Let’s talk favorite hunting rigs!

[Greyfox]

My favorite is my Copper 6.5x284, Huskemaw 5x20x50. 10.5 pounds. It's going on it's 9th season with dozens of whitetail, mule deer and antelope taken from 150-1200 yards. Lost count of the long range coyotes. Over 1000 down the tube and shooting the same was it did 9 years ago. Last years sighter, and Whitetails in Wyoming and Alberta.

 

[Peddler 76]

I'm just an old Whitetail hunter in upstate New York. My previous favorite was my Model 7MS .257 Roberts. For the last 4 years its been my Legendary Arms Works Professional Model 6.5 Creedmoor with a Leica ERi 2.5-10 x 42 #4 in Talley Lightweights.

 

[MudRunner2005]

Cute. Now whats in your hand. It had better be a rifle!

This is my rifle, this is my gun... This is for fighting, this is for fun.

 

[Holycity73]

The favorite all time was a Remington 700 Classic in 300 Weatherby. It was the first real hunting rig I ever bought. Topped with a Leupold Vari-XII 4-12x40AO with the fine duplex reticle. Tuned trigger to a touch over 2 pounds and added a brake. That rifle killed everything from chipmunks to elk. Scores of deer from the George Washington national forest in VA, prairie dogs and deer in SD, elk in Idaho, and deer and bears in MN. It has had somewhere between 5 and 7 thousand rounds down the tube and is kind of just a mantle piece now. It's kind of like that first great duck dog you ever have, there will never be another that can quite fill the shoes as well.

Sounds like we'd all be lucky if we had a wife as reliable and faithful as that rifle!

 

[sea2summit]

Boy, no love for a semi yet?

Larue tOBR 7.62, 16". Killed stuff in Alaska, Missouri, Texas, and Georgia. Many many many pigs, more than a couple yotes, deer. It lives by my door and goes for walks in the woods as often as I do.

 

[freddiej]

for the last several years it's been one of four guns that depends on the critter hunted.
Deer: one of these, high foliage/short range Mod 70 Featherweight carbine, 270 Winchester, , 2-7X35MM, 110 grain TTSX. LR- Tikka, 270 Win, 6.5-20X50MM B&C reticle, 110 TTSX/130 TSX, 140 TSX, plains, 270 WSM, Kimber 8400 Montana, 4-14X50, TTSX 140, Berger 140, Berger 150.
Elk, moose, black bear, 338 Win mag, rem 700, quick release scope mounts Leupold 4-14X50MM B&C, 225 or 250 TSX.
predators it would be 17 Rem, 22-250, 25-05.

 

[MudRunner2005]

I would say that's probably true for most of the people here. Most people still have one rifle in particular that they favor more over the rest. Mine would be my 6.5 if I could carry that heavy pig all day through the NH mountains.

Not particularly for hunting... I have one for each purpose, so they all serve a specific function, so I see them as "Today I'm hunting _____, at _____ to _____ distance, so I need _____ rifle." Kind of boring, but it's a very straight-forward dynamic and it's served me well for many years. Sometimes I'll use different ones for different things, just because their abilities overlap, but when it comes to shooting at living things, I try to go with humane and function over favoritism.

For range shooting, my 5R .308 Win is my favorite rig. Light recoil, excellent barrel life, surgically accurate, consistent, etc... etc...

 

[Creedmoor shooter]

Not particularly for hunting... I have one for each purpose, so they all serve a specific function, so I see them as "Today I'm hunting _____ and _____ to _____ distance, so I need _____ rifle." Kind of boring, but it's a very straight-forward dynamic and it's served me well for many years. Sometimes I'll use different ones for different things, just because their abilities overlap, but when it comes to shooting at living things, I try to go with humane and function over favoritism.

For range shooting, my 5R .308 Win is my favorite rig. Light recoil, excellent barrel life, surgically accurate, consistent, etc...

I'd like to get to the place where I had a rifle for each purpose. Only having 2 centerfires, I chose rifles and calibers that were very versatile. I dont see any new builds in the bear future unfortunately. I'd like to get my herd up to 4 centerfires. That would cover whatever I'd need to do.

 

[Ndfarmer]

My favorite hunting rifle is my Remington 700 Kreiger barreled 300 ultra mag. HS precision stock, timney trigger with z5 Swarovski.

 

[Gibbshooter43]

You say favorite, and my mind begins to spin. The first actual hunting rig that I bought myself holds a special place; a 250 Savage that pounded tacks. My first 30 caliber, or my first 270. No Creeds yet, but a 260 and a 6.5 Gibbs. And after years of looking, I finally was able to buy back a gun I'd sold years ago and kicked myself every day since it left - a custom stocked with beautifully grained walnut; 26" Douglas barrel; custom trigger tuned to 2.5 lbs (perfect for hunting); mounted on a 98 Mauser action, and topped with a Nikon 4 x 12. Yep - my favorite - a 240 Gibbs that's taken mules in Nevada, Blacktails in Washington, and Whitetails in Idaho (not counting yotes, groundhogs, and ground squirrels). I'm a happy man and blessed beyond what I deserve.

 

[yorke-1]

It's surprisingly boring, but a Ruger Alaskan in 375 Ruger with a VX3 2.5-8x32 has been my go to gun for almost 10 years now. There are lots of others sitting around and even more that have passed through over the years, but the 375 is the only one that's always sighted in and ready to go. For years it was loaded with a 260gr Accubond but more recently I've moved to the 275gr Sledge Hammer.

Second in line will always be the 338/375 Ruger Savage Striker.

 

[MudRunner2005]

I'd like to get to the place where I had a rifle for each purpose. Only having 2 centerfires, I chose rifles and calibers that were very versatile. I dont see any new builds in the bear future unfortunately. I'd like to get my herd up to 4 centerfires. That would cover whatever I'd need to do.

I've been there. It's something you have to really work towards...If that's what you desire. Some folks are good with just having 1 rifle, 1 shotgun, a rimfire, and a pistol. I like having lots of different rifles and calibers and cartridge options for collection diversity. I've been collecting rifles since I was 16 years old. It's taken a long time, and a lot of money, to get my collection to where it is today. And even by most standards, it's nothing compared to some folks' gun collections, in both value and quantity...Mainly because I hunt with/shoot all my guns. I don't have any safe queens that just sit and collect dust in the back corners of the safe.

 

[Creedmoor shooter]

I've been there. It's something you have to really work towards...If that's what you desire. Some folks are good with just having 1 rifle, 1 shotgun, a rimfire, and a pistol. I like having lots of different rifles and calibers and cartridge options for collection diversity. I've been collecting rifles since I was 16 years old. It's taken a long time, and a lot of money, to get my collection to where it is today. And even by most standards, it's nothing compared to some folks' gun collections, in both value and quantity...Mainly because I hunt with all my guns. I don't have any safe queens that just sit and collect dust in the back corners of the safe.

Never saw the point of a safe queen. If I buy/build a rifle I'm gonna shoot the thing!

 

[MudRunner2005]

Never saw the point of a safe queen. If I buy/build a rifle I'm gonna shoot the thing!

You'd be surprised how many rich old guys buy $15,000 Dakota's and Shiloh Sharps rifles, and let them just sit in their gun cabinets on display... I sold a few back in my gun store days. Usually to the same guys over and over again, but that's beside the point. They wanted them just because. I wasn't arguing, because selling a $12,000 rifle sure looks good on your daily sales record.