Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Short range hunting

I know that long range rigs are the fad now.
Super magnums, ultra flat trajectories, 16x BDC optics and premium sleek high BC projectiles.
But...
For those guys that like to just cop a squat under a big oak or a low holly bush and shoot deer at double digit yards, what would be the perfect rig?
Add to the equation...small land parcels and no "right of retrieval" laws.
My personal preference is neck shots with rapidly expanding projectiles, red dot style optics that bottom out at 2x, and short barrels. I currently run a custom 17" bbl 336 with a 1.75-6 heavy duplex.
I sold a perfect little rig a few years back...ruger frontier with vxii 2-7...
My next buy is the ruger american ranch with either a fastfire or a 2-7 heavy duplex.

Mrs Tide bought me a Ruger American Ranch in 300 Blackout for Christmas. I had a Leupold 2x7 laying on the bench so that is what I mounted on it.

Haven't had a chance to shoot it very much, but it looks promising with 125 grain Ballistic Tips.

My second choice in your application would likely be one of the Ruger 77/357's.

Marlin 336 in 35 Rem with a low power scope

x2

or a 7600 carbine.

I hunt at 30/30 ranges each year....

any rifle ya want, but load it to 30/30 speeds...

example, a lot of this last season I was using either

1. Model 70 Featherweight, 7mm Mauser, with a 115 grain HP, charged with 28 grains of SR 4759...

2. Model 77 Ruger in 260 Rem, 85 grain Sierra HP, charged with 33 grains of H 322....

the deer I did pop the last day of the season... was a forked horn...Model 77 Ruger in 243, 30 grains of IMR 4198, old 100 gr SMP Sierra...

most of my rifles run 3 x 9s set on 3 or 4 power...
yet, I have 5 or 6 with a good old Bushnell Shotgun scope on top, with a Turkey or Circle X reticle...1 x 4 or 1.5 x 4.5 in power...which have worked well on deer out at 300 yds or so more than once...

My solution to that would not have anything to do with the rifle.

Cant see what is wrong with your current set up at double digit ranges.

I would love a custom built 35 Remington with a 20" barrel on a Remington 700 short action for a woods rifle. Or a Remington 760 Carbine. Those are getting harder to find it seems like. Otherwise a pre-safety Marlin 336 in 30-30 or 35 with a 2-7X scope would be my choice as well. 250 Savage or even a 300 Savage would also fill the bill. Choices, choices, it's good to have'em.

Typical rifles used for the terrain I hunt:

Ruger 77/44, 300 grain bullet at 1575 fps, Leupold 1-4X20.





Winchester M94, Post-64, Williams FP rear and Marble's bead front sight, too many deer to it's credit to list. Also my sentimental favorite.





Marlin Guide gun, Leupold FX-II Ultralight 2.5X20. Right now the load is a 300 grain bullet at 1650 fps.




I have bolt rifles in flatter-shooting calibers and use them, too, but the ones pictured above are very handy in thick timber/brush.

I use a Savage 99e in .308 with a Weaver Classic K4 in the heavy stuff. I like it.

Remington 141 in 35 rem. topped with a vx3 1.5-5x20 and a marlin 1895 45-70 topped with an FX-II 2.5x20 have worked well for me.

Just the other day with an 1895G and 2.5x20 Leupold in a thicket. You can see the entrance right on the bottom of the throat patch.

Nor can I.

Relative dropped one off yesterday for me to sell, has a Lyman peep on it also.

If someone is interested, pm me. I haven't had much of a chance to price them out yet. This one is probably 85%, pre cross bolt safety.

I usually prefer either my Cz 527 carbine in 7.62x39 or Rem 799/7.62x39. The 7.62x39 has been great out to 150 yds on deer.

For the really thick hunting in the Texas Piney Woods I like my 77/.357 with Trijicon 1.25-4 post reticule.

Or, there's the old Savage 340/.30-30.

Our close in hunting is often proximal to longer age opportunities, my two closest in rifle shots were 22? Yards with a Weatherby ultralight in .25-06 with a 2.5-8 Leupold and 8? yards with a .325 model 70 with a 2-12 Swarovski. Both worked just fine.

My woods is thick and I rarely gets shots longer than 100 yards. Most within 50-70.
I started with the Marlin lever in 35 and always thought it good choice. A semiauto carbine would also be a good choice. Often thought about that Ruger 44 auto but I've always been disappointed with Ruger.

I gave my brother a Savage 340 in 30-30 and he loves it. He lives in TX and shot a lot of deer with it.

Remington Model 700 Carbine 30-06 2-7 Leupy
Reminton Model 700 350 mag 20" Barrel 2-7 Leupy Ultralight
Ruger 375 Alaskan 20" Barrel 2-7 Leupy European-30
Remington Model 700 300 WBY mag 24" barrel 4.5-14 Leupy

Any and all work from 30 feet to 400 yds.

The short barrels usually get the nod though.

I agree. I would also consider a Savage 99 or BLR in 358 Win or a Ruger 77RS tanger in said cartridge.

In my experience, anything that works at 500 yards also works at 5. But I understand that there's a bunch of different hammers made for driving a bunch of different nails.

For my short range hunting I use my 38/55 Marlin shooting a 282 grain cast gc top with a 4X with a German#1.