Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 5 guns I plan on buying for all my needs for any hunting. Tell me what you think

1.) Ruger American or possibly Hawkeye .308 (General kick around deer, hog, etc.)

2.) Weatherby Vanguard S2 in 25-06 (Long range open country antelope, sheep, varmint, deer)

3.) CZ 550 9.3x62 (Bear, Elk, basically anything the .308 is close but not quite big enough for)

4.) Ruger 10/22 takedown (squirrel, rabbit, behind the seat of the truck gun.)

5.) Some affordable but good 20GA over/under shotgun. Possibly a CZ. (Doves, quail, etc.)

I already own a Mossberg 810 30-06 I have had for 10 years but it is super heavy and a pain to lug around and (has served me faithfully though, being the first rifle I bought myself for deer hunting) .308 will do anything a 30-06 will so I will probably pass it on to a needy friend or family member.

I also own a good Turkey, duck, and pheasant gun in a Camo Verona 12GA auto. So I am good there.

I finally have a decent job and can afford to buy some reasonably priced good quality firearms. I am aiming to get these within the next year as California is starting mandatory registration on all new purchase/transfers of long guns as of Jan. 1st 2014. So I want to get them before then to keep them as unaware of what firearms I own as possible.

Oh I also will have 2-4 AR rifles built by the end of Feb. for SHTF or WROL situations and before they ban them here all together.

Let me know what you thing or if you have comparably prices alternatives to recommend.

Thanks/

Other than the rugers it works for me. But I still can't get past the anti gun Bill Ruger of years ago.

In fact just won a Ruger 270 American of all things... its for sale as we speak.

Only other comment is you are doing what I do, none common calibers... depending.... some of that stuff ain't found on every shelf in a podunk town.. FWIW.

IF I was limiting to 5 guns, the 308 can work. Would change the 25-06 to 270 probably. The 9.3 would be a 375 HH

And personally I"d get a 12 ga.. you can run 7/8 light loads to be like a 20, but can bump way on up to 3.5s as needed.

Of course there would be the idea too, if buying the 3 bolt guns, I'd buy all the same brand and model if possible.... interchangeable parts at times, nuff said.

Thanks for the suggestion. I just like the Ruger 308s my dad had one as I was growing up and I used it a lot. For me the 308 is just close enough to the 270 with proper load choice that there is some overlap. I used a friends 25-06 for open country hunting a couple years ago and really liked it. Super flat shooting and little recoil. And I have seen 25-06 on most shelves it is fairly popular around these parts really. Any large bore like the 9.3 you will have a hard time finding everywhere so you just stock up on that a bit more.

I do have a 12GA already as I mentioned in my post. However I just like duck hunting but I LOVE upland hunting for quail and especially doves. I just enjoy shooting a light nimble 20GA over a long barreled 12GA auto even though I have used my Verona for that.

Point taken on the common brand/action on the bolts. However they would not really be my bug out guns as I would take my ARs and a shotgun for that scenario. Thinking about buying a Winchester SXP combo for a backup 12GA and home defense. Since it has the 28" for game and a 18" for HD. I can let friends borrow the sxp when we go turkey or duck hunting. Also, my verona is a bit cumbersome for a good HD gun.

overlap on 270/308 but a 25-06 isn't?

I"d hardly call 25-06 common across the US, and thats what I was referring to.

Same there as large caliber, I can guarantee you I can find 375 HH or 300 Win Mag on MANY more remote store shelves than a 9.3 round.

I didn't recall the note RE the 12 and 06 though either. My bad on that.

Common parts are just that, regardless bug out or not. Base screw comes out or breaks, or base or ring, action screw. Trigger fails etc.... happens locally, not just on bug out stuff.

a nice light 20 O/U is nice. I don't have one though. I tend to stick to 12s or go down to 410 if I want to play.

fixit,

I like your list, well thought out and seems to cover everything you want to do quite well.
Couple of comments:
I would tend more toward the Ruger Hawkeye in the .308. The American is a fine "discount" rifle but for a "kick around" rifle I think a stainless Hawkeye would handle the "kickin" a bit better. I've had a stainless MkII in .308 for many years and it's been a very dependable rifle in all conditions (Africa to deep-snow Montana).
The 25/06 has lost some of it's following the last few years, but is still quite popular, particularly in the west where you live. The Weatherby Vanguard is a fine rifle but if you are looking for a "walking" deer/varmint rifle you might consider something lighter. (I actually have a SS Tikka T3 Lite in .25/06 w/ extras I'm considering selling which would be a good example of a light but accurate).
I'm still having a hard time believing CA is getting away with registering guns. It is just so sad a statement about the direction our country is heading.

Fixit, your thought process sounds entirely logical to me. That said, I would NEVER stop at five. I can't even stop at thirty!

Op, substitute #4 with a CZ452/453/455 and thank me later.

Give the heavy .30-06 away and buy a lighter one.

Then buy reloading equipment and you can forget about a smaller bore and jump straight to the .375 H&H.

Add the shotty and the .22 and you're good to go.


P

fixit,

I actually own a Ruger American in .308 and have so far found it an excellent kick-around rifle. It's plenty accurate, with a decent trigger, light weight and good balance. I've fired at least 150 rounds out of it so far without cleaning the barrel, and there hasn't been any noticeable deterioration in accuracy. (This has been my experience in general with Ruger barrels made during the last few years: They don't copper-foul much, though obviously individual barrels vary.)

There also haven't been any failures to feed or extract. I've probably worked and shot the action 2-3 as many times as I've fired it, and the action works very slickly, even from prone. Best of all, the American has the tang safety Ruger abandoned in the 77 a couple of decades ago.

The rest of your choices seem pretty rational too. The Weatherby Vanguard is usually extremely accurate, and while it may not be as popular as the .308 I've yet to encounter a store where .308 ammo was sold and .25-06 ammo wasn't. It's a nicely flat-shooting round that works great on anything from coyotes to, well, elk.

The 9,3x62 is indeed a bigger hammer than the .308 or .30-06, and has some advantages over the .375 H&H, including noticeably less recoil and larger magazine capacity. I generally use it instead of the .375 these days, and I like the old H&H a lot.

A light 20-gauge would be a great complement to your present 12.

You got some good advice so far.... The first thing you need to do is to forget all of it, until you have relocated to somewhere else that doesn't have all the California problems. Hey you asked. Magnum Man

While I feel a bit hypocritical saying this (I own 30+ guns) your list has 2 guns too many...

All a guy really needs is a .22 LR, a shotgun (I have not bird hunted with anything but an O/U 20 gauge for a few years now, and I take my upland birds/waterfowl/turkeys seriously), plus any decent bolt gun in -06, .270, .308...or whatever. If big bears or bigger African critters are a possibility , maybe a 4th rifle in .375 or 9.3 would be justified.

I have have good success on 'lopes/whitetails/mulies/elk/coyotes and a wolf with my .375 H&H too, so even it could replace the -06, 270, 308...if a guy really wanted to.

If I had a choice between a Ruger and a Tikka, I'd take the Tikka all day long.

Good for you.

I own both.

Thanks for all the feedback everyone. I appreciate it. The reason I went with the ruger 10/22 is the ubiquity of it. Parts etc. Also i considered the 375 H&H Bud decided against it due to recoil. I am not super sensitive to it but don't enjoy it overmuch either. I have read up on it quite a bit and the 9.3 seems to do pretty much anything the 375 will do but with less recoil, larger capacities, and can apparently use resized 30-06 brass in a pinch.

If the price is comparable I may just get the .308 in the vanguard s2 instead of the Ruger. But I have been hearing very positive things on the Ruger American.

I would move out of Cali in a second if I could believe me, however at this time it is not feasible.

I would like to have more than the guns listed and may in the future but am prioritizing so I can get them within the next year.

Didn't list it because it is not a hunting gun but also am planning on getting a S&W M&P 45 compact as well.

Trade your heavy .30-06 for a lighter one and you delete the top 3 off your list.

1. There is nothing that the 308 won't do so that makes the 9.3 superfulous. Pick one or the other, but not both. I'd go with the 9.3.

2. 25-06 stand apart further from the 9.3 than the .308 I think, so keep it as the second behind the 9.3

3. Ruger 10-22s suck. You need a .22 as an absolute must, but not the Ruger. Just my personal opinion. I'd opt for a Marlin 39a before a Ruger and a quality low wall Winchester (original) before either of those. But I'm a .22 loonie.

4. If you are to have only one shotgun. Make it a 12 ga. and probably the best of the bunch is a Rem 870, maybe a couple of barrels to really cover the turf (slug and shot)

5. So, now having ditched the .308, you have room for something else. An AR15 in .223 would be on choice as general varmint rifle/SHTF option. The other, and more interesting option to me, would be a good quality sidelock .54 muzzleloader in percussion or flint depending on your leanings. You have no muzzleloader there and that excludes you from a whole bunch of hunting opportunities. A .54 roundball gun is good for anything anywhere in the country and if a side hammer it is a legal muzzleloader in all 50 states.

More shotguns, less rifles. No reason to get a Vanguard unless you're getting a Weatherby caliber. I'd go with the .257 ROY instead of a 25-06 or just buy a good, used 700 if I was wedded to the 25-06.

Sounds like the list is very thorough, and all the suggestions to date are rational. But we are all overlooking something: It is a list put together by someone apparently with a clear idea of his future exploits and what he thinks he'll need to pursue them. How many of us have dreamed up similar lists, and then been tempted by the stuff that tempts we loonies, and the list goes off the tracks and 20 years later you look back and say "whew, that was fun, now where did I put that list?" ("Hmmm, that 7x57 Mauser sure is neat, and I can afford it. Wow, that is a way cool Winchester .22, and I can afford it, too. Wait, is that a 16 gauge Parker....") You see where I'm headed?

In other words, throw away the list, fasten your seat belt, and enjoy the ride!

Good for you

How about a Savage combo gun? I just bought a model 24V series D in .357 over 20 gauge.

The .357 out of a 24" barrel comes really close to .30-30 power and the 20 gauge takes 3" shells, so I could load slugs in a pinch.

Kinda heavy but one gun takes the place of 2 (or 3, if you delete the .22)

P