Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Help me thin my rifle battery.

Does such a thing as a not-so-loud centerfire exist? .17HMR is very useful around neighbors. 30-06 does nice work on deer and elk.

OK, I am back into this one more time - my suggestion was
.22
.223
.243
.260

Reasoning -
22 lr - Because everyone needs a good rifle chambered in 22 lr, if I could only have one rifle it would have to be a 22 lr, inexpensive to shoot, lots of good ammo, and they usually get shot a lot more than any other rifles.

223 Rem - It can be downloaded to cover the 22 Magnum and your other smaller 20 and 22 calibers. Accurate and good combination of paper-punching ability and a great varmint, so much so that my 22/250's never come out of the safe anymore.

243 Win - It can be loaded to duplicate the 22/250 using 55 gr bullets and can easily handle deer/antelope, etc with the 95/100 gr bullets.

260 Rem - It can also handle deer/antelope, etc and is easily capable of elk within normal shooting ranges of 200 - 300 yds. All of this and just slightly more recoil than a 243, what's not to like about it.

I am like everyone else recommending stuff, I think that because this is what I generally use it must be the answer for everyone. Well, it may not be the answer for everyone but it surely has worked for me for a lot of years now.
If anyone could be left out it would be the 243 since there is more overlap between it and the 260 than anything else in my choices.
All minimal recoil cartridges and all are cartridges that have a great track record.

drover

I can't go that far--a mild mannered, not-so-loud .22 centerfire would be handy for groundhogs without scaring the neighbors.

Does such a thing as a not-so-loud centerfire exist? .17HMR is very useful around neighbors. 30-06 does nice work on deer and elk.

I think you should send me the 6mm then. efw knows it's the" 257 Roberts, much improved"

Keep the 22 and 222. Sell everything else and get a 270.

The last couple of months I have been downsizing what I have in rifles. I had way too much overlap and frankly maintaining them was becoming a pain. I think I am close to an ideal battery for my type of hunting and shooting. All of the rifles are bolt actions and there are a mix of stainless and blued and sporter and heavy barrel. The manufacturer's are a mix of Anschutz, CZ, and Remington. I thought about listing each, but it may muddy the waters, so I will just list the calibers:

22 LR Weatherby XXII aka Anschutz 64 sporter blued
22 Magnum CZ 455 sporter blued
22 Hornet CZ 527 sporter blued
221 Fireball CZ 527 sporter blued
222 Remington Remington 700 sporter blued
223 Remington Remington 7 sporter stainless
204 Ruger CZ 527 heavy barrel blued
22-250 Remington Remington 700 heavy barrel stainless
243 Winchester Remington 700 sporter stainless
6mm Remington Remington 700 sporter blued
260 Remington Remington 7 sporter stainless

I hunt squirrels, rabbits, groundhogs, and deer. I also plan to punch some paper and make some trips out west for mule deer, elk, and antelope. If it was your rifle battery, what would you change, and why? Would you leave it alone? Add to it?

I keep going back and forth justifying each, but when I look at it from afar, I still see overlap. I need an objective eye from the 'fire.

If that was my collection, I'd sell them all and start over.

I'd do a little swapping around.

17HMR replaces the 22LR
222
243
260

Any bears on the list?

338 Federal w/160 Barnes ttsx