If you could only have one gun (unlimited ammo) to survive with and hunt all over North America for the rest of your life. What would it be?

300 Win Mag for me.

Same question but for Africa?

416 Rem Mag

BH63

quote:

Originally posted by ALF:
375 H&H

+1

in a blaser r-8 with a spare barrel in case your shoot out the first barrel

Mike

Just one gun for big game in North America? Sooo, Antelope to Moose, Deer to Grizz.

30-06

Old Boring still gets it done. And it's also the only hunting rifle I've never owned.

Probably a semi-custom like a Cooper, scoped 2-12 tipping in at 7.5# all in.

To survive with? A 30-06. But to sport hunt in North America I'd likely use my .300 Weatherby. In Africa my .375 H&H should do.

For North America: 30-06

For Africa: 30-06 (if no dangerous game is on the menu); 375 H&H with dangerous game

Safe shooting

338 ultra mag

quote:

Originally posted by Beretta682E:

quote:

Originally posted by ALF:
375 H&H

+1

in a blaser r-8 with a spare barrel in case your shoot out the first barrel

Mike

+2

As much as I appreciate the .375 (I have a .375 Ruger) I wouldn’t want it as a survival rifle in NA due to the weight of rifle and ammo plus recoil. Using it to whack a squirrel or rabbit for dinner would be way too much. Although it would be nice if you were in an area with polar bears and brown bears.

In Africa it would make more sense purely as a defensive weapon when encountering DG.

JMO

BH63

30-06.

Dave

quote:

Originally posted by nopride2:
30-06.

Dave

+many

375 Ruger with a 3.5 x 10 quality scope.

Africa: 500 3 inch, but I can I have ascoped rifle to back it?

quote:

Originally posted by Cougarz:
To survive with? A 30-06. But to sport hunt in North America I'd likely use my .300 Weatherby. In Africa my .375 H&H RUM should do.

*1

300 Win Mag for both if no African DG is on the menu.

Zeke

338 WM for NA and the 416 RM for Africa just because of elephants.

Mark

30'06 - though I never owned one (except for a buggered barrel on my Sako L61R that I bought & rebarreled)

'survive with' and 'hunt all over North America' don't really go in the same scenario.

NORTH AMERICA 30-06 from 125 grain to 220

quote:

Originally posted by BuffHunter63:
If you could only have one gun (unlimited ammo) to survive with and hunt all over North America for the rest of your life. What would it be?

300 Win Mag for me.

Same question but for Africa?

416 Rem Mag

BH63

Well, the poster obviously intends "survive with and hunt" as a metaphor for "adequately hunt." Survival mode doesn't usually come with unlimited ammo. (For true survival and scavanging ammo the 308Win would win.)

So for adequately hunting NA, assuming that I'm also paying for license fees and time, then nothing less than a 338 Win Mag would do. More could be better.
The 338WM would provide the best mix of portability, range out to 400+ yards, and the anchoring of deer, elk, or bear.

Africa: the same. --- Except that for laws on minimum buffalo caliber, one should pick up a 375 Ruger or 416 Ruger at a good price.

I guess my practical choice is my Rem XCR II in 375 Weatherby. It's very light (7 1/2 lbs with scope), accurate and powerful. It's also stainless and TriNyte coated with a synthetic stock.

My emotional choice is my 50 year old BDL in 270 Win.

+1

quote:

Originally posted by MARK H. YOUNG:
338 WM for NA and the 416 RM for Africa just because of elephants.

Mark

The obvious choice would be a 12 gauge. But I'll go with the implied intent of rifles.

Before cartridge, I'd demand rifle reliability and accuracy. Hence, I'd go Sako. I'd have to look at a Springfield Armory M1A1 Tanker in .308 Win.

My preference for Sako is not a slight to other rifle brands. I've been most fortunate to have had astounding luck with Sako AV rifles and a mid-'70's era Model 700. I do recognize the fact that there are many excellent rifle brands available to hunters. Were we to dispense with flowery rhetoric and embellished opinions, it's all preference. I have a friend who bought a Walmart special, a Remington promotional rifle that'll print well under an inch. I doubt he paid 2 benjies for it.

I could make many cartridges work. Dispensing with churned cartridge rhetoric, and assuming starting from scratch, I'd probably go with a .280 Rem. I could be very happy with a 7x57. An '06 would give be a comfortable, warm feeling. I could do it all with a .270 Win. Hence, any suitable big game cartridge would work.

A very conspicuous fact is there hasn't been an improvement in big game cartridge lethality since the 7x57 & '06 were born. A mega magnum will kill big game just as dead as the 7x57.

We can't lose sight of the fact that America's frontiersmen did serious damage to North American big game with smooth bore muskets. Prior to that, Indians survived by arrowing big game.

It ain't what lunches projectiles, it's where projectiles wind up and what they destroy. The largest bull elk that's ever lived will hit dirt within seconds of a bullet fired from a .243 Win shredding its heart and/or lungs.

There is no doubt in my mind that a hunter carrying a Marlin 1895 loaded with hand loaded .45/70 Gov't rounds could fell everything that walks Earth including elephants. I used to be enamored of that buck fifty year-old work horse...until I fired true potential rounds outta one. That thang inflicted a special kind of pain.

quote:

Originally posted by Lamar:
'survive with' and 'hunt all over North America' don't really go in the same scenario.

Maybe, maybe not. If you have to hunt to survive, and your survival also includes evading and/or shooting roaming bands of humans, than you wold probably move around quite a lot.

Notice I did not say "sport hunting".

As for ammo, the intent was that is was ammo that could be readily found all over NA (or stolen if necessary), as needed, not that you would carry it around with you. LOL


BH63

quote:

Originally posted by BuffHunter63:
If you could only have one gun (unlimited ammo) to survive with and hunt all over North America for the rest of your life. What would it be?

300 Win Mag for me.

Same question but for Africa?

416 Rem Mag

BH63

The rifle I am most proficient with would be my choice, regardless of caliber. For me in Alaska, "The Alaskan" (.338WM) has been the only big game rifle I have and hunted with. So as an all around rifle, the .338WM is it for me.

But for survival? For surviving in the wilderness of Alaska one would need to kill birds, rabbits, and other very small animals. I would imagine that gun caliber would be the least important factor relating to survival.

One gun, North America, gotta be a drilling, make mine a Bockdrilling. 30-06, 22 Hornet, 20ga Mag

^
Good point about the drilling. I understand some of the German manufacturers made some very versatile big game caliber combined with a shotgun barrel.

Can you shoot .410 ga shot shells in a .416?

I remember one hunter in the Congo had a .460 WBY that had a barrel insert that allowed him to shoot .22 rim fires.

BH63

quote:

Originally posted by Dom:
One gun, North America, gotta be a drilling, make mine a Bockdrilling. 30-06, 22 Hornet, 20ga Mag

Well in that case for NA at least, a Savage model 24 in something like 30-30 & 20 gauge. My ex wife's uncle carried one for years ranching in Montana.

30-06 for north America
.375 for africa

While it may not my favorite caliber, I'd probably choose a 9.3x62 for both NA and Africa. With quality bullets from 232gr to 320gr it would be easy to find a good match for the game I'd likely hunt. It is an easy cartridge to reload and my CZ 550 is easier for me to shoot than my 300 Win Mag.

If you asked me which is the last rifle I would part with, it's my CZ 550 in 500 Jeffery

One gun only, has to be a well made and accurate Drilling. Especially for NA. For Africa, the Drilling would have to a 9.3x74R caliber.

Until last year wouldn't have thunk it but.....my 20" .375 R guide easily gets 2700 fps with 270s and 2575 with 300s. Groups average 1" to 1.25" for 5 at 100 yds. I've loaded my first batch of Hornady brass to 10 loadings and primer pockets are still snug.

So that's my choice for "one".

As if I'll ever be down to one.

What ever rifle gun I need to use in USA I can get it done with a 7x57.

I agree with the 7X57 for America. The .375 H+H for Africa.

Then there's the old adage, beware of a man with only one gun, he probably knows how to use it.

Savage 24V, maybe 24C in a survival scenario.

Just wouldn't work for me, impossible, Im not stable enough for that kind of stress.

One gun worldwide would have to be the venerable 375 H&H, of course, different conditions, locales will affect that choice

I have to agree. Over several years I have posed this question to myself + I always come up with the same answer. Although I love other calibres, if it came down to only one it would have to be the .375 H+H.

quote:

Originally posted by Atkinson:
Just wouldn't work for me, impossible, Im not stable enough for that kind of stress.

Sometimes I have to stop and consider the old adage that Norman Conquest mentioned. But that would require some serious culling that just aint gonna happen.

I guess Ill just have to try to find happiness remaining erratic and inconsistent.

400 Whelen for both scenarios.