If you had to start again...

mattic

Well-Known Member
Ok, I know we all have cabinets brimming with rifles, many fine firearms owned and sold and years of experience from which to draw from.
Q. If you had to start over knowing what you know now and rifles you have shot, what rifles would you buy first??
Matt
 
Ok, I know we all have cabinets brimming with rifles, many fine firearms owned and sold and years of experience from which to draw from.
Q. If you had to start over knowing what you know now and rifles you have shot, what rifles would you buy first??
Matt


Almost definitely a tikka t3 or Sako 75in 25-06 knowing what i know now!
 
A good 22RF , I have an old Brno . A 30/06 with decent glass , covered . A reliable pump 12 gauge with screw in chokes , again covered . It sounds pretty vanilla , but they will do anything I need to do .


AB
 
I would buy a Sako or Tikka stainless synthetic in good old .270. Stick a decent 8x Schmitt or Swavroski on it, a mod and a Harris bipod.
forget about all the money spent on faddish calibre's, heavy barrels , boss systems .................
 
Wouldn't be without my .17HMR. It get's more rounds through it than anything else i have by far.

6-6.5*47 Lapua - 70 grain vmax with Starlight Archer for foxes and 90 grain AB for smaller species of deer.

The big calibre (big for me) is still up for grabs. I think it's going to be the 280AI, but not sure yet.

Also playing with a 16" .308 for woodland stalking. That might well come good soon as well.
 
Would have bought:
- the Mauser 201 .22LR first (why? because this is a very accurate, lightweight and handsome rifle, it does everything a .22 should at the ranges .22 should)
- then my superb Sauer 202 in 6.5x55 (why? the calibre is so very smooth to shoot, is versatile and has killed everything it has hit with one round)
- the .223 Nosler (why? because this is the .223 performance I had been looking for, it is lightweight, superbly accurate (.25 MOA) custom made and robust)
- and the (yet to be fired) H-S Precision STR in .308 (because I am expecting that the decision to buy this has been based upon all my learnings from the above)

Indulge me for a moment...
The other rifles that have come and gone did not live up to expectations (I had given them) and drained time through variation changes and space, but with no regret.
From these rifles I have learnt as much from those that I would 'go-to'; it is so easy to be drawn in by things but the proof really is in the shooting.

For this I have to make a point of singling out Steve Beaty at Ivythorn Sporting - the chance to shoot the rifle you think you want to buy with no commitment to buy? Why wouldn't you do that?

On the glass front, I was fortunate to have made informed choices of buying used high quality scopes above affordable new glass (and being accidentally sold one (a Z6) for less than half its price when it first came out!); inspection is everything, but once you know the difference in glass it makes it very difficult settling for anything less.

Interestingly, am simplifying my firearms right now, as I do not have time to use all of them well; learning from experience I know that daily use of the same rifle and same ammunition leads to an efficiency that cannot be matched by different 'set-ups'; no matter how hard you try!
 
So starting out again
Shotgun - an older classic Beretta 68 series multi choke ideally a 682 silver action.
22lr (cabinets empty without one) CZ 452 or Brno mod 2e (that's what I use now)
stalking rifle 308 either Remi 700 (tweaked) or a tikka 595.

Then I could start filling all the spare space in the cabinets.
 
What I own now I couldnt improve on for what I do after trying so many different rifles , shotguns and equipment

Weihrauch .22LR z6i 2.5x15x44 ( a bit overkill but a back up scope )
Mauser M03 extreme 6.5x55 z6i 2.5x15x44 rail mount a .223 barrel and considering a 30 06 barrel in the future
midland S/A 12g camo
purdey sideplate 12g sxs cabinet queen ( my dads really for the odd game day )
 
A 22mag in Ruger
22 250 in a win model 70 with CRF
270win in a Win model 70 with CRF
30 06 in a Win model 70 with CRF
338 win in a win model 70 with CRF
375 wby on a magnum action, preferably on a model 70 clone with 3 position safety, express sights, QR scope mounts & proper CRF.
458 Lott on a magnum action, preferably on a model 70 clone with 3 position safety, express sights, QR scope mounts & proper CRF.

All glass would have to be the the middle to top end Leupold, not European (as the add says "sorry, but you still make the best beer").

I could possibly trim down to the above with a few SxS 12G scatterguns in various configurations, & a few different dart projectors but I'd still be limited if I had to just work around this.

Sharkey
 
Had to do that last year after a number of years abroad and went for the same old suspects i.e .243, 25-06 and .270. The first and last are Blaser as before but went for a Sako 85 for the 25-06 as I couldn't locate another TRG'S. The Sako looks quite handy with a Newly added KKC laminate stock.
 
i had to start again after my divorce as i sold the lot..

8 months later ive got a x-bolt in 243, a nice shotgun, 204 tikka, and a cz 22 rimfire... and maybe a tikka t3 in 308 soon..

nothing else needed.
 
Ziggy, thats a +1 for R8 in 308 but, add a 22-250 barrel and as you say willie gunn, a diamond pigeon 12g..
Oh, and your Benelli SBE 2 for slumming it.. :D
Nice…..

Jeepers! I nearly forgot the all important Anni 1416 .22.

All done. :-| I tjink.

cjs
 
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Same as I did before; first rifle would be military, because I think that since we are all members of the unorganized militia ( by law in the USA), that is my responsibility - same as the Swiss. I had two centerfires in my teens, but when I turned 22 and had the money, I bought a Springfield M1A. Then an FAL, then two HK-91s. So it would be another M1A if I had the money, or an AR-15A2, if on a tighter budget, but both ASAP.

But in sporting rifles, I would find an older Remington 700 just like my one from my teens, in .30-06, or a new Winchester M70 Featherweight in .308 Win.

Marlin 39A .22 LR.
Benelli 12-gauge autoloading shotgun.
 
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