I've hunted with lever action, Winchester and Marlin .30-30's, and .35 Remington. Hunted semi auto rifles like the old Remington 740, the Browning in 7mm Rem Mag, and lately the Springfield Armory M1A Squad Scout. I've built, etc. five custom bolt action rifles using Remington, Winchester, Ruger and even Sako actions. Have I found the "perfect" big game rifle ? Well, I think I'm close.
What characteristics does it or must it have ? After lots of thought, money and some 61 yrs. of big game hunting, I've decided it must have only two characteristics. One, it must be reliable under the conditions where I hunt. The Remington and Browning semi autos don't meet this requirement. Why ? Because they gum up too easily. I hunt for weeks under very dusty conditions. They are also too ammo sensitive. The M1A is not.
Two, above all, it needs to have whatever it takes to help me make the shot. Where I hunt these days the rifle needs to settle down quickly, and have a very predictable trigger. All of my rifles wear shooting slings while in the field. All of them wear scopes with lots of eye box.
Accuracy ? Jeff Cooper once said that 2 MOA, even 2.5 MOA is plenty for a big game rifle out to 400 meters. I didn't believe him until I tried both 1 MOA and 2 MOA plus ammo out of the same rifle from my usual field positions. Several groups later, I realized he did know what he was talking about. E
