Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles The greatest factory produced hunting rifle of all time

maybe pre 64 Winchester 70

Don't laugh! Mine in .30-06 is a great hunting rifle.

Price point MUST be a factor in these discussions. Some would say that the Savage Axis is the best. My brother is one of them, and he is a serious, hardcore hunter for over four decades. He has owned several Ruger 77's, some Remington 7 and 700's, Winchester 70's in a couple configurations, several Brownings (mostly A-bolts), and many, many Walmart-special Savages. He now prefers the bargain Savages. I agree with his reasoning, if not his pick of guns. I'll expand.

Bed the crap stock, mount quality optic, fire-lap the often rough bore, treat the bore, work up sweet hunting load, blood the rifle. I've seen him do it several times. He now openly prefers sub-$300 Savages. His kids have been set up with them, because they are light, easy to carry, and very serviceable (when not dropped in snow in sub-zero temps).

These Savages are capable of very fine accuracy, at least for the experienced handloader. I've seen it over and over in the past several years, using the process outlined above.

And the last significant point: they are cheap, so if some accident befalls them, or if they get banged around a lot, it's no biggie. I suppose this is a big deal to me because I carried my father's cherished hunting rifles for some years as a teen over much rugged terrain with lots of steep climbing and hiking in nasty mountains, and I was terrified of even dinging or scratching the finish on them. I have several scars and old aches from protecting a rifle during a slip-and-fall. It warped my sense of what the real priorities in that situation were. Now I prefer to hunt with beater rifles, where I don't have to worry about the guns, as long as the scope doesn't get knocked off its zero.

i concur. i currently have an 06 742 that has had exactly 10 bullets down the bore (165 grain rem brass tipped). very accurate.

over the years, i've owned many 742's. everyone an 06. some were accurate, some not so much.

I regret missing that. Looking for a rifle for the g-kids.

I'd be after aRem Model 7 7mm-08 for the grandkids.

Without any bias it would need to be a Mannlicher Schoenauer Model 1903.

Missed one of those a couple weeks ago in 243. Getting slow, I guess.

Now we have moved the discussion from the best to the best deal!

I had a 7-08 mountain rifle for a couple of years. Sold it to a friend that still has it. I will ask him if he is interested in selling it the next time I see him.

300 weatherby magnum.

L-61 Sako's.

An old skool M700 Mountain Rifle in 7mm08 popped up at the LGS today for a reasonable price.

I didn't miss that one.

SC. It makes me feel REALLY old when folks call the M700 "old school ". 😆

Sorry, but I am old enough to remember when they were new in the 700 line up as well.

I think the Finns got it right when they produced the L57/579 action in the 308 WCF.

StarchedCover

What's worse, I consider the M700 Mtn rifle as a rather recent version of the M700.............

Sheesh.


Casey

Bought my M700 in '62.

30-06, 20" bbl, steel. Buttplate... kicked the snot outa me !

"The greatest factory produced hunting rifle of all time"

The market says it's the pre-'64 Model 70.

I had one of those. Cool little rifle, but challenging to shoot. I sold it and had an old ADL 243 re-tubed with a 20" M600 bbl in 308 I picked up for $25. Great little rifle and much easier to shoot than that 30-06.