Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Who here uses "too much rifle"

I like to run a 376 Steyr. It's fun, accurate....I push a 270 @ 2500 from a 20" tube.
Recoil is very manageable.
Bullets are tough and don't detonate so meat loss is not as bad as the uninitiated assume.

Who else likes to use excessive for animal rounds?

no such thing. I once shot bullfrogs with 378 bee.

Used the 400J #1 on Whitetail once.

Worked good too...

I don’t think there is such a thing as too much rifle. If you can shoot it accurately and comfortably, and it is portable enough for you style of hunting, use it.....it’s a personal decision!

It’s far easier to be “undergunned” than “overgunned”! memtb

I've shot a lot of stuff with Way Too Much gun. Some of the worst examples are: 5# coyote pup with a 458 B&M, 100# pig with a 500 N.E., and a 110# whitetail doe with a 458 Lott. Ads a sense of adventure to fairly "mundane" hunts. Oh, and no need for follow up shots!

Nope. I like 308 Winchester........... for big game, not squirrel.

Got invited to hunt on the East Coast. I asked the in-law what should I hunt with, and he said "bring a lever action and you'll be fine".

So I did

I’ve entertained myself with shooting rockchucks with a .300 Win Mag😂

Depends on how and who looks at it and their perspective on what’s excessive for the game hunted. But I could have been one of those guys having used a 340 Wby over a quarter of a century for elk.

But I shot it a lot, could control it, and really liked the cartridge, and just as importantly, I liked the rifle I had had built on a Rem 700 action.

Also, unlike the reports of many here, I took some 80% of my elk at between 350 and 500 yards without any apparent way to cut the distance at the time of each opportunity. These were all one-shot kills and I had great confidence in the rifle and the cartridge.

Three or four were taken between 100 and about 150 yards.

I always realized that the 340 wasn’t necessary to take elk and never would have said so, but it wasn’t until I got older and didn’t like the 8.5 lb (which really isn’t all that heavy considering the medium magnums) ready-to-go weight while climbing mountains and carrying some sort of pack that I gave it up.

And honestly, as you get older recoil doesn’t get any dearer either. I did take two bulls, one with a 30/06 and another with a 284 Win and both did fine, the former at 400 yds again, and the latter at about a hundred.

I have shot coyotes with a .300 Win and I liked it! 😁.....Hb

The older I get, the more I enjoy hunting with, and carrying, my big-bore handguns for hunting- 3-3.5 lbs. is a lot more enjoyable to carry than 8.5-9 lb. magnum rifles. Of course, I get the argument of using 'too much handgun', but that is another argument for another day......

Down here we use 150 grain SGK's in a 300 WM to shoot bull frogs. Hit them in the body and it makes skinning the legs easier. I fact the legs are already skinned.

I've killed 2 deer with a .338 RUM and 3 with an 8 mm Rem mag. I deer hunted a couple if times with a .416 Rem mag but never had a shot opportunity. So yeah, I've done it.

IMHO, too much rifle is relative.....

I've shot crows in the tops of pecan trees with a 17 remington and 20 gr. bullet. If you've ever seen a pillow explode during a pillow fight, the effect is much the same.

I've killed pigs with 100 gr. Partitons out of a 257 weatherby @3,650 fps. and the results were significantly more blood shot meat than a 45-70 using a 400 gr. bullet under 2000 fps.

I've also killed deer using 180 gr. Ballistic tips out of a 338 RUM @3,400 fps, and had the meat turned to jelly for about 12" in diameter.

IMHO, bullet construction and velocity make much more difference that the diameter of the bullet!

BTW,
I love the 376 Steyr on hoglets



ya!

GWB

Yup, I am guilty My usual 6.5 Grendel Is way more than enough gun for our midwest Whitetail that seldom go over 300 lbs on the hoof. A 6mm ARC or 300 BLK would suffice for my type of hunting. Seldom do shots exceed 100 yards.

Shot this doe a few years ago with a .404 Jeffery. Then a week or so later shot a buck out of the same blind with a .221 Fireball.

After watching grandkids slay deer and pigs plus a couple Aoudads, yes I’m using too much gun.


I don’t care. I like my rifles.

Same here. I’ll run a 300 RUM, 338 Win or 375 Improved just cause I want to. They don’t hurt meat much on rib shots and heck, you only get so much time to hunt!

I’d try a 416 if I had one. In the same breath I’ve used 222, 223, 22-250 and about everything in between. It’s all in the name of fun. GeeDub nailed it when he said it’s the Bullet used more than the diameter.

Shot my first and biggest Sitka Blacktail with a 458 Winchester pushing 350 Hornadys at 2550. He was 210 yards away up a hillside on Kodiak and it sounded like you whacked a plastic trash can with a 2x4 when it hit him in the chest.

I’ve killed deer with a hot rod 45/70 and pigs too.

After changing my ways and seeing how well 223 kills with good bullets I probably ain’t going back to the boomers.

Given that the 250 Savage is probably perfect for deer, my 308 and 30-06 are too much.

Given that the 308 is OK for elk, then my 338 WM was too much.

But I'm comfortable with my choices.


Okie John