Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters What top 3-5 rifles for hunting the world? Gunwriters et al.

Finally, thought I was going to get through this whole thread and not see what I was thinking.

I doubt I'll ever get to hunt the world. But I'd probably use my .300 win and build a .416 rem.

Ralphie of course varmints are important stuff...but who wants to get into discussions about rifles to shoot them?

I gotta assume that by the time a guy starts to seriously consider hunting BG world wide,he's already cut his teeth on a bunch of varmint rifles and varmint shooting...then again, maybe not.

I like your choices. I like Doc Bill's choice of the 7mm Mashburn as well,and that would be my pick...if it were a factory round.Much as I love it,thoughts of getting ammo in Africa are pretty remote.

oops

I think a battery of 2 rifles would suffice for anything in the world. One would be a 7X08 Remington for anything up to elk and, the second would be in 458 Winchester for anything larger or for dangerous game.

Now Bob, the Mashburn was even less of a factory round when Warren hauled it all over the African bush years ago. Why then and not now?

Doc for some reason I knew you were gonna say that....

I meant it in a generic sense;I'd take mine depending on the situation and if I knew the outfitter had a decent backup rifle.I have had a snafu or two where rifle and ammo got seperated by the airlines,so there is a risk;in all likelihood everything would work fine.I sure didn't build mine to leave it home!

A 257 Roberts, a 30-06 Springfield, and a 375 H&H.

I could come up with a lot of variations on this theme, any of which you could make a good case for. Since I'm limited to just 3 (or 5), one would need to be a drilling.

1. 223 Varmints and Coyotes
2. 243 Coyotes and Varmints
3. 308 (20" barrel) Deer and Big Game
4. 30-06 Big Game and Deer
5. 375 Big Game and Bigger Game

I have 4 of the 5 (no 375 yet) based on M70's and feel I've got my bases well covered for the hunting I do.

Can't resist chiming in with my 2 cents. I own all of these rifles in their preliminary stages of build and will consider my life complete when they are all finished. They are all bolt action repeaters.

1) .22LR (too much fun not to have one)
2) .22-250 Rem. (everything smaller than deer, as far away as I can see)
3) .308 Win. short and light (bush gun)
4) .270 Win. long and heavy (beanfield rifle)
5) .338 Win.Mag.(everything I might ever want to kill)

Since we are dreaming, I'm going with 5 that I don't have but want.

1. .22-250
2. .257 Weatherby
3. 7 Mashburn
4. .375 H&H Mag (which I will call the Belted Rimless Nitro-Express because it sounds so very colonial)
5. .458 Lott

What does practical have to do with anything around here?

So many options. I am reviewing above and I'd go with the more standard cartridges myself.

The 270 win, 300 win mag, 338 win mag and 416 rem mag would be the combo I think most practical.

Is the 416 Ruger gaining popularity in Africa yet?

Hmm some nations don't allow military even former cartridges and some regions have caliber restrictions for the smaller stuff. The op was specifying center fires so I will assume a shotgun and rimfire are separate.
.22-250 gophers to deer
.30-30 lever, because why not? Modern ammo makes it a 250+ yard deer size game gun, and a light handy carbine can be a blessing.
7mm rem mag everything in NA except bison. Although the rifle loony in me is whispering .300 H&H.
.458 Winchester
And since I am only at 4 lets add a .375 H&H

Well for me the top gun builder would be Holland & Holland: Cause we are just Dreaming Right!

Cartridge Choice for everything in the world would be:

.240 H&H
.300 H&H
.375 H&H
.465 H&H

These 4 Rifles would cover everything from mice to godzilla.

Cost per rifle 25000 GBP = $40,540 USD but if I can afford to hunt all over the world I should be able to afford $40K per rifle!

These would be my current choices;

240 PSP
7x57
300 WSM
358 Norma Mag
416 Rigby

Obviously, subject to change.

donsm70

If you needed a fifth rifle you could add a 27 Holland & Holland or a 400 Holland & Holland.

Hunting " the world" is quite different than hunting North America. Ammunition availability would be one of my main considerations. If hand loading was not in the picture, I will suggest two cartridges I don't think anyone else mentioned here, the 7.62x39 and .308 Winchester ( 7.62 Nato )

The Soviet 7.62 cartridge is the most commonly used small arms chambering, world wide. No contest. It is a decent edible small game/fur and smallish big game round at fairly close ranges.

The Nato round is used in both military and sporting versions world wide, and can serve admirably as the mid range mid sized big game round.

I did not include any of the long range specialist rounds because that is not how I choose to hunt, others may feel a need for flatter trajectory but not me.

Anything not appropriate for the .308 could be handled by the .375. I have not hunted buffalo or elephant in Africa, bit my understanding is that a heavy rifle is not really required if one can shoot a .375 with good bullets and hit what is aimed at. I killed everything I shot at in Africa with a 30-06, and a .308 would have worked as well on everything except the Eland, where a .375 would have been welcome. I have used a .308 with full satisfaction for our Canadian game for years, and see no compelling reason to shoot a more powerful or longer range cartridge for that purpose.

My list would be:
.22 LR - Practise, and all the really small stuff
.223 - Just because high volume varmint shooting, roe deer, "Tiny ten" antelope or if long range fur bearers might be in the program
7.62x39 - as already mentioned
.308 - general purpose do almost everything round
.375 H & H - when more muscle is needed for the big or nasty stuff

One other note, I'd have the 7.62x39 and the .375h & H in stainless synthetic configuration, with back up sights installed.

Here are my current 4:

Ruger 10/22 with bull barrel and a good scope.

Marlin 357 mag lever action, for anything from bunnies with cast bullet 38 specials to close range pigs and deer with heavy 357 mags.

Rem 600 7mm-08, for antelope and deer with a 120gr BT @ 3000 fps up to elk with a 140gr TTSX or Partition.

Ruger M77 tang safety 30-06, for everything up to and including the big bears.

Nothing bigger - I have no interest in elephants or cape buffalo, and probably couldn't shoot any of the really big guns well enough anyway.

Five guns:
1. marlin 25 .22lr santa claus brought me 30 some years ago

2. .243 reminton 700 that was my uncle's and is the only thing I have that was his........

3. 7x57 ruger that was my fathers

4. A utilitarian grade custom .458 win mag. that fits perfectly

5. 12 ga. Browning Citori field gun I got in a swap for a rem 870 express(good deal)

Covers all my hunting needs or imaginations....


I have a dedicated long range gun in 260 and an 8x57 also , but are not needed

The topic is....3-5 RIFLES ! :

.223 rem
.260 rem
30-06
9.3x62
458 Lott