Over 200gr bullet, sd .250+, 2600+fps.

30-06.

probably could get away with my two 375 H&H's. Already have 1 416 Rigby and looking for another plus a 470NE coming.

It is hard to predict the future, but I don't see myself having much "need" for anything over a 270 wcf. My bullet weight of choice for 270 is 150 grs.

Sold my Ruger No.1 458 an while back, just have to make do with my 375 H&H. I really like this rifle.

with no plans to ever visit africa or alaska's big bears, I always end up at the same place...never a need for more than the ol '06. How boring am I?

Probably nothing bigger than .30-06, even though I've got a .270Win.




Leo

You are not boring, you are wise. I personally like my bullet choices to go faster than 3000 fps. I have a buddy who is a trophy hunter and he has at least, 2 dozen trophy's on his wall that fell to his 30-06 or 6mm.

One of the nice things about having one rifle you like is you get to grow old with it. None of my guns are older than 6 years. I once had an opportunity to own a 7mm Wby Mark V in 1977 but a burglary of the gun shop where it sat in lay-away nixed that. I finally was able to afford one after the two chick's flew the coop. Now it is me, my beyond explanation wife and my Loving-every-minute-of-it Weatherby, finally.

I'm proud for you.

My dad got me a .338 Win Mag as a college graduation present because he didn't know where life would take me and figured I'd be able to hunt anything in NA with it. SO, while I may not 'need' it, I'll always have a .338 Win Mag. Not sure for what I'll be able to hunt in my lifetime that anything else would be needed either...

reloader, I do have other rifles, but there all .270's, sakos and 1 pre 64-70fwt .270. my 06' is also a sako. I agree with Allen Day, that it's good to be familiar with an action/rifle and stick with it. It's taken years and many rifles to find what I like, but when you do it's a very nice place to be. I run 140's in the .270 and 180's in the 30'06. Figure I got it covered.

About 3 years ago they modified "primitive weapons" season here in Mississippi. You can now use metallic cartridges during this season, BUT there are a few catches.

1. Must be over .38 caliber
2. Must be a pre-1900 firearm or replica of.
3. Must have an exposed hammer.
4. Must be a single shot.
5. Must breach load


Come to find out a NEF Handi rifle is a replca of a single shot break action rifle that was first invented in 1878. It qualifies! That said a .45-70 loaded with the new ballistic tip 325gr Hornady .45-70 Lever-Revolution is about as good as anything else out to about 250yds. For that reason alone I NEED a .45-70 and that's about as big as I have.

I never liked muzzle loaders. The only reason I ever owned one was to extend my season.

Terry

I have never 'needed' any caliber larger than a 416 or 404, but I tried the rest of the big bores...settled on a 416 Rem custom rifle, a 375 and a 450-400 double as my favorites.

Docfoster,
That is a nice looking rifle, very nice.

These scenarios are so subjective. I could "get by" on a lot of cartridges, which means I don't "need" a lot of other cartridges.

So basically, this is the "one gun" thread all over. The best part for me is that I think I give a different answer each time! Today, the biggest cartridge I will ever "need" is: 35 Whelen shooting 250gr boolits. And that's only because some days I just "need" to carry a Whelen!!

Nice lefty Doc! I also think that my 375 H&H is the biggest I'll need but I want a 404 magazine rifle and a 470 double.

My lefty 375H&H:

375 H&H is probably the largest I'll ever NEED, but I already have a .416 Rigby, certainly won't need anything bigger.

Need? Well... probably a 30-06. However I own a really good .338 WM that I really like a lot, and a couple .325's too.

I don't have any desire to kill a brown bear, especially since the meat is usually just let lay, and African game holds little interest to me for some reason too, so it comes down to elk and moose. While my 30-06 perfectly capable of those beasts, I would most likely carry something a little bigger.

So I'm going to say .338 Win Mag, with the disclaimer that in North America short of grizzlies and the like, nobody "needs" one...

-jeff

.260 and 125 partitions with proper shooting but with that said the .35Whelen gets the nod for pigs, its just too dang effective. Not alot of stuff will put the big pigs down DRT like the .35

.270 winchester...

Doc, I hate to break it to you, but that gun is a defect-bolt is on the wrong side...reminds me of my brother holding a spinning rod and reel with the reel up-just don't seem right

Dave

The biggest round I�ll ever need is a 458 Lott, just to say I own one. The largest round I would need for hunting is a 300 Win but I get by with a 7mm Rem Mag these days.

12.04 (.475) Bibamufu. Because I'm a masochist?

9.3x62...good to go for anything I will ever see in North America and a good candidate for a one gun hunter. Although I own and shoot a modern swede, a 270, & a 300winmag...if push came to shove and the deevorce maggots held me to just one shooter I might take the 270 or flip a coin over the ole mauser.
Ron

My 416Rigby has served me well even on a clients wounded Cape buff and drops Ele quite nicely so I cannot envision needing bigger but I keep fondling the double guns in 475#2....

375H&H..........I hope,cause that's the biggest I have.

9.3X62.
Actually too big for anything in Idaho except perhaps elk, but it would be great for BC or Alaskan moose/brown bears.

In all reality.. A 270 is all I will ever need.. But hey, were all gun nuts right? So, If I ever go bear hunting in Alaska Im gonna need a 375 Ruger Alaskan, and If I ever go to Africa, then id love to have a 416 Rigby... However, the Kimber Carprivi 375 H&H is a beautiful gun.. Even though Id like a 470 Nitro double gun, unless I win the lotto the Caprivi would be the most expensive gun I would ever own.. However, a 270 will kill any thing in N. America except for the big bears...

300 Win. Mag

my 338RUM she will put down whatever I point her at. HAPPY HUNTING

Need? Probably .38-72-300
Use? Definitely .45-100-500

Since Africa is prolly outa the question, and I still have a bunch of stuff left to kill in North America. A 200gr pill outa 300 of some kind.

My 35 Whelen should take care of all my needs, though I would like to get either a 444 or 45/70.

I'd grab for my 375 Ruger Alaskan.

Sweet!

For me, it has been .338WM since 1968, although I own .375H&H, 9.3s and .45-70s, several of them and am thinkin'on buying a .416 Rigby from a friend, gawd knows why a geezer like me wants such a thing......

So, a matched pair of tuned,, synthetic stocked crf .338s, with good scopes, ghost ring/post irons and QD mts. is it plus a light .270 or .280 as a deer rifle. But, this would mean parting with guns I worked/saved for years to get, nope, NEED 'em ALL!!!

Twin 50's Got to shoot one while I was in the Navy...Man what a hoot...Twin barrel 50mm cannon...You haven't really lived until you fire one of them suckers...With Bio-tech research & genetic engineering going on who knows.... Real life though...I'd feel confident enough with anything from a .270 on up, to go for a walk any place on earth...

"One of the nice things about having one rifle you like is you get to grow old with it."

That's the way it's worked out for me. I bought my Winchester 670 .30-06 new in 1978 when I was just shy of my 19th birthday from K-mart. I'm now 48 and the ol' '06 has worked as well for me as I could have hoped. Plus, it's still sub-MOA.

I think it was in American Rifleman that I saw a piece called "My Favorite Rifle," or something like that, a few years ago. In it, there was a photo of this old man holding a rifle he'd used since the 1940s and he'd taken umpteen deer with it. Although I doubt I'll have the same headcount by the time I get to his age (ASSUMING I get to his age), I want to be using the same rifle I've been using if I make it.

Sure, I could replace my rifle with any model/caliber I'd like, but I guess I'm just too practical and loyal to a piece of machinery that works. I love the .30-06 for its versatility, even though I know it can be beat by many other calibers in specific areas, save for said versatility. The .30-06 is the perfect answer to the one-rifle question. YMMV.

Now, it's time for a confession. If I had to do it all over again, I'd choose either a 7-08 or a .260 Rem. (of course, I don't think either were available commercially back in 1978). That's not a knock against the venerable .30-06, it's just that I still haven't found that I need all of its versatility. But it's nice to know it's there if I ever do figure out how to use it. (Actually, I made up some handloads using Speer's 100-gr. Plinker bullet that would be great for cottontails, but I prefer to use my ol' 870 12 ga. for that chore.)
DAL357

416 Rem. Mag., but only for lion, hippo, Cape buffalo, rhino, and elephant, plus Asiatic bovines such those hunted in Australia........

AD

I'm thinking I "need" a Marlin stainless Guide Gun in 45-70 for hunting BlackBear in the rain forests of western Oregon. (don't want to get my CDL 35 Whelen wet!)
Virgil B.

405 Winchester and a 45-70 Buffalo Classic. Got 'em both. No need for anything bigger. Got most everything else I "need" but I have a "want" for a quarter bore -- 257Bob is looking pretty good if they are all like my brother's new Ruger MkII. Sweeeeeeet!

6,5x55 Swede..with the .300 Savage for fun out to 250 yards..
Have a good 30.06 bolt rifle..but seldom have needed it..Jim

These are two of my favorites. I hope you had a good Thanksgiving Jim.

Craig

.505 Gibbs. No doubt 'bout it.

She must have been beautiful,
the best of the lot, perhaps
more gorgeous than The Kraut herself
to force him to lift up
his elephant gun, his short, ugly,
shockingly big-bored .505 Gibbs,
straight out of the pages of "The Short,
Happy Life of Francis Macomber,"
and blow that parakeet to smithereens.

Doc that is a very nice rig, tell us a bit about it.

I love that open grip.

Thx

Dober

Biggest I need? 30-06; Biggest I want? 9.3 X 62!

Biggest I'll "NEED", hmmm... doubting I ever go out west and figuring I'll hunt the Southeast the remainder of my life, I'm dead sure I can get by with just a weak 'ole 6.5x55SE...

Left-handed model 70 of course, this rifle was put together by Bob West of Eugene Oregon. 23 inch Lilja barrel, Biesen bottom metal, Bastogne wood, rosewood grip cap, decelerator pad. one of the last Leupold Vari-x 11 3x9's. weighs 9.5 pounds and shoots very well. It's my only custom made rifle made by someone other than myself and is one of my favorites.

I'm afraid that it will be a very long time before we see any more left-handed Model 70's.

Doc

Since 99% of my hunting is for Kentucky White Tails,I could be quite content spending the rest of my days with my Remington Custom Shop Model 7 Mannlicher in .257 Roberts. The one percent of the time I am hunting elk I believe I could make do with a 115gr. Nosler Partition or TSX at 2800fps.

My 308 would more than suffice here in Pennsylvania!!!


But what fun is that, so I bought a 338 Federal and a 325 WSM!!!

__________________________
Sambubba,
Always in a spirit of thankfulness..:)Best to you and yours also.

Went to the 'big feast' at my daughter's this year and between the gals, they made so many different wonderful dishes I couldn't even sample them all!Jim

I went with 38-55 H&R BC but it is b***h to reload for. I'm thinking of rebarreling it to a 45-70.

But other than "primitive weapons" season I haven't used any thing larger than a .270 Win in 10 years. In the last 3 years I have moved to the .25 calibers.

I've been hunting deer with my .375 H&H for the last two years just to get some time on the rifle and just for the fun of it. What I have discovered is that it makes an excellent deer rifle. The 260 Accubond tears up less meat than most smaller calibers and puts them down right now. The extra weight of the rifle seems little bother even in hilly terrain and really settles down when it is time to shoot. I'm about to decide I've got a very practical deer rifle on my hands.

25mm chain gun, HE tipped...


Now if it just for the 'lower 48' I suppose I could make do with a 20mm.

Someone here MUST have a 460 Roy, no?

sorry! 416's & 470's are about my limit.

Hey, Lefty...
Did the original poster say they had to be shoulder fired??

I like big guns, but I must say all you need is a 375 or a 9.3x62. I would hunt anything that walks with either one.

Ed

In reality, my largest caliber at this time is the 9.3X62.
I would love to try it out on something big and nasty at some point.

Tim-
I simply cannot believe you don't own a 460......Pu$$y.

I DID have a 378wby and a 416Rigby, so do I get a pass, SKane??

I've heard bad things about the 378 --s'posed to be worse than the 460

the rigby is very shootable, but expensive!

Need = 30-06
Want = 338-06

I reckon you do.
Glad you've sinced backed it "down" to a modest 340 Roy...

The biggest cartridge I'll ever need? Why that'd be one to fit the biggest rifle I'll ever need. With three 30-06's in the safe and prospects for hunting anything bigger than whitetails (plains game) & maybe wild hogs (hippos) slim to none I'm set. Of course there's always that Whitworth Express in .458 Winchester sitting in the safe just waiting to be bloodied. Son & I are contemplating stuffing a case full of black powder under a big fat cast bullet as a challenge to the above mentioned African (Carolina) species. Hmmmmmmmmm.

I think a 375 should do it either a ruger or H&H. I can't see needing anything bigger than that.

I will hunt brown bear someday so I think it would be my 358STA. For eveything in the lower 48 my 325WSM will work :GRIN:

I can get by with my 6.5-284 norma....I have 2 300 winnies I want a full custom 338-375 ruger.....if it's ok to dream?

Unless I get to hunt buffalo in Africa, the 30-06 that I have is the largest that I need. What I want is a different subject.