Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Reducing the heard! I need your opinions.

I'm currently in the thin the heard stage. My goal is to send guns down the road that I do not need.
1. Do not use
2. Will not be using for a particular reason in the future.
3. Duplicates/why do I need this when I have this.
4. Sell some to fill voids.

Calibers
220 swift
243 win
25-06
6.5x55
264 win mag
280
308 win.
30-06

What do I need and what can I live without?
Prey of choice
Yotes
Mulies
Whitetail
Elk
Bear

Thanks

I'd keep two:

1. 243

2. 280/308/30-06, take your pick amongst those three.

Keep the 243 and the 280. Sell the rest and buy a good .223. If bears mean Brownies, buy a .338 Winchester. Otherwise, you have enough gun with the calibers mentioned.

As long as your talking practical as a matter of thinning the herd, I'd think availability of components, and go with the 243 and 30-06.

You need a 22 centerfire, the swift is overkill.

Keep the .25-06 and sell the rest.

Keep the .243 and 280 or the .243 and 30/06 ...sell the rest.

243 & 280

You haven't said what makes/models or how any of those rifles perform, ie how well YOU shoot them. That would be the big decider for me over which calibers to keep.

I should have stated that I'm planning in thinning down to 6. So two may need to hit the road in the near future. All of these are Rugers and range from original M77 - Hawkeye. I've thinned several but one down to the tough ones. I assume I could use a big magnum but the 30-06 could pull that duty. Swift brass is hard to come by and the swede is too nice to let go or carry. Like I said tough choices. The 30-06, 308, 280, and 25-06 will never leave my side. The 243 shoots too good to sell and the overbore swift and 264 are long time favorites. So I guess I answered my own questions maybe all should stay.

I'm jut looking for some looney opinions.

Thanks men.

Hard to get rid of the "pets" ain't it?

Keep either the 308 or 30-06, your choice.
Get rid of everything else and get a 223 and 257 Roberts.
Keep the 220 Swift as they are like Pick-ups, every man should own one.

Keep the Swift, .25-06, and sell the rest and get a 7 mag. or .300

He already has a 280 & ' 06....and a 243, for that matter. Why take on belts? I'd say a .35 out the nose would be a more useful addition than any extra brass on the ass.

Easily get along just fine with the 243 and any one of the 280,308 30-06, or the 6.5's for that matter. I'd probably personally choose the 243 and 280 or 308. If you are a 30-06 fan then it is probably the most versatile NA big game round. I just don't find it especially appealing.

Looney opinion? Don't get rid of ANY of them! A TRUE looney is only interested in ADDING to the stable!

That is easy, keep the 30-06 sell the rest and get a 222 magnum in a Sako. Even better, sell the 30-06 and get another 30-06 in a Sako too...

You need to keep all those, and get a few more. There are a few huge gaps there......

I reduced my heard by not wearing ear protection when I was young.

That's funny, not wearing protection is how you increase the heard, where I come from......

All I know is what I heard decreased over the years�.

Is that what they told you, or what you heard?

Both!

Can you still hear a braked 7 x 57, or is it mouse fart quiet?

Only a flaming homosexual would brake a 7x57�


Thats something a .270 shooter would do.

All true. It'd take a flamer to actually put a brake on one. I've heard the standard version is popular with discreet gay men who haven't come out of the closet yet though.

Not. Totally untrue.

You'll just have to trust me on that one.

I'm just telling you what I heard.

Fixt it for you.

You'll smoke like a terd for that.

Excuse me, how rude. I meant "teard."

Sell them all but your choice of the .280/.308/30-06. Then buy a .223.

Next, buy a used Marlin 336 or Winchester 94 .30-30 for some "lever action satisfaction".

Finally, buy a used Marlin 1895 in .45-70.

Then you're covered for anything that walks.

Fried green tomatoes.

Keep the 243 and the 280. Turn the 30-06 into a 9.3x62 and spend the rest on a 223.

Perfecto!

Getting down to only two - Keep list: .243 and .30-06.
Only selling two - Sell list: .308 and flip a coin between .25-06/264WM

Sell the 25.06 & 280. Keep the rest.

That herd needs to GROW, not get culled!

Since you like all of them, and have a sort of mini Ruger collection going, keep them all. Two guns sold off aren't going to get you anywhere financially or otherwise.

If you're serious, you could easily keep one of the bigger calibers and kill everything on your list with no problems.

Yep, that's about right....^^^^^

Keep the 220 Swift and the 30-06 or 264 mag

.243 and .264 spend the rest on making memory's with the first two.

I'd keep the 30/06 and the 280.dump the rest, and buy a fast twist 223 for varmints and staying in shooting trim....cheap practice.

The rest are toys.

I'd keep the 243 and 30/06, and ADD a 257 Wby!

Eric

Keepers 25-06 280 30-06 then you can hunt any with only one type brass if u choose to do so!

.243 & .308 is all that's needed.

IMO

1) Boolits matter more than headstamps.

2) Noone gets good,by not shooting.

3) The sanctity of a given platform,is an overview of it's throat,twist and COAL latitude,in conjunction with it's balance,handling and ergo's,along with it's mounting system/glass. Blued schit can't hang and living stocks suck ass.

4) The better one becomes with a rifle,due the influence of spent primers,the lesser the "voids" become,even with but a single rifle in the larder.

Hint.

All Swifts suck ass,due case design,COAL and twist rate. Hint.

The 243 can be well beyond fabulous,assuming 9" and a Remmie or Ruger throat...though a 90 Skinner in a Montucky is no slouch.

All Quarterbores suck heavy ass,due their boolits sucking heavy ass. The 25-06 can't hang with the 243. Hint.

Any chambering with a Times in it,sucks heavy ass and there is no upside to a Swede,in either mechanical attributes of the chambering proper,nor the platforms in which it's housed,regarding same.

A 2.5" belted H&H can do nice things,as COAL is typically forgiving and the twist rate is inherently there. The 6.5 version trumps the .277" version,again due to boolits.

The 280 is the best of the '06's and by goodly margin. It gets even better in a 700,due again to COAL and the reserve RPM to arrange nice things.

The 308 is viable,if you don't reload.

The 30-'06 sucks hind tit.

Hint.

Thank me later.


Now what I've herd about a heard,is that when you caliber the calipers,one can connect numerous dots by default. That of coarse assuming,one looses the muzzle break and focuses on lite done rite,which is a write of passage and is easy to right about.

Key is to focus the big picture and not paws for meaningless Fluff,like the gals hear are doing. There's much to be said for the familiarity of actual round count and the fruits it reliably bares.

A scope that doesn't arrange POA/POI intersections at any/all distances,is simply a peace of pfhuqqing schit. Mounts rate a thunk two. One hedges a bet by driving wears that are fun to shoot. Hint.

Now in objective overview,a 223 Montucky is a mandate and the 75A-Max is THE pick of the litter,as a cursory opening move. A MR/Faux Ti 700 based 280 is tough to whoop,in regards to "Oooomph"imparted upon the victim and Sinister flight characteristics,with paltry recoil in exchange to it's incredible performance and the 162A-Max is THE pick of the litter.

Very easy to get both well beyond the 1000yd line,in fine form.

But someone who asks questions like these,is powerless in the refrain to circumvent doing stupid schit,with stupid rifles,stupid mounts,stupid glass and stupid boolits.

But it's NEVER not funnier than pfhuqq!

Hint.

You've been led to water.

I vote .243 and .308 or .30-06, buy a bolt .223 and a good .22LR. Most of us Texicans and Oakies would make only a once in a lifetime great bear hunt. Buy a used "enough gun" for that trip and sell it when you get home.

Now then, if I take my own advice, (and I should) I need to sell about twenty.

Good luch with your plan,

Jack

All in the family too

Your best post in a long time. And this is the best part of it.

Most are very valid points. I've sold off my bob, 260, and the 270. These are my current heard. Seems like the consensus is to add a 223 and dump the swede/swift.

I can only shoot one at a time and carrying this many calibers is $$$$. Most just set unused and I'm to the point where more funds should go to hunting trips and less on safe queens.

Keep the Swift, 25-06, 280 and sell the rest. powdr

Man thong

Butler, it's "herd" BTW.

I have a herd of reindeer.
Have you heard about them...? Lol.

Eric

I kept wondering when someone was going to point that out. I thought this thread was about hearing loss from shooting too much.

My bad on the poor spelling.

^^^This^^^

Or 30-06 & 308 and dump the rest, matters not.

I like 6.5's, but you'd be covered with the above and sounds like it's a safe queen... Let someone else admire it while it sits in their safe.

Like you say... Better to sell and spend your money on hunting trips, life is too short. Unless of course there is one you just shoot the hell out of, the .223 would be best in this application though.

Jerry

I'd keep the .264 Win Mag & the 30-06.

I'd keep three: the Swift, the 6.5 and the 06. You got the bases covered.

I say keep 'em all and think that's probably what you want to here. If not, pick the two or three rifles you like best and keep those. Wouldn't hurt if they happen to be the .243 and .308 or .30-06 plus the .223.

I herd when I first got on this sight that the trick is to not listen to the prick that goes by little stick.

Hint.

I just sold in the last three months, three 30/06s, two 270s, and a 7/08. Herd got smaller.

Leaves me with a 257Rob, 7x57R, 308, 358Win, and a 375Mag. with a couple or four 22 centerfires.

Butler,
If your .264 mag is as accurate as any of your other big game rifles (which I doubt it would be) but if it is you don't need the other ones. If that's the case, then for yotes choose the most accurate or your favorite between your Swift and .243.

The 243 will fill your 55-100 grain needs pretty well,and the 308,and 30-06 are close enough that it comes down to which rifle you like the best.You said you may want to fill a gap in your rifles,In the case that you were wanting to go heavier.I would keep the 243,and 264,and get a magnum that will handle 180s with ease,and speed.

If I were starting over, and could only have 4 rifles,
22LR
223
243
280AI

But what fun would only 4 rifles be....

Keep them all. You are gaining nothing by selling, then re-buying again.

DD may well be correct. My bride of lo these many years, says that our guns in the vault are better than money in the bank (drawing almost no interest). On the other hand, I sold a rifle a while back for $3500 that I could not get $2000 for some 6-8 years ago, so I replaced it with several pieces that are more popular priced. Every safe queen will bring more today than when it went dormant. At least they stay up with inflation.

jack

I've sold a fair number lately too. I get tempted every now and again to just .30-06 it and be done with all the rest. I don't know.

Moose, don't be silly.. I thought for years, when I had 10 or 15 guns I had a bunch.. That was silly too.. I have guns I haven't ever shot, a .30-06 is one, but I will hang on to it.. As far as having just a .30-06, it was my second rifle.. A 32 spl. was first.. I still have them both.. The 06 was my Grandfathers.. For years I thought that is all I wanted or needed.. He had about quit hunting when he was in his late 50's... I think if I did not enjoy fooling with different guns, I would have hung it up also.. They make life interesting and different.. I doubt, I sell many more firearms in my life.. They will go to folks who I know will care for them and enjoy shooting them.. Pretty good way to be remembered I think..

I hear you. I don't know about passing much on though. From what I've seen in my family all it has done is cause fights and jealousy. There are people in my family who hate each other because of who was given what gun.

My problem is less complicated, no children of my own, so they will go to kids I taught in school who love firearms... Just a thought, if you want havoc with some of your family what a fine way to cause trouble!!! Ha!!!

No doubt about that. They've caused plenty of trouble in my family.

I'm kind of like WCH above.
No kids and a lot of my neices don't hunt and the nephews are adults and have their own stuff. Our family isn't real tight so its tough to know who will get what.

So I am thnning out everything that isn't sentimental or a favorite and use the money for hunting truck gas or buying equipment to maintain the hunting land / deer shack.

In the end, I don't want to burden my wife and I will play favorites with certain nephews with the few guns I will have left. It will create havoc, but I won't be around to hear it.

Having said that... I'm having issues with parting with guns because I'm getting below the critical 40... ;-)

Personally, I'd just keep the 308 and go kill stuff. But the thread really could have ended after the first answer.

Really looks like you just getting started..

Larry can bring stuff (gun know-how) to the forum that few others can. Low recoil, high BC is a gospel well preached.