I may have missed it, but I have not seen a 25-06 listed yet.

I think a good pair of cartridges would be a 25-06 matched with a 35 Whelen. The 25 would work just fine from deer/black bear on down, and the 35 would work just fine on the deer/black bear on up.

And then you could put them in to a pair of 70's, 700's, or 1903's, doesn't really matter as they are all appropriate.

264 and 338 Winchesters and both in M70s

If I could only have two:

In a long action .30-06 and .375 Ruger or maybe .416 Ruger.

In a short action probably a .308 and .376 Steyr.

Thank god I don't have to limit myself cuz I really like the littler cartridges like the .260 Rem and 6.5x55 too.

quote:

Originally posted by Mark:
I may have missed it, but I have not seen a 25-06 listed yet.

I think a good pair of cartridges would be a 25-06 matched with a 35 Whelen. The 25 would work just fine from deer/black bear on down, and the 35 would work just fine on the deer/black bear on up.

And then you could put them in to a pair of 70's, 700's, or 1903's, doesn't really matter as they are all appropriate.

I recall Gary Stiles built a neat switch barrel m98 in .25/06 & .35 whelen. [IIRC,"The Signature Rifles of Gary Stiles",P.40 - Guns magazine June, 1995]
The whelen easily duplicates orig. 350 Rigby numbers, whos orig solid load proved very effective on African DG.
With the exception of the .318 Westley Richards, which was significantly cheaper, Rigbys .350 Magnum became the most widely used medium bore throughout Africa, so much so, that it spured the creation of the competitive .375H&H.
Taylor noted that the performance of the .350Rigby and .375hh was indistinguishable out to 150yd.
orig. 350Rigby factory load figures were; 225gn 2600mv...some have chronographed below 2500mv.
Nosler custom ammo and loading manual, has 35Whelen 225gn very near 2800mv.

The 35Whelen[or poor mans 375hh] is a serious big game cartridge.

270 Win and 338 WinMag

for north america if i had it to do all over again and limited to 2 i would have jarrett build me a 300 wm and a 7mm-08. granted those are expensive builds but when it was all said and done and i could not have but 2 i would have saved a ton of $

I would like two high walls one in 243 and one in 358 Winchester. The 358 with a 20" barrel and the 243 with a 26" barrel. Both with scopes. 1X4 for the 358 and a 4X20 for the 243.

308 and 338 if i lived in the lower 48. 30-06 and 416 rem if i lived in alaska or North of 60 in Canada.

quote:

270 Win and 338 WinMag

My first realistic choice and of which 80% of my hunting is done with.


My dream pair would be a .30 Newton followed up by a .35 Newton in a set of matching 1st models with a Silvers pad on each topped of with a Lyman 48 on each.


Cal30

I have a 6.5-06 and 35 Whelen on M70's, these rifles weigh within 3 oz. of each other.
Doug

Two calibers! That is just so wrong. But, for the sake of the exercise I guess I would go with a stainless Ruger 77/22 in .22 lr and a Win. Model 70 with a Boss in .270. My real life favorites. I don't hunt anything that I couldn't kil quickly with one of these.

For matching rifles I'd pick either:

270 Win and 458 Win in matching pre-64 or new model 70s

or

280 Rem and 416 Rem in matching Rem 700 BDLs

.25-06 and .35 Whelen. With those two cartridges, you could cover everything from prairie dogs to brown bears.

Just did this...

6.5x06
35 Whelen AI

Winchester Model 70 Featherweights in either
22/250 and 270WSM if you like varmint hunting
or
270WSM and 325WSM if heavier game is planned.

I could manage with a pair of BLRs in 260 rem and a 308 win. That would easily cover everything from Varmints to Elk.

But I think if I were limited to two I would prefer a 280 rem/338-06 matched pair built on either 1903 Springfields or FN Commercial actions.

264 WM and 375 WBY. or
7mm RM and 416 RM.

.260 remington
30-06 springfield

270 and 35Whelen in a Rem 700. Had them both. However if you wish to cover all bases including DG in Africa the 270 and 416Rem in Rem 700.

I would do it easy.

A pair of Surgeon XL actions in 338 Edge, barrels would both be 1 in 10 twist Krieger barrels. They'd be 28 inches long and have someone other than Christensen's carbon fiber wrap. If they shot well, #8 profile fluteds if they didn't.

Both would sit in Harry Lawson thumbhole fiberglass stocks by McMillan.

Both would have 5-25x56 Schmidt Bender PMII Marksman scopes with one of Todd's reticles. In a Spurh mount, with a 2 stage Extreme trigger.

I would cerakote them different colors. Maybe one dark green and the other coyote brown.

quote:

Originally posted by vines:
.260 remington
30-06 springfield

Bingo ! Add a 9.3x62 and your are ready for anything

If for Africa, I would say
416 Ruger
and
either 270 Win or 338 WinMag.

I would prefer the WinMag as the second, though my wife might prefer the 270.

However, right now, the 416 Ruger is only offered in the Ruger Alaskan, so the second rifle could be a Ruger, but not a matching rifle.

Cool Thread.
I think My big rifle would need to be a .338 win.
My ligt would be harder to pick. Probably a Roberts or a .270...tJ3006

The bottom rifle is a Custom Model 70 by Bill Leeper chambered for the 7MM Mashburn and the top one built by Mark Penrod is soon to be a 6mm-06.

I think that's pretty American. No?

For the lower 48, 270 and 338. Throw in Alaska and it would be 30-06 and 375Wby or 416rem in either Rem or Win actions and matching syn stocks.

For North America,how about the 300WM and the 338WM(caribou,moose,elk and grizzly)?

It seems to me that a man with a 22 LR and 30/06 could hunt everything here, except big bears, but I won't ever be able to afford one of them anyhow. These should, of couse be in Ruger 77 RS models. I've always wished Ruger had made the 22 in the tang safety, but since he didn't. I've often thought how nice it would be to have my 22 modified to a tang safety.
Bfly

It seems to me that a man with a 22 LR and 30/06 could hunt everything here, except big bears, but I won't ever be able to afford one of them anyhow. These should, of couse be in Ruger 77 RS models. I've always wished Ruger had made the 22 in the tang safety, but since he didn't, I've often thought how nice it would be to have my 22 modified to a tang safety.
They would need a Leupold scope on each, I lean to a 2x7 power, with plain old tapered cross hairs.
Bfly

Got a pair of Remington 798's, a .300 Win. Mag. and a .458 Win. Mag.

quote:

Originally posted by Mike McGuire:
264 and 338 Winchesters and both in M70s

Mike, those are exactly the two rifles I shoot the most, and both are M70s. The 264 is a pre-64 I inherited from my father, and the 338 is a rifle I had built in 1984. I do about 90% of my rifle hunting with these two guns.

If I didn't go with the 264 and 338, it'd be a 270 and 338.

In Model 70's I would pick .338 WinMag and .416 Rem.

I'd need a few pairs.

.25-06 Rem. and .30-06 Spfld.

7mm Rem. Mag. and .338 Win. Mag.

.416 Rem. Mag. and .500 A-Square.

Oh hell, and a few more pairs besides those!

243 Winchester and 358 Winchester. That will take care of any thing I will ever hunt. I have them in TC Encore. They don't have the same stocks or scopes. The 358 has a fixed 4X Burris and the 243 has a 4X20 Weaver Tactical. Also they have different stocks. The 243 has the thumb hole and the 358 has the standard black stock.

If African destination and American only...it is easy: a matched pair of M-70 Winchesters one .338 WM and one .458 WM.

If North America: same rifles one in .243 Win and one in .300 WM.

If a 3rd could be added to either group...a .22 Hornet.

I have to go with what I believe two others suggested. Believe it or not, I was thinking these before I saw their posts; but, I like the .25-06 and the .35 Whelen. Both based on the '06 case and will run the gamut on anything. But, I would also have to go w/ Mauser actions.
joe

Classical US rounds,
222 Rem & 30-06

Win-70, 22" barrels, Echols stock, Talley one-piece mounts, 3-9x40 scope.


Or, the abomonations,
223 & 308

Does not get more American then the last two!

260 Rem Montana and 338 Win Mag

30-06 Mod 84L and 470 Capstick

Good to go.

The 30-06 would be one. Not only did it see us through our wars, but is the all-around darling for North American hunting. The 2nd would be the 458 Win Mag, as it opened up African hunting after the (initial) death of the Nitro Express calibers, and in affordable bolt rifles.

rather than just pick cartridges off teh list I am going to pick from among what i have.

Further I am going to break it down into African and North American hunting.

North America

1. 257 Roberts/338/06 Improved Both in rem 700's

2. 250 savage/358 Win both in Savage 99's

3. 30/06/416 Taylor Both in Rem 700's

4. 264 Win/ 338/06 IMP again in 700's


Africa

1. 30/06/416 Taylor REM 700's

2. 250 Savage/338/06 Improved but I would have to trademy 20 in a Ruger 77 for a 700.

3. 4. 264 Win/ 338/06 IMP again in 700's


4. 4. 264 Win/ 416 Taylor again in 700's

5. 6.5 JDJ/375 JDJ in TC Contender G2's


Keep in mind rather than go with perfect ideals I did that from guns I actually OWN.

30-06 and 375 Weatherby Magnum would be my first choice for hunting worldwide with US cartridges
CZ