Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles need reccomendations...TWO Rifles ONLY........best calibers?

223 or 243
270 or 30-06

The 223 and 30-06 match up pretty nicely in trajectory, making it easy to learn to hit at longer ranges. Same can be said for the 243/270 combo.

Or skip it all and run a 308, and get a duplicate to it for backup.

At one time I owned over 100 centerfire rifles. A serious family need called for sacrifice. I kept the two rifles in calibers that I have used the most for everything in the lower 48. They are in 243 and 270. I really don't miss the rest and don't feel under gunned either.

My whitetail deer tally is is near 150...lost track at 125. It happens when you get old!

7mm Mag for the Elk and 223 for varmints.

IMHO, it would be the 25-06 and 375H&H.

25-06 for varmint thru deer.
375H&H for the bigger critters.

But again IMHO, if you're going to hunt big bears in AK, you need a guide and you're looking at at least a $10k hunt. If you're going to do that someday and then buy the bruin buster (someday) ... you're only adding $1k to a $10+k hunt. To that end I would suggest a .243Win (or 7-08) and a 7RM.

Good Luck!!

I like this idea.

257 Roberts & 35 Whelen

243Win
308Win
Sakos of course

I almost put this in my list as "if you read a lot of '1950s Field and Stream'"

270 win 375 h&h covers it all!!!

223 and 280

I was thinking the same thing- covered just about every thought that entered the mind.......

Welcome to the campfire.
There have been some excellent suggestions, but I think the more you shoot, the more the gun loonie is alowed out to play. Tell us in a couple years what your third rifle was.

My suggestion, based only on personal use and satisfaction

1) 3006
2) 257 Roberts
3) because it is coming, 338 winmag

Randy

personally i decided on 243 and 300 saum, both in model 7s that have been trued and rebarreled with hart barrels, when i went thru a similar thought process

WOW, thank you all for the thoughtful input. This really seems to be a great forum...after reading all your posts, I should answer some of the questions/assumptions for clarification, please feel free to refine your input based on the following:

1. Big Brown Bears (big money guided trophy hunts)are out for this decade. I am only hunting for meat, excercise, and face time with God's ceation for now.

2. Reloading: not yet, hopefully someday. Ammo cost is a factor, now thatyou mention it...I am not a total cheapskate (like my brother :), but to be practical, cheaper ammo means more shooting, right?

3. RE: Smaller rifle- maybe I should lean more toward the larger calibers (.243, .25-06, etc.)of your recommemdations since I care more having an extra deer rifle for family to share than zapping prairie dogs for example...sure I will enjoy the shooting practice on ground hogs to help a farmer maintain his fields, or coyotes.

4. RE: recoil, it only SOMEWHAT of a concern...while I am not afraid to shoot bigger gun, I have been told that shooting better is more important than massive power...

hopefully, this info allows all of your collective years of wisdom to be applied more precisely...

That's great!

Of course, 223 and 30-06 is the only true two rifle battery, IMHO...grin.

As for needing both rifles to kill deer, the 223 is plenty capable - especially with the little 53 TSX's zipping along at 3200+.

Anyone with only 2 rifles has to have a 223 or 22LR, IMHO.

DJ

Just buy one for now, the 30-06. Hunt with that for everything varying your bullet weights from 150gr to 200gr.. If and when the time comes to hunt varmints, look at the .204 or a .223..
Good luck.

7mm Rem Mag and a 6mm Remington...both in bolt actions....put 3.5-10 Leupolds on both and call it good. If the smaller of the two were never to be used for deer I'd swap the 6mm for a 22-250....but if the varmint shooting included gophers I'd swap the 22-250 for a 223.....

.243 and .30-06.

I would err on the side of a little too much, rather than a little too little. .270 WIN and .338 WIN MAG - you could hunt virtually any game with those two.

MAN!!!! Thats like trying to pick which TESTICLE to keep. OUCH!

For well over 20 yrs I had a great time with a 22-250 and a 30-06. I've never hunted Alaska, but I'd take the '06 without a second thought. Run Partitions in both.

The 260 Rem and 300 Win Mag would make a fine duo.

The 260 Rem and 338 Win Mag might be the perfect combo though!