Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Just fer schitz n' giggles.........your "taste" in rifles?

My 'evolution' has been realizing a couple things.
1. My rifles are my entertainment budget. I like spending money on them because it's fun, and because I don't spend much on anything else besides my shooting sports and my savings. (I don't have kids yet, ha)
2. Because they're tools and I live in rusty gun land, I've evolved to have cerakoted stainless, carbon, and plastic. I love pretty wood stocks and blueing, and that's what I started with - a model 70 in 30-06. Sitting in a muskeg in late October literally watching the rust spots appear and grow made me realize I don't deserve pretty rifles as long as I live in southeast ak.

My taste in rifles may be exemplified by:
1 Ruger #1B SS & laminate in 7mm STW loaded with a 162 gr Hornady btsp at 3200 fps MV with a Burris FF II zeroed at 300 yds.

2 Win 70 classic in 264 with 27 inch PacNor barrel .75" at the muzzle, loaded with 130 gr Accubond at 3300 fps MV. With a 6.5-20 Vortex zeroed at 300 yds.

3 Marlin 1894 FG in 41 mag with 210 XTP at 1600 fps sighted at 100 yds with Williams aperture sight.

4 Remington 700 5R with Leopold VX II 4-12 CDS zeroed at 300 with a 130 at velocity to be determined.

This is where I am currently at.

I started with a BAR in .243, planned on an elk hunt some day, picked up a M77 in 7mm Rem Mag for that, then got hooked on single shots, cheap ones. Hunted for maybe 10 year with an Encore in 7mm that I worked over pretty well to accurize, then I built the .25 X .307 used it for a few, then had a chance to really go elk hunting late in life so I built a .338 06 AI on a Savage Weather Warrior with a Pac Nor barrel, last 4 years it is all I have used. It shoots where I point it and kills stuff dead right there. Got some wood and blue CZ .22s and .17s that are nice, wife bought me a Browning T-bolt for our first wedding anniversary, I use that after I take my grand dad's Iver Johnson to the woods for opening day of squirrel season.

Have been thinking about a 7mm-08 as of late, may do that in a single shot. Still have every rifle and shotgun I ever owned.

Nicest one I e seen and I used to think 99’s were ugly.

Went through the youngster years with whatever we had , everything was open sights for me .
7x57 MM , marlin 60’s , then I got into shotgun , single shots . Then back to economic bolts , Savage 110’s , finally broke bad and spent some money , Valmet 06/12 with 2-7 luepold .
A hunting machine it was and easy on the eyes .
Savage 99 308 , have always regretted selling that one , one slick and accurate lever gun .
First semi was a Valmet 308 with tritium flip up front sights , should have kept that one too .
Rimfire bug for a spell , 52 preA , 52C , and 52D , couple Anshutz 64 beaver tail stocked 22 , 1517 classic , 54 17 HMR , 54 1913 position gun , Cooper 17 HMR , all the 452 22”s and a 17 HMR , too many to mention , got the 06 bug and stuck with it for years , finally gave the 308 and 30 cal magnums a spin , lever gun 45/70 , HiWall 45/70 , lever 444 , 35 , 30-30 , and 39a 22 . .
Now I generally grab my Ruger American compact 308 or one of the lever guns .
Kenneth

So now I have taste?
My first rifle was a blue/ wood M70 Classic Featherweight 270, topped w/ a Leupold 2x7.
My latest is a Vudoo 22 in a chassis w/ a Vortex 5x25.
In between I added a couple of Weatherby Vanguards- one wood, one synthetic, a Ruger American Predator, and a single Remington 700. The Remington got a TT trigger and a Boyd stock, and is awaiting a bedding job- still not sure how attached I am to that one.
I really like the AR’s, more than I expected to. One is a hunting caliber- 6.8 SPC.
Regrets? I passed on a Dakota M10 in 7x57 because I just couldn’t afford it, I had a young family.
Wants? A Ruger # 1.
Honestly, I could get by w/ the Featherweight and the Vudoo.

You know me. I like rifles you can leave in a deer stand over the summer.

You're a braver man than I,



It pains me to leave mine in the stand during a 3-4 day hunt.

BTW, I always take the mags and bullets with me.

What's the old saying, just because your paranoid, it does not mean they are out to get ya!

Hope to see ya' soon.

Best,

GWB

Haha

this is me !

Geedubya: I started out "collecting" Winchester Rifles (both lever action and bolt action) back 55 (fifty five!) years ago.
Back 60 years ago I began Hunting Big Game and Varmints/predators with Remington Rifles.
Of recent (last 25 years or so) I have branched out to collecting Kimber of Oregon, Sako, Browning and Marlin lever action Rifles in addition to adding more Winchesters.
And of recent (past 25 years or so) I have branched out to include Ruger, Weatherby, Kimber of New York, CZ, Tikka, Anschutz, and Cooper to my Big Game and Varmint Hunting arsenals.
Life IS good.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

20 years ago, when I started hunting big game (later in life than many of you), I wanted to be jack O’Conner. A .270 is/was all a person needed. That truth remains, but if I had to have one rifle for the rest of my life, my kimber .300 mag would be it. I love all rifles, but animals stop moving win the 180 grain partition from the .300 hits them.

I still duck hunt with my Remington Model 11D, 1911.....

as a kid, growing up off grid Alaska, the M1Garand with surplus Korean War ammo was my duck hunting gun, shooting from a canoe

I used to be all about the bigger the bang the better. More and more lately looking at how light fun is to carry, how light the recoil and how maneuverable it it through the thick stuff.

My favorites are SKB O/U's, Tikkas and T/C Encores in .260 Remington, and anything in .17 Fireball.

Just in terms of hunting I started with Winchester model 94s, moved on briefly to Savage 99s, and settled on mainstream scoped bolt actions. I still enjoy the levers, but with decreased hunting opportunities they don't make it out into the field often.

My first centerfire bolt gun was a pawn shop Savage 110 in 30-06. Probably should have just stopped there. It would have saved me a fortune.

Current likes are short action, lightweight rifles, stainless steel a definite plus, with 22 inch or shorter barrels, nothing bigger than 308. And ARs. Wasn't able to hunt this year due to health reasons, but I still like to tote a 30-06 Handi Rifle into the woods.

Rather fond of this Ruger American in 300 BLK

Just a handy little rifle & fairly accurate

My only wish was they would have first made it like the newer ones

The rotary magazine kinda sucks/hard to load...newer ones use an AR type magazine