If you could only hunt with one rifle for the rest of your life, what would it be?
A tang-safety Ruger M 77 RL Ultralight, chambered in .250 Savage.
You might already own it, might be something you want, off the shelf, custom, whatever.
I already own it. Bought it new back in 1985 when I was 20 years old. It still looks and works like new. Me? Uh.... Not so much...
Don't worry about barrel life, or possible lemons, accuracy is a given type of deal...
I haven't worried about that stuff with my chosen rifle since I bought it. I just shoot the piss out of it and will keep on doing so.
And.....
How would you scope it?
I'd keep using the Leupold Vari-X IIc 2-7X that I bought with the rifle.
120 grain Sierra GameKing HPBT.
Mule deer, blacktail deer, whitetail deer, pronghorns, feral goats, feral sheep, feral hogs. caribou, coyotes, Pepsi cans, paper targets, reactive target balls, and probably other things, as well.
(and yes, I know it is a hard question, don't worry, only hypothetically speaking)
Actually, it wasn't all that hard. I only have five centerfire rifles -the Marlin 336 in .30-30 that I started with when I was eleven years old, the Ruger M 77 RL in .250 Savage that I bought when I was 20, the Ruger No.1B in .30-'06 that I bought when I was 22, the No.1 Tropical in .375 Holland and Holland that I traded for when I was 25, and a Browning A-Bolt II Medallion in .257 Roberts that I won in a raffle drawing last year.
I could probably get by just fine with my old 336 in .30-30. I managed okay from the age of 11 until I turned 18 with just that one rifle.
I've got something of a weakness for No.1's. So I could get by with either of mine.
With .22 LR being so hard to come by for me, my little Ultralight in .250 Savage has been my "plinker". To me, it's recoil and muzzle blast are more like a .223 Remington than a .243 Winchester. It grouped down to .660" for five shots at 100 yards from day one and still does now. It shouldn't be as accurate as it is, but it is. I've had many other M-77's and M-77MKII's over the years, but I cling to this little over-achiever because it shoots so well and is so pleasant to shoot. It's currently the most accurate rifle in my inventory.
So it got the nod because it's accurate -far more accurate than it's pencil-thin barreled self has any right to be- and just a ball to shoot a couple of hundred rounds through. It's got a dynamic, shotgun-like feel to it and carries easily, but it's not so light that it's hard to keep under control out in the field when shooting across a draw with a stiff breeze blowing over it's barrel. The cocking effort is next to nil, the bolt operation was snot-on-glass slick from new and has only improved with age. It's compact enough to be handy in dense cover but can reach out for more open-country shots. When I bought it and the Leupold that tops it, I thought the combination represented the perfect conceptual marriage of rifle, optic, and chambering. My opinion hasn't changed much over the past three decades.
The hard part of this mental exercise was really down to choosing between this M 77 RL and the Browning A-Bolt II in .257 Roberts that I won in a raffle last October. It's just as light, comes up on target quickly, it about equally pleasant to shoot a few hundred rounds through, and I like the detachable magazine feature more than I ever dreamed I would. In fact, I like the whole A-Bolt II more than I ever dreamed I would. But it's not quite as compact as my M 77 RL is; cocking effort is significantly higher; it's not as accurate off the bench, but in some ways a bit easier for me to shoot accurately in field positions because of the stock fit. And I think it looks cool. But I don't have the memories made with it that I have with the M 77 RL... And the Ruger seems to me to be more "robust," for lack of a better word. I'm sure the A-Bolt II will outlive me, but on the other hand, I haven't yet worn the "new" off my M 77 RL in spite of three decades of use in which it has never failed to chamber, fire, extract, or eject.
There are probably cooler rifles I could pick aside from these I already have, but in already having them, I've sussed out what their strengths and weaknesses are.
Anyhow, my choice is made - c.1985 Ruger M-77 RL Ultralight in .250 Savage, topped with a Leupold Vari-XIIc 2-7X of the same vintage.