Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Do I need another big game rifle? If so, what?

I have a trio of stainless Ruger Hawkeyes that I think are good steps, as the 223, 6.5 CM, and 338 FED will work for anything that I'm likely to shoot in the lower 48.. I'm sure a 308 would work about as well as the 338 FED with 180 and 200 grain bullets and there are a lot more and less expensive factory ammo options for the 308.

When my Wife's niece was going to BHSU, she hunted coyotes and pdogs with a 223 and deer with a 30-30.

Never had a need for more than the .30-06, so far. And anything I have done with the ‘06 could have been done with the Creedmoor, too. I don’t spend much time stopping grizzly charges. But the ‘06 will do things the Creedmoor won’t, especially if one handloads. You may not ever need more than the Creedmoor. It will kill elk of any flavor with solid hits and reasonable ranges. But if you do need more than the Creedmoor, there is a very good chance the .30-06 will be all you need.

There is nothing that walks that wasn’t killed before magnum cartridges existed, and a whole lot of it takes a lot of money and effort to ever get within shooting distance of. Some guys buy “Africa rifles” who will never see Africa. Some buy elk rifles and will never hunt elk. Most who buy a rifle based on potential bear encounters will never even have a bear encounter, much less use that rifle to stop a charge.

Buy the rifle you want, in the chambering you want, for the purpose you will use it for, not for things you could possibly use it for someday, if you got rich or went native in Alaska. if either of those things happen, chances are you will find the resources to get whatever rifle you need. Until then, get something you enjoy and find useful now.

Get a real rifle!!

I grew up in Spearfish and still live in the Hills. You have all kinds of access to 1000 yard "ranges" in the form of all the public land surrounding you. Find a good chunk of BLM with a good backstop, don't shoot over roads or trails, get some steel, and bang away. And get a new rifle because 'Merica!

^this^
Also you sounds very practical/smart with your choices of 223 and 6.5CM.
The 06 is your most practical smartest choice you can make.
My main rigs that come out are Tikka 223, tikka 6.5 CM, tikka 06.
The 270, 300 win, 9.3 stay in the safe

i would think that if you wanted to take a "backup" rifle on a hunt you would want it identical to your primary rifle. If you take a different gun and caliber as backup more than likely you will leave the wrong one in camp. Kind of dull but if it is just for backup otherwise if you are just looking for an excuse to buy another gun then go ahead and indulge with something different.

Welcome from the Black Hills, not too far south of you. Let me know if you need any ideas of places to shoot.

One idea would be to get a heavier rifle, also in 6.5 creedmoor. I know recoil is mild with the 6.5, but with a heavier rifle you could really focus on precision and shooting a ton. Who knows - you might find that you like that kind of shooting and start having more of an interest in long range. Then, in a few years you will have an excuse to buy a magnum when you want to reach out and get an elk at longer range.

The boys on my lease told me the same thing. I fixed that.

The wife watches those house remodeling shows on television and I've taken the same tactic with my own rifles by starting with good bones and improving what I already have. Honestly, I haven't seen a pinch of difference in how a deer falls over after I've shot them with a .30-30 or a .300 WM and anything in between. It doesn't need to be done all at once either. Swap out a Leupold to a Zeiss or a Nightforce. The mounts from a Weaver to a Conetrol. The trigger from a Walker to a Timney. The barrel to a Shilen. The stock to a Brown. The way I figure it, we don't have that long to be out rifle hunting here and what good is a safe full of other rifles if I can only use one at a time? Guaranteed that I'm going to be using a nice one when I'm out there. More than once I've read about you guys "thinning the herd" and I've got a few extras myself, but not enough for thinning just yet.

30-06 all day for what you describe.

HPT,

The three basic rifle categories most hunters should seek to cover is the varminter, medium hunting rifle, and thumper.

You have the varmiter and medium rifle categories covered. But for hunting large tough critters in wild country, something bigger's in order, in the range of the .338 Win mag to one of the modern .375's.

The .338 covers a wide range of hunting opportunities, and delivers sufficient energy at longer ranges for the largest North Americana or African plain's game.

Additionally, when hunting, I always take a backup, and have needed it more then once.

Considering your current firearms I would recommend a .30-06 or .308 Win for your seond big game rifle.My preference would the .30-06.

If you like exotic you could get a .280 AI. Very close to the same thing.

I would recommend you avoid magnums at this point. They are heavier, more costly and give little for all that bother.

After the .30-06 I would step up to a .338 Win mag and finally to a .375 H&H/375 Weatherby.

You can copy off mine... My two main hunting rifles are a 6.5 CM and a .30-06. With my chosen hunting loads, the .30-06 launches 180gr Accubonds at about the same speed the 6.5 CM launches 140gr Accubonds, making for a pretty much identical trajectory. Of course you can use slicker bullets in the 6.5, but I've had nothing but good terminal performance from the Accubonds.

So I'd probably recommend a .30-06 for your second rifle, it shares a similar trajectory with the 6.5 when loaded right, and is the first larger chambering that really represents somewhat of a step up from the 6.5 (although there's still plenty of crossover).

Really good advice. Give the 6.5 to Mom and you will have a .30-06 for yourself. If you like the rifle you have get another one just like it in .30-06. Factory loads are plentiful. The round is good enough for the game and predators found in the U.S.A. If you start reloading the work has already been done and published for .30-06. I've used a 7mm RM and if it is better than the .30-06 for an all round rifle I can't see it.

270 or 30-06 is never a wrong choice.

If you're going to keep hunting, you're eventually going to want a lighter weight rifle. Your wife would probably like a lighter weight rifle as well. You might as well stick with the 6.5 and buy something lighter weight. It depends on your budget, but a Tikka would shave a lot of weight off your setup, especially a superlite. There are plenty of other options, though, if Tikka doesn't float your boat.

Or go in a completely different direction and buy a lever action like a BLR. My wife thinks lever actions are "cuter."

When your wife told you that .270 Hawkeye was "pretty", you missed her big "hint"! ha A .270 will reach out, hit hard, has ammo all over God's Country, and the Hawkeye is a a tough one. Its not hard to get a Ruger Hawkeye to shoot 1" groups. You already posses the skill needed to shoot that well. And let me tell you, 1 inch groups "used to be the standard" for varmint rifles! ha A .270 is so close to a 30-06 on game, and so close to a 7mm Mag in trajectory, you will not regret it! "When" you start handloading ( you will LOVE IT) you can load up the 140 monos or 160PT for that .270 and slay buffalo! Just saying. I will add this, a 7mm Rem Mag is a very good long range deer rifle. But a .270 can keep up with it. A 30-06 with a 180/200gr can hurt an elk as easy as a 7mm Mag, and both calibers can be had in lighter, easier shooting rifles than a 7mm Mag. No flies on a 7MM Mag, just saying. Good luck to you, and let us know what you decided? Never, ever, defend "your choice", its your rifle, your money, and your Life!

PS Yes, you need a spare rifle. Yes I have needed one many times. Lots of reasons, some stupid, some funny, but all "needed" to save a hunt.

So my mind has gone through a number of scenarios and thought about a ton of options, and I'm actually leaning towards a .243 WIN. I can use my 6.5 CM as my primary rifle for elk (I can't help it - I'm a millennial), and the .243 can be a fun gun for my wife to shoot as well as me. We can both have a rifle for coyote hunting. I figure it can fill in even as an elk rifle in a pinch, although that would not be the main purpose.

I'm leaning towards a Tikka, but I wonder if its 1-10 twist would be limiting. The 90 grain Hornady ELD-X Precision Hunter ammo seems to be highly regarded as a hunting round, but I'm curious if there are other factory ammo choices that wouldn't work as well in a 1-10 twist barrel.

Do I need another big game rifle?

Well no. Need have nothing to do with it however. If you had a 30-06 you probably have all the rifle you NEED for about 95% of all the hunting you can do.
If you had a good semi-auto military style 308 you also now have a good fighting rifle so that brings you up to probably 98% of the things you would need.

But slaves are allowed what they need. Free Men buy what they want.

So buy guns for mission specific reasons. I buy and build myself guns because I LIKE them. I don't consider need at all.
I have 2 more on my "bucket list" and I have other guns that will do the job of the last 2 I want, and do it better. But that's not the point to me.
I want a Remington 141 in 35 Remington and I want a Ruger M96 in 44 mag. Both will work fine for my style of hunting but neither will shoot as accurately, as flat or are as powerful and many other guns I already have.

So what?


I am the weird guy the hunts (mostly successfully) 62 caliber with a flintlock . I am good enough with that rifle to hit antelope out to about 150 yards. So my 270 does it a LOT farther out as will my 300 magnum. But I don't enjoy killing them with those 2 rifles as much as I do with the flintlock
.
I LIKE it. That's all that matters to me. What others like is up to them.
Need is easily satisfied.
After that..............the real fun begins.

Let me be the wet blanket in this discussion.

Look, don't get me wrong. I WANT a new rifle. Need? That's a whole other thing.

With what you have already, you've got plenty of room to add another to the stable. I'm very partial to 30-06. However, let me give you some advice from a guy who bought his first rifle 40 years ago. There comes a time when you begin to realize there are ongoing costs involved. Besides normal shooting related costs in time, ammo, etc. You've got to clean a rifle every once in awhile, whether you shoot it or not. It takes up space; eventually the back of your closet won't be enough, and you'll have to buy your first safe. Those safes take up room, so eventually, you've got to figure floor space.

Me? I finished off a whole room for firearms and reloading. Now they're spilling back into my bedroom. I had a buddy die last year. His widow got help and it took over a week just to retrieve all the firearms from under beds, in drawers, etc. and get them all stacked in one bedroom. The bedroom was full when I went to look.

I reload, so for each new chambering, I've got dies to go along with the rifle. Then there are the bullets and maybe a different powder. All that costs and needs storage space.

I'm not saying don't buy any more rifles. I'm just saying that at some point the hidden ancillary costs of time and money for a rifle start to add up. I'm to the point where they're just is not enough time in the run-up to deer season to get all of the deer rifles properly sighted in and I'm now having to pick which ones I want to shoot at the whitetails right about now in order to have everything ready by mid-November.

Then I have all the other projects to contend with. There are rifles that I'm working on for accuracy. There are rifles that I need for personal defense. There are rifles just for [bleep]. (Do they have a season on [bleep] in your state?)

Mind you, I don't regret any of this-- at least not yet. The last time I moved, I spent a month getting the new room built and a whole weekend moving the stuff over. The next move, probably the last I'll make, will be a mother.