----- Nothin' that hasn't been said , above ; --- but you've got an admirable arsenal , right now .

Your collection is hollerin' for a ,
" MEDIUM " and a " HEAVY " .

If you're ABSOLUTELY sure you'll never hunt ,
( and/or need protection from ), Griz. / Brown Bear ; and you're equally sure you,ll never go to Africa :

The .45-70 with the newer (Garrett and Buffalo- Bore , Heavy-for-Caliber , Hardcasts , could be your Big-Bore "Heavy".

-- That would also be good if you like Leverguns , and the Western asppearance . ( I sure do ) .

But there's only one " Medium " in town
( IMHO ) , --- and that's the Legendary .375 H&H , --- CLASSIC !

.375 kills way better than it looks on paper , --- and Model 70 Win. Pre-'64 TYPE of recent manufacture , is hard to argue with .

Mod. 70 in .458 Win or .416 Rigby would be my choices for Serious Horsepower / Heavy , -- but you'll have to stretch your budget a little .

--- Good Luck , --- MMCOUGAR .

quote:

Originally posted by Wstrnhuntr:
Looking at your battery I was going to suggest a large Lever gun for something a little different as well. The Marlin 45-70 is a great gun, another one that would be unique is the Winchester Model 1895 in 405 win.

Ray, there is no such thing as "the perfect battery". And IMO yours leaves a gap in the Varminting category.

Im confused as to how he has a gap in varminting category. He's got a 223, 22-250 and a 6mm. Seems to me like he has them covered fairly well.

i like th looks of those ghost ring sights. has anyone used them?

yes...the xs sight system is the way to go

You should like the 1895 cowboy a lot. the 45-70 is a fun round to shoot. I second trying the PMC 350 gr ammo. it's accurate and the 350 gr hornady bullet is supposed to be very good on game. if you hand load there is a HUGE variety of bullets to be loaded in the .458-.459 caliber. you should definately try a box of garret, grizzly, or buffalo bore just for the hell of it some time. when you see those big holes being put in things, you may get bitten by the big bore bug. I bought my guild gun, and now I want a .375, 416, and a 458 win mag or lott. have fun shooting, and if you don't hand load there is some ammo for around $12-$14 a box on th internet you can practice with IE: ultramax/pmc cowboy loads/black hills I think.

I vote for a FUN GUN all the way. I have a similar battery to yours, but 90 percent of the shooting I do is with a Ruger P4 carbine or a marlin 1894C in 357 mag.

The P4 in 40 S&W becomes a 10mm in the 18 inch bbl and is no pop gun. For cheaper ammo go with the P9 in 9mm.

The 1894C is the quintessential lever gun...full of history and just about as much fun as you can have shooting anything. 38 special ammo works fine for light duty/ cheap ammo, and the variety of 357 ammo is awe inspiring.

If you really want to stay serious and go to the big bore end of the scale, you might consider starting with a 458 Win Mag M70 and plan to convert it to 458 Vincent short later. Its just a $200 clean up of the chamber and bolt face and you will be pushing 500 grainers 2450 fps. You can do the same with the 458 Lott and go to the vincent long, but that one is a bit too serious!!

I would go with a nice Ruger 17 HMR. Fun to shoot and plink around with!!