Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters General Purpose Rifle, your recipe and why

Did this in the mid 80's. M700 30-06 in a Brown Precision with a Leupy 2-7 Compact. Just over 7lb all up. Was my only BG rifle for nearly 20 years. It's one I'll never sell.

I’m a simple guy, I just ordered a Howa stainless 6.5 creedmore, going in a Stockys carbon fiber stock with a S&B 6x on top, Rugged Alaska 360 ti can when it gets out of jail. Not a huge stretch for elk and moose and not crazy over gunned for varmints….95 percent of my hunting is with a bow but figure the shoulders will go someday and I want to be ready.

Why? Offhand, I'd say...


And it weighs 7#3oz

My first general purpose rifle was a Ruger 77 tang safety model in 30-06. I bought it used from a neighbor who used it for target shooting. He showed me some amazingly small groups!

Over the years, I replaced the clunky target stock with a Bell and Carlson synthetic, full-length bedded. I put on a Decelerator recoil pad and had the stock cut to my length. soon after. When I could afford it, I had the metal duracoated matte black. Eventually, it ended up with my favorite scope, a Leupold M8 6x. It has 2 elk to it's credit.

My current GP rifle is a Tikka T3x stainless synthetic in 7mm-08. It came about after I tore my rotator cuff for the second time and just couldn't shoot the '06 without pain. Scope is a Leupold VX1 4-12 with LR dots. 120gr NBTs @ 3000fps or 140gr Hornady Interlocks / Nosler solid base at 2800+ fps for deer and antelope, 140gr TTSX for elk.

My self-imposed limit for shooting game is roughly 400 yards, and I like getting much closer - so either of these rifles is about perfect for me and my style of hunting.

This one comes as close as possible to the “general purpose” concept in a rifle.

Left handed KS Mountain in 300 H&H. Could be a 270, 280, 7RM, 30-06, 308, 300 WM etc for all of North America.

Light, accurate, dependable. Mine shoots everything from 130 grain to 220 grain with sub MOA accuracy. It has killed whitetails, mule deer, antelope, elk and caribou. It has been on sheep and goat camping trips. It even stopped my slide down a shale slope. Didn’t do the stock much good but spared me a nasty ride down a loose shale hillside.

If it were a worldwide GP rifle it would be the same rifle in 375 H&H.

I think the last one standing in the gun room for this would be my 721 in .270. 2nd year production rifle, nothing fancy, but crazy accurate. It still has a 4x on top of it.
We’re old friends, never anything but good times and success when we’re together. Hoping to figure out a way to take it with me on the other side.

Osky

Been following that philosophy for over 50 years…..24 years with this rifle/cartridge (loads have changed over the years) I feel that if a person uses one rifle exclusively, he will be as good with it as can be within his/her capabilities. I wanted a rifle that could be used worldwide on any big game animal, with the possible exception being a Pachyderm.


* Rifle: Model 70 Winchester, bolt action push feed, McMillan Classic Fiberglass stock, Pachmyar Decellerator recoil pad, Douglas SS Supreme Match Grade barrel with iron sights,

* Cartridge: .375 AI, 270 grain Barnes LRX bullet, mv just under 3100 mv, 3 shot groups under and around 1/2” @ 100 yards

* Scope : Leupold 3.5-10 CDX, mounted in Leupold QD base/rings. Have a 2.5-8 Leupold in Leupold QD base/rings zero’d and ready for back-up. Scopes are zero’d @ 300 yards

* Rifle Weight: 9lbs 1 ounce - scoped, loaded, and slung


memtb

For me its a Winchester Model 70 Classic Stainless in a walnut stock. 24” Douglas Premium barrel 1-10” twist, Leupold VX-3i 3.5-10x40mm scope with duplex reticle in Leupold PRW mounts and rings. Montana sling in QD swivels.

Load up some 165 grain Nosler Accubonds on top of enough IMR-4350 to get 2825-2850 fps at the muzzle. Load up, go hunting.

Where I hunt, and as I keep my shots inside of 400 yards (closer if possible), this combo is plenty enough for everything!

The .270 Winchester with 130 grain bullets on top of H4831 traveling north of 3000 fps at the myzzle would be my runner up.

I would pick one of the two .30-06's I have. One is a Rem 700 with a Benchmark barrel and a Pendleton stock. It has a Leupold VX-3 3.5-10x40 scope with a Boone and Crockett reticle. It weighs a bit over 7.5 lbs. The other is a M70 Classic Stainless made in the 90s with a Rimrock/Borden stock. It has a Trijicon Accupoint 3-9x40 scope and weighs 8.5 lbs. The Model 70 is probably slightly more rugged, but the Remington700 is slightly more accurate and is lighter. Lately I've been using a load with a 168 grain TTSX at about 2900 fps. Either would do the job just about anywhere.

98 Mauser chambered in 7x57.

Built it a long time ago and have used it ever since,without problems,rain or shine.

I load 139-140 grain regular made bullets for deer and other critters but have some Barnes x bullets for those large special critters.

I don't feel under gunned.

Mine would be my Husqvarna light weight 30/06 with a Bushnell scope. It doesn't weigh much, it's as accurate as I could want it to be, and it fits me very well. It isn't hard for me to look at since I've always like a stock of fiddleback walnut and it's a 30/06.

for hunting deer and black bear in swPW and WV, i'd say a post '64 Winchester m94 with a Williams aperture sight in 35/30-30 (JES Reboring). i use 200gr RCBS FN GC with 2400/tuft of Dacron that goes 1726fps. you can get to almost 35 Remington velocities using cast and jacketed bullets. it can do up to 275-280gr cast/jacketed bullets.



i've killed alot of deer when it was 30-30 and factory open sights, but about 40 years later, my eyes ain't what they once were.

the runner up is my Husqvarna m46 in 9.3x57 with a 2-7x Leopold with a replacement striker spring and cocking piece (cock on opening) and a 275gr WFN GC under IMR4895 that goes about 1800-1900fps. the Husky sure puts a smackdown on deer.

Ten years ago, I decided to buy myself the last 30-06 I was ever going to buy. My youngest was going to be hunting on his own, and I gave him my Win 670, and put in an order for a Ruger Hawkeye Stainless in '06. I had been planning this move for some time and had already acquired a walnut stock. When the Hawkeye arrived, I mated the two and that was that. It carries a 3-9X40 Bushnell Elite.



About the only reason I have not had it out the past couple of years is that I had other projects impinging. For several years, it has been the backup rifle that comes to deer camp and never gets used. I pulled it out in '22 after chemo and managed to nail a nice buck at 200 yards, breaking my own distance record.

I went 20 years with a load of 165-grain Hornady SPs over H4895. I'm fairly confident I could nail anything I wanted to hunt with this load. I've recently switched to 150-grain Hornady SP for whitetail just because I got a lifetime supply of those bullets handed to me for free.

Why was this my last 30-06? When I made the decision, I had just retired my 35 Whelen from regular use. It had done well, but I realized it was too much rifle for whitetails. 30-06 did the job faster, better, and cheaper. Given that, I decided to strike a line, and spend the rest of my hunting career investigating chamberings of smaller caliber, roads less traveled, and black powder.

This thread reminds me of a chapter in Jim Carmichael’s book “Book Of The Rifle”. The chapter is called interestingly enough The All-Purpose Rifle - Hits and Myths.

He ends with this statement:

“There is no shortage of all-purpose rifles - Where are the all-purpose hunters?”

Some form of 30-06

JC Higgins model 50, 30-06, Timney trigger, B&C stock, Leupold 2 1/2 - 8 scope and a bunch of 150, 180 Partition handloads

Ruger No.1A, 6.5x55, vintage Leupold 1.5-5 that just simply works. 129 Hornady Interlock and/or 139 Scenar & 47 grains IMR-4831. A lifetime spent selecting and rejecting various platforms and cartridges led me finally to this, and the search ended abruptly.

Why a single shot? If you get it, you get it. If you don't get it, well....

This one, if I had to thin them back to one, this would be what's left. It's just the absolute most natural carrying and shouldering rifle I've ever owned.

It's a shooter with bullets from 110-190gr. I'm not anything remotely approaching a long distance shooter, so the old 303S cartridge has sufficient pop for anything I'd ever want to plug at the kind ranges I can shoot at game.

1909 Savage 1899A SR with a Marble folding tang sight.

Model 700 30-06 w/6x Leupold or a 4x and it would be suppressed.

One load, ha

For elk, moose, caribou, 180 grain partition
For deer and pronghorn 165 grain various bullets

You don't play golf with one club.

Likewise there is no reason in the U.S., other than if you have personal financial challenges, to limit yourself to owning one rifle.