Between 1962 and present I have as a true rifle Looney churned through the following rifle calibers.
.303, 44 magnum, 7x61, .243 Win, 25-06, 7mm mag, 7x57, 30-06, .270, .358 Win, .35 Whelen, 6.5x54 Manlicher, 6.5x55, 338 Win, .300 WBY., .300 Win, .257 Ackley Imp, .308 Win, 45-70, .280 Rem, .280 Imp, .375 H&H, .405 Win, 8x57 JS, .22 Hornet, .222 Rem. .223, 22-250, .220 Swift, .22lr, .22mag.
Not necessarily in that order and probably I forgot one or two.
I always kept a .270 my goto main hunting rifle throughout my life.
And now that is all I got left as a big game rifle in the form of a .270 Cooper Jackson Hunter.
Besides I have a Couple .22lr for ground squirrels and offhand practice shooting.
I regret having sold some of the above lineup. However at this stage in life (74) I believe my .270 does everything I need to fill my freezer full of meat every year.
I do like to dream about a .257 Roberts in a Kimber Montana or Classic select and well, may be I should one of these days inspite of my years.
In shotguns I went through a pile of guns, now shooting mainly my 20 for hunting and my 28 for skeet and sporting clays and one 12 for geese and a 16 Ithaca with solid rib to shoot occasional clays with.
Getting older meant for me getting more sensitive to recoil and also discover that with proper bullet placement head stamps do not mean as much as advertisement want you to believe. In this regard I found my time spend travelling on the land with Inuit and observe their hunting, a good lesson. I saw big polar bears cleanly killed with .243, 25-06, .308. .222 Rem, 6mm Rem, .22-250 and I was told before the advent of the .222 the Hornet with head shots was namakto ( good) on bears. They carry their seal rifle anywhere on the ice or inland for seals, walrus, bears and caribou, are intimately familiar with their anatomy and place their bullets carefully. They dislike large calibers and magnums and I never saw any among them.
They like small cartridges, versatile and importantly you can carry a lot with you at the same time in your pocket. A .243, 25-06, .308 was regarded as a BIG GUN.
Bullet choice was left entirely up to what the Hudson's Bay managed to get in the village.
This was in the 1970's. Not sure what if anything has changed......heck some Inuit may even have become rifle looneys..........who knows eh?

Go for it. Not in spite of, but because of your years, you've earned it.

Plus 1 on that.

Here's my ugly Kimber Roberts I picked up on here a few months back, been to freaking busy with a new job and house search I haven't even scoped it yet

Cal,
Send it down to me, I will gladly wring it out!

What a gorgeous rifle!
Guess I may have to spring for one of those. Got the money for it so why not.

Black, she's already a proven shooter but thanks for the offer

Shrike, the other side is even uglier.... There are several out there with exceptional wood but you do have to keep your eyes out. I think 9 outta 10 are good looking but nothing exceptional.

I have two other Montanas that I bought new (.223 & .280ai) and they both shoot well. Very nice platform, try and look up shortactionshooters thread on a few tweaks.

Cal74 thanks for the tip.
Will follow up.

Enjoyed reading what you had on your mind.

I could probably hunt very successfully the rest of my days with a Jackson Hunter in .270 or .308. A host of other cartridges would work fine too, but I really like those two and could get ammo for it anywhere. a matching .223 with an 8" twist and a .22LR would be all I would ever need�. But what fun would that be???

John

That is some lovely wood!

I when thru the same thing and pretty much the same cartridges and then some. Now I just shoot a 7mm RM in a Blaser R-93. I liked the rifle so I bought it was going to sell the 7mm RM barrel for something else, it shot so well I kept it. I have a fixed 6 x 42 mm Leopold on it- I have four guns now, before I paired down I had over 60 in the rack. I am just as bad with fly rods too. Yet the rod I fish 99 % of the time is an Sage GP II 8'6" for a 5 Wt. I had this one for almost 32 years now. Go figure. As we get older, the quest for change diminishes. I could get by with a 22 LR barrel for my Blaser, an a good shotgun ( i have a vinci) two rifles and one rod but hey we are rifle loons so its never really going to happen.

I ain't that old yet...

I'm still into tight group, bang-flop mode, get-er-done, be it the .260 thru the .338 Mag. Never warmed to the .243, tho I've taken sheep, black bear, caribou, and moose with that 700 15 year closet queen. Probably should scope that thing and try it again... It has a lovely stock...

But first the '94 Win .30-30. Carried it a lot on walkabout, but not killed with it since 1968.

That's just plain wrong!