Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters It;'s 1958: what's the all-around Western Rifle?

What's that bottom one (Mdl 70)wearing, a 4X Kollmorgan?

I stand corrected, the Milsurp 30-06 (Springfield or Enfield) would be a close second choice.

BMT

Heck, just buy a decent .30-'06, load it with 180-grain bullets and go hunt. If you're chasing speed goats, substitute 150s and blast them.

Pretty simple. And the same formula works very nicely today.

Steve

M70 fwt in 270 or 30-06, same as today!

Good taste never goes out of style

IIIRC the 338 had just appeared in 1958,and the 264 was a year or two away(?).You had the 300H&H in the Rem 721 and M70;I think the Mark V Weatherby was not quite around yet(?),but Roy (as JoeCool says)got it right the first time with his 270,257,7mm and 300 magnums and was building rifles on all kinds of actions.Notwithstanding a lot of R&D no one has improved a great deal on Roy's magnums yet, and I think they were the rifle to have if you went "space age" back then.

Guys like Herb Klein and Elgin Gates were trotting around North America and the globe bashing everything from arcane Asian sheep to elephants with 300 Weatherby's.

Warren Page was hunting everywhere with the 7mm Mashburn and the 375 Weatherby by then, I think.

Shortly after the 338 was introduced,Les Bowman (and maybe others) had necked it down to 7mm and gave it a 4 year workout before Remington made it the 7 Rem Mag.Bob Chatfield-Taylor and others necked it to 30 caliber and wound up with the 30-338.I think these cartridges were also known as the 30 and 7mm Belted Newtons.

I think Rocky Gibbs was "improving" the 30/06 case to his line of Gibbs cartridges.PO Ackley was no doubt doing the same thing with his AI's,and even messing with bullets with solid copper shanks and bonded lead front cores(TBBC?).

A southern California gunsmith named Roy Gradle was necking down and blowing out 348 Winchester cases,cutting an extractor groove in them,and building rifles on Reminton 722(short) actions.These carridges were known as the "Gradle Express". Today these cartridges are known as the Winchester WSM's.

The 25/06 was around,too in wildcat form.

There were a bunch of others I can't even think of and these guys made today's wildcatters look like they were standing still.If you look at this lineup of rounds and think that your 30 and 270,and 7mm WSM's or 280 AI are "cutting edge" you're only about 50 years too late.

Much of this wildcatting was done on surplus military actions like the Springfield, Enfield,and Mauser 98's.

When it comes to "space age",most of the stuff available today is really a repeat performance of stuff that is decades old;even the 375 Ruger case is a rerun of the 30 Newton, I think,and if you think the RUM's are "new",guys like Bill Steigers and some of his clients have been necking up and down, and blowing out the 404 Jeffrey case for decades before Remington introduced the Ultra Mag series.

The 270 and 30/06 no doubt led the pack, but there was LOTS of stuff developed 50 years ago that has only been refined today by better powders and bullets.What is regarded today as "cutting edge" is decades old,right out of the box.

What about Elmer and his 333 OKH?

I have heard stories of deer drives in the east where the common tool was a single shot shotgun.

The rare 30-30 or .32 Special was loaned to fellow hunters.

I am sure similar things happened in the west. You had one or two firearms in the house and used what you had. The model 70 while being produced was often out of the price range of many.

WV: YES! Elmer,too, much of his stuff went on earlier, I think.He and Bob Hagel were messing with the 333's on the 06 case and both long and standard belted cases.Once the 338 was introduced (1958 or 59?) the 338 was the embodiment of much of what Elmer did, I guess.The 333 OKH (O'Neil, Keith,Hopkins)was used as well,and the 334 OKH (a belted case about like the 338 Win mag?)...man there was so much stuff going on back then it's hard to remember it all.

I was just trying to address the "space age" stuff that might have been in use

It's funny how many times I get on the 'Fire before work to find BobinNH is posting and reading as well.

My wife thinks I'm the only person on the planet that can't sleep past 6 AM..................


Not being alive in 1958, I'd have to go with a pre 64 in 270 Winchester Magnum (aka 270 Win), topped with a Lyman or steel Bushnell, loaded with H4831, topped with a 150 Partition. I think that combo would still work today

as often as not, it was probly a "sporterized" 1917 eddystone...

"sporterized" = stock cut short...

Model 70 in 30-06 for deer, elk and antelope. If hunting elk in grizzly country, I's probably go for the 338 Winchester.

I've hunted elk in griz country with a 30-06 and felt a little underguned, but it would work, if needed.

Great photo!!

Back to the original post, probably a Winchester M70 .30-06, maybe .300 H&H or .270. Maybe a Remington. This might work.



In hindsight, I would load up on as many pre-64 M70s as I could!

Question for oldtimers or historians: were that many people hunting elk then? Were the numbers fairly high?

Those were the days.

Talked to an old fellow in Southwestern Colorado. He showed me his Elk antlers. He shot 43 Elk in Colorado - All with a 300 Savage.

Likely a M70, sporterized Springfield or 721 chambered in 30/06 would have been a very commonly used rifle back then. A local guy here still owns his M70 in 300H&H, and it saw plenty of Idaho back then, as well a lots of Wyoming. Another local, now deceased, used a M54 and later a M70 in 30/06 to hunt all over the west as well as Canada and Alaska.

I believe the old 334OKH was the forerunner of the 340Wby, but I might be wrong on that. Have to dig out some old Keith books and see for sure.

I was 6 years old in 1958. I remember my Dad having 2 rifles in the late 50's or early 60's. A MK V 300 Weatherby and a Huskvarna .270. My hunting didn't start untill 1964. And that year Dad bought me a Rem. 600 in 6mm.
Virgil B.

I think you're right Gets confusing.

bwinters; I fall asleep at 8:30

Although the dream rifle might have been the .06 Model 70,but in truth,most bolt action shooters were using military surplus rifles, 03's, 8mm,7x 57's, 30-40 Krag, etc. Some were sportorized, some off the rack. You could buy an 03 from Montgomery Wards for $12.50 as I recall I did. Sears sold the Ted williams ( Winchesters) and Wards sold the Glenfields