Ive had alot of hunting rifles built from 6 pounds to 13 pounds, and even hunted with my 18lb AI. After years of changing rifles and trying it all ive settled on 9-9.5 pound rifle fully loaded out is perfect for everything from chasing sheep in the high country to shooting whitetails from a box blind.
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Hunting & Fishing Your “go to” hunting rifle?
- Thread starter rookie7
- Start date
My main hunter is a Tikka T3 (before superlite was a thing) in factory configuration with a 3-12 LRHS.
Easy to shoot, easy to carry.
Have toted a heavy rifle on short walks for long sits for deer before, with mellow hills and not an issue.
17 lb 6.5 Man bun from prone off a bipod for a longer shot sure is easy though!!
Almost boringly easy.
ETA: -13 air temp with high humidity and 10+ mph breeze made it “less boring”.
My rifle, which is about 12.6lbs with suppressor (as pictured here), is for deer hunting around Southern AZ. A few miles of walking along and around our mountains here. This will be my first year hunting here, so it may be completely different next hunting season
Right now, not far. I hunt on public hunting land and it is not quite a mile from ne end to the other but it is heavily forested. My rifle loaded with 5 rounds is 13 pounds 4 ounces. Eberlestock J34 Just One pack. Trigger stick. Water bladder. Rope, gambrel and pulley.
And wearing my S&W M&P M2.0 in 9 mm in a drop holster.
Two hours or more to a hut or fly camp spot. Maybe 4 hours the next day, interspersed with glassing and the odd doze.
I know I’m replying to a necrothread, but I gotta know: how do you like this? Been seriously thinking about building one.
I like it. Built it for bears and elk. Took a few bears with it, and one cow. It kills really well. Only thing i’d change at this point is the bolt knob. Eh, maybe the trigger too, as ive come to like the geissele two stage triggers. Without the giant ocular of the razor 1-8(first scope), the large bolt knob unnecessary. Funny you posted, as I was just thinking I might send it on to someone else. I robbed the scope off of it several years ago and its just been sitting.
I have done that for goats but my ZG 47 in .30-06 is a hell of a lot lighter than an SLR L1A1 and the scope is a 4x so not too heavy. I was trained to read a map, navigate across country and judge distances. I do not need to carry a range finder or other extraneous varmint style kit. For bush stalking I can remove the scope without loss of zero and use the excellent open sights.
If someone else needs the extra kit and can drive or fly it to an ideal spot, that is their business.
P.S. I have acquired a nice 7.62x39 bolt-action rifle (also with open sights) but have yet to sight it in.
My go-to rifle for deer here in the Ozarks would be a Savage Axis in .223. Light weight, very accurate with my handloads. For squirrels, my Ruger 10-22 or my Marlin .22 bolt action.
I generally put 5 or 6 deer in the freezer every year. I don't hunt anymore. Don't have to...
So, my favorite deer harvesting tool is OTHER PEOPLES' CARS. Let me explain:
Since 1998 I have called the local cops, highway patrol, Conservation dept, or sheriff and say, "Put me on your deer list." There are a LOT of whitetail deer around here, and they often get hit inside the city limit, often around the golf course, sometimes on the interstate.
Whenever someone hits a deer, they generally call the cops & file a report. 911 dispatch then immediately calls me to come pick it up. Sometimes the cop waits for me & sometimes they actually help me lift it into my truck. One local fat guy donut eater insists that I BRING MY OWN GUN TO KILL IT! (Something something fat slob don't wanna use his issue pistol inside city limits cuz it's dangerous/loud/whatever...) Other city cop said no problem, you just call me & I'll shoot it no problem. 911 dispatch called me TEN times in 2020, eleven times in 2019. Lots of deer getting hit around here. Local butchers are covered up & won't do deer anymore, except for the short gun season, so I process them myself.
Generally, the deer has one or two broken legs and is 50% of the time still alive when I get there. I get.PISSED. because it's inhumane to let an animal lay there & suffer. I want fatass to put it down asap, but he's really fat, & won't do it. In the city, traffic speeds are slow enough that they just get bumped to the side of the road with minimal damage, but hit enough to either break their legs or kill them outright. Along the interstate, if they get hit by a truck it can smash em up pretty bad & toss it 40 feet. Pass.
Sometimes the back ham is bruised. I just cut out the bloody meat & process the rest. Fresh meat, free, just laying there very conveniently by the side of the road, dead less than 30 minutes. Bonus of a free hide with no holes, bones, sinew, brain... I've been doing this since 1998. I learned how to braintan deer skins, and will chop the head to extract the brains. Braintan deerskins are buttery soft, just like a big chamois. I'm not as good as some of my friends, but I do OK.
Backstrap sinew and leg sinew is useful for primitive arrows, tying on feathers & stone points. Why waste free meat? Eating roadkill sounds disgusting, but not the way I do it. I finally had to buy a powered meat grinder for all that hamburger and a commercial meat slicer for all the jerky I make. When cooked in chili or spaghetti, you can't tell what kind of hamburger it is... And nothing better than fresh backstrap on the grill, sliced thin! Nobody EVER turns down my deer jerky. The only problem with deer is they mostly don't have any fat on em, and fat tastes good.
On occasion, I can get a double.
Easiest one was just a few blocks away. Sometimes they're out in the county, but usually they're right in town.
I do all my own butchering. A saws-all is good. A pulley/rope system to hoist.
Only once have I ever had bad meat. Got a call one time in Springfield, Missouri to come get "two does" that got hit. Turns out it was twin button bucks running together & got plastered by the same car at the same time. One was just fine... the other absolutely STUNK! Every part of it, the meat, the bones, the skin smelt like... Really gamey. Like it had been eating onions or garlic or something. Had to soak the meat in buttermilk to get rid of the smell/taste.
(shrugs shoulders) It's just how I do it.
First deer I ever shot with a firearm, I killed with a Chinese SKS, from about 10 feet away.
I generally put 5 or 6 deer in the freezer every year. I don't hunt anymore. Don't have to...
So, my favorite deer harvesting tool is OTHER PEOPLES' CARS. Let me explain:
Since 1998 I have called the local cops, highway patrol, Conservation dept, or sheriff and say, "Put me on your deer list." There are a LOT of whitetail deer around here, and they often get hit inside the city limit, often around the golf course, sometimes on the interstate.
Whenever someone hits a deer, they generally call the cops & file a report. 911 dispatch then immediately calls me to come pick it up. Sometimes the cop waits for me & sometimes they actually help me lift it into my truck. One local fat guy donut eater insists that I BRING MY OWN GUN TO KILL IT! (Something something fat slob don't wanna use his issue pistol inside city limits cuz it's dangerous/loud/whatever...) Other city cop said no problem, you just call me & I'll shoot it no problem. 911 dispatch called me TEN times in 2020, eleven times in 2019. Lots of deer getting hit around here. Local butchers are covered up & won't do deer anymore, except for the short gun season, so I process them myself.
Generally, the deer has one or two broken legs and is 50% of the time still alive when I get there. I get.PISSED. because it's inhumane to let an animal lay there & suffer. I want fatass to put it down asap, but he's really fat, & won't do it. In the city, traffic speeds are slow enough that they just get bumped to the side of the road with minimal damage, but hit enough to either break their legs or kill them outright. Along the interstate, if they get hit by a truck it can smash em up pretty bad & toss it 40 feet. Pass.
Sometimes the back ham is bruised. I just cut out the bloody meat & process the rest. Fresh meat, free, just laying there very conveniently by the side of the road, dead less than 30 minutes. Bonus of a free hide with no holes, bones, sinew, brain... I've been doing this since 1998. I learned how to braintan deer skins, and will chop the head to extract the brains. Braintan deerskins are buttery soft, just like a big chamois. I'm not as good as some of my friends, but I do OK.
Backstrap sinew and leg sinew is useful for primitive arrows, tying on feathers & stone points. Why waste free meat? Eating roadkill sounds disgusting, but not the way I do it. I finally had to buy a powered meat grinder for all that hamburger and a commercial meat slicer for all the jerky I make. When cooked in chili or spaghetti, you can't tell what kind of hamburger it is... And nothing better than fresh backstrap on the grill, sliced thin! Nobody EVER turns down my deer jerky. The only problem with deer is they mostly don't have any fat on em, and fat tastes good.
On occasion, I can get a double.
Easiest one was just a few blocks away. Sometimes they're out in the county, but usually they're right in town.
I do all my own butchering. A saws-all is good. A pulley/rope system to hoist.
Only once have I ever had bad meat. Got a call one time in Springfield, Missouri to come get "two does" that got hit. Turns out it was twin button bucks running together & got plastered by the same car at the same time. One was just fine... the other absolutely STUNK! Every part of it, the meat, the bones, the skin smelt like... Really gamey. Like it had been eating onions or garlic or something. Had to soak the meat in buttermilk to get rid of the smell/taste.
(shrugs shoulders) It's just how I do it.
First deer I ever shot with a firearm, I killed with a Chinese SKS, from about 10 feet away.
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I thought that sight was for taking aim at uneducated customers and selling them garbage like GLCs with ‘built-in at the factory’ tyre scrub?
My go-to is a RBros 300PRC on a Atlas with a Proof tube and Manners stock topped off with an AMG and fed with a steady diet of 230 Berger and H1000.
When I miss, it's my fault.
When I miss, it's my fault.
how many guys shoot from, and average distance?
blinds
tree stands
ground uncovered/against a tree
walking
thicker "woods"
plains/farmland
in southern NY (and most of the north east) its mostly thick woods not many far shots at all
edit: makes it easy, except the population density means the deer re smart lol
blinds
tree stands
ground uncovered/against a tree
walking
thicker "woods"
plains/farmland
in southern NY (and most of the north east) its mostly thick woods not many far shots at all
edit: makes it easy, except the population density means the deer re smart lol
I live in south texas and 99% of the hunting here is from a deer blind which folks usually drive to.
I am definitely not a part of this group. I hate driving there. You get to see sooooo much more if you walk. The amount of deer I've spotted simply from walking is insane. Most of the times I go unnoticed so I whip out my phone or camera and start shooting (photography wise). I used to do nature photography so I I enjoy just seeing nature/wildlife as much as hunting.
Aside from walking around and hunting from a blind, I like to hunt in random spots I find that look promising. That could be looking down a trail/sendero or an open field.
Just a couple examples below
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That depends, really. Hogs where I go are usually hunted from blinds, but I've done spot and stalk for hogs in other places. Deer/elk/sheep have been spot and stalk (usually uphill). That is a very glassing-intensive thing around here. In Alaska, when I took my son on a black bear hunt it was up in the tree stand (which turned out to be a good idea when a good size brown bear showed up).
ILya
A Remington 700 in .30-06 with a TT Special, Magpul dbm, Nightforce SHV in a B&C Alaskan Hunter stock. The rifle shoots Hornady SST 165gr factory ammo very well. It works well for what I need but I sure like my TL3 better.
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This is a Howa rifle and it's the HCR model they used to offer. The chassis is made by accurate mag and the buttstock is made by LuthAR and is the MBA3 model.
Idk the exact weight, it's around 14 pounds give or take. If I get a chance in a few days when I get home, I may be able to weigh it.
This is where the government needs to bow out... again.
You can't pick your favorite rifle, because your state may says it's too powerful for deer.
Soooo, my .44 mag lever gun fit's the bill.
For most of those close shots in the woods, it's just fine, but when you see one way the hell over there on the other side of a cornfield... I sure wish I could use my 7mm Mauser.
You can't pick your favorite rifle, because your state may says it's too powerful for deer.
Soooo, my .44 mag lever gun fit's the bill.
For most of those close shots in the woods, it's just fine, but when you see one way the hell over there on the other side of a cornfield... I sure wish I could use my 7mm Mauser.
South Texas premier deer country, our blinds usually range:
Pens 150 -250 yds.
Senderos can be 1500.
light weight rifles don't matter so much as you drive to the blind, put bags on the windows and rest your rifle. 6.5 Creed will do just fine to 250 but most of us run a 7 mag or 300 win/wsm. 250 pound brush country buck are tough.
I’m in AZ, mostly hunt central to northern AZ, rifle is a TL3, 20” sendero 300wsm, and weighs in at 13.8lbs with the bipod and a loaded mag.
I walk 3-6 miles a day between glassing points. Last year I took a deer at 370 yards with a 20mph updraft and 20 degrees downward angle (that was a different rifle, but similar weight wise). It’s not the toughest country, but far from flat.
Question..
Up here (northeast) it seems that guys still but a long action for a 300wm or alike rather than a short action for a wsm.
Unless your really shooting heavy for cal bullets there really isn’t a need..especially for 2-300 yard deer or black bear etc.
Do you have any insight about short vs long action choice…thinking down there might be different etc
Or is it just people buy what they want to as I expect
Thanks
I just use a simple 1.5” webbing sling in a “patrol” carry configuration.
It’s definitely not light, but I also haven’t ran into anything I couldn’t do strictly due to the extra 4 lbs in my rifle.
Plus, the way I see it, if I’m going to be taking a potentially long or difficult shot on a game animal, then I’d rather have the heavier, easier to shoot rifle.
Long action 300WM is more common, some of us just want something different in a short... negligible difference at those ranges. I started hunting in NE Ohio with rifled slugs back when... no rifles allowed. Different times.
Who can relate... sighting in your 12 ga. 3" slug gun?
It depends on how I’m feeling and where we are headed. If I know that the shots will be under 200m or thick shrubbery I’ll probably reach for the Winchester 1886 Extra Light in 45-70 Govt. Otherwise it is the custom Rem 660 in 7-08 with the vintage Burris 3-9 x 40 on it (gifted to me, not speced by me). Both will do the job very well when I do my part.
They may take a back seat to the Mauser 1896 in 6.5 Swede that I just inherited and need to finish the sporterization. Still trying to decide on barrel length (it’s 24”). It also needs to have the bedding finished and the stock finished along with either blueing or Cerrocoating.
They may take a back seat to the Mauser 1896 in 6.5 Swede that I just inherited and need to finish the sporterization. Still trying to decide on barrel length (it’s 24”). It also needs to have the bedding finished and the stock finished along with either blueing or Cerrocoating.
I would leave the barrel length as is. Muzzle blast and flame will be less. Save your ears and avoid starting bush fires. Also much better for iron sight use.
70+g of FFFg and an oil lubed patch out of a muzzle loader can do it with the proper conditions.
I haven’t seen it with smokeless though. Bullets vs objects, yes.
I seem to recall that the Rhodesian Army and possibly the South African Defence Force had some issues during firefights. Nevertheless, you can get an impressive flame from a 22” 6.5x55 SE rifle. I have seen an approximate 200mm flame on a bright sunny day.
Most of my hunting is in heavy woods with sub-150yd shots. I usually take a 10.5” AR-15 in 300 Blackout with a Trijicon 1-8 LPVO and an Omega 9k suppressor. The 110gr Barnes black tips will smoke deer and hogs easily inside these ranges.
What caliber is that well loved 99? I kinda wish that I’d hung onto the 300 Savage.
This one is getting tested this year.
Kimber Montana .308
NXS 2.5-10x42 Mil-R in NF rings
6lb-10oz
I have some 130gr TTSX in Lapua brass using Ramshot Tac that I’ll be trying out.
Kimber Montana .308
NXS 2.5-10x42 Mil-R in NF rings
6lb-10oz
I have some 130gr TTSX in Lapua brass using Ramshot Tac that I’ll be trying out.
Tikka T3 300 WSM
Prefit proof barrel
Patina thunderbeast 5
Topped with NF NX8 4-32
Prefit proof barrel
Patina thunderbeast 5
Topped with NF NX8 4-32
My favorite is .308 but I have thought about getting a .300 WSM. One person I know has hunted elk and black bear with it. Another hunts big horn sheep in New Zealand. I like to think of it as a .308 with attitude.
I bumped up from a 308 to 300 wsm. 175VLD Berger Hunters in my 308 was 2650fps. The same bullet my 300 wsm is 3080fps. I’m not even close to pushing it hard. Well worth the switch.
How far does it go before dropping below 1,000 ft-lbs? That is my threshhold for destructive energy. I am using Federal Fusion .308 Win 165 gr and it drops below 1,000 at about 500 yards.
