Absolutely No Idea Which Rifle I’m Taking In The Woods

Joec7651

Handloader
Apr 7, 2019
926
1,233
5237C763-F0A3-4ECA-9E31-53FEAF91A1D4.jpegFirst I’ll say this isn’t such a terrible problem to have, as problems tend to go. I can’t decide on the rifle to have as my primary. My 270 Win is stacking E-Tips inside half an inch at 3150fps with a SD of 18fps. My 308 Win is putting 150gr Gold Dots into less than .4” at 2980fps and a 21fps SD, and lastly my Marlin 1895 45-70 puts its cold bore shot dead center of the bullseye with a 300gr Hornady HP at 2200fps every single time, without fail. Then holds a 1 1/4” group there after. All three have nice round primers after firing with no pressure indications whatsoever. My fired primers look better than factory fired rounds believe it or not.

My work over the summer gave me a lot of pride in the accuracy I was able to load to for these rifles. However it’s making my choice for opening morning agony. I’d flip a coin but they only have 2 sides. All 3 are beautiful, I got nothin. Nothin!
 
Flip a coin for opening day and then alternate rifles after that! Clearly a tough choice but an awfully good one to have.
 
Blindfold yourself, have your wife lay the guns out. First one you hands find the the one!

Who knows?


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That’s what I’m doing at this point. Taking her advice. Lol. You can definitely tell she’s a hunters wife because the first thing she asked was which one will ruin the least meat. God I love that woman. That girl can truly work magic with wild game meat of any kind.
 
Yeah, that is a tough choice. It sounds fortunate for you that you have a good lady who is prepared to take care of you when you face such a difficult choice. You won't have any problem with any of those.
 
Well, just make sure the right ammo goes with whichever rifle you select! :)

I'm very careful of that when I have both my 25-06 & 30-06 along on the same hunt. The two rifles look very similar and it wouldn't be good to grab the wrong ammo.

I like your wife's thought about the meat damage. Ha! A hunter's wife for sure.

Guy
 
We had venison tenderloin tonight, and as my wife finished.. she looked up and said... you’re gonna get me some more of that..

I couldn’t tell if it was a statement or a question...
so I just said just said Yes mame

Got to love a woman that worries about wasting Fine dining..


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mjcmichigan":35yqb5tx said:
Got to love a woman that worries about wasting Fine dining.

That is a real lady who understands the finer things of life. (y)
 
She made buttermilk floured fried rabbit, mashed potatoes, with gravy made from the rabbit drippings, and home canned green beans this evening. It’s no wonder I’ve got a gut. Lol
 
Joec7651":1f1n53dv said:
She made buttermilk floured fried rabbit, mashed potatoes, with gravy made from the rabbit drippings, and home canned green beans this evening. It’s no wonder I’ve got a gut. Lol

Ah, yes, that's a hard life. There are people who are envious, you know. Most of them are living in one of the major cities and have never eaten so well. :mrgreen:
 
A great woman for sure! My wife hunts and shoots. She's after a big 9 pt she named "Lucky". She's using her Nosler M48 280AI with 140 gr BT's.

Just keep in mind that your 45-70 is a grinder if you hit bone. I shot a crop damage doe this year with a 300 gr BST from my Marlin 1895G 45-70 at 160 yards and toasted the shoulder. The doe was DRT.
Pick the one you like best and don't look back.
Good luck this season.

JD338
 
I’m just going to take all 3. I’ll use the 308 and 270 for a power line I hunt, and the 1895 for everything else. The 1895 is really pretty accurate. I can consistently bust milk jugs out to 200-300 yards with it as long as I have a rest. Each will get some time in the woods this coming week.
 
I have a friend who goes to "deer camp" in MN. A true north woods sorta fella. He would tell you, "one for the morning, one for the afternoon, and one for in the outhouse,...its Ok to be caught with your pants down, but you should never be w/o a rifle during deer season..." :shock: :grin: . Don't think I would follow his advice, but in your case the math works out. :grin: CL
 
cloverleaf":19i79k1b said:
I have a friend who goes to "deer camp" in MN. A true north woods sorta fella. He would tell you, "one for the morning, one for the afternoon, and one for in the outhouse,...its Ok to be caught with your pants down, but you should never be w/o a rifle during deer season..." :shock: :grin: . Don't think I would follow his advice, but in your case the math works out. :grin: CL
That happened to my Dad and I one time. I was too little to carry a rifle in the woods yet. We were sitting on the edge of an oak flat and decided we needed a snack. He pulled out two big chunks of pepperoni and longhorn cheese. We both leaned up against the same tree and started eating it. He had crossed his feet and leaned his rifle up against the tree in front of us with the butt of the gun between his legs. Neither one of us heard anything but felt like we were being watched. As if we were of one mind we turned around really slowly and there was a 7 pt buck standing there watching us eat our pepperoni and cheese about 3 yards behind us. Needless to say everything went flying everywhere and we watched his big white tail disappear over the hill behind us. I don't think the two of us ever laughed so hard together since.
 
The 270 Win gets the first chance for the opener tomorrow morning. t's giving me less than a 1/2" with E-Tips. I'm still in love with my 308 though. It will shoot a 3/8" group with 150gr Gold Dots simply because I am human and cant have a perfect hold every time. But on the off chance I'm attacked by a pickup the Marlin has it's merits. All joking aside the 3 of them are dead nuts accurate. If I miss it's my fault. Thanks for the well wishes and so it begins. I'll see you guys tomorrow evening. 4:45 comes early.
 
Good luck tomorrow, like you said the way those shoot you won't have any excuses if you miss. But I'm sure you'll do just fine though.
 
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