Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters If you could Start ALL over - and ONLY own 1 Rifle + Scope ???

Weatherby Mk V Ultralight in 280 Rem or 30-06. Matte Leupold VX1 or VX2 3-9x40 in Talley verticals with the stylized Weatherby W engraved on the side. My Mk V Sporter is all this except it's in a wood stock. It's a fine rifle but could weigh less in a top quality fiberglass stock. My Forbes 24B in 270 is likewise a fine rifle but the Weatherby bolt locks and unlocks with a scant 55 degrees of rotation, which is a definite advantage in the field.

Borden Alpine
300 WSM
24" Hart #3
Talley Q.D.'s
Swarovski 3-10x 42mm
Custom 20 oz stock


The 300 WSM is what I wanted in 1977 when I bought my first rifle in 308 Winchester.

Kimber Montana 84L in .270 Winchester topped with a VX3 2.5-8. Love it for wandering around the prairie.

If I could go back and do it over, I'd probably look for a Husqvarna like the one below. I think it is a 1600 or something close. It has a commercial small ring 98 Mauser style action that is as slick as warm butter. The stock isn't fancy but it is comfortable. It is a 30/06 which is all I would need. I'd put a Leupold VX3 2.5X8 scope on it in Weaver mounts.

I understand the merits of being a one gun hunter and knowing that one rifle and its trajectory very well, but I'm going a different route. I am putting together a pair of rifles that are to be indistinguishable from one another except for the round for which they are chambered. The leading candidates for the actions / rifles are Husqvarna HVAs and MRC 1999. One to be chambered in 7x57 for 150 grainers , and the other in .350RM or .35 Whelen for 225 grainers. All for about 2700fps with BCs in the mid to high .400s for good game bullets. With matching scopes (Leupy fixed 4s) and plastic (??), and used on appropriate game only my shoulder and my powder scale will ever be able to tell which is which.

Many years ago, I worked with a man who had owned a set of 700s, six or seven rifles in as many calibers, with matching maple stocks. Times got hard and he sold all but one - the .308.

I bought my M600 .350RM from an old guy with a kinda flip side story.

Times got good for him, and he retired to a little cabin on a river in ID and a big plush RV parked anywhere warm in winter after hunting seasons closed. He had a full set of M600s and a few M660s but not enough room.

He also kept one .308W and a .222R.

Alas, I was young and poor and could only buy the one; and I'd read Al Miller of Handloader, Rifle, Nosler Manual, et cetra write that the .350RM was the most versatile round and his own choice if he could have only one. Glad I got the one that I did, but wish that I could have bought them all.

Thinking back on things maybe I'd just be content with the Remington .30-06 760 Gamemaster that my dad gave me when I was thirteen. Dad armed me pretty well its a shame I didn't appreciate it.

I remember when you first started writing about that rifle. Now, I have the new issue of Rifle with Phil Shoemaker's story about his hunt in Faroffistan with a Luxus M-11 in .30-'06.

I've got to admit that the concept of a high-quality break action, take-down rifle with similar quality mounts and scope does appeal if you're doing the only-one-rifle analysis, and especially when taking travel into consideration.

Right now, a Handirifle is my only break action single shot and, um, leaves something to be desired. May be time now to cull the herd.

I came across this rifle by chance. It is an Atkinson Custom mauser in 6.5x55. It is one of those rifles that fits you perfect. It comes to your shoulder effortlessly, and you are immediately comfortable and on target. It is one of two or three rifles in my collection that does this. Because it is in one of my favorite all around cartridges, and is capable of handling every North American game animal, as well as varmints, I choose it as my one and only keeper (assuming someone puts a gun to my head.)

For the scope I have a Swarovski Z3 3-9x36 or a Shepherd P3 10x40

Nice rifles, that '41 300 appears to have given Ingwe a "Woody" Lol.

350RM guy, yes, read that same Al Miller article, and bought a 77 SS in the past, it was a hammer, my buddy borrowed it and slammed a nice 10pt WT buck that evening and forced me to sell it to him! Later heard he sold it! Seems ammo was not easy to find...oh well - tools come and go.

Suppose if I had an '06 - as post above mentions - might lose the desire/want to handload. Proven.

Interesting hearing the picks, seeing the pics, and the logic. All good choices for their owners.

BTW, Brad and JB, since one of my best friends lives in Oslo, born and raised in Norway, I suppose I should give a 308 an honest go some day! Lol.

Depending on age and chambering, I may know of an easy place to get rid of your Handi...

PM in your box.

If only one high power???
I was asked this 15 years ago and it was then a 338 Win Mag with Leupold 2x7 scope. My present 338 is a high fancy grade win 70. Cast bullets for smaller animals up thru Nosler Partitions 250 grain for largest.

I like 700's better than 70's though and a CDL or custom shop 700 would be my first choice.

Stainless T3 270, 308 or 3006, Burris FF II 4.5 to 14 ballistic Plex

If I were the same age with the same amount of money as I started hunting and limited to what was available then, I'd probably still get the first rifle I ever bought - a Ruger 77 flat bolt in .284 Win with a Weaver 4x scope.

I'd also pick up a Lee Loader, several boxes of 150gr .284 Nosler Partitions and an 8 lb jug of 4350 and never use anything else.

I'd pick a pre-64 30-06 and call it good, using 150 or 180 gr TTSX with a Swaro Z6 2-12x50.

Eric

My Gradous .308win & Zeiss Conquest 10x44 can do everything I need it too.

Yet another New Haven SS 308.

LH Remington 700 CDL in 30-06 and a Meopta 3-9 with a German #4.