Hi,

My name is Byren and Im a gunnut..

I cant help it, its got ahold of me. I need help! Can you help me?

I have read Allen Days take on the simplified battery and you know, it really does make sense. But narrowing down the ones to "get rid of" or "forget about getting" is where I begin to loose my composure.

Even though I have a cabinet full of rifles, I am still compelled to frequent the hunting section in Wal-marts and go to gun shows. OOOH! the gun shows! Sometimes when I attend gun shows I think that I probably take on a look like a CWD infected deer. The classic lever guns, the fine customs, the.... oh, Sorry.

I KNOW that if only I could settle on two or three rifles that I could become really proficent with them, but it seems like taking those first steps away from desiring ANOTHER rifle are the hardest.

Anyway, thanks. Just getting that off my chest feels a little better already.

Well Byren I'm glad I don't have that problem, I just skip over any silly articles that say you can get by with 2-3 rifles.

I'm currently trying to work my way down to three rifles for the next hunt and I think I've got a good plan. The 8x57 pre-war sporter because I want to do one hunt with open sights, and it's a pretty rifle. My .275 Rigby I had built last year because, well just because. My Gr.III BAR in '06 because you always need to carry an '06 just in case.

Now for the second hunt I'm thinking 7.65x53 Argentine, ow, I'm getting a headache and have to stop.

My name is PC and this week I bought another gun

No in all seriousness I would love to have the mental strength to do what AD has done.

Ideally I would have a

New double in .500 Nitro (Searcy etc.)
Custom .416 or .450 Rigby (African Style)
All weather .375 H&H
30/06 Rifle
Varmint Rifle 22/250 etc.
Marlin Lever 45/70
.22 Lr & 12 Gauge (sort of mandatory guns if you know hat I mean)

The above would cover all my bases and do everything I need. That is about as simplifies as I could get it.

Calibres getting cleaned out would be;

.585 Nyatti
.458 Lott
9.3x62
.22 Hornet
6.5x55

Problem is I enjoy mucking around with different calibres. I would howvere like to try and buy less rifles and go on an African Hunt.

[ 11-03-2003, 00:03: Message edited by: PC ]

I rationalize with my self. It is really easy to convince my self not to buy another firearm. You see I own an Encore. I can buy a barrel, scope, dies and brass for about the same money as a new rifle without the other necessities. Barrels take up less room as well and with one trigger pull, buttstock, and reloading operation to learn you can become quite proficient.

Just please don't tell the other dozen or so rifles that I own that I prefer the Encore for hunting, OK? Sean

Well, having owned well in excess of forty rifles chambered for cartridges from 223 to 416 Rem I HAVE simplified my "battery." Honestly I'm about sick to death of the damn things... nothing but a big maintainance/handloading proposition. I'm sticking to a stainless M70 30-06 featherweight as my elk/deer rifle. It has a Leupold 2x7 on top and puts 180 Nosler Partition's (2,780) into sub 1" groups day in and day out. I'm having a 257 Roberts built EXACTLY like the 30-06... in fact, they're less than 100 serial no's apart. Both are going in Rimrock stocks. That's it... two rifles. I have a 22" bbl'd stainless M70 338 WM in the closet with a Leo 2x7 on top as well... it's strictly a "backup/loaner" rifle. Though I do good work with it I just don't enjoy shooting it as much as the 06 and Roberts.

I much prefer to put my money into actually hunting and related gear... packs, clothing, boots, fuel, optics. In fact, I think good optics are far more critical than a given rifle. I'd rather have $800 glass around my neck and a $400 rifle than the other way round.

BA

Brad, I couldn't agree more. It seems there is no end to messing with rifles if you have a bunch, and the one you need or want to use never has the bugs worked out in time.

Chuck

My simplified battery would be:
.22LR (Ruger 10/22)
.270
.338
.416

However, I only have and use one big game rifle, a stainless Ruger M77 in .338WM. That's all I need for my type of hunting in Alaska.

My big game battery is pretty simple; a .30-06 model 70, and a Marlin 1894 .44 mag. I almost always use the '06. I want more rifles, but unless I go to Africa or Alaska, I won't need them. My real weakness is for .22 rimfires. I have 7 (including handguns). I get to use all of them though during the lengthy small game and varmint seasons.

I'll bet you that Allen Day owns more rifles than the few he mentions hunting with. I will probably only use two rifles for big game hunting but still might be tempted into the occasional impulse purchase. I think a lot of hunters fit this pattern.

I'm with Brad on this. I like hunting way more than I like guns and Ray's collection looks about as useful of any I've ever seen.

With the direction that hunting is going, I'm actually more concerned with having a spot to hunt anything than I am with what I'm going to hunt with. Hence, my ideal battery would be:

22lr - SS Ruger 10/22 and/or SS Ruger Mark II 5 1/2" bull.

223 Rem - Colt/Bushmaster 16" HBAR (2/4 legged varmints)

270 Win - SS Rem/Win (for NE)

338? SS Win/Rem (if I would ever regularly hunt Elk+ sized game).

12 ga - Rem 870/Benelli.

If push came to shove I'd take just a 12ga Rem 870 and 270 Win. If it got really tough, I wouldn't worry too much about hunting everything with my 21" Rem 870 12ga!!

I did this quite a few years ago and have been happy ever since. It came about like most things I do, in a panic. I was 2 weeks from leaving on a elk hunt and I "discover" that of the 15 or so using guns, let alone the 100 or so "collector" guns that I have nothing;
1. suitable
2. not broken
3. not cannablized for a customer
3. assembled
so in a panic I start a weekend search and end up taking a used Ruger SS 7mmMag. When I returned after this trip I went through the entire inventory I assemble all of the using guns and sold them ALL. I went through all of the collector guns and auction every last 1. I had this slight insanity going on and sold 102 .270 rifles and 19 .22 hornets along with all the other shit. I bought a nice used Whitworth .375 in a Hi Tech stock. From there I took another Mark X and built a matching .30'06. The are an almost matching pair. Same scope, trigger, L.O.P., weight, etc.....Since then I have built a .223 on a mini mk X that is very similar and a .50 cal in-line on a raw M98 forging that is similar. They all have Burris optics and the same Hi-Tech stocks.
There is always a .22 hornet around and a few .22lr but that is it.
I am very content with the simple way these serve me.

ED

Gentlemen

A simple battery would be
6,5X65 mauser

7mm mag Ed Brown (rainy day with sythetic stock)

338 win or 8,5X64 mauser

9,3X62 mauser or 9,3X74R double

416 rigby Magnum mauser

12, ga shotgun Side by side

/ JOHAN

"I have read Allen Days take on the simplified battery"

You got a link to this? I'd like to read it myself.

I usually avoid these discussions but now that I put my foot in the water:

.22rf bolt rifle
.257 Roberts bolt
.338 Win. bolt
20 ga SxS

Probably could do without one of the two CF rifles but I wouldn't use the .338 on a PD, nor would I use the .257 on Griz. In lieu of those two, a lever action 30-30.

My name is DigitalDan, and I'm a gunaholic...

I'm also a certified addict, now own about 56 pieces ranging from 22LR to 510Wells, with another 4 in the mail. However, when I go hunting or shooting on weekends, I usually pick from about 6 or 7 favorites. I could be just as happy with only my Marlin 39, Remington 870, a Mauser-type 30-06 and maybe a 375.

I have done some serious sole searching lately and have decided my money would be better spent on a few quality really nice rifles that I can make a lot of memories with rather than two large safes full of specialty factory rifles.

After all hunting is about getting out and making memories and taking an animal or two if the oppertunity presents.

with that my simplified battery would be

22LR
22-250
30-06
375
12ga

I will never get to this few since I must keep heirlooms and hunt occationally with them also.

After selling a few customs, I'll use the money to help pay for my next 2 hunting trips , I'm down to 3 center fire rifles. A .338 and 2 30-06s. But I've been lusting after a 25-06 I was thinking of setting it up for a '04 Wyoming antelope hunt. I know one of my '06s will work but..... Then again I don't NEED another rifle, yeah thats the ticket, I don't need another rifle.

Allen is obviously an alien sent here to try to get all of us to reduce our armament so his evil alien friends can take over our planet

I remember a buddy telling me he'll take 3 (or more) rifles with him whitetail hunting, take one in the woods for a while, then come back to the car every few hours, put that one in the trunk and get another one. And I thought I was the only one who did that!! Right now, I have 15 (maybe more) rifles all ready to go out, with their preferred loads Baggied up lying there so I can choose which one to use at the last minute. It's like a sickness, but, hey, I can control it, it's not like I'm addicted or anything

R-WEST

[ 11-06-2003, 00:44: Message edited by: R-WEST ]

Fellow Gunnuts,

Its funny this topic came up because I was just talking to my hunting partner about the same thing. Getting rid of all the surplus and keeping the ones either have some sentimental value or have a utility. It all depends on your viewpoint, weather you are a collector, hunter, target shooter, or investment(yeah right). Since I look at it from a hunter's perpective, I came up with this rifle (there is a hangun and shotgun battery also) battery, completely practical(IMO) without being too restictive,
22 LR - squirels, rabbits
22-250 - varmits, woodchucks
7x57 Mauser - deer, antelope
300 Win Mag - long range zapper of bigger game
35 Whelen - my all around rifle
375 H&H - medium bore for big cats and big bears
458 Win Mag - Big Bore thumper for that Cape Buff hunt someday.

Thats 7 rifles, small enough to fit in one gun safe with a couple slots for your shotgun needs and handguns on the door. Maybe that would be a good criteria "a practical gun baterry that will fit in your standard gun safe".

See ya,
BigBullet

I could get by with a simplified set of rifles, but I have no reason to do so..I have worked hard all my life and I can afford them so I have a number of guns..

I sell a lot of them from time to time, but then I just buy more..I enjoy buying and selling and trading guns....Judge Ern and I trade the same guns back and forth sometimes!! Sometimes we trade guns because we just like to trade...

3 rifles - 22mag, 223, 270. I can put all of them in the truck, but when it comes to back country, walk in / walk out stuff, you make you're choice REAL quick. These guns have served us and never let us down. Admittedly, we don't have animals that can eat us here, nor do we hunt buffalo, but apart from that, (heresy and sacriledge coming) how many guns do you need? Mind you, I am kinda taken by that sweet little Martini 22 Hornet, that I don't need(!!!)

The simplified battery I referred to earlier on the 'Big Game' forum consists of a set of custom rifles in .270 Win., .300 Win., .338 Win., .375 H&H, and .416 Remington. These rifles are all based on CRF Model 70 actions, and all of them are stocked exactly the same, balanced the same, feature scopes with the same eye-relief, and have the same trigger pull. All were built by the same custom riflemaker, so the same brand of heart and substance was built into each one of them. Everything feels and functions the same no matter which of these rifles you pick up, although there is (I think logically) an obvious difference in weight between the .270 Win. and both the .375 H&H and .416 Remington! The .300 and .338 weigh about the same. The excellent balance of these rifles tends to make you ignore the weight variation anyway.

The 'simplified battery' concept, for me at least, isn't about saving short-term money, as this set of rifles wasn't exactly inexpensive to put together. I will say though that, long-term, the more expensive, higher-quality rifles will likely save you money if you choose wisely from the get-go. It's about simplicity, familiarity, efficiency, and freedom. I say freedom because too many rifles can be a real burden.

For my purposes, I wanted fewer rifles of higher-quality that are built for total function, durability, reliability, and performance; and that means that form follows function all the way. I have no particular allegiance to traditional riflemaking concepts, nor to the latest high-tech gadgetry. I like to combine the 'best of the Old' with the 'best of the New'. All-steel metal parts, a blueprinted controlled-feed action, and a cryogenically-treated match-grade barrel mated to a high-quality, pillar-bedded synthetic stock is my kind of hunting rifle.

As has been suspected, I do own more hunting rifles than those I mentioned, but these others are rifles of sentimental value that I don't or no longer hunt with: My original Remington 700 .30-06 I bought at age fifteen; my old, retired custom Model 70 in .300 Winchester; a Model 70 Super Express in .458 that I used on my first African safari; my great uncle's Savage 99 in .300 Savage; my maternal uncle's 1962-vintage Remington 700 BDL, plus a thirty year-old custom Model 70 .270 with Burgess metalwork and a Milliron stock that was originally commissioned by my oldest and best hunting partner who can no longer take to the hill. This man taught me just about everything about fine rifles and hunting - plus life in general - and I owe him for more than I could ever repay. I won't dispose of these rifles for any reason......

But my hunting battery is as described earlier, and I won't use anything else any more. I don't need to. These rifles will last for the rest of my hunting career, which I hope means another thirty years of taking to the bush. If I shoot a barrel out, I'll have another installed by the same man who built these rifles. Since he and I are the same age, we'll likely hang in all up at about the same time anyway!

AD

[ 11-06-2003, 18:45: Message edited by: allen day ]

Holy Hanna.......did someone actually a .30'06 and a .375, my god think of the possibility..

Quick question, there has been a few a responding that a M39 Marlin would be ther pick. This is a little cutie that I have tried a few times but really can love. What am I missing????

ED

Aha! Allan, you old rascal, now the truth has been ripped from your black soul, all those other "sentamental rifles" have surfaced from the depths of your arsenal like oil on water and the numbers are on the increase, so what other little goodies have you ratholed on us in that massive gun cabinet that contains only a "simplified numer of guns"...

You sir have been trapped in your evil web that you yourself have spun, but the "spun" stops here!!!but it was a hell of a good post and made since, it just doesn't work that way with guys like us!!!

Ray, I wish I could round up all of the rifles I've sold over the last ten years that I did NOT replace! If I could have them all in one room for 'just one night'(!) for a photo/video shoot.... Well, no, one second thought I wouldn't want to do that!

My current set of guns, in terms of numbers, is a mere shadow of the old collection, but I like it a whole lot better!

Handguns, varminters, shotguns, and lever guns are another matter altogether. When I come up with a really great pistol or revolver, I almost never let it go.

I own ONE gilt-edge .223 Remington, which answers for all my varmint needs.

I dislike bird hunting, so I don't currently own ANY shotguns.

Of course, anyone who was raised in my family owns at least one lever gun. My Model 94, 92, and 9422 Winchesters (one of each) aren't for sale either!

AD

AD

What I enjoy about guns is getting them going up to snuff. So I might buy a gun and try some improvement on it and if it works it gets put aside for possible use. If it does not perform then I do the same and go back to it when my interest in it returns.

One expample is the M 70 Varminter that I bought almost fifty years ago. The barrel was shot out decades ago but I found that if I really cleaned it the old 243 would shoot quite well with some particular load. Since I had other rifles this did not matter much to me but the experimenting with the old gun and doing it my way was interesting to me.

Finally it would only shoot a 100 flat base well so I started looking for a barrel. This took years. Wimers had take offs for $400, maybe a Hart would be good enough! If I replaced this barrel it had to be just right by my terms. I wanted the rifle as original as possible.

By chance I was in a good friends gun room. You know these guys who have a ranch and even the reloading room has 11 presses on the bench. He had an old Winchester barrel for .220 Swift that he bought when he was a kid as they told him that the Swift would not last. So he ordered a new barrel from Winchester but never put it on.

I deemed this barrel worthy of this pet Winchester that had been around the block with me. So it's on the M 70 now and it's even older than the base rifle. The barrel and action are all matte finish like the orginal and each is SS too. This pleases me.

Somewhere along the line I glass bedded this M 70 then spacer bedded it. It's as good a shooter as I have seen in my travels.

Best of all I did just about everything myself.

"Simplified battery", sorry but I don't want to think about it. I will cross that bridge when I see it. I have almost all of the guns that I had fifty years ago including my first. It's the way I want to do it.

He who dies with the most toys...is dead...but what fun he had before dying!
If I sold off all my guns and kept just my great grandfather's, grandfather's and my mom and dad's I would still have 30 or so gun so I might as well just enjoy the other 150 I have and let my kids worry about what they will do with the left overs.
I am not going to sell off my family guns no matter what.
And you want me to choose which Sako 222 Mag I am to keep or which one of the five 30/06 I should keep or which 9.3 x 62 to sell?
Which Colt Woodsman 22 pistol should I keep...I know I am keeping my dad's 4" Match Target Woodsman that is still in it's original box.
Thank you folks for selling off all your nice excess inventory...we who love to buy it and take it to our house appreciate you!

Ok, not counting a half dozen lever guns, 6 pistols, two shotguns,and a Win. 63 22LR, I too am down to a 30-06, 270, 7x57, 6x45, 300 H&H, 338 Win, 9.3x62, 375 H&H, 416 Rem and a 450-400 double, 470 double on the way, and am building another 375 and a 404 Jefferys..A 222 Rem 722 is my sole varmint gun, oh the 6x45 is both I suppose but I shoot deer with it..

The pre 64 M-70 270 is for sale I suppose and its a true 1/2" gun with any load..The Brno 7x57 is also for sale and its a tack driver..The 450-400 is for sale and its a tack driver..but I'm not pushing them very hard...Like you said the upkeep is time consuming and I do need to start culling again I suppose...

Fact:
I could just keep the 416 Rem. and cover ALL the worlds bases...a 300 gr. sizzles at 3 grand and good for about anything, and the 350 comes in there someplace, and the 400 works on DG along with the 450 gr. Woodleighs for really big boys... It is not a meat bruiser, but an excellent killer of small stuff and hammers the big stuff, ignores wind and the 300s shoot flatter n a flitter, what more could you ask?

I grew up reading my Dads hunting magazines. Sports Afield, Field and Stream, Outdoor Life, etc.
I distinctly remember thinking way back then that a World Wide Hunter could get by with a 30-06, a 375 H&H and a 470 Double. You could then, and you can now. Just because you could does not mean you should.
Then came along David Ommanny [sp?] Winchester's "Our Man in Africa". He had a "Safari Car" with a rifle rack in the back, with all of Winchesters calibers from 225 to 458. Each month the back cover would show David O with a different game animal and Winchesters [insert caliber here]. Now here was a man a GUN NUT could admire. [ You could use "gun" and "nut" in the same sentence back then ]. He had several rifles with him all the time. What a way to hunt. [I call it the Golf Bag approach, I ain't been the same since, and from the sound of it ya'll ain't either].
Like I said earlier, "Just because you could, doesn't mean you should".

I could get by with my

.22 rimfire
.223
.270
.35 whelen
.458 win

throw in a 12 guage pump and a 1911 in .45acp

I am one of those collector-shooter guys. You know what I mean, The guys that have one to shot and one the collect. I have a Carl Gustauf m 96 built in 1907 that is in absolutly perfect condition. Then I have a m38 to shoot. A m98 one is a collectors piece and one is a shooter. Well two are shooters. I also have a 30/06, a ruger 10/22, a m93 in 7x57, m39 finnish nagent, acouple of sks'a and a AK. Well I don't think I could part with any of them.

The kind of hunting that I do these days, I could just screw it and keep a .22 Long Rifle and a 300 H+H. It would be the smart thing I suppose, but I'm sort of stupid and well my safe is full of rifles. In forty + years I may have traded two or three guns. And yea I wish I did not do that. From a pratical point what Allen said on this subject, is spot on. He is one of the smarter persons here.

It mostly rides on one's own definition of practical. Some of us find so much pleasure out of just showing a nice gun to a friend, even if it only sees the range once a year.
There's all sorts of uses for a gun, and traipsing around in the woods loking for something to kill is only one of them.
If you love to hunt, and you're spending all your time and money buying and fooling with guns, then that's a problem. But there's no reason you can't have your "simplified battery" of three or four, AND have a hundred others for other reasons.
Get your 22-250, 30-06 and 375 H&H, all stainless and synthetic, and your set on that front.
Although I appreciate the one-gun man, I think I have enough time on my hands to play during the off-season.

I'm with Ray, I can afford 'em, I want 'em and I got 'em. When I read that AD was shucking his collection down to a very few, I thought, "yeah, sure".
Now that I live east of the big river and rarely venture west, my hunting needs can be handled by a single rifle. I just can't decide if it is to be a 7-08, 7x57, .280, .260, 6.5, 30-06, 8x57, .35Rem or .270. I am a real 7-08 fan. Do I take the classic? or the model 7, or the 7-08 wildcat custom with the pretty wood? 'course the 7x57 with the full length mannlicher stock and the 1.5x6 scope really raises some eyebrows here in the backwoods where thurty-thurty's with 6x24x50 BSA scopes are the norm.

Beeman, my hunting battery is what I stated it to be. Over the last ten years, I've reduced my battery by about eight-five percent. "Yeah, sure", you thought? You don't have a clue.....

This issue isn't about being able to "afford" rifles or any other class of gun. The idea is to eliminate the burden to keeping and maintaining a large battery of firearms, especially mediocre firearms. Time is money. It's also about having fewer rifles of higher quality in order to enhance familiarity, reliability, and performance.

AD