If you are required to use a rifle....

[stickbender]

     If you are hunting in woods, and not flat plains, or where long shots are the norm, stick with what works for you.  The .30/.30 has probably killed more deer, and other game, including moose, and elk, etc. than any other hunting rifle in the U.S. .  I have a number of guns from .22 to 45/70, lever action Marlin.  But my preferred gun is my Dad's Remington model 742 in .30-06.  It shoots better than my Browning .30-06.  I like the .30-06 because of the versatility in reloading it.  You can go from a 110 grain varmint load to a 220 grain big game load.  My Friends all had to have the latest guns, from .300 win mags, to .338.  Or the newer short rounds.  I can get the same game with my .30-06, and it is more versatile.  Granted it doesn't send a 250-300 grain chunk of lead out at 3000 plus ft. per second, or is flat shooting, but it is not limited in what I can shoot with it, and the ammo is common.  I have a couple of .270's and love them also.  My all time favorite used to be my Remington 660, in 6mm.  the barrel is shot out, and now it only groups, in the inch and a half-2 inch, or so groups at a hundred yds. .  It used to group three shots, you could cover with a dime at a hundred yds.  I used to have a winchester, .30-30, and would like to get another.  They are great brush guns, and you can hand load a lot of different loads for them also.  Plus now that Marlin has the leverloution or however it is spelled, you can use the spire points, and be safe with the tube filled with them.  I can't see as well as I used to, and can't shoot as well as I once did, even with a scope.  But I at one time preferred iron sights over scopes, in short to medium ranges.  I could gain a sight hold much faster with iron sights.  Now if I am using iron sights they better be on a shotgun, if I am going to hit anything.   But if you are successful with your rifle, stick by it.  A game animal tastes the same no matter which rifle killed it.   

                                                         Wayne

[Kpete]

I wonder if Eric would send that "old" rifle over this way so I could try it out?   
I am invited every year to do some doe hunting on a ranch.  My friend hunts bucks there and the landowner thanks him if he brings me out to shoot some does.
I usually use a Savage 99 in 300 Savage and a K-4 scope.  My grandad used it in the 50's, my Dad used it in the 60's and it sat in a closet at my uncles until 2005 when he graciously gave it to me.
I also like a 45-70 Marlin Cowboy.  It is adequate for whitetail does and you can eat right up to the hole.
I have a flinter that was pretty nice until I looked at the picture of Eric's!

[johnston]

Eric, now damnit , that's just plain showing off but thanks for doing it.

A lot of folks have mentioned eyesight or lack there of as it relates to iron sights. Well,
back in 1985 an old Tennessee boy name of Jim Carmichel wrote a little ditty called "The
Book of the Rifle". In it he describes the impossibility  of the human eye focusing on more than
one object at a time. Young, quick eyes , can go ..rearsightfrontsighttarget so fast it seems
that it's all in one. He says it just ain't so. Takes a bit longer but as we age we can shoot
iron just as well if our vision is corrected to normal. I have found this to be true and I wear
progressive bifocals. Takes practice just like anything else but he's right.

Lane

[tanner]

I love my Remingtons, but since I have a bit of a variety of hunting options in terms of terrain (usually hunting coyotes), my golf bag contains the following:

• Remington 700 in .17Rem (not the itty bitty rimfire - I'm talking 4100fps no recoil fun).
• Stag 8L gas piston driven AR15 in .223 (true left-handed for a southpaw shooter such as myself)
• Remington 700 SPS Tactical in .308 for the long stuff

I love my rifle and archery hunting for different reasons, but love them both nonetheless. Good times.

[Brock]

if definitely told not to bring my bow specifically....would use my Marlin 1895 Lever Gun or a Lyman Great Plains Rifle in .54....and keep my shots to 100 and 75 yards respectively.  If sitting over a big bean field with 200+ yard shots the norm....especially if on management hunt where they want does or inferior bucks shot if you see one...then my scoped 30-06 or .300 mag would come out with scope on it and call the wife to plug in the garage freezer.   If close in and for thick woods if not the lever gun maybe my single action 45 colt or 44 mag with some heavy loads.......   If coyotes then my AR15

no shame in any weapon under the right circumstances.....and especially if they want animals killed and told you not to use your bow.  I will pick venison for freezer in that choice...as I am a traditional bowhunter foremost...but I am a meat hunter before that and could really care less about horns...but if I dont get a couple deer in freezer for ground meat and sausages for the year...wife gets upset.

[stickbender]

     Beware of the man, who only owns one gun,
for he probably shoots it very well!
                                                   
                                                    Wayne

[MWirwicki]

I love my Winchester 94's for the tight quarters.  But in the last few years, I've been hunting some more open land.  I've had great success with my .270 WSM (Winchester Short Mag).  Fast, flat and hits hard.  What I especially like are the quick kills.  Usually drops them in their tracks; never knew what hit them.

[JW_Halverson]

I am invited every year to do some doe hunting on a ranch.  My friend hunts bucks there and the landowner thanks him if he brings me out to shoot some does.

Can you wrangle me an invite over to harvest some does?  I didn't draw ANY tags this year!  Gonna be a huuuuungry year!

[Kpete]

JW,  Not sure.  I am a guest as it is.  I will keep my ear to the ground concerning doe reduction.

[coaster500]

I love my Winchester 94's for the tight quarters.  But in the last few years, I've been hunting some more open land.  I've had great success with my .270 WSM (Winchester Short Mag).  Fast, flat and hits hard.  What I especially like are the quick kills.  Usually drops them in their tracks; never knew what hit them.

My Kimber Montana .270 WSM has fast become my favorite...  shoots as flat varmint rifle very lite recoil and drops anything I'm likely to hunt as well as anything I have ever used. I make up a hand load that puts a 110 grain Tipped TSX out at over 3600 fps (We have to use copper not lead by law here to protect the Condors?? )....  with copper the weight stays the same pretty much on entry and exit. It's a devastating round.

Once in a while I pull out Gradpa's 32 Winchester Special...  still shoots well inside 75/100 yards

[JW_Halverson]

One review after another of those gilding metal (copper) rounds just makes me excited to use  them on big game.  They were originally designed for dangerous game in Africa and really met some serious opposition, claiming since copper is less dense than lead it just can't be better suited.  Higher speeds, better weight retention, controlled expansion, and horrifying wound channels proved otherwise and now you can hardly find a Professional Hunter that will let you carry lead for dangerous game anywhere on the Dark Continent!

A little further refinement and now they are stacking up the statistics on every big game animal in North America like a house afire.  Sounds like you got a handload to be proud of, Coaster.  But I gotta wonder about all the people that drop big bucks on the best rifles, high end optics, etc and then claim they can't afford quality ammo???

Well, that's just me. 

[Fred Arnold]

I no longer own a rifle but still retain 2 in my possession that I passed on to my kids. They have others to shoot and always do their hunting in this area. I guess they don't want to see me unprotected.

The Savage is identical to the gun PatB posted. A 99E .308 and 2nd is also a lever action, Browning BLR in .243.

At one time I had quite a small collection but passed most of them down and sold or traded the others.

One I sold to a friend who is a collector and I've tried to purchase it back but the old boys a horse trader of merit and a little difficult to deal with at times. I'm going to have to catch him in the right mood. It's an old Sauer model 200 in 25.06 and I've never owned a finer rifle.

[coaster500]

You're right JW ...  don't much matter how good the gun is if the pill don't work. My first loads with copper bullets were a bit frustrating I couldn't seem to assemble a load that would shoot into a pie plate at 100 yards. I tried different weights, powders, seating depths and every trick I had learned over the years. The other issue was that on our diminutive blacktails unless bone was contacted expansion was not 100%...  enter the tipped TSX the polymer tip aided in both expansion and accuracy for me. This load if I do my part will shoot five rounds into 3/4 inch at 100 yards.... every animal I've shot with this load has expired very quickly.