I have a friend that has elk hunted with one rifle since 1971. The same rifle since ‘71. He has killed over 40 elk with it, including 25 bulls. This is pretty impressive in this day and age of ultralight guns and newfangled latest and greatest cartridges. He reloads for one cartridge. One. He uses one bullet and powder. One. But he gets it done year after year with his 1962 (first year of production) Remington 700 in 7mm Rem Mag (also, first year 7mm mag introduced). It is the elk killing rifle.
My story is kind of like that. Bought a rifle decades ago and hunted elk with it every year until the blueing has worn off. It was a couple of years before I could even afford to put a scope on mine. Eventually I got old and acquired more money and felt I should upgrade to something better suited for my experience. For a few years I bought new and more expensive rifles. They all got auditioned but none ever seemed to suit me as well as my original rifle. The old familiar gun still gets the nod each autumn. Mine is a 7mag shooting 160 partitions also.
