Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Pick your North America big game battery.

243, 257 Roberts, 7-08

A custom Mauser 98 takedown rifle with wicked Turkish walnut. That is custom fitted to me. Blued steel with 5 down in the magazine. Leupold 1" scope 2.5-8x32mm with 2 CDS dials to match the ballistics.

First barrel in .270Win. with Barnes 129gr. LRX bullets, 22" barrel.
Second barrel in.338-06 A Square with Barnes 225gr. TTSX, also 22" barrel.


Don't need a third. If only for want and not a need, a double rifle in the .375H&H class would be pure pleasure,

I'm too old and poor to hunt the big bears,or dangerous African game for that matter. So, I'm going to need a M700 based build in a McMillan Remington mountain stock.Edge fill. Chambered in 270 Win. Leopold 3.5-10X in Talley lightweights.

A matching M700 in the same stock,magnum fill,chambered in 338 Win mag. Same scope. Same rings.

50 cal in-line muzzy loader. For those places and seasons that don't cotton to my rifles.

223 for varmints
7 mag for deer
338 Win mag for anything bigger

What EdM said

For big game hunting I'd pull the following out of the safe.
> Tikka T-3 Hunter 6.5x55mm w/ Zeiss 2-8x42mm Duralyt

> Sako AII Hunter 308 WCF w/ Swarovski 4x32mm

> Sako AV Custom 338 Win. Mag w/ Leupold 2-7x


I'd like to think I could hunt big game the rest of my days with these rifles and my Swarovski 8x30 SLC binoculars.

StarchedCover

My rifles;
4 22LR rifles. One was my dad's and one my uncles. 2 were bought by me. I love them all.

50 cal flintlock made by an old friend now sadly passed on. He left it to me before he died. I have killed only 1 deer with this rifle so far.

62 cal flintlock. Made by me. (not passed on)I have killed antelope, deer elk and one moose with this rifle.

222 SAKO.1-14 twist. Super accurate with 50 gr bullets. Good for coyotes and prairie dogs, and many other small animals.

5.56 AR-15. Best coyote rifle I own. Very accurate and very good if the coyotes are not alone.

25-06. Mauser made my me. It was made for another good friend who also is not sadly passed on. Killed deer and antelope. He killed elk with it too before he died, but I have not killed elk with this one.

6.5X54 Mann/Scho Started as a bare action. Made by me. Iron sights. Cool classic rifle. Nothing killed yet with this one.

6.8 SPC AR-15 Made by me. 34 kills on deer and antelope so far.

270s. 3 made by me. 1 made by Winchester (m95) My oldest Mauser is the 1st rifle I ever made, when I was 12. it's on it's 3rd barrel. Lost count of the number of kills I have made with my 270s.

308s. FAL. Ruger-SR7.62 and Mossberg MVP The Mossberg and the FAL have both been used to kill deer, antelope and elk.

30-06s. 1 Scout on a Mauser, made by me. One BLR. One M-1 Garand. All have been used for hunting and all have killed game. The scout has made 11 kills with 11 shots so far.

300 H&Hs. One M70 and one Mauser made by me. Both have killed deer and one has killed elk.

AK-74. Made by me on parts kit from Russia with an American barrel. Killed deer and antelope with it.

8X57 Mauser made by me. Killed elk and deer with it.

9.3X74R. Ruger #1 Deer, Antelope, elk. This one is getting to be one of my all-time favorites.

375H&H Mauser. Made by me. This one is on it's 2nd barrel. I have killed so many animals from 5 pounds to 1500 pounds with this rifle that I can't count them.
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My Justification for them;
I like them and they all work well! That's all the justification I need or even want.
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These are what I have now.
I have owned and used many others, but most are now sold off. These are what's left. I doubt any of these will be some anytime very soon.

So you are saying, If you saw bigfoot, you would kill him???? How can you do that??? Kidding

I know two men who hunt everything in NA with Weatherby 300s. Deer, elk, moose, bear, everything. Both are multimillionaires who could afford to have many rifles. I've known and hunted with them for over 25 years and they have hunted with nothing else.

My 3 caliber choice.

XBolt hunter in 25-06 with 100gr TTSX and Leupold 3-9x40
TIKKA superlite in 270 Win with 140gr Accubonds and Swarovski 3-9x40
XBolt stainless in 300H&H with 180gr Accubonds and Leopold 1 3/4-5

Call me old fashioned with just a Marlin 336, in .30-30, and a pre-'64 M70 FWT, in .30-06, for big game.

My other chamberings are equally old fashioned: .22lr, .357mag and 12-gauge. But I can find ammo virtually anywhere.

Three rifles.

First, a Kimber Montana 223.

Then my Transition M70 twins, the 7 pound 280 and 7 1/2 pound 9.3X62.

My three would be

1. M70 pre 64 fwt, 270 wood stock. Leupold 6x36
Deer, antelope, elk in flat country
7.75lbs

2. Reminton Ti, 270, Leupold 6x36
Deer, elk, bear in the mountains
6.25lbs



3. Mauser custom. 338 mag, synthetic stock. Leupold 2-7
Elk, bear, moose, deer in the mountains
7.8 lbs

35 Remington
270 Winchester
223 Remington

If this includes only NA big game hunting (not varmints or practice), then I'd go with two nearly-identical 30-06:

Main Win70 FWT with Brown/Bansner/Rimrock stock (pre64 or stainless Classic), Leupie 6x36 duplex

Backup Ruger MKII stainless with zytel stock, Leupie 4x


I would load Barnes 130TTSX for most things, Nosler 150 ETips for bigger things, and reserve the option to run Partition 180 for anything. And I would stock pre-sighted Leupie 4x in QD rings for both.

243, 270(both MT's) and a 300 WSM(Sako A7/McEdge).
(counterclockwise)

For North America, really don't think I need 3, got a 270 Win and 300 Weatherby that pretty much have me covered.

300 Weatherby - Rifles, Inc Strate, Zeiss Z5 2-10x42 Ballistic Reticle. 180 grain Nosler Partitions. (Bottom Rifle)

270 Win - Faux Rifles, Inc Strata (custom Remington with McMillan Mountaineer Stock), Leupold VX-2 3-9x40 Ballistic Recticle. 130 grain Barnes TSX bullets. (Top Rifle)



If you want to include Africa in this equation, then you can add my CZ-550 in 375 H&H and I pretty much am covered the world over.

T3 .300 WM





T3 .308





Colt .223



Those 3 rifles easily cover anything I am going to hunt, using a centerfire rifle, anywhere

Scorpion AR-15, .223 Wylde, 16" BHW barrel, Leupold 2x7 Firedot 4 reticle.
This one for all varmints, including the two legged kind.

Remington 700 Mountain Rifle in .30-06, SS with laminated stock, Leupold 6x42 Heavy Duplex.
Most any big game in North America.

Shiloh Sharps Model 1874, Hartford Model, 30" heavy octagon barrel in .45-70, barrel sights.
Heavy hitter out to 1,100yards.

Ed

All model 70s: 243 with a Leupold Vari-X 3 in 2.5x8; a stainless 30-06 with another Vari-X 3 2.5x8 and a 375 H&H with a VX3 1.5x5. With that battery you are pretty much set for any big game anywhere in the world--and you can buy ammo pretty much anywhere in the world, too.

I have those rifles already and none of them are finicky to load for.

22LR Ruger 10/22 of some sort with a Super Sniper 10X MQ
AR-15 7 twist barrel with Super Sniper 1-4 Illuminatti
Tikka T3 308 with Super Sniper 6x MQ