Do we use practicle guns? Are our choices driven by something else?

I have been thinking about how much effort and pain we put into our various choices for big game hunting. I am considering a true long range rifle just because I want one. Yet truth be told, nearly all of my big game could have been taken just as well by my .30-30 that I recieved as my first rifle many years ago.

My want for a long range gun has little to do with hunting. I use a .338WM a lot when elk season is open, and it hasn't been an issue ever. I have hunted with a 7mm RM and it works fine, and is easy to shoot well out to 500 yards. I use a .25-06 or .257 Roberts a lot and enjoy the level of accuracy with each of the mentioned rifles that brings confidence.

Yet, really, about anything I own would suffice with factory ammo. Why do we toil over perfection so much?

quote:

Originally posted by BigNate:
Do we use practicle guns? Are our choices driven by something else?

I have been thinking about how much effort and pain we put into our various choices for big game hunting. I am considering a true long range rifle just because I want one. Yet truth be told, nearly all of my big game could have been taken just as well by my .30-30 that I recieved as my first rifle many years ago.

My want for a long range gun has little to do with hunting. I use a .338WM a lot when elk season is open, and it hasn't been an issue ever. I have hunted with a 7mm RM and it works fine, and is easy to shoot well out to 500 yards. I use a .25-06 or .257 Roberts a lot and enjoy the level of accuracy with each of the mentioned rifles that brings confidence.

Yet, really, about anything I own would suffice with factory ammo. Why do we toil over perfection so much?

I've never been one to toil over perfection, I regard rifles as tools. Over the years I've refined what I want in a rifle and as I get older that means a light weight carbine, also reliability and durability are high on the list. Now in my case, that translates to a Savage Sierra carbine in 7mm-08 with synthetic stock. Easy to reload for or factory ammo is plentiful if I get lazy. Now I have several rifles in a variety of calibres, but more often than not, I reach for the Savage. Topped with a Burris Compact in 2x7, it comes pretty close to perfection in my books. I'm the same way with reloading, when I find a load that gives decent speed and hunting accuracy, I stick with that load. Personally, I've never understood all the fussing and experimenting with various powders and bullets, etc., when I find a combination that gives consistent results, I quit. Now that may sound boring to a lot of you and that's OK, for me happiness is simplicity and as I get older, the simpler the better.

I just like tinkering at the reloading bench. I shoot a 6.5x284 for a lot of hunting for antelope and deer and the furthest I've shot one of those at is 240 yards. I could have easily killed any of those animals with just about any centerfire rifle in my safe.

But, on one of those antelope hunts I also killed a coyote at a lasered 732 yards so when the shot presents itself, it's nice to have the confidence and the equipment to take the shot.

consistent high accuracy give me more confidence in the field than beautiful wood & near perfect inletting/checkering.
If that means having a syn. stock so be it.

I appreciate nice traditional classic styled rifles and cartridges e.g.: LRstd.M98 7x57 and larger bores built on LR magnum mausers....

However if hunting conditions more sensibly & practically dictate lighter, more compact, more dynamic rigs,
[ie ; more user friendly]...Ill use my brains and swallow my pride and go that route.

ie; short action syn. stocked 7mm/08, .338rcm,.375wsm

perfection can be different things to different people.

...for some it may be the latest 3.5 lb compound bow.

quote:

Originally posted by just-a-hunter:
Its either this and a little bit of fishing,... OR.... golf I suppose.

Todd

Got a real chuckle out of that one, Todd. In that light chasing the perfect gun or ammo is really a good exercize.

I was always taught that anyone convicted of golf, tennis, skiing, or Contract Bridge should be automatically ineligible to hold any office in the land, including dog-catcher.

(Fishing on the other hand, using the right kind of beer for bait, was regarded by our household as therapeutic.)

quote:

I've never been one to toil over perfection, I regard rifles as tools.

I have never strived for perfection. As stated above a rifle is merely a tool to me. I find a load I like because of its accuracy, which to me is 3 shots in to 2 inches or less at 100 yards, I can live quite happily with that. My loads rarely ever exceed the middle of the load tables and for most of my hunting I use Barnes bullets because I like their performance on game.

I prefer using larger calibers just for the hell of it. My choices are made simply on what interests me the most at any given time.

I am not sure how practicality came up in a thread about choosing a hunting rifle, but that is just crazy talk.

I have been on a quest for "THE" pefect rifle for years now, and I am still looking. Like has been said though, in reality, I can kill everything that needs killing in my little world with my old trusty Marlin 30-30, but instead, I use .366 calibers to shoot coyotes under the guise that a hog might step out and want to be sure to have "enough" gun.

I haven't found perfection yet in any one gun, but I have gotten close a couple of times. I guess I will just keep looking...

I think it's more of a ritual to fill time before hunting season. Decide what gun/caliber you are going to pull from your safe and what loads you are going to try this year.

I always bring two rifles with me and decide which one to grab as I'm walking out to the stand.

Last year, I hunted with a 257R, 6.5x55 & 338 Federal. The 257R was always one of the two I brought.

The journey is the trip.
Home grown vegtables taste better; game you have brought to bag using home rolled ammo is more tender and tasty.
If you're just into killing stuff, get a savage 30-06 with a 3x9 Tasco and a box of Rem 165's and put them in the closet to pull out once a year. Oh, get stainless/plastic so's you won't have to clean it.

I gravitate more and more to my 6.5x55. Still hoping to get to Alaska with my 9.3x62....need more of a bankroll than I have now.

Most all of my hunting rifles/pistols are of the working type. I have toyed with them to make them better for me as needed. I enjoy tinkering with loads but still have tried and proven ones that I use. I have several different manufactures and sometimes different models with the same cartridge. When hunting BG at home I just have many to choose from, but lately I have been partial to my Tikka's in 6.5X55 and 7mm-08 or an Encore pistol in 257Roberts or 308Win. When I hunt out-of-state for pronghorns I move toward the 25-06/257Weatherby/300Win mag or 7mmRem mag.

My real problem is for my Africa trip. I will take the 338Win mag for me and my daughter will take her 257Roberts. I want to take my 25-06 and 6.5X55 but I am wondering if a better choice would be the 7mm-08/Ruger Ultra-lite in 30-06/257Weatherby or even 7mmRem mag or 300Win mag. Then as hard as the PG are to kill maybe I should think about one of my 50BMG rifles with 647gr Barnes X-Bullets.

Then I have been thinking seriously about buying a 338Federal and maybe it would be a better choice for Africa as a lesser recoiling cartridge to back up my 338Win mag.

My trouble is I like fine tuning my hunting rifles and trying out new ones. I am not so obsessed about my mil surplus rifles. It is something I can still do and even more since I retired.
Golf is a waste of a perfectly good shooting range. Too old to even want to chase women. Not into drinking hard. Do not gamble. Cannot build and race cars or boats anymore. That leaves working with firearms and reloading. That is a good thing.

quote:

Originally posted by wasbeeman:
The journey is the trip.
Home grown vegtables taste better; game you have brought to bag using home rolled ammo is more tender and tasty.
If you're just into killing stuff, get a savage 30-06 with a 3x9 Tasco and a box of Rem 165's and put them in the closet to pull out once a year. Oh, get stainless/plastic so's you won't have to clean it.

You got it beeman. If we didn't fuss around with rifles all year, all we would have of hunting would be opening day to close of season. With new rifles and reloading, we get to screw around with stuff all year long thinking of how cool it will be to go hunting with that new rifle, load recipe, cartridge, whatever.
I'm going retro myself with a sporterized Mauser my dad picked up on the battlefield in
Germany and my grandfather's M54 Win. Of course if they are too far away or it is getting dark, I may have to back those up with scoped rifles

quote:

Originally posted by Jeff Sullivan:
I am not sure how practicality came up in a thread about choosing a hunting rifle, but that is just crazy talk.

It may come as a surprise to some, but some folk do go the practical route over the emotional one in the selection process when configuring a rifle and are glad they did.
I for some time dreamt about a long barrelled drop box H&H chambered magnum mauser,...till I picked up a shorter,lighter,trimmer,faster handling Kurz WSM...it was a no brainer.
Stainless and synthetic construction would have made it even better.

quote:

I haven't found perfection yet in any one gun, but I have gotten close a couple of times. I guess I will just keep looking...

Even a wristwatch that does not work is perfectly correct at least twice a day....

I have a lot of differant rifles and calibers
22rf to DGRs.

Which one do I like the best beats me. I guess the one in my hands at the time.

My savage 99 in 300sav would be on towards the top. My Ruger no.1 light sporter right there in 30-06.

But then I like shooting things with my 416 taylor kills large critters nicely.

I guess I like them all if I have to grab just one that would be tough. I guess it would depands on what was coming up.

What ever I was hunting would be in a world of hurt with what ever rifle I took.

"I'm so confused" roger

practical....I have 3 dif 30-06 rifles

But rifles are like women......I just want one perfect one

but I'm still looking

quote:

Originally posted by ted thorn:
practical....I have 3 dif 30-06 rifles

But rifles are like women......I just want one perfect one

but I'm still looking

For the rifle?

That needs to be a yes

All of mine are the perfect rifle at the time. Have used a .416 Rem for elk and it didn't kill it any deader than the .375 or the .338wm or my '06. But it was the rifle I wanted to use at the time. One day I will try the .458wm or the .470 for elk just to see what effect it has. Spending my time, tuning, reloading and shooting different combinations just whets my appetite for hunting.

I like shooting much larger cartridges than needed, just because. I also like using "odd" setups that not many have. On top of this, nothing compares to the feeling of killing a deer with a wildcat you loaded ammunition for.

quote:

Originally posted by Tyler Kemp:
On top of this, nothing compares to the feeling of killing a deer with a wildcat you loaded ammunition for.

Or designed and built. roger

I use a 1955 Husquvarna 7x57 because

1. It didn't cost me anything (was a gift)

2. It's light

3. It kills things