Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles One rifle, all of North America.

stainless 30-06 with a kevlar stock, fixed 4X scope.

Have you guys noticed any advantage from one to another? I use nothing but .270 win and debate with my buddies that have '06s all the time.

if I could only have one rifle it would not be a Remington 700. I have owned many of them and never had a problem. But I just cannot wrap myself around the extracter . I would want a mauser type action.you can change the extracter without any tools so a replacement would be carried with the rifle. 30-06,308,or 223 caliber as the ammo is more avaible.JMO

I think you are right, somewhat. I know a LOT of guys here in the midwest, who hunt with a 30-30 every year, or a 742 Remington in .243, because that's what they have. Some of them are still using the box of shells they bought five years ago, and most of them have long stories about tracking deer well after dark.

I, on the other hand, currently have, among others, a pre-war Model 70 in '06, a Remington Mountain Guide in .308, and a Marlin Guide Gun .45-70, plus a Model 70 Classic Featherweight in 6.5x55 that I just got. All of these get shot regularly, because I love to shoot. My interest here is in building yet another rifle, or modifying an existing one, to fit the one-gun profile as best as it can be done. Not because I am too cheap to own more than one rifle, but because I am looking to put together one that fits my vision of the ideal one-gun rifle. One that always does the job asked of it, whatever that might be, and makes you want to use it more than the rest. And for the record, I have not tracked a deer in better than 15 years, because I have not had to. Call it the result of shooting the rifle year round.

Extremes notwithstanding, like the 30-06's ability to use 200TSX's or 200+ NP's, I think it is completely a mental exercise.

For open field deer and other long range stuff, the 270 shoots a bit flatter. But for either you still need to know how far it is, and know where to hold. That flatter trajectory with the 270 does give you a bit more margin for error if you don't use a rangefinder and some sort of aiming device like dots in a scope.

For larger stuff like moose and elk, I am more comfortable with the larger bore of the 30-06. But I know the 270 will do the job too. A good friend of mine uses my handloads in his 270 year after year to take moose. He rips a 150 Hornady through the ribs and watches them topple over.

Truthfully, the 30-06 makes me more comfortable due to the large population of grizzlies that live in this part of BC. Even the farm I hunt each fall for deer has a large sow (with two 2-year old cubs last year) that live in the woods and silos there. For those, especially three of those, larger is better.

Either way, pick the one that blows your hair back. Pick a good bullet and as a shady character on here sez, "Go forth and fill up an ark!"

I guess it would depend on how spendy I was. Right now I could live with the Blaser R-93 7mm RM very well and quite happy too. Ditto's for the Sako 75 in 338. But this is not the question. One Rifle cartridge for all of North America, Common sense would say something 30-06 and Winchester M-70 but common sense has nothing to do with either hunting or the rifles we like or think we like. So If I was really flush I would have D'Arcy Echol's build me a Legend in 300 Winchester Mag and call it a day, Put what ever scope he suggests. If I am not so flush, I would call up Mel Forbes and Have him build me a NULA Model 28 in 7mm Remington Mag and put a fixed 4x Ziess Conquest or spend a bit more for a S+B. Both would be very shootable. The legend would be heavier and so the recoil would be about the same with the NULA. These sort of questions live on the internet for some reason, I never really gave it much though in the era before windows 95 and Compuserve at 2.50 an hour. Now it seems that we have this sort of question on a regular basis. Oh well its spring and there is a lot of boardom.

North America is a large continent. I would feel comfortable with my .300WBY on everything from prairie dogs to AK brown bears. I have a farmer buddy that has shot a gazillion KS coyotes with one in a pre-64 mod 70 out to 7-800yds.

I dreamed one time about only having one rifle. It turned out to be a nightmare!

A stainless Sako chambered for 300 Win mag.

A FN commercial Mauser action cradled in a laminate stock, chambered in 30-06. It would be topped with a wide view Redfield 3x9 and a set of back up irons.

When it comes to cartridges; I am a firm believer that it all starts with the 30-06 as the perfect compromise and then moves up or down to ideally fit conditions and game.

You just can't go wrong by starting with the 30-06 and then learning how to hunt and shoot. That wouldn't feed our addiction,now would it?

338 Winchester (remember all of NA). stainless synthetic with 4X Schmidt & Bender German #4 in Weaver steel mounts. (Yes the old bulletproof ones). Steel white line front sight and NEGC peep (fits weaver base) in trap butt.

Tell me what it won't handle?

No question it will work as well as about 50 other combinations.

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One rifle???

Idiocy in the extreme!

But I have killed more animals with a Tikka/Ithaca M65/LSA65 chambered in 30-06 in the last 35 years than any other rifle I own, other than a 22LR.

I generally like to match the caliber to the game, and I hope lightning doesn't strike me for saying this, but I think if I never buy another rifle, I already have good enough spread of calibers in my safe to have one matched to every game animal and season in North America.

But to answer the question of this thread, if I had to pick one rifle for all animals in North America, varmints to brown bear, close in the dark timber or on the next ridge, I would grab my .300 Weatherby with it's 4-12x Leupold.

Rick, where I hunt here in the Yellowstone region we have an abundance of grizzlies. I've never been especially concerned about them, despite cutting their fresh tracks year in and year out. I'm convinced a 270 with a good bullet would be no better or worse than a good bullet from a 30-06. But I tend to like heavy-for-caliber bullets and would run 150 partitions in the 270 or 180's in the 30-06.

Either is ideal as a one-rifle-rifle no doubt. On a given day, I could do either one. The 270 kicks less and in a light rifle like the Kimber MT 84L that's not exactly a bad thing.

my vote would be a .35 whelen built on a mauser action with a 25 inch stainless steel barrel bedded into an all weather synthetic stock

I like da .270 as well

Thinkin' a guy should eventually get both and then be saved a good deal of torment and anguish....till it comes time to go hunting when you can only carry one LOL!

Ruger MKII stainless synthetic 30-06 could do it all, on the cheap.

I hate you a little less.