Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Rifle for your region

Marlin 336 30-30. My kids love them. Long shots are 150yds max.
Tikka T3 25-06
Tikka T3 6.5cm. Testing the water with this new addition. To be continued....

The ones I grew up with: Old and heavy yes, but damn reliable and accurate. Never let me down:


All the other stuff is fluff and for having fun...

Remington 700, 250 Savage works well on the deer size game here.

Tikka 695 7mag



Tikka T3X 6.5CMDS special



McWhorter 7mm08

Depends on my mood.

Model 94/1895/700/77/37/70, or maybe a rock lock.

My go anywhere, do any thing rifle is a Winchester model 70 push feed in .30-'06. If I have to explain why, the explanation wouldn't help.

Are you kidding? Everyone here knows the 243 is a magic death ray.

read the thread in the deer hunting forum. crazy.

as to the OP

Savage 308 with a fluted barrel, fully customized with a titanium suppressor. second go to I just built is a 338-06 with similar characteristics to the 308. this year I opted for the trusty 243 just because it had been a while since we whacked a deer with it. ended up getting several between friends and family with that rifle. furthest was 438 yards. so I'd say it depends on the day what the best rifle for my region is. could be hunting anything from turkeys to elk. the 243 will do it all though, and has for me.

Me too! Thats the one on this page that caught my eye.

I guess I'm not naive enough! I been thinking the same thing!

WARNING: SOAP BOX AHEAD!!!


"This is an issue that I have with the “extreme long range” crowd that contends that this doesn’t happen! And if” the animal moves, it’s the shooters fault for the bad shot placement.....as the hunter was supposed to “read the animals mind”! memtb [/quote] "

I guess I'm just not naive enough. I've been thinking the same thing every since the "long range movement" started! None of the shows I know of have shown, or ever will show, the one that bolted as the trigger broke and was gut shot. You don't see the one where there was a puff of wind somewhere in the valley they were shooting across and the animal is gut shot. I watched those shows in awe when I first saw them but quickly thought about it and decided that for me, I respect the game too much to play those odds. I always thought the object was to see how close I could get not how far I can shoot.
Sorry to OP. I didn't mean to high jack the thread.

I am in love with lever action rifles and thankfully I hunt where I can use them without sacrificing range. My records indicate that my average shot is only about 60 yards. In these situations my Marlin 336 chambered for the lowly 35Remington cartridge ( or 375Win, 45/70, 38/55, 41 mag, 356Win, 30/30....) is no handicap at all. One of the most difficult to let go would be my steel frame BLR-81 in 358Win. Topped with a Leupold VX 3 2.5-8x gives me a bit more reach. I just can't boil it down to one!

I guess if it came to it, this would be the one ....Ruger M77 Hawkeye All Weather .308 Win. Pretty much do all I'd need to do in the lower 48.

Encore 450 Bushmaster 26” MGM barrel with a VX 6 2-12 FireDot. We are in shotgun zone that allows straight wall cartridge up to 1.8” case length. Running a 250 Gr. Shockwave Bonded at 2580 FPS. One ragged hole at a 100. Haven’t found a bullet yet. Every thing shot has made 2 holes. Thinking I’m gonna take it on my moose hunt this fall in Maine.

Remington 700 xcr ii 270 win in a Mc Milan classic edge with a VX 3 3.5-10x40 scope mounted on warne rings and mounts. Pretty close to perfect for my needs.

Remington 700 mountain rifle in 260 Remington

My hunting needs in Oregon could be easily handled by a good.270.....
OR any of the .26 - .28 calibers..... going to .30+ just isn’t necessary and pushes the recoil equation up...
That said, I’m really digging my Kimbers Hunters in .6.5 and 7-08 for egros and light weight.
Scopes are usually Leupold 2.5x8’s, but I’m starting to work with the SS 6x MQ- we’ll see how that goes.
Big game for me is deer, antelope and elk. Long range for is pretty much anything over 200.
I passed on a cow elk the other day @ 350-ish yards. The rifle and load are good for it and I could dial for drop.
But she was at a hard angle uphill, I couldn’t get a solid rest and my gut just said “don’t do it”. I’ll wait for a better opportunity another day...

Hope it never comes to that. I'd have to pick the small block Chevy of hunting rifles. .30-06 tang safety Ruger round top, 3x9 Leupold mounted as low as possible. Been working fine for over 40 years. Better rifles out there, probably, but this is my mine.

I've got a lot that follow the same basic pattern.....stainless, sporter/#2 barrel, lightweight stock. I like them coated but not an absolute. A wide array of short action chamberings. For an over the counter rifle, I can't find anything I like better for the way I use one...Fieldcraft special run, #2 barrel, coated, 6.5 CM:

(1) Remington 700BDL 243win
(2) Remington 721 300 H&H
(3) Marlin 1894C 357mag
(4) 375 Ruger Guide Gun

Combination of all 4 I carry out through the season.

Remington 700 bdl 270 winchester

Remington 700 bdl 270 winchester