Which Rifles?

[Bigahh]

My 9 day Wisconsin Gun Deer Season opens in 11 days. I am in the process of getting my "Ducks" in order for my 9 day Vacation. I know I cannot bring all the rifles I want, but I want all my Bases covered. I have decided that for the 1st time in my 34 Hunting seasons that the 3 Rifles I am putting in the passenger seat along side of me will all be levers. My Browning BLR in .308, My Marlin 336 in 30-30, and my Winchester 64A in 30-30. I feel bad for the rest, but thats my final decision for this season. Do any of you guys have the same problem deciding who stays and who goes on your Hunting trips?

[86er]

I am fortunate enough to hunt enough each year that sometimes all the rifles get a turn (over a dozen - or is it closer to 20?). I do think about what to bring and rotate them. I have made a wrong choice this year on one of the first hunts, but from now on I'm taking two different rifles and one will have a scope and be capable of 300 yd + shooting if necessary. With any luck, they'll all get a turn this year too.

[win38-55]

I am having the same problem at this very moment. I have 4 days until I am at deer
camp, and still have not made up my mind on what I should bring. I am for sure bringing my Marlin 336ss in 30-30.
I am for sure bringing my 44 Super Blackhawk revolver. This is where it gets really tough.
I have so many other guns that are crying to get out, I do not know which one to take.
I think it is going to be either my Savage Model 110 in .300 Mag or my 1939 Mosin Nagant in 7.62x54R.
It really is a very perplexing question on which one to bring.

[71fan]

Definitely a dilemma for me every year. I typically take one open sighted levergun (of which I have 5 that will take game to 150~200 yards) and one scoped rifle (of which I have...well....a few ). I spend a lot of time deliberating about it and usually second guess my decision right up to the very end. Now to make it more confusing I'd like to use one of my Remington single shots next year.

This year it was my Win 71 with 250 gr Barnes O's for the first two days of elk season. Once we decided the heat and late rut were NOT to our advantage, I switched to my 30-06 shooting 165 gr Nosler ABs. It was the correct decision, as the shot I finally got was at 400 yards.

Anyway, I think you'll find the majority of us on this forum are gun nuts with more guns than time to shoot them, and are generally in the same boat as you. Have fun and good luck!!

[Lastmohecken]

I run into this decision process from time to time, no matter what the hunt, even when it comes to shotguns. I just got back from a pheasant hunt, and I had to decide what two shotguns to take. I always take two, in case something happens to one of them.

Normally, I often take my J.P. Saur side by side, but chose to leave it at home this year, because even though it has reach, I wanted to shoot heavier loads then I felt the gun digested well. So I ended up taking and hunting with my old L.C. Smith because it handles even the 1-1/4 oz loads I have come to prefer the last few years, as it seems that the birds are getting wilder and not holding for the dogs very well. And it proved to be the correct choice again this year. However, I also took my little Winchester 23, as it will handle heavy loads also, and seems to knock the birds down, farther then it should, but the Elsey got the action this year. Next year maybe I will used something else.

When it comes to rifles, my choices often depend on how much I have been shooting, or how well I have certain guns sighted in, or loads worked up for. One go to gun that I always have ready is my old BLR in .308 Win so it often makes the trip. Other guns, come and go, or find their way to back of the safe, for one reason or another. Right now I have my Model 71, 95 and an 86 that need to be sighted in again, and it doesn't look like I will get to it before the opener, so the old BLR or one of my pre-64 model 94's will probably get the nod, unless I opt for my 25-06 model 70, but I am not leaning towards a bolt action right now.

On the first day, chances are I will just grab the old BLR, as I know it's going to do the job, and is sighted in well, later on I may fall back to a 30/30 or something. What I am thinking about doing in the future is picking a different iron sighted leveraction and staying with it all year, then choose another for the next year.

[AJMD429]

Well, the only food-hunting I have ever done is groundhogs and whitetails, and the coyotes have killed off nearly all the groundhogs around our parts, so deer it is. Indiana limits firearms to muzzleloaders, handguns, and only 'pistol-caliber' rifles, so that makes the CALIBER selection fairly easy when it comes to rifles:

• .357 Mag - I think it is perfectly adequate, at least for the terrain we hunt in, where shots range from 25-75 yards, assuming the shooter is good enough to hit a pop can at 50 yards reliably.
  
  .44 Mag - I think it is the ideal round for deer, unless one is recoil-shy enough to dislike it and doesn't reload. The .44 Special loads use crummy round-nose bullets mostly.
  
  .45 Colt - factory round-nose bullets are crummy, but a good round even in 'vintage' powered loads. I just don have (yet) a gun in .45 Colt I prefer to my .44 Mags.
  
  .454 Casull - overpowered in my opinion, but I do have a Rossi 92 Casull, and need to handload for it (full-house factory loads are supposedly not all that good for that particular gun, although the recoil is really NOT bad like some say - think a .20 ga breakopen shotgun with slugs).
  
  .500 S&W - overpowered in my opinion, but I got a Handi in it a few years back for $100 'just to have'.

So - I pretty much stick with .44 Mag, which limits my gun selection to be 'Indiana legal'.

• Most times I use the Ruger 96/44 levergun because it has a scope and I see better in poor light with it, plus I like the ease of unloading when I'm back at the house or cross a road, due to the 4-shot detachable magazine.
  
  If it is particularly wet or nasty outside, I'll use the Ruger 77/44 bolt action, because it is stainless/synthetic, and far easier to get moisture out of and clean than a two-piece stocked levergun.
  
  If it is mid-day and I don't need a scope, I prefer the Marlin 1894 with ghost-ringed Williams FP, especially if I'm going to stalk-hunt, as the exposed-hammer and cross-bolt safety make it about the safest gun for that imaginable.

Now, if the groundhog population makes a comeback, I'll have a dilemma, because there's the .22 LR (which 'worked' just fine when I was a kid - will it still work...? ), .22 WMR, .22 Hornet, and .32-20...

[shooter]

I run into the same problem from time to time. A lot of my decisions stem from how much I think I'm going to get to hunt in a year. If I have plenty of opportunities, I will take the levers out for some time in the field. If I have limited time to hunt, it is a scoped bolt action because it gives me lots more options on the shots I can take. I always take a backup in case the infamous Mr. Murphy decides to borrow my primary arm, and I always have a Ruger Blackhawk of some sort on my side. I would love to hunt enough that I could give all my guns equal time, but that doesn't always happen.

[BenT]

I've cured this problem for a while. I decided that I have deer rifles that I haven't killed deer with yet. So I start my hunt with a rifle that I haven't killed any with yet. I always bring two guns , one for sitting and one for walking. This year I'm lineing up the 338MX , Savage 99 in 308, Win 94 in 32 special and 38-55. The way the weather has been I'm not sure what to pack for clothing.

[azzhandler]

I never have much of a problem decideing, if I know Im not going to be doing much stalking or walking < stand hunting > I use my browning 1885 in 7 mag, if I think I am going to be moving around or in thicker cover I use my browning BLR in 284 winchester, the 284 with handloads does not give up anything to the 7 mag except for alot less recoil, and is 1 of my very favorite all time calibers, I live in a state that is shotgun only for deer, so when I am hunting out of state I like to be ready for any shot that comes my way and the 2 rifles I use will do anything I ask of them,
when hunting at home I either use a browning auto-5 with a hastings rifled barrel and shooting Hornady SST slugs or a Kessler Levermatic which I transformed into a slug shooter by adding peep sights and a rifled screw in choke. I have been told Ohio is trying to get a law passed where pre-1900 designed guns will be allowed and if they ever pass this law then I will be using a Browning 1885 in 45-70

[RIHMFIRE]

I think you have made a pretty good choice there....
but I dont think I would end up bringing 2 30-30s
unless one was scoped and the other was iron sights....

I usually bring 3 guns myself...
Model 70 30 06, for long range...
one of my lever guns...from 357 to 38-55 for thick areas
and short range... and my 44 mag...

and sometime I bring my 22s for plinking!

[rjohns94]

since i'm hunting only with BP this year, its got to be the .54 custom flintlock. If I was using a modern rifle, it would be the circa 1925 model 55 deluxe takedown in 30-30, using 170 grain winchester silvertips. I have a .357 lever rifle and an original 1886 in 45-70, and my WWG in .457, but the 30-30 would get the nod. I live here in Penn's Woods and hunt on public land, I have little need for a long range rifle, too much chance of other hunters being around so I hunt the thick stuff where few dare try to go.

[tman]

Generally comes down to a .308 BLR with a 4x scope and a winchester BigBore in .356WCF. Either one will do all i need to do. It's nice to have options

[Dave]

I used to have that problem until I got kids and my rifles turned into braces, laptops, and whatnot. Just kidding (kinda), I know what you mean. I have a 308 I have never killed anything with. When I am leaving and stare at the rifles it is usually the 30-30 that gets the nod. Sometimes the 243. I sold most of the guns I never used over the last couple years. Nice problem to have though.

[stew71]

Nope....if I'm hunting open country for large mulies, caribou, or antelopes, I bring my Remington 700 30-06. Down in the timber going after pigs or smaller blacktails I use my Marlin 30-30. Sometimes I haul out the Browning 95 in 30-40 Krag if I feel like going old school.