What is the most hated deer rifle you owned ?

Savage edge 30-06. Precursor to the axis.

Trigger was absolutely atrocious, and it wasn't a lot of fun to shoot.

I came to the conclusion (after selling that one, buying another light 30-06 and selling that as well) that 30-06 is just more gun than I'm comfortable shooting in a light weight package.

I probably would do a lot better these days with my suppressor on it to relieve me of the muzzle blast... I don't think the recoil itself was torturous looking back on it.
 
I don't think I've fully hated any I've ever had. But I do have a love/hate relationship with one...

My wife's Grandfather gave me his old Ruger M77 tang safety 270. It's a compact version with a super light, 18" barrel and iron sites. He put in an aftermarket, full size, laminated stock, and added a (not nice) Tasco scope on high-rise rings. The scope broke some years back, and the crosshairs lilt about 15 degrees clockwise, but at 100 yards, where they cross is dead on. It's an absolute laser beam of a shooter out to 200 yards (I haven't attempted anything farther). It also kills whitetail effortlessly.

The problem is I don't like it enough to fix or change anything on it. I'm definitely not a fan of the 270Win. Plus, this particular rifle's ergonomics are all wrong, and it's too light. Unless you're numbed by game in the scope, it punches like a dead blow hammer.

I feel really grateful for the generous gesture that it represents. Her Grandpa is one of the kindest, humblest, and most generous men I've ever known, and I know he likes the idea of one of my boys ending up with it. And grandpa killed a LOT of deer with it over the years. So... all that to say I certainly want to keep it in the family. But I just don't like it... so for now it's in the safe... bugging me.
 
The only Rifle I have owned that I have had repetitive issues with is a Browning BAR in 300 win mag which I purchased used it is an old steel frame model. I have had on occasion got it to group only to have it revert back to inaccurate, to me it was unusable for hunting. At least an MOA at a 100 yards with a 3 shot group has been my criteria. I currently have my old dog troubleshooting scope on it and been developing loads for it, currently have a combo that is now grouping. I will continue to develop this load per the nuances I have discovered with this rifle and that will have to do. As the brass must be a little shorter than typical as does the COAL, why I have no idea, but have tracked these issues over time. It has been a pain to measure each round in a factory box to get the data on what makes a difference. Once upon a time I had Nosler make me some ammo for it which shot well, made some of those but now those bullets aren't available. Tried factory ammo again and now I started over with reloads for it currently have been using the ELD-X bullets 220grn, which are grouping. The list of weird things that have gone wrong with this rifle is long. I was going to sell it a couple of times, but it is such a very nice looking rifle, from a fit and finish perspective is why I haven't given up on it. I understand Semi auto rifles are a bit more finicky than bolt guns. Once the new load development is done will swap an existing scope from a rifle that is shooting well and upgrade the scope on the BAR rifle. But it has been an adventure.
 
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blvette75 said:
The only Rifle I have owned that I have had repetitive issues with is a Browning BAR in 300 win mag which I purchased used it is an old steel frame model. I have had on occasion got it to group only to have it revert back to inaccurate, to me it was unusable for hunting. At least an MOA at a 100 yards with a 3 shot group has been my criteria. I currently have my old dog troubleshooting scope on it and been developing loads for it, currently have a combo that is now grouping. I will continue to develop this load per the nuances I have discovered with this rifle and that will have to do. As the brass must be a little shorter than typical as does the COAL, why I have no idea, but have tracked these issues over time. It has been a pain to measure each round in a factory box to get the data on what makes a difference. Once upon a time I had Nosler make me some ammo for it which shot well, made some of those but now those bullets aren't available. Tried factory ammo again and now I started over with reloads for it currently have been using the ELD-X bullets 220grn, which are grouping. The list of weird things that have gone wrong with this rifle is long. I was going to sell it a couple of times, but it is such a very nice looking rifle, from a fit and finish perspective is why I haven't given up on it. I understand Semi auto rifles are a bit more finicky than bolt guns. Once the new load development is done will swap an existing scope from a rifle that is shooting well and upgrade the scope on the BAR rifle. But it has been an adventure.
Click to expand...
At least you're not bored with it.
 
blvette75 said:
The only Rifle I have owned that I have had repetitive issues with is a Browning BAR in 300 win mag which I purchased used it is an old steel frame model. I have had on occasion got it to group only to have it revert back to inaccurate, to me it was unusable for hunting. At least an MOA at a 100 yards with a 3 shot group has been my criteria. I currently have my old dog troubleshooting scope on it and been developing loads for it, currently have a combo that is now grouping. I will continue to develop this load per the nuances I have discovered with this rifle and that will have to do. As the brass must be a little shorter than typical as does the COAL, why I have no idea, but have tracked these issues over time. It has been a pain to measure each round in a factory box to get the data on what makes a difference. Once upon a time I had Nosler make me some ammo for it which shot well, made some of those but now those bullets aren't available. Tried factory ammo again and now I started over with reloads for it currently have been using the ELD-X bullets 220grn, which are grouping. The list of weird things that have gone wrong with this rifle is long. I was going to sell it a couple of times, but it is such a very nice looking rifle, from a fit and finish perspective is why I haven't given up on it. I understand Semi auto rifles are a bit more finicky than bolt guns. Once the new load development is done will swap an existing scope from a rifle that is shooting well and upgrade the scope on the BAR rifle. But it has been an adventure.
Click to expand...
Sorry to hear it, I've shot a lot of BARs and had one worn out one that didn't shoot, the rest have all been decent enough. My 3006 shoots a garand load into about .8 for 5 shots, 300 win likes 180 partitions and 4350
 
Had a BAR Mk3 in 300 WSM. Couldn't do better than 1 MOA. Did kill a pig with it. Browning replaced it with identical model because of pierced primers (they never told me why). The second BAR was also no better than 1 MOA. I was OK with keeping it because where else can you get such a fast follow up shot with 30 cal magnum? Well, a pair of coyotes came in and I dropped the first one. I ended up not shooting at the second one. Then i noticed that the next cartridge was jammed and not loaded. So two strikes against the BAR and I sold it.
 
FrogFire7 said:
Savage edge 30-06. Precursor to the axis.

Trigger was absolutely atrocious, and it wasn't a lot of fun to shoot.

I came to the conclusion (after selling that one, buying another light 30-06 and selling that as well) that 30-06 is just more gun than I'm comfortable shooting in a light weight package.
Click to expand...
Axis really was/is no different.
Same bad trigger, lightweight flimsy stock and inadequate recoil pad.
One of my friends has one, and I put a lot of time into reinforcing the stock, replacing the trigger, painting the stock and setting it up.
It's still my least favorite rifle I've ever shot or worked on - just thankful I didn't own it.
 
blvette75 said:
Cool, what calibers do you have? I guess hate is not the word, perhaps aggravation. But when it shoots like it did a few weeks ago, I was happy with it.
Click to expand...

Only 3 calibers, though 2 are the same caliber….different format!

My first, bought at age 14….. a Winchester Model 88 in .308 Win.

My second rifle…..a Winchester Model 70 XTR in .375 H&H

My final ….. my only hunting rifle since Feb.1990, is a semi-custom, Winchester Model 70 action, chambered in .375 AI! It has served me well from the occasional Prairie Dog, coyote, up to and through moose. memtb
 

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