If you could only own one rifle

[longwinters]

I would take one of what I already have. I bought a used .280 Sako 75 for $800.00 and the Kahles 3x9 TDS used for $300. With todays bullets I don't see the need for anything bigger.

Long

 

[jmad_81]

Sign me up for a 7mm something (RM or WSM) in a M70 EW. Topped with a VX-3 3.5x10x40 with CDS dials. Push a 160 AB around 3000 fps, and put stuff on the wall (mostly in the freezer) all day long. Nothing to fancy, but has some good range, light weight, very managable recoil, and plenty of snort for all the critters I hunt in Oregon.

If we are talking NA, I would have to go with a 338 WM, same rifle and scope.

If we are talking world, I'm going Ruger African in a 375R. Iron sights for things that charge when pissed in close quarters, and a 2.5-8x36 VX-3 for everything else.

Hey, whats the sell out to the 7mm's for Jake! You just built the ultimate 270 and now your selling out to a 7mm! Sheesh------

I don't really intend to make the 270 WSM my daily elk rifle. As much as I love that rifle, I would opt for a larger one if I had to use it on elk every year. I'm not saying thta the 270 WSM couldn't do it, I just like the idea of a 160 AB better than a 140 AB or 150 PT.

 

[RiverRider]

Model 70 Classic Sporter in .300 Whelen topped with Dual Dovetail mounts and a VX-III 3.5-10!
Can I get that for less than $1500?

 

[SJB358]

Model 70 Classic Sporter in .300 Whelen topped with Dual Dovetail mounts and a VX-III 3.5-10!
Can I get that for less than $1500?

As long as its a 300 Whelen and not some old 30-06 I will agree with you RR! Scotty

 

[6mm Remington]

Model 70 Classic Sporter in .300 Whelen topped with Dual Dovetail mounts and a VX-III 3.5-10!
Can I get that for less than $1500?

As long as its a 300 Whelen and not some old 30-06 I will agree with you RR! Scotty

Scotty you bite your tongue mister! Always stirring the pot aren't we Mr. Beretz! :mrgreen: :roll:

 

[roysclockgun]

Browning Stalker A-Bolt in .280Rem. w/BOSS (no brake). And, a lifetime supply of Nosler 140gr. AB bullets.
Steven in DeLand

 

[Polaris]

Lots of votes for the .280 here. Good to see such a classy crowd. I love mine, just rather have the "300 whelen" if I went after Bullwinkle in an alder swamp. Good thing I can own more than one!!

 

[nvbroncrider]

Lots of votes for the .280 here. Good to see such a classy crowd. I love mine, just rather have the "300 whelen" if I went after Bullwinkle in an alder swamp. Good thing I can own more than one!!

Funny when it comes to one rifle that the .280 cult comes out in force. Maybe its just a handloading thing.

 

[35 Whelen]

Well if you are left handed then this is a very easy question to answer . Just go to Cabelas Gun Library and type in this number.................. 2412726. There is no question this is the dream gun that will do ANYTHING you could ever want to............. and will look real sharp when you whip it out at hunting camp! And I garantee you that NOONE else will have one! :mrgreen:

 

[roysclockgun]

Not being critical, one way or the other, but just being honestly curious. Is there anyone here who only owns one rifle? Barring first season novices, and barring the economic necessities of some, why do you only own and use one rifle? What do you find are the advantages of only owning one rifle? What are the drawbacks?
Steven in DeLand

 

[35 Whelen]

Well there used to be an old saying "beware of the man with one gun" I think your right with your logic on how practical is this in todays real world situations......... probably not very .
I have found that the man that only owns one gun and its the only one he has ever used,is likely to be able to shoot it very very well.............. I also have noticed that most of the guys we used to guide, that showed up with a fancy shinney gun in a magnum caliber, they most probably were not very firmilar with, probably didnt shoot it as well ..........
One of the slickest hunts I ever took a hunter out on; was an old fella from PA, that was after a Brown Bear a Caribou and a Alaskan Bull Moose. He owned a model 54 Winchester in .270 that his dad had bought him new, the year he graduated from high school. It had a reciever sight on it, and we used to always ask everyone to try their guns after traveling up to Alaska with them to make certain they were still properly zeroed, the first day in camp . The guides used to like to watch this performance; as there is ALOT you can learn about a man, watching him check his rifle! This old Elmer from Pa, had no trouble outshooting the rest of the hunters, with their big magnums and custom rifles? I flew out all the sports to the outcamps the following day, and decided to guide old Elmer myself. He made three of the best shots I ever saw on all three animals including an honest 9ft bear that probably weighed close to a half a ton. He never hurryed and kept his cool compleatly.He liked a neck shot and was very capable of making them with the utmost skill, he had shot many deer with that old gun and proved how deadly a .270 is the hands of a man that understands it compleatly. He told me he had saved for 15 years in a coffee can to afford the hunt.................. I never got so much satisfaction outta guiding anyone in my life as I did this fella and his old 270 rifle!

 

[Polaris]

Not being critical, one way or the other, but just being honestly curious. Is there anyone here who only owns one rifle? Barring first season novices, and barring the economic necessities of some, why do you only own and use one rifle? What do you find are the advantages of only owning one rifle? What are the drawbacks?
Steven in DeLand

I can answer this past-tense. From age 14, when I painted 5 hockey rinks to earn the money for my first deer rifle, a Rem 788 in .308 win until age 30 when I wore it out and sold it for parts, this was my only hunting rifle. Along the way I aquired my Grandpa's M99 and a few milsurp rifles for cheap target practice and collecting, but this was the only one I hunted with. I think the biggest advantage was the intimacy with a particular setup. From identical optics, trajectories and trigger pull to the intangible "feel" of knowing you can kill a deer with the first shot because you and that rifle have done it dozens of times already, those are the benefits of one rifle.

This was for awhile the only hunting rifle I could afford, and after awhile the only one I needed. I practiced frequently with it and cheap surplus ammo, had a sweet handload for it, and my accuracy with that one was just plain deadly. I knew it inside and out, like a third arm. The only drawbacks were: it was a bit long and heavy for heavy brush, and argueably not flat enough shooting for wide open spaces although I did make a 440 yard shot on a doe wounded by another hunting party. Lots of holdover and a bit of windage, but I knew the rifle and the load from practical shooting so it worked.

I now still own one primary hunting rifle. A mauser .280 Rem. It's still too long and heavy for the brush. I've got a sporterized mosin carbine for that role now. Am working on an 8mm mauser sporter with a shorter barrel to fill my close work role, so I guess that will be like having one rifle in 2 calibers. Every other HP rifle I own is for target shooting or collector value or to have a spare to loan to friends.

 

[joelkdouglas]

I only had one rifle, a Remington 700 in .30-06, until my dad recently gave me my Grandpa's old Winchester 70 Fwt in .30-06.

Why only one? Because anything 6.5 mm and larger will kill anything in North America, and it gives you more money to use on hunts and blueprinting.

 

[onesonek]

I could get by with a .30-06 if for only hunting big game. But other stuff I want more!!
But even with big game, I tend to have gotten "use specific", so I have way more than needed and even some overlapping going on.

 

[300WSM]

One and only one?

a used accumark in 30-378 with an american made Burris on it. (Not all Burris scopes are made in the USA. )


New gun? Win model 70 extreme weather in 300 wsm. leaupold 4.5 14 var x III

That combo is right against the 1500 mark

 

[Anonymous]

Not being critical, one way or the other, but just being honestly curious. Is there anyone here who only owns one rifle? Barring first season novices, and barring the economic necessities of some, why do you only own and use one rifle? What do you find are the advantages of only owning one rifle? What are the drawbacks?
Steven in DeLand

I don't own one rifle, but I do hunt exclusively with one. I know that gun like the back of my hand. Greatly simplifies everything from optics to ammo- I know the trajectory, what ammo I'll use, how big representative species are in the scope, etc.

I own a bunch of rifles and shoot them at the range, but when I need a killin' stick there's only one I look to.

 

[Jerry 919]

Nosler 48 TGR, .280 Ackley Improved, Leupold 4.5-14X40AO, Nosler 150 E-Tip @ 3000 FPS.
Shoots under .5" inch all day long.

Jerry 919
Bend, Oregon

 

[BK]

I've been avoiding this thread, because it scares me, but if I had to start over, I would probably pick up a made in SC Model 70, either a Featherweight Stainless in .30-06, or an Extreme Weather in .300 WSM. Scope it with a Zeiss 3-9x40 Conquest or a Leupy 3.5-10x40, Butler Creek lens caps, a lightweight sling, maybe have a 'smith touch up the trigger, then start saving for a McMillan EDGE stock and a bunch of hunts.

Unless I moved to Alaska. Then I would move up to a .338 WinMag Extreme Weather. And wish I could get it in .375 H&H.

 

[35 Whelen]

BK .
I like your way of thinkin! :mrgreen:

 

[BK]

When the mood strikes, I can be practical (just don't look at the 'Department of Redundancy Department' thread.)