A flat shooting cartridge in a bolt action rifle set up with short range, quick shots in mind.
This makes a LOT of sense. Take the lever guns if you want, but in my experience, "timber rifles" only make sense when you hunt a place that has nothing but timber, and that's generally dictated by property lines, not terrain and vegetation. There are plenty of places where you can step out of the timber and see elk far enough away that a lever gun isn't a good choice but you wouldn't think twice about using a bolt gun. Instead of doing your pre-hunt training with two completely different types of rifles, I'd put the extra time, money, and ammo into getting really fast with your bolt guns at close range. It's not that hard, and that particular skill will serve you well when you hunt deer or pigs. Here are a couple of examples:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4Cerq1Q_vEhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WbpptdFiNEI'd zero your two rifles at 200 yards with 160-grain Partitions. Set them up with 4x scopes, then start burning up ammo offhand and in field positions.
Okie John
