Something that might be fun....

If you had to choose just two, "non-magnum" rifles for hunting all North American hooved game (non-dangerous!), what would they be?

I also want this to be about "value" in that these rifle/scope combos should be readily available to the masses...i.e. affordable enough that a majority of folks looking for a new rifle could consider these without worrying about exceeding a modest budget.

For me, I really think I would like a Remington M700 SPS Stainless in 7mm-08 for the 24" barrel, the 7 1/4 lb weight and the accuracy Remington is famous for. I would use it for all deer hunting, pronghorn, caribou, black bear, sheep, goats, cow elk and even bull elk if I wasn't trophy hunting. I'd use the 140gr Nosler Ballistic Tip for open-country, long-range shooting, the 140gr Partition for general-purpose hunting and the 150gr Partition for larger critters like moose or elk. I would go with the Weaver Grand Slam 3-10x40mm for a nice, value-priced scope that offers glass as good as other scopes costing $100-200 more.

Second rifle would be the new Ruger Hawkeye All-Weather in .338 Federal. With it, I think I would be very well-equipped to handle moose or elk...or any of the largest North American hooved game. It would also be a bit of an assurance when hunting elk in grizzly country...although I would like more power if that were the case. I would stoke it with the 185gr Barnes Triple Shock load for general-purpose hunting and the 210gr Nosler Partition for heavy work. I'd top it with a Burris FFII 2-7x35mm and call myself ready to take on the big guys!

Think I could get it all done with the 280, so long as I was allowed to reload.


But if you wanted two, would take a 25-06 and a 35Whel.

There are ways to alleviate recoil. Some of the modern brakes can remove 40% of the recoil or better. With the addition of a gun in the 8.5 or 9 pound class and one of the new recoil pads controlling recoil becomes just a matter of how much your willing to invest in being able to shoot.

If I had a shoulder problem and wanted to continue to shoot such guns as the 280 mentioned, the 270 the 7mm-08 and the 260 Remington all can produce very light recoil.

Using managed recoil ammo or handloads with lighter bullets can also aid in mitigating recoil.

Good luck with your search for that perfect rifle for your conditions.

There are ways to alleviate recoil. Some of the modern brakes can remove 40% of the recoil or better. With the addition of a gun in the 8.5 or 9 pound class and one of the new recoil pads controlling recoil becomes just a matter of how much your willing to invest in being able to shoot.

If I had a shoulder problem and wanted to continue to shoot such guns as the 280 mentioned, the 270 the 7mm-08 and the 260 Remington all can produce very light recoil.

Using managed recoil ammo or handloads with lighter bullets can also aid in mitigating recoil.

Good luck with your search for that perfect rifle for your conditions.

Thanks for the suggestions!

I just thought it would be fun to find out what others would do with these restrictions...I love hypotheticals...and see what people think constitutes a good value in a "standard" caliber rifle and a scope. :D

I think you've got a couple of good suggestions there. I think I would consider the 6.5x55 for deer. It produces much reduced recoil, even in the kind of near-scout weight you are speaking of. .35 Whelen is a good heavy alterternative for comparatively mild recoil, and there is no shortage of .30-06 length actions that can accomodate it.

Why not wait for Marlins new .308 Express. I think that is what they call it.

.25-06 for deer and smaller.
.338-06 everything bigger than deer.

.25-06 for deer and smaller.
.338-06 everything bigger than deer.

+1 Boy that about sums it up, can't add to that.

Seattlesetters......I have two calibers in mind for ALL your North American hoofed species! First it would be the 30-06 caliber, which has been doing it's things for many decades now and with great success mind you. Incidently, I used a 25-06 and 6.5/06 for many years, great calibers.

The other caliber would be the .338-06! It does anything the .338 Winchester magnum can do out to 300 yards. Yes, it is more of a bigger species type caliber, such as those Rocky Mountain elk but it can also go down in scale what with those much lighter bullets being made by bullet makers these days.

Rifles, well take your pick! Since Winchester model 70's are no longer being manufactured, I'll ring the bell for those CZ model's with the Mauser type action and give a shout for SAVAGE ARMS as well.

.257 Roberts
30/06

A few thoughts. Some will surely disagree, but I am not trying to trash anyones fav caliber.

First if your inclined to get either a 7-08 or a .270 (both great rounds) - get a .280. Better ballistics than the 7-08 and a lot better bullet selection than the .270. With 120s, 130s 140s, and 150s, it will equal a .270. With 154 through 175 its really no contest because they aren't used in .277. And .280s don't kick much at all IMO. They just don't. And every one I have ever shot has been accurate. That's a testament to Remington rifles I suppose (and I'm a Winchester Model 70 guy).

It's hard to answser the question you raised without raising the .30-06 to the top of the heep. If you had to pick one, that would be it. But if you already had a .280 in the safe, a .338-06 or .35 Whelen would be hard to beat for larger coverage.

.35 Rem.

.444 Marlin

:D

I'd use the 7x57 and be done with it.

Well, not really, I like guns too much, but I could... :D

Anything in 7mm-08, but would prefer a 300 Savage. Les

I think I would go .30-06 in m70 with a fixed 4 and .45-70 in 1895 with iron for dense tree and brush situations.

I wouldn't hesitate going anywhere with that rig.

On the .280 v. .270 I would have to go with the .270 everytime and the reason has nothing to do with origin or performance. I just don't see .280 ammo many places.

35 Whelen and .223.

RJ

I'd opt for a 25-06 and 375 Whelen. You'd be covered from ground squirrels to moose.
Jim

.338/06 and one of the .25s (.250, .257. or .25/06)

7mm-08 and the elusive 30/06

I like DaveJ's two but my eyesight isn't the best for open sights so just the 30.06 would be my two. It is never wrong for any hooved NA game with the right bullet. Maybe that 45-70 1895 with a scout scope. Ya, I agree with DaveJ, just not on the open sights.

Pick one (not two)- .270/.280/.30-06. Done.

Two I currently own:

358 Win (or my 348)
270 Win

But who wants to have only two? I need to get more :D

I'm with MikeG, except it would be 444 Marlin and 35 Rem for me.

Two rifles? Hooved NA game?

#1 -- Rem. 700 30-06 with Leupold M8 4X scope and top quality 150 gr. load. This covers 90% of all hunting in NA.

#2 -- Rem. 700 30-06 with Williams Guide Receiver Sight/Firesight and top quality 180 gr. load. This covers bad weather, dark timber, root 'em out hunting in NA...the other 10%.

Hmmm....two rifles, eh? I would have to go with the 6.5x55 and the .35 Whelen. For glass, I will agree with the Weaver Grand Slam, also....best bang for the buck in my opinion.

Jim

I only need one.



30-06



Glad I don't have to choose just two.

I only need one.



30-06



Glad I don't have to choose just two.

270 WIN AND A 30-06.

If I had to choose two, I believe I would also vote for a .257 Roberts and a .30-06.
The .257 Roberts can handle most of the deer hunting chores, as I have had great success with 100 grain bullets and 117/120 grain bullets on deer.
The .30-06 would allow me to use heavier 180 or 200 grain bullets for larger game, such as moose or elk.
Both non-magnum, and both very effective.

I would have to say the .308, and the old 45-70.

I only need one.



30-06



Glad I don't have to choose just two.

Ah, we could be friends. A rifle for all NA hooved game? That has .30-06 written all over it. By far my all-time favorite cartridge.

Only 2 guns? Gee, the Liberals are willing to pass a law that would allow us 1 new gun a month!

Only 2 guns? Gee, the Liberals are willing to pass a law that would allow us 1 new gun a month!

I love my ultra lite 338-06 mauser w/Ultra Dot 1x4; with the PO Ackley 24"#3 barreled 25-06 and Luepold 3x9 glass. Both mausers, with bullets from 75g to 250g.

The socond pair; mauser, 30-06, 24" #3 barrel, w/Luepold 2.5x8 and Remington 700V, 7-08, 24" barrel w/bipod and NightForce 2.5x10.
I can shoot 115-175g with the 7-08, and 110-220g with the 30-06.

I would feel well armed with either combo. It would be difficult to weed out the other guns. .22, 220 Swift, .225 Win, .218 Bee, 250-3000, .243, and the 40-65. Oh woe is me.... :confused:

...To quote the late Colonel:

"Well here we are in a new decade, which seems to be marked by some outstanding numerals! Take for example 1906, the date year of the landmark cartridge of our time. The 1906 cartridge, which was a modification of the 1903 cartridge previously standard, is as near perfect as things of that sort can get. It is amusing (and slightly annoying) to see how the purchasers of sporting rifles seem to think that improved cartridge design is the answer to everything. I have long taught that if you can't do it with a 30-06, you probably can't do it. Every time some new brass powder bottle appears for sale, all sorts of people, qualified or otherwise, leap into the breach to explain how this new round is somehow better than what has gone before. Whether it is better or not must depend upon what it is designed to do, and it is effectively impossible to say that a shooter accomplished his purpose in the field with the new cartridge in a way that he could not have done with a 30-06. As it is said in Lindy Wisdom's verse: "There ain't many troubles that a man can't fix with seven hundred dollars and a thirty ought six." We do not know about the $700, but we do have confidence in the great 30-06 cartridge.

The Steyr Scout, which is now pretty much the definition of what a sporting rifle should be, is furnished in 308 rather than 30-06, but that is simply because the slightly smaller 308 cartridge can be fitted into a slightly smaller action, which has little to do with what comes out the muzzle. The 308, in modern loadings, is the ballistic equivalent of the 30-06, apart from its failure to accommodate the 220-grain bullet, which has definite, if minor, advantages for the medium-size hunting of medium-size animals.

I confess that I now rather fancy a 376 Mannlicher cartridge because of the way it affords the proven killing power of the 375 in a weapon of scout configuration. This piece, which is now properly designated the "376 Mannlicher," is a particularly fine answer to a somewhat limited question for a shooter who confines himself to moose and the big bears of Alaska and the heavier of the bushveldt animals. The 376 Mannlicher, which I like to call the Dragoon, is a nice item, but that does not mean that it wipes out the winner and still king - the 30-06."

...I have Steyr-Scout[s] in both calibers - .308Win and .376Steyr...they have both harvested numerous head[s] of game in both North America and Africa...I am fortunate to have been enlightened and mentored by Col.Cooper as a young adult years ago.

BTW - I would also agree with the .30-06Springfield...More than likely a new Kimber 8400/Classic-Standard...Maybe.

If I had to choose one for light game; deer, antelope, based on availability and easy to get ammo, I'd go to the .243 Win. Ther are more bullet types for it now than just a few years ago. And as a non-magnum for the tougher stuff, The .30-06 is still a great round with many loads to choose from. But if there's a reasonable chance of running into something that can eat me, I'm taking my .338 Win. Mag. with some serious handloads.

Well, my versions of "all" game would start with vermin (prairie dogs and such) and top out at moose. We aren't going to be hunting giant grizzly bears in the lower 48, at least on purpose. So my picks are a .223 and a .308.

Don't laugh. The .308 is indistinguishable from a .30-06 in all common bullet weights, and there's nothing here that a .30-06 can't handle. If you get really gritchy about it, then I'll concede and make the "big" gun a .30-06. But I'd be snickering behind my hand when I did, because there's no real difference.

Hi, if I had to pick two none belted I would go with a 270 Win. and the 35 Whelen.

Keep the Son in your eyes!

Consider a 6.5x55 or a 7x57 combined with a 35 Whelen. I can't think of any game in America that these can't handle well.

Would only need one. 30-06 If it had to be 2 I'd go with .243 Win and 30-06

Hi, if I had to pick two none belted I would go with a 270 Win. and the 35 Whelen.

Keep the Son in your eyes!

A good friend of mine who now lives in Alaska, left his .270 back in MO for deer hunting. (He comes back in Nov each year).

He carries a .35 Whelen now up north. When preparing to move up there, he asked me what round would give him more power than a .30-06, but less recoil than a .338 and .375. The Whelen was the obvious answer. He had never heard of it. I sent him some links and he sure enough bought one in a Model 700.

BTW, the 06 is his back-up gun in Alaska.

given the choice of 2 cartridges it would have to be the 30.06 for the big game whitetail on up and 30-30 whitetail on down(especially with the new leverevolution). the main thing for me is availability of ammo for those who dont reload and the components for those who do. if youre on a hunting trip somewhere and something happens to your ammo you can get either at any place that carries ammo of any sort. youre not always going to find 257, 35 whelan, 7/08 (all excellent cartridges) if something happens.

Just two, and non-magnums. 257 Roberts and 35 Whelen. If I had to just pick one for all North American hunting, 35 Whelen.

The 270 in a Savage rifle with a Weaver scope, and the 45-70 in a Marlin 1895 with Williams guide reciever sights, and a Wiliams firesight on the front end. Just cause they work. But if allowed only one it would be a 30-06 also in a Savage!!!