Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles One rifle for North America...

None of my "one rifle" musings include anything shooting a .308 diameter bullet.

I've done my fair share of "run what you brung" hunting, and most of the fast .24s, .25s, or .26s would easily work for me. I've done pocket gophers to black bear with a .243.

A lot of guys talk about one rifle, they're thinking grizzly or moose.
I think of prairie dogs to deer, and maybe an elk.

I do believe that if I were choosing a do it all rifle today it'd be the T3 lite in a .260...

Yup. My wife and I have chosen the 257 Roberts. No bear hunts on my schedule

Higgins model 50 in 30-06
Winchester 70 featherweight in 30-06
Have both

Same on my dad got me for a college graduation gift; Ruger SS/Lam in 338 Win Mag. I've shot pronghorn through elk with it. He wasn't a rifle guy, but wanted to get me something that I could hunt anything in NA with. It's worked for me. Only complaint is that it's heavy.

That said, lots of other chamberings would do as well.

I've only been able to get it down to the 3 Amigos....

Please refrain from posting any more photos of that stainless/walnut Number One. I'm an old man on a fixed income and viewing that sort of thing could lead to irreparable harm to my meager finances.

Yep

i already have it. M77 Mark II all weather in .280 Rem.

Another vote for the Model 70 Featherweight in 30-06. I have a pre-64 and if I do my job it will definitely do the trick.

Tikka T3 Lite stainless in 308 win with a fixed power 6X or a 3-9.

If most of us really did routinely hunt 'All of N.A.' we would be too busy killing stuff with plain jane chamberings, and not filling idle time with exotic ones.

For hunting "ALL" big game in North America the chambering must be such that the biggest game sought can be easily handled. Everything smaller will die just as well with a heavier round but trying to use a minimal chambering on big beasts is asking for trouble.

For ALL animals including big bears I would likely go with the .300 Magnum and certainly wouldn't go smaller than a .30-06 or 7mm Magnum. If I planned to hunt the bigger animals regularly I might even go up to the .338 Magnum.

For hunting the lower 48 states there are any number of chamberings that would serve well but I would still choose something like the .30-06 because of the sheer size of moose, elk and buffalo.

As far a rifle, I am partial to the '98 Mauser action. For many years my only big game rifle was a .30-06 built on an FN Mauser action. That gun would be near perfect, but it would be really hard to build a custom rifle like that today and stay under the $1000 price limit.

I would hardly feel handicapped with a Winchester 70 or Ruger rifle.....or a commercial Mauser.

For the unlikely event that I could only have one rifle and yet could somehow could still hunt all of NA with it, I'd pick a Model 70 in .300 Win.

Just to prove that I'm capable of flip flopping; if someone wanted a .338 Win mag, they'd get no argument from me, and likewise I'm awful partial to my STWs that aren't available anymore. For one totally out of left field it's been hard not to notice that my M70 Alaskan (walnut) only weighs 8.2 pounds scoped and with a selected bullet matches my .300s' trajectory out to 500 yards, while still being able to lob heavy bullets at anything if you think you need them. With that one there's no need to stop at NA, might as well take a crack at the world. Its a little hard to picture someone needing to have one rifle being enthusiast about expensive ammo though.

I'm taking the .375 Alaskan on a brown bear hunt in a few weeks that can easily include moose, goat, back bear and blacktail. That's a pretty good cross section of big/dangerous and smaller game and long and short distance, and it isn't really giving up much in any category. Even portability.

Ironically you can say the same about the Kimber .338 Win Mag that's comeing for a spare.

If brown & polar bear are on the list, 338 or 300 WIN MAG would be my choice of chamberings. Bison and moose are big, but they don't tend to chew on you if you screw up, so for a do-it-all I'd likely pick a 270 WIN or 30-06.
Rifle limited to $1k means either quality old and used (Brno ZG 47, Win pre-64, Husqvarna 1600/1640 or Mauser 98) or new manufactured (Ruger M77 MKII or Howa 1500/Weatherby Vanguard). I just can't seem to find many quality bolt rifles under $1k newly manufactured that don't have one or more features that I don't like.

If dollars are of concern, my choice would be a Weatherby Vanguard, in .300 Weatherby.

Enough oomph to be used for the largest of NA game, including Alaska moose and brown bear (not my first choice for brownies, but will work)

If you are not particularly recoil-shy, the .300 Wby is a superb plains game rifle for Africa, if you choose to venture abroad.

Flat trajectory for longer-range shooting at elk, mule deer, etc.

Accurate, reliable, bolt rifle in .270Win. Leupold on top. Go hunt...

Do the Winchesters of today shoot as well as the Tikka's do?

I could cheat. There is a Blaser .270 in the vault with an extra barrel in 9.3x62. I thought about selling the rest before I bought it, but what would be the fun in that?

Jack

My New Ultra Light Arms in 270 with a VX3 3.5x10 shooting 150 grain Partitions. Accurate as hell, recoil not bad, easy to carry all day so I can get away from all the road hunters, ammo easy to find anywhere and cheap. plus really cool tiger stripe paint job!

If not I have a couple featherweights in 308, 7x57, and 30-06 that would do nicely too!

My Ruger M77 MkII in 300 win Mag