Your All Around Rifle and Cartridge Combination

[Jud96]

I have always found this question to be interesting when it comes up. If you had to have one rifle and one cartridge combo what would it be? Game ranging from coyotes, whitetail, muleys, elk, bear, moose, and everything else in between. Your ranges are out to 800yds or so or wherever you feel comfortable with your combination. If you reload than your options are pretty much limitless, so the whole "can't go to Wal-Mart and get shells for" statement doesn't apply. If you don't reload than this statement does matter. This isn't just all long range hunting either, kind of like a survival situation where you're living off of your skills and equipment so close range under 200yd shots are possible while long range 600+ shots are equally encountered. So in all, whats your do all be all choice for rifle and cartridge combo that you have to rely on for all sorts of game from ranges point blank to where you feel comfortable. Looking forward to what everyone has to say!

 

[gohring3006]

its going to be my 30/06 shooting heavy high ballistic coefficient bullets 200-230grn. I'm very comfortable shooting it way out there... "beware of the man with one gun".

 

[gohring3006]

I forgot to mention my current setup TC Venture 24in 5r barrel 200gr.smks 53.7gr.imr 4350, 3.34 coal. 2660fps. 1/2moa to 700yrds (farthest I've been able to test)

 

[Demon061]

What I use now. Howa 1500 30-06 with 165 grain SST's =P

 

[davkrat]

In a true survival situation I would have to say my light little .308 with 2.5-10 scope. For a one gun hunt anything in North America I would pick my 7mm Rem Mag with te 4-16 capable of any shot from up close to way out there.

Honestly anything in the .270 Win, .280, .30-06 to 7mm Mag range should fit the bill.

 

[Cold Trigger Finger]

When you say bear. You are seriously changing the equation.
Especially considering the 1 and only 1 rifle. And the range needs to be reduced to 20'- say 700 y/m.
Your really looking at 2 rifles.

But even for small bears and all other game including fur bearers you will need at least 2 different loads.

 

[Jud96]

Sorry I didn't make it clear, but you can have more than one load for your given rifle

 

[Cold Trigger Finger]

In a true survival situation I would have to say my light little .308 with 2.5-10 scope. For a one gun hunt anything in North America I would pick my 7mm Rem Mag with te 4-16 capable of any shot from up close to way out there.

Honestly anything in the .270 Win, .280, .30-06 to 7mm Mag range should fit the bill.

A 6.5 will do anything those will on the heavies but work better on the light game. A 6.5/06 AI would be close to ideal. . In a survival situation you will prolly have opportunity to take more smaller game than truly large game.
Actually a 243 with 2 different loads would be close yo ideal for a 1 rifle only.

 

[Deleted member 48126]

If times are bad enough to have one gun then everything is out of the equation. At that point it will be quantity over quality. Give me a ruger 10/22 or rem 597 in 22LR and I'll dispatch anything by any means necessary. Oh man I'm about to get torn up....

 

[Cold Trigger Finger]

So. Given current bullet availability my pick would be the 6.5 Creedmoor. 1 in 8" twist. 144 gr Lapua fmjbt at 27-2800 fps mv. The expanding bullet load is a bit more sketchy because it can't explode at very close range. Which means it needs to be a mono metal of at least 130 gr. . Something like the 130 gr CEB. .

 

[Jud96]

I never said what rifle and cartridge I would choose, but I would take a Remington 700 Long Range Model in .30-06 Springfield. I don't mind weight and would prefer the heavier barrel for the longer shots and that 26" barrel for increased velocity which leads to more energy which matters on the big game and the long shots. Would top it with a Vortex 4-16x44 HS-T because of its reliability, wide range of zoom, and its function-ability. Would have a standard load which would be my all around choice for small and medium game under 500yds and that would be a 165gr SST driven around 2900fps. For long shots past 500yd I would use a stout load pushing a 208 A-MAX at 2650fps then a big game load for the bear and moose and that would be a 180gr Interbond at 2750fps. I didn't really mean a full out survival situation, I mean the effective one all do all rifle and cartridge combo that you would be confident in for varying game animals from point blank out to your comfort zone. Sorry if this wasn't clear.

 

[Jud96]

So. Given current bullet availability my pick would be the 6.5 Creedmoor. 1 in 8" twist. 144 gr Lapua fmjbt at 27-2800 fps mv. The expanding bullet load is a bit more sketchy because it can't explode at very close range. Which means it needs to be a mono metal of at least 130 gr. . Something like the 130 gr CEB. .

I don't know about a FMJ? That's a little sketchy if you ask me. To much of a risk if your stomach is relying on how effective your bullet is and nobody wants a wounded animal running around suffering.

 

[davkrat]

A 6.5 will do anything those will on the heavies but work better on the light game. A 6.5/06 AI would be close to ideal. . In a survival situation you will prolly have opportunity to take more smaller game than truly large game.
Actually a 243 with 2 different loads would be close yo ideal for a 1 rifle only.

Agreed. Like I said a rifle based off an '06 that can efficiently throw a 130-180 grain bullet will probably cover you for anything in North America. And yeah the .243 could work too. Gun nuts like to split hairs It all depends on what side of the envelope you want to favor. But just about anything will work under some circumstance.

If times are bad enough to have one gun then everything is out of the equation. At that point it will be quantity over quality. Give me a ruger 10/22 or rem 597 in 22LR and I'll dispatch anything by any means necessary. Oh man I'm about to get torn up....

Not from me. When it comes to putting meat in a pot a .22 or 12 gauge are hard to beat. If you have to hump 500 rounds over a mountain on top of all the gear needed for an extended backpacking stay the .22 would win every time.

Inuit and Eskimos have reportedly done quite well for decades relying heavily on the .222

 

[RHC]

Right now it would either be my Ruger M77 Mark II in .300 RSAUM with my NightForce 2.5-10x32mm 30mm tube NXS. Light, handy rifle that is ready for just about anything out to 800 yards.

What it used to be was a custom .300 WSM I had on a Remington Action that had a stubby 20" barrel with a muzzle brake and the 2-7x32mm 1" tube or the 1.5-6x20mm 1" tube. Weighing in at about 6.5-6.75 pounds loaded.

My back up would be my TC Venture Bill Hicks run of the 6.5-284 Norma with a Leupold 4-14x50mm 1" tube.