One rifle or several

[6pt-sika]

I "usually" kill a fair amount of deer each year for an American and I use several different guns in different calibers or action styles .

Maybe I'm just lucky I dunno , but for the most part they all work out pretty well for me . But then I sit up high in a tree and wait for the deer or bear to amble by and generally I'm well prepared before time for the shot .

I will say once I had a Winchester Model 12 in 12 gauge loaded with buckshot on Chincoteague NWR looking for Sika deer . In the past I had a pretty decent practice with Remington 870's and 1100's which unto itself is no big deal except for the fact that the safety buttons on 1100/870's is exactly backwards to a Model 12 . Anyway as you may well have assumed a Sika hind jumped up 10 yards in front of me when I was carrying the Model 12 and before I found the safety and let fly she was about 40-50 yards from me needless to say I didn't hit her .

 

[6pt-sika]

Christ in my arsenal I have many duplicates of the same cartridge !

Heck at one point I had TWO DOZEN leverguns chambered for the 444 Marlin cartridge !

Think i still have 12-14 of them LOL's !

 

[Muir]

There’s an old saying: “Beware of the man with one gun because he probably knows how to use it!”, and as true as it may be, I have come to the conclusion that this One Gun person was no shooting enthusiast. A master chef has more then one cooking pot. An epicurean doesn’t eat only one food. A fly fisherman doesn’t use only one fly.


But you can catch the same kind of fish every day, cook it and eat it every meal and get by, but after a time, it would be hard to convince yourself that you’re not missing something. ~Muir

 

[I. Farticus]

There’s an old saying: “Beware of the man with one gun because he probably knows how to use it!”, and as true as it may be, I have come to the conclusion that this One Gun person was no shooting enthusiast. A master chef has more then one cooking pot. An epicurean doesn’t eat only one food. A fly fisherman doesn’t use only one fly.


But you can catch the same kind of fish every day, cook it and eat it every meal and get by, but after a time, it would be hard to convince yourself that you’re not missing something. ~Muir

Depends of the variety of quarry though, surely?

I only shoot deer, and only in the UK, so my sole rifle of choice is all that I need. If after rabbit, fox, boar, dangerous game or anything else then yes, I'd probably fork out for something else.

Please don't conclude that I'm "no shooting enthusiast" given that I only have the one rifle - the 12g has not place on this forum...

Cheers
i.

 

[Andy7mm]

I share my cabinet with my dad and in it we have 5 Tikka t3 lites (223,22-250,243,308,7RMAG) and i could lift anyone of them and be happy shooting it. you can have as many rifles as you like as long as you are happy and safe with them.

Andy

 

[jcampbellsmith]

...A fly fisherman doesn’t use only one fly....

Correct, for a while I tried to use 4 wet flies and I used to get in some dreadful fankles.
Useful Scots word: fankle - The Caledonian Mercury
so I returned to 3 fly casts. However, nowadays deer stalking keeps getting in the way of getting in a fankle.

Regards JCS

 

[Dawnraider]

Can't believe no-ones mentioned the B word yet although Dawnraider is very subtle.

I was trying to sneak it in the back door without starting a war

 

[Muir]

Depends of the variety of quarry though, surely?

I only shoot deer, and only in the UK, so my sole rifle of choice is all that I need. If after rabbit, fox, boar, dangerous game or anything else then yes, I'd probably fork out for something else.

Please don't conclude that I'm "no shooting enthusiast" given that I only have the one rifle - the 12g has not place on this forum...

Cheers
i.

Well. The OP was about one rifle or several but didn't specify whether how many you could own and shoot. Are YOU an enthusiast? That depends. If you could easily own as many rifles as you please, in a variety of calibers, would that appeal to you even if you only had one species of deer to shoot? If it appeals, then you are probably an enthusiast. If you not, maybe you aren't as much of a shooting enthusiast as a hunting enthusiast where the rifle is just a tool to be used, not experienced. JMHO.~Muir

 

[6pt-sika]

I only shoot deer, and only in the UK, so my sole rifle of choice is all that I need.

Cheers
i.

While that is certainly understandable . I to shoot mostly deer with the occasional black bear thrown in (but any good deer cartridge will do in a blackie) .

But .......................................... I suffer from what I call "The Lays Potato Chip Disease" . It used to be a big commercial thing here in the US abut a person not being able to eat only ONE Lay's Potato Chip , well it's impossible for me to own just ONE DEER RIFLE LOL's but I am saying that with a good bit of sincerity !

 

[6pt-sika]

I was trying to sneak it in the back door without starting a war

Jesus I thought I smelled something FOWL !

LOL's !

Actually I've never had one in my hands although I have a so called friend that owns one in an 06 . He keeps telling me to come to the range with him and try it and I keep saying I will . Perhaps one day the cursed "B" word gun and I will become acquainted !

 

[Penyard]

To get back to the original post, I don't subscribe to single rifle solution but, if I did, 7mm-08 would be a first class choice. Mine is conditioned for full fox use, deer and boar.

110gr Speer TNT for fox
120gr Nosler BT for deer
140gr Nosler Accubond or 150gr Swift Scirocco for large deer and boar

atb

Penyard

 

[I. Farticus]

Well. The OP was about one rifle or several but didn't specify whether how many you could own and shoot. Are YOU an enthusiast? That depends. If you could easily own as many rifles as you please, in a variety of calibers, would that appeal to you even if you only had one species of deer to shoot? If it appeals, then you are probably an enthusiast. If you not, maybe you aren't as much of a shooting enthusiast as a hunting enthusiast where the rifle is just a tool to be used, not experienced. JMHO.~Muir

Ok, so I'm no enthusiast in your eyes, as I take little interest beyond one rifle and one quarry. I can live with that as it's what I came into this sport to do. I've been using firearms for 34 years, both sporting and military use, but as this is the first (and only) rifle that has sat on my property, I'll go back to basics and class myself as an "enthusiatic amateur"

With 3 kids under 7, and a job that takes me 18,000 miles around world monthly I have little spare time to be more than that. Maybe when retirement beckons, I can free up some cash and time to review, but until then I'll crack on within my comfort zone of grouping 5 rounds sub 1/2" @ 100 yds and popping some Muntjac and Roe into the freezer every so often

Cheers
i.

 

[Muir]

Ian,
I completely understand. I just like the experience of hunting with different weapons. It adds flavor to the hunt when I use handgun, muzzle loading rifles, iron sighted rifles, or juggle between old classic calibers fired from period rifles. I take the hunt just as seriously, but it makes me think harder and plan better and gives me an appreciation for how hunters of previous generations hunted.

If it were a matter of taking my 6.5 or 7x57 -the two chamberings of my two favorite deer rifles- and shooting deer it would get pretty boring, pretty fast. We have a lot of deer. (I saw maybe a hundred last evening alone) I like to spice the hunt up a bit. I'm planning on taking at least one deer with handgun this fall and I'd like to take one with my 11mm Mauser Sporter. Keeps it interesting.

One last note: I've been thinking that maybe sticking to one rifle does make you a good shot with regards to that one rifle, but in a global sense, a wide experience with different rifles, calibers, and trajectories, is the better experience provided some genuine study and practice is put into the experience. ~Muir

 

[I. Farticus]

Ian,
I completely understand. I just like the experience of hunting with different weapons. It adds flavor to the hunt when I use handgun, muzzle loading rifles, iron sighted rifles, or juggle between old classic calibers fired from period rifles. I take the hunt just as seriously, but it makes me think harder and plan better and gives me an appreciation for how hunters of previous generations hunted.

If it were a matter of taking my 6.5 or 7x57 -the two chamberings of my two favorite deer rifles- and shooting deer it would get pretty boring, pretty fast. We have a lot of deer. (I saw maybe a hundred last evening alone) I like to spice the hunt up a bit. I'm planning on taking at least one deer with handgun this fall and I'd like to take one with my 11mm Mauser Sporter. Keeps it interesting.

One last note: I've been thinking that maybe sticking to one rifle does make you a good shot with regards to that one rifle, but in a global sense, a wide experience with different rifles, calibers, and trajectories, is the better experience provided some genuine study and practice is put into the experience. ~Muir

Muir, I'm suite sure that given the time, the space and the disposable I'd have a veritable arsenal myself!

I'm happy with what I have, and what I can do with it, but I'm sure there's an itch that will need scratching at some point...

I was told sometime ago (by someone far brighter than I), that when buying new rifles, try and keep them looking in a similar vein to each other, so that The Boss doesn't twig

Cheers
i.

 

[bucktail]

.22 For wabits etc
22-250 For fox and roe
308 Roe and Reds

 

[Muir]

Muir, I'm suite sure that given the time, the space and the disposable I'd have a veritable arsenal myself!

I'm happy with what I have, and what I can do with it, but I'm sure there's an itch that will need scratching at some point...

I was told sometime ago (by someone far brighter than I), that when buying new rifles, try and keep them looking in a similar vein to each other, so that The Boss doesn't twig

Cheers
i.

Truer words ne'er spoken, my friend.
I would leave the house with an empty gun case telling the Mistress of Misery that I was on my way to the range. I'd rocket to town, buy my rifle, and fly home. I'd clean it and field strip it and unless it was something pretty (wood) she wouldn't know the difference. After much reflection I realized that I was glad she hated shooting. Her new hubby doesn't, that's for sure.~Muir

 

[wivenhoe65]

Truer words ne'er spoken, my friend.
I would leave the house with an empty gun case telling the Mistress of Misery that I was on my way to the range. I'd rocket to town, buy my rifle, and fly home. I'd clean it and field strip it and unless it was something pretty (wood) she wouldn't know the difference. After much reflection I realized that I was glad she hated shooting. Her new hubby doesn't, that's for sure.~Muir

That made me smile

 

[bruce w]

i use 303 gun oil, and once after smuggling a fresh rifle into the house ,i got it out to look it over and give it a wipe ,my wife anounced ,what another rifle ,and before i could answer ,she says i can tell it smells diffrent .

 

[Zanetti7]

If severals:
222/223 - fox and roe
308 - boar, deer

If one caliber:
30-06/8x57/9,3x63 and good bullet

 

[Drag1]

If you look at all of these posts there's a theme ain't no such thing as one rifle for all things not only that where is the fun in only having one you need to vary the BANG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!