Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Seriously considering getting down to one centerfire.

I play the same game with myself all the time. For me, however, it is usually a 3 rifle battery that will serve me for the rest of my life. It's my version of counting sheep when I go to sleep at night.

Truth is, I can get along with one rifle if I leave out plinking and shooting the occasional squirrel. Perhaps a 6.5x55 swede or the 257 Roberts. Done.

Got down to 2 30-06's for some time and they filled my needs well. Have since added a bunch becausecI like trying new ones, working up loads, etc. It seems my vision of what the ideal big game is changes, but comes back full circle. Like most things in life, moderation is the answer. If you have too many that it becomes a burden or no funds to hunt, etc. unload a few. I always keep a good 30-06 around and tinker with others, as long as the tinkering doesnt cut into hunting/adventure/family vacation funds.

I know a guy, aka "dummy", that uses a 460 Wby for "Wabbits"


Jerry

When my kids were little and funds were tight I got by with a .22, a 12 gauge and a.30-30. I could do it again but really don't want to. .

I could EASILY do all my hunting with a 12ga, a .22lr, and a 30-06.

With a new kid on the way this fall...I just might.

I am back up to three, 1x Brno ZKW465 in 22 Hornet, 2x Brno model 21 in 7x64, and I am comfortable with that.

A .460 for rabbits,that person is an absolute dingus.

^?^?^?^?

That means "Something like this", for me. I'm pretty sure I could pare the collection down. And if I did I'd likely keep only my .260 or my 25-06.

But... To go beyond that and consider parting with my H&R/Sako .222 or My old .243 or my old .17 Rem or the .300 Win or the .308 or HEAVEN FORBID, MY .300 Savage? Maybe to save a grandchild's life...

I have been mulling this over for a while. I agree with Ingwe, this is crazy talk.

Jack

I almost cannot think this way. I like my 7mm-08 and my 35 Whelen a lot, but if I had to have one centerfire rifle, it would probably have to be a 30-06

If I had to keep just one of what I have now it would be the .300 Savage. And I'd probably still be in pretty good shape for North America.

Aside from that, he 'seems' like a pretty good guy-- from the net. GRIN

Jerry

He may be a "pretty good guy" but killing rabbits with a .460,well.....

Yeah, but could you eat right up to the hole?

Had just one big game rifle for 20 years, a 7mm RM. Now I have quite a few and have killed a lot more elk than when I had only the 7mm RM. No causation implied, just a correlation.

The big difference, simple and dumb as it might seem, is I learned to hunt smarter - i.e. "where the elk are". Big causation factor there.

The fact is I enjoy hunting with different rifles. The time to thin the herd out will be when I quit hunting elk and settle down to antelope, deer and prairie rats. Or when the grandkids get old enough for a rifle of their own, whichever comes first.

On one side you can.

This is the entrance hole.


The other side,well....

I bought every gun I have for a specific purpose. I am very pragmatic about guns. It has to do what I want it to do. If not it went down the road. If it did I still have it. And if i still have it I am very attached to it. Emotional attachments to inanimate objects is probably the subject for psychiatrist and psychologist to ponder as evidence of mental problems,and if so I am certainly guilty. I hunted many many years with only one gun, a Marlin 336 in 35 Remington. I have gradually added to the herd as need have arisen and financial condition improved. At 70 and retired with back injuries (from my tail bone through my neck), guns are my only hobby. I have never accumulated any other kind of stuff. My injuries limit my ability and time to hunt and shoot, but I still do what I can and am an avid reloader. I cannot figure out why I would want to pare down my accumulation. The guns I seldom use only need cleaning occasionally, and that isn't a bad job. They hurt nothing sitting in the safe. There are only a couple of guns I am considering selling. They were gifts that were well meant, but either not very good or for which I had little use. Getting rid of these would make more room in my safe for something more appealing to me. Like the side-by-side double barrel shotgun I have always wanted. If guys want to pare down and go back to basics I will encourage them to do what they want to do. What I want to do is keep mine. My son is a gun nut, too. He will get mine when I go and I am glad to see him have them. Just not right away.

Excellent points. Compared to some other hobbies like boating, motorcycles, classic cars, and women, shooting is relatively cheap as long as you stay away from the real high-end stuff like express rifles and Parkers.

I get the urge to dump stuff at times because I feel like I'm not using it enough to justify the associated loading stuff, optics etc, but really I think that once I get something set up and ready to go, I get bored and want another project. When I was playing with computers, I enjoyed putting them together, installing software and drivers, etc more than actually using them. Maybe I'm carrying the tinker gene.

Think I have the same problem, like working on them too much(wouldn't be a problem if I was a smith, expensive hobby for a carpenter)...Really isn't a money issue, no my wife hasn't said ANYTHING about how I should sell the ones I don't use. At this point I'm keeping the 8x57, the pair of 270's I'm building(for my boys), a couple 10/22 carbines and POSSIBLY my Mark VII in .300 Win Mag(figure I'd take too much of a bath on that one).


Selling my CZ550 to a buddy of mine, the rest I'm taking to a local ffl to get sold. I guess getting down to 2 personal rifles would be close enough.

So did I. Sometimes that purpose was just to avoid walking away from a great deal. Now I have a couple safes with guns in them and no time to shoot them all.


Oh, well, retirement is only a day or a year or two away. Not sure what my wife thinks I'm going to do when the day comes, but I plan to do more hunting and shooting.