Your last firearm

If it came down to it, which firearm (rifle, shotgun or handgun) in your current battery would be the only one you would keep?
Make, model and chambering?
Why?

I am even going to take a bit to decide on this one myself...but first instincts are leaning towards my Browning BLR in 358 Win...I'll give my final answer in a bit...

No can do,have too many that are special to me.

Same here...but I set the parameters which are tough on me too! But if something were to happen (god forbid!), which "one" would I choose to grab...or keep...

I had to review my list of firearms to make sure I didn't forget one.

I am going to say it is the BLR in 358.

Light, handy, quick handling, accurate enough for the hunting I mostly do and within the range I mostly shoot, reloads quickly with the detachable magazines, has QR rings for the scope and open sights for back up, will handle small game with downloaded rounds with cast pistol bullets, isn't hard on the shoulder, is ambidextrous so that my wife and daughter can both shoot it too, and they can handle its recoil, and will handle an angry bear if needed, and everything else in between.

I have other fun and great rifles and cartridges, with lots of memories, capabilities and advantages, but nothing that quite measures up to the diversity of advantages of the BLR and the 358! And it is definitely not a pretty rifle compared to some of the others...

I dont find this to be as hard a others do. For years I only owned one rifle, a 30-06 and never felt I was needing anything more. Today, it would be just as easy for me to not have anything but a Win 71 348. There is nothing that I can not hunt with that rifle, and do.

As much as I enjoy shooting smaller calibers, for me right now it would have to be a model 70 30-06. I like that gun. But I have an idea if I get my hands on the right 358 Winchester that I would really like it. I loved the little bit of shooting and hunting I did last yr with my Dad's Winchester 71 348 and hope to do more, but that's not my gun.

Pretty easy question really my 270 will do anything I would ever want to do for myself.........
However if I were still guiding hunters in Alaska, where I were still " backing up" then of course I might reserve the right to change that. :?
But for simply personal hunting; everything from 20 lb coyotes at 400 yds to Moose that are 1000 lbs at 50 yds or 400; the 270 has proved over and over; it provides ample power to dispatch anything in N A, if you do your part, without the heavy recoil; of bigger or Magnum calibers. And it does it all, without the extra weight that comes with the magnums, or the longer barrel length. :wink: Interestingly enough though, I have shot far more game with a 30/06! than any other caliber but that's mostly because I carried one continuously; for almost 40 years !
You can rest assured there will be lots of comments left about BEARS and why folks will need big calibers in case they they run into a "big grizzly" and in most cases having a "bigger gun" is not going to help make up;for a "poor shot".............. it sorta reminds me of a fella with a $1000 fly rod, that can only cast 25' on a good day. As Dad always said " Earle it ain't the arrow it's the Indian " :wink:
Here is another fella that thought so as well.....

Like Earl wrote, easy question. I would keep my Ruger 77 "tanger". 30-06. I've owned it since 1967, moose, sheep, bears deer and elk. All I have to do is carry that rifle afield, it does the rest.


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Gil, your going to love this. I have a 300 H & H that I used on 5 continents. Like Earle and his 270, that 300 H & H was all I ever needed and here is the kicker--the joke in the family is that I will take that rifle to the grave---- it will literally be my last firearm

I'd most likely keep my much-loved and well-travelled .300WSM. I could hunt just about anything I would hunt with any of the CF rifles I own. 308, .270, 7-08, 6.5CM.- I've knocked stuff spinning with all of them....but, when it comes time to do some killing, that .300WSM is generally what I'm packing.

It's not so much the cartridge (which is plenty fine BTW)...it's the rifle, it fits me better and I shoot it better under field conditions than any other rifle I own.

Hodgeman,
That's a dam good reason to lug it !
E

Great stuff everyone!

Earle, you'll love this...one of my favourite sayings to archers is "9 times out of 10, it's not the arrow, it is the Indian"! LOL

But just to fair to those of the caucasian persuasion who play with bangsticks, I also say "9 times out of 10, it's not the bullet, it is the cowboy"!

Both of these are in reference to those who are quick to blame their equipment when their performance is suffering. Always gets a chuckle!

3006


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This is a very tough question and I could say no comment as Fotis did, but can I take one rifle, one pistol and one shotgun? lol

Okay, my Model 70 I have had since 1972, my first rifle. It was a 30-06 for 40 some years and now is a 25-06 with a Pac-Nor barrel, a refinished original stock and it shoots everything well. Plus it is very easy to clean.

Or my grandfathers 1911 45 acp.

Not going to happen.

'Nuff said.

My Rem 700 35 Whelen would be the one, it can handle anything it this country easily and as far as I would ever want to shoot.

Second choice would be my Sako85 270 Win, I would feel pretty confident shooting anything here as well with a 160 gr Partition.

Both guns have a different feel but both handle well and they are easy to shoot in the field.

My P64 338 Win Mag is my favorite. It is way too much for just about everything, but it points where I am looking and works excellent in my opinion. My 7mm Mashburn Super is gaining ground though.. Both of them are about as identical as I can think, same action, stock, LOP, scope, etc.. What one does, the other does as well.

So nope, I guess I could never get it down to one.. Sorry.

Dang this is tough. Of one's I would pine over the most as the last one I'm ever getting would be a Winchester Model 70 Super Grade in 6mm Remington. Since they never chambered the 6mm Remington in the Winchester rifles, I suspect it's going to be a little tough finding one.

Now of the ones that I own, it would have to be between my Ruger 1B in 30-06 or my Winchester Classic Sporter in 280 Ackley Improved I had built. I love them both and for just about anything you wish to hunt, they will work just fine.

Gil

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8- 30 caliber and 6 of those 8 all said 30-06 ----- go figure

The other two were 300wsm and 300 H & H

the remaining four were 270, 338, 35 Whelen and 358

maybe the old 30-06 is not dead yet!

If I was getting down to just one rifle, there would of been some major catastrophe in the world and I've been trading off rifles and ammunition for food. I'd keep my AR-15 to protect what I still have. Of course that is also the rifle for which I have the most ammo.