Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles your back up rifle on a trip

I had to use my backup once, when the scope went bad on my primary.

I have loaned my spare several times and, for awhile, carried along a Remington 710 in 30-06 as a dedicated loaner.

I Always bring a back up.
Deer or elk. I always have a spare just in case, if not for me, then for someone else. Last thing I want to be 8 hours from a home or who knows where the nearest sporting good store.
Deer : main gun 270, back up 06.
Elk: main gun 06, back up 270.
I might leave the 270 behind this year and grab the 6.5...:It hurts to say that.

I always have more than one rifle when I go on a hunting trip. It isn't that I need a backup in case one breaks. I just have a few rifles I like to hunt with.

When I used to spend the first few days of the WV deer season away at "camp" at my friend's place with my sons, I usually took along my .348 as a spare. Never " had" to use it, but one year I took it out first and whacked a doe. Lotta gun for little deer.

I don't bring one. I do bring an extra scope, basic cleaning kit, and a few tools.

I think it's interesting how many people *don't* take a back up rifle. I always bring two to deer camp (10+ hours from home) and I can't imagine not on a trip I'd dropped thousands on to travel across the country. (I don't really take those trips, though, so who am I to say?)

Some years back I loaned my back up 30-06 to a guy who had driven from Ohio to hunt deer in Colorado and when he was organizing his kit, he realized that he hadn't brought ammo for his 6.5x55 and there wasn't any to be anywhere close to Wray. CO, not even at Cabeal's in Sidney, NE.

I didn't bring one two seasons ago on my elk trip.amd got nervous about it. Didn't need it and was OK with primary.

My back up isn't same caliber. I've got plenty of ammo for each and won't hesitate to bring 50+ rounds for each to make sure I'm covered.

Much to the antithesis of the greatest internet argument about why to choose a rifle caliber, I never pick it based on ammo availability at a local gas station. Seems ridiculous, I know.

I've taken a spare scope and a few spare parts on every hunt I've been on except local ones. Never needed it and never wished I had a spare rifle.

Ha. I'm sure there are some good reasons to forget ammo. I can't think of any, but I'm sure they're out there. Alas the gas station nearest camp has fried chicken and slot machines, but no ammo.

I often travel a fair way from home to hunt, and a fair way from any gunsmith too, so I take a back-up. It probably won't be in the same calibre though. If I'm flying I might see if I can line up a plan B, such as checking whether there'll be a back-up available at the destination or, if I'm travelling with others, organising for one back-up to be shared within the group, to save excess baggage charges. Otherwise I just pack an extra rifle and ammunition in the car.

I have had occasions where the back-up has come into its own, over the several decades I've been hunting. In one case I can recall there'd been more shooting than I had expected, and so I had gone through all the rounds I'd brought and then was grateful of the use of a borrowed rifle and rounds to keep going, as it would have been at least several hours drive to the nearest gunshop - and probably a day each way to get them in the calibre in question. Other occasions have involved scope failures (which admittedly might have been fixed with a replacement scope), a broken extractor, and a broken stock. There may have been others. Better to have the spare and not need it than need it and not have it.

One of us usually brings a spare for the whole camp at deer season. Preferably an '06 as that is what most of us hunt. We leave it in a truck when we go in. I pull the bolt out of mine and lock it in my console safe.

Elk it varies. Sometimes just a spare scope in rings, Sometimes a rifle, usually there are only two or three in elk camp and chances of a breakdown are less but a better chance we will get robbed. For the backup elk rifle I bring a spare usually in a chambering that is uncommon ( .35 Whelen, 7x61 Super, .308 Norma Magnum).

Most of us here have a pretty good selection to choose from. Why not take a back up rifle? A second pair of binoculars if you got them also.

2nd pair of binos is a good idea. I had to use my alternate pair last year antelope hunting after the eyecup broke on my primary.

For rifles, we just make sure there is at least one for the group if traveling to the western states. Local hunting, not needed.

These days I take more rifles than I use - 4 or 5, because not all have been "blooded" yet. Years ago I only had my Remington 308 and had a back-up Israeli Mauser in the same. I had to go into town for supplies one time and didn't have anywhere inside the Jeep to hide or lock the Remington but the Mauser fit underneath the narrow gap under the rear bench seat. I got to use it on some goats when I got back to the property.

I hunt close to home (practically in my back yard), so my "back up" rifle is sometimes my Krieghoff rifle/shotgun combination gun with a full length insert barrel in the shot barrel. The primary rifle caliber is 7X75SE vom Hofe, so I'm good on long range shots, and the insert barrel is in 6X52R Bertschneider, a .25-35 necked to 6mm. I haven't had the opportunity to use it on deer yet, but I'm still looking for one. My 5.6X52R (22 Savage Hi Power) Model 99 Savage is sudden death on deer, so I'm confident the 6mm cartridge will work just as well, if not better.

Day hunt close I don't bring a backup, especially if it's a WMA, I don't want to leave one in the truck.

Staying overnight (and not public land) I usually bring an extra. The place I most often stay over at I can hunt woods or ag fields with 700 yard views. If I carry a .358 in the woods I'll bring along something with a bit more reach for fields.

I'm with the 'spare scope' crowd. Ruger M77 = no backup needed.

If I am going some where where I am staying at a lodge, then I bring a back up, usually something a little different to use if I fill the primary tag. For hunts where its a hike in or fly in, I bring a second scope with rings pre-zeroed, a 6x36 or 4x33 is pretty small and under a pound with rings. On two rifles the back up is a Ruger NECG peep. Its been more than 20 years since I had an issue, never with the rifle, but I did have a scope 20 years ago go to crap at the zero check before the hunt and it was before I brought back-ups . 5 hour drive home, 5 hour drive back to the lodge, 2 hours sleep in the car before heading out to hunt, was a long first day.

Years ago I sighted 2 rifles in for an Oldtimer. He had two BAR’s chambered in 300 Winmag.