What is the one for you?

[HTDUCK]

Mine would be my 264 Win Mag.
130 ABs at 3350 and flat as a laser.
Takes 5 MOA to get from 200 yard zero to 530 yards.
First custom rifle I had built. And I fit and finished the stock myself.

 

[BeeTee]

... Pretty powerful, accurate, and resembles my favorite gift I have ever received from my wife, besides my children.

There must be a joke in there somewhere... :wink:

30-40 years ago, I would have said my custom Remington 721 in 300 Weatherby Magnum was my favorite. For decades, no commercial hunting cartridge shot flatter. Just the look of the cartridge produced oohs and ahhs by innocent bystanders.

Then I got tired of the recoil....

Nowadays, my Remington 700 VS 223 is my favorite because it is so much fun to shoot. It's satisfyingly accurate and compatively inexpensive to shoot. I like to load, and the 223 gets loaded in batches of hundreds, where magnums are loaded in batches of 10s & 20s.

But, the Ruger 308 Scout is growing on me. BT

 

[SJB358]

... Pretty powerful, accurate, and resembles my favorite gift I have ever received from my wife, besides my children.

There must be a joke in there somewhere... :wink:

30-40 years ago, I would have said my custom Remington 721 in 300 Weatherby Magnum was my favorite. For decades, no commercial hunting cartridge shot flatter. Just the look of the cartridge produced oohs and ahhs by innocent bystanders.

Then I got tired of the recoil....

Nowadays, my Remington 700 VS 223 is my favorite because it is so much fun to shoot. It's satisfyingly accurate and compatively inexpensive to shoot. I like to load, and the 223 gets loaded in batches of hundreds, where magnums are loaded in batches of 10s & 20s.

But, the Ruger 308 Scout is growing on me. BT

Lori got me the Pre 64 Model 70 338 Win Mag, from Shooters Pro Shop with the help of Mason Payer at Nosler for our 10 year wedding anniversary, just about after the last time I returned from Afghanistan. It has turned out to be an awesome hunting rifle. Seems to shoot everything pretty well and the rifle fits me to a T. So it wasn't so much the cartridge, as what it means to me. The 338 is just gravy. She even let me put a Swaro on it and man, it's just the best combo I have. I have my Whelen which I love to tears but the 338 gets to hunt more.

 

[tecumseh]

My 444 Marlin and 280 Remington.

 

[Hegland]

Not sure I can pick one, either. The .30-06 is the sentimental favorite, the .270 has filled the freezer several times over, and the .338 is to me what Guy's .375 is to him - fun all the way around! The .243 generally means coyotes on those bright, snow-covered winter nights, and the .223s have a cuteness all their own.

Man, I got to go spend some time at my bench tonight!

 

[tim629]

for me...for now it's going to be my (technically my uncle's) 243

remington mohawk 600, shot my first deer and my first buck with it... I'm dreading the day my uncle asks for it back, it's not fancy, it's not a show-case rifle but it's handy in the brush, will reach out in the fields and balanced pretty much perfectly to me

 

[Idahotrophyhunter]

.375 ruger

 

[Creedmore]

The .280AI in my avatar. I have several custom rifles, but that is the first one where I collected the parts and cobbled it together. Like catching lightning in a bottle on the first try. She shoots better than I can, sub-MOA out to 900yards (farthest I've tried so far) even with me behind the trigger. Every group seems to get smaller.

 

[HeathSexton]

My 45/70 although my .358 Win is very easy to feed as well.

 

[RiverRider]

I love everything I load for, or else I don't continue messing with 'em. A good example was .243 Winchester---I just didn't like it, and after five or six rifles I swore it off (and had near instantaneous success handloading 6mm-284). But, if I had to choose JUST one, it would have to be my econo-custom in .280 because it shoots to the same point of impact, cold bore or warm, clean bore or fouled, and it will do MOA all day long if I am up to it. What can I not handle with a 150-grain Partition started out at 2900 fps? Ah, yes...I know the answer and that's my excuse for owning a .35 Whelen!

 

[nvbroncrider]

Geez just one. That's like putting a 6 pack in the fridge and only having one. I have no clue. I like every cartridge I have. They are just all so useful.

 

[Oldtrader3]

Me also! I still keep shooting all of them and fussing over them to optimize their loads and accuracy. How useful they are to me in the field is kind of irrelevant!

 

[243win]

My 243 win.

 

[Vince]

I can't do it... Can't go to one.

.308 Win, even when I'm loading in batches of 500... Still love that cartridge, after four barrels. Or is it five now?

.25-06 Rem, wow... This thing has put a lot of venison in the freezer in recent years and ruined a few coyote hides... Thoroughly enjoy loading and shooting it! Haven't found an inaccurate load yet.

.30-06... Been loading it since I was a kid. Lots of memories with the good old .30-06, at the bench and in the field.

.375 H&H - I LIKE loading 300 grain bullets. It's fun. Shooting them is even more fun. Yup, it's one of my favorite cartridges.

On the "do not like to load" list: .204 & .223. They're too doggone tiny! I dislike the itty bitty bullets, itty bitty cases, itty bitty primers, etc... :twisted:

Guy

Is that your way of saying you don't have itty bitty fingers? :grin:

 

[ScreaminEagle]

280! It looks, feels, handles, and shoots amazing.

 

[CMBTshooter]

The 308 is my favorite right now because its what I shoot most. The 300 is fun but I don't shoot it that often as I'm still having trouble finding 190 CCs in bulk. I'm super pumped to get into loading for .30-06 but for some weird reason, Dillon has something against making their dies short enough to properly headspace a case in their presses.

 

[tjen]

The one is the 35rem It was my first and with in its range its a thumper.
Lucky I have about 600 200gr CLRN's to see me through and at 2188fps out of my 336D (guide gun) it it simply works great. Its a classic eastern deer, bear, moose cartridge that has very little recoil and on game smack.

Currently have great loads for my 22-Hornet, 221Rem, 223Rem, 35rem, 358Win, and just starting to load the 140gr AB/PT's in my 270win with the 35Whelen in the wait.

 

[LD375]

The .375 H&H, then the 7mm Rem Mag

Lou

 

[Vince]

For me it would have to be my 25-06.

It was the first rifle I loaded for, two years ago, and through a frustrating trial and error period I was able to develop three loads that shoot well in that out of the box rifle. Before I found those loads I was ready to bend the barrel around an anvil and now I smile because I stuck with the rifle and found the right bullet and powder combos to have a decent shooting rifle.

Vince

 

[REDGREEN]

They 270 Weatherby rules! Nothing makes me smile like dumping a coyote or exploding a gopher with it. Elk and moose fall down fast when in the path of it and usually don't need a second hit. Nice to reload for and just plain works.