wind, and the .300 Win. Mag. for all the big stuff.

I bought a .22 rimfire in all the different actions for cheap practice and just kept working on getting some bigger stuff.

I didn't really need 6 AR-15s but that's the way it turned out, thanks to a little prodding from Bill Clinton in 1993.

Instead of a short action rifle, I think I might get some more barrels for my T/C Contender and Encore frames. So far I only have two Contender barrels, a 14" SSK .22 rimfire and a 14" SSK .223.
 
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I'd keep the collection as is. My 3 favorite calibers are the 22-250, the 25-06 and the .300 win mag.

If I were to add another caliber in bolt action it would be the 6mm (.244) makes for a great day pack rifle for deer to varmints.
 
I've already bought Leupold scopes with target knobs and Mil-Dots in 6.5-20x50mm for my Sendero bolt actions and already have outfitted several with Harris bipods.

Since they will be a little too heavy to carry all day, I think I will concentrate on extra barrels for my Contender and Encore frames.
 
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Concentrating on TC barrels is dangerous. As in Australia should never have imported rabbits dangerous.

But since you intend to jump in with both feet, for your contender:
-you need a 14" 30-30 barrel with a 2-6x32 pistol scope on it.
-you obviously need a 2x32 scoped 22LR 10" barrel, everyone does
-and a versatile straightwall like the 357 or 44 magnum in a 10" barrel is mandatory. If you can't decide, get both.

Now for your encore...see what I mean?
 
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So far I only have two Contender barrels, a 14" SSK .22 rimfire and a 14" SSK .223.

Both have Burris LER scopes in 2-7x32mm.

The only difference between the two is the amount of recoil.

As you can see, I like long barrels.
 
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