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Rifles for a lifetime?

I'm not much for wildcats, myself, although I've never forgotten ammo on a hunting trip, so the old "can't buy ammo in the boonies" doesn't worry me. I'd just go with a .243 (what do you gain with a 6-250?), a .270 WSM or 7mm WSM and a .338 and be quite happy.
The 270 wsm and 7 wsm are gonna be obsolete very soon
 
If everyone were exactly the same, we'd all have bolt action 30-06 rifles, 12 gauge pumps, and a 22 auto-loader carbine. But alas, we are a nation of diversity.

Just to be old fashioned, I'd go for:
real big game: Mauser in 9.3mm X 62
medium game: 99 Savage in 250-3000
varmints: Winchester 70 in 220 Swift
shotgun: Fox double barrel 16 gauge
Jack
I find it interesting that you don’t have the .270 on that list
 
The old three rifle trick. Well could see it as a way to tame recoil! To much for some and getting there for me would be a 308/30-06 with 180 gr bullets. Then think I'd pick my 6.5x55 for most hunting and for plinking and predators my 243. Older I get the more I'd be willing to use my 6.5x55 in place of my 308/30-06.
 
I think 1_pointer was living in Southern Indiana last time I heard. Haven’t seen him on HT in a few years though. Happy hunting, TheGrayRider.
 
20 year thread revival...
2003 seems like it was just a couple of years ago...

I bought my first centerfire rifle, a .30-06, when I lived in NW Colorado and I thought that it was my "do all" rifle. I loaded 125 gr bullets for prairie dogs, 150 gr bullets for deer and antelope, and 180 gr bullets for elk. That worked fine for about 10 years until I moved to Montana and met a new hunting partner who opened my eyes to the world of different calibers.

So I re-chambered my .30-06 to .30 Gibbs for elk,
Built a .257 Ackley for deer and antelope, and
Built a .22-250 for varmints.

I then thought that I had a pretty good battery for everything that I hunted.
My .30 Gibbs worked great for elk, moose, and my first caribou,
My .257 Ackley worked great on deer, antelope, all of my mountain sheep, one of my best 6x6 bull elk, and some varmints.
And my .22-250 worked great on varmints and a few deer and antelope.

Then I got into a nasty divorce that she drew out for 2 years, and in the middle of that I got the opportunity to go on my first South African hunt. I couldn't take any of my rifles on that hunt so I borrowed, and later bought, a 7mm Rem Mag for that hunt.

That African hunt bug bit me hard and I ended up making 5 more hunts there. On my second African hunt a cape buffalo was on my menu so I built a .375 RUM for that hunt. That hunt was also the only hunt that I have ever taken 2 rifles on as I also took my 7mm RM for the Plains Game animals on my "list".

With the addition of my .375 RUM I thought that I had finally found my ideal 4 rifle battery for everything that I would ever want to hunt. But then a reloading mishap retired my .30 Gibbs so I replaced it with a .300 Weatherby for my primary elk rifle, and every so often a rifle in another caliber or cartridge finds it way into my gun safe.:D
 
20 years ago I had a .300 WM. Now I have the same rifle, except I upgraded the scope and have to shoot copper.

I added a .223 to the mix, and also am hoarding my Grandfather's single shot .22 open sights Remington.

The .17 springer Air rifle gets shot more than any of them though....
 
The OP is still around, just not on here.
I was curious about the same thing. I took a break from HT after moving from Indiana (1pointers back yard at the time) to Michigan and when I came back I saw there were a couple regulars missing. Sad that there isn't a michigander arguing with Buzz anymore 😔
 
Well since we are aging ourselves, I had just graduated college when this thread was started. 😂Good thing I’m a savant so I still have my youth and good looks.
 
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