Truth is, for the first ten years of my hunting career the only rifle I owned was a 270 Ruger M77 with a Leupold 3X9. I shot everything from Mule deer to varmints with it. I still love 270's but I have more experience and money now and I gave up the idea of the mythical one rifle for all game years ago. I also gave up the idea of having several different hand loads to try to make one rifle into a "do everything" rig. Those are attractive ideas, but in the practical world of hunting they make as much sense as trying to play 18 holes of golf with just one club. You can do it, but it is not the best way to go. I used up a lot of bullets, powder, etc... and shot the barrels out of a few rifles trying to find different loads for different game and applications. I also wasted a lot of time and components re-sighting-in every time I wanted to use the rifle with one of those different loads. Not to mention the fact that each different load has it's own trajectory to try to remember. How much more does the 130 gr. spire point drop than the 90 gr. hollow point at 500 yards? Now, I work up the most accurate, flattest shooting load I can for each rifle using a bullet that gives good performance on the game I intend to hunt. That is the only load I will shoot in that gun. Then I spend my time with that rifle learning where it places those bullets at different ranges. One rifle for all game just won't work if you hunt for fox furs and big deer. You are going to blow some big holes in the furs or limit your effective range on the deer. It's too much compromise. Until I started shooting prairie dogs I got along very well with just two rifles, a 220 Swift for varmints and a 270 for everything else. Prairie dog shooting is a different story altogether.
