What is your ideal hunting rifle!

I’m kind of a one rifle for everything type of person so right now it is a Remington 7600 Carbine in 30-06. 2.5-8x36 scope.

I would probably take my Marlin 1894SS .44 Mag for anything deer/hog now though.

What’s yours?

Current Model 70(CRF) Sporter chambered in 6.5 WSM in a long action. Timney trigger and 26” barrel. Leica Magnus i 1.8-12x50 scope with L-4a reticle. Shooting Norma Oryx 156 grain bullets at 3,050 FPS.

For over 20 years my go-to hunting rifle was a Remington Model 7 in .308 Win, 18-5-inch barrel. I put it in an HS Precision sporter stock and installed a Leupold 2-7X compact in low rings. It was a dandy general purpose rifle, especially good in the deer woods of PA and NY.



It was the last of my .30 calibers to go when I decided to cull last year. I replaced it with another Model 7, this time in 7mm-08. It also got an HS Precision sporter and a Leupold, this time a VX-3 2.5-8X in a DNZ mount. Very similar gun, but I like the 7mm-08 cartridge and the 20-inch barrel better.

Edit: The 7mm-08 also got a Timney trigger. It doesn't wear the bipod in the field; it's just there for support when I took the picture.

The best one for me is 13.5 LOP, 2.5-10 or 3-14 scope, low mounts, and must weigh 8.5-9lbs. The cartridge doesn't matter. The sling doesn't matter as long as I have one.
Right now it's a VTR in 260 and a Vanguard in 240. Both kill with authority and don't knock my fillings out.

Legionnaire said:

I replaced it with another Model 7, this time in 7mm-08.

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Did it come with iron sights or did you have them installed?

Another 7-08 fan here. Try as I might, I AM a wood guy. Tried to love a 7 mag Browning Stainless Stalker with the composite stock, couldn't do it, so added a Browning A bolt micro in 7-08. A pound lighter than the magnum, has a satin finish wood stock, still wears an adjustable Leupold scope, and it's still left handed.

I was using my Marlin model 336 in .35 rem..This year I purchased a Mossberg Patriot in .308 with a Simmons scope. .35 rem were getting hard to find and very expensive. The Marlin would only shoot 200 gr. Remington Cor-locs accurately.

For whitetails which is about 95% of my rifle hunting I'm kinda stuck between 2, both bolt guns, have synthetic stocks, Leupold glass and Talley LW rings:

A REM MOD7 in .260Rem with Leupold VX3 2.5-8X in an HS stock with Timney trigger answers the mail here on the east side for stand/still hunting. Ranges vary from 50-300 yards depending on terrain & row crop VS woods. It's my 2nd M7 (other's a .350) and is fast becoming my preferred "all around" whitetail gun, little over 7lbs out the door loaded:



When we head out to the western part of the state I use a Nosler M48 in .270 with Leupold VX6HD 2-12X with BDC reticle and CDS dials. The terrain dictates and the last 3 bucks I've taken (two 10s and a 5x4) were just under or over 300 yards. The M48 for what is is is actually a bargain; bedded B&C stock, good trigger and sub MOA guarantee in a 7lb package.



Both are using handloads with Nosler Accubond bullets.

Duplicate post!

Remington 760 in 30-06 with an old Weaver K6W scope, because it shoots where I point it.

Here in GA recently I've had better luck with a 20" barrel 12ga, but I prefer 30-06 in a Howa 1500 with a 3-9 or 4-12 scope. This year I plan on using a Winchester 94 in 30-30 for a few trips. After deer season I hope to try hog hunting with a 6.5 grendal AR15

I'm a one rifle guy. I've given all my other centerfire rifles away to grandsons. They get used more that way. I kept my tang safety .270 M77 RL with 3x9 Bushnell Elite Firefly scope. Shine a flashlight in the eyepiece and the crosshairs glow for about 15 minutes. Very handy feature early and late. To me it's as perfect a rifle and scope combination as I'm likely to find. It surely fills all my needs, looks nice, carries well and is accurate in a very capable chambering.

If I could only have one, a bolt 30-06 with good Leupold glass It would comfortably take anything in North America without excessive recoil or ammo cost. I've taken more game with a 30-06 than anything else, all the way up to a nice bull moose in Alaska.

I'd say a big question is what type of hunting are you doing? A plains rifle vs. a woods rifle, vs. who knows what?

My hunting used to consist of northern woods, so I wanted a light, accurate, hard hitting rifle with the ability for a rapid second shot if needed. Something that would put a deer down quickly given an accurate hit so it wouldn't get lost in brush or heavy woods. Also, something that could reach out for the rare longer shot.

My rifle back then was a Browning BLR lever action in .308 with a 2-7 scope, which was all of the above, plus fairly short, making it, to me, an ideal woods gun.

The only game I hunt is whitetail deer, usually sitting on the ground with my back to a tree. I have been using a Remington 700 ADL since 2003. It has been upgraded with a Timney trigger and a Burris Fullfield E1 3-9X40. I wouldn't give it up for anything different.

LoonWulf said:

Simple question, no wrong answers.

Each of us has a preferred style, or styles of hunting, and different game we pursue.

So feel free to elaborate, or not, on your what and why.

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1.) 1/2 MOA accuracy.
2.) Will take down a 1,000 lb moose at a 1,000 yards
3.) Weighs less than one pound
4.) has recoil similar to a 22LR

You said ideal. You didn't mention anything about reality.

Edit: I almost forgot

5.) 100% American made
6.) sub $800 MSRP

cdb1 said:

Did it come with iron sights or did you have them installed?

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Came with irons. It was an older specimen that I bought for the barreled action.

@Chuck R., I have another Model 7 that looks just like yours--same tan/black web stock--only mine is in .243 Ackley. It was/is my first "Remage" that I built with a McGowen barrel.



I guess one might say that my proven "favorite" is a Remington Model 7!

“Ideal” for me is very subjective - what I bought and built for myself are a long ways from what I’d recommend for others.

I went through a fit of folly about 5 years ago (same as I did about 12 years ago), and I liquidated a big part of my accumulation, reducing to what I thought at the time made sense. I’ve crawled slowly back to about the same count now, with a different inventory, so like the time before, it was largely for naught, but at the time, I had the idea to create a couple rifles which would do everything I needed in hunting fields.

I’d caught myself a handful of times looking into my safes, thinking about what I wanted to shoot, what I wanted to use for hunting, and what maybe didn’t need to be there. But as my wife and I looked at our list, so many rifles had “that one memory” of a hunting trip one place or another on it. Kinda like candy sprinkles, a single memory here and there, but not much cake. I had my first deer rifle in the back of the safe with a lot of memories of a lot of hunts and harvests in it, but hadn’t considered it my “preferred choice” in years. I separated some memories in my mind, sold a lot of rifles, and “started over”.

So at the time:

1) I built an AR with uppers in 204 Ruger, 5.56, and 6.8 Grendel. Colony varmints, coyotes, and whitetails.

2) I bought a Ruger M77 Hawkeye All-Weather in 300wm, and bought an extra barrel in 45cal to make a .458wm option. Anything far away, or heavy. For my wife, another All Weather Hawkeye, but hers in 7mm Rem mag, with spare barrels in 338win mag and 416 Ruger.

Naturally, I had a couple dozen rifles which I didn’t liquidate at the time, such I wasn’t limited to just those options, but these were the plan... at least at the time... But I unfortunately didn’t succeed in sustaining a reduced inventory...

Certainly wouldn’t say either of my choices make sense for others, but for me, they’re what I wanted, to do everything I needed. I took the 300wm bear hunting this season, probably take it for whitetails in a couple of months here at home. I did replace the 18” 6.8spc with a suppressed 10.5” upper, which somehow grew its own lower, but the purpose remains - short to midrange whitetails, and smaller.

Something like this...



I don't need to shoot very far in Michigan. I don't need four shots either. I don't need the scoped Two Seventy, but her sisters would miss her.

But most of my hunting is done with a shot gun. So these just fit me.

I prefer a mauser type action ( 98 and variants, crf winm70, rugerm77, kimber and others). With a 22-24 inch barrel med contour. In a 7mm or 6mm. I tend to Like shorter lop so under 14'' is better.
I maybe able to get my hands on one off my favorite rifles today wish me luck.

I only have one hunting rifle set up the way I like it and it's a Kimber Talkeetna chambered in .375 H&H. As far as I'm concerned, the only limitations of that rifle are the effective range and to a lesser extent the lack of an adjustable cheek piece. I do have a couple of other hunting rifles that are works in progress.

My list of what I want in the "ideal" hunting rifle includes the following:

• No heavier than 9lb but ideally under 8lb with scope, rings, sling and loaded to capacity
• Stainless steel barrel & action - push feed or CRF is fine
• 22" to 24" barrel
• Some form of coating on the metal i.e. paint or dip
• Locking bolt handle (this is a big one for me)
• Synthetic stock with a durable finish
• Adjustable cheek piece or properly fitted stock
• Detachable magazine or blind box magazine
• Good adjustable trigger with zero creep set at 3lb
• Close to 1/2 moa precision and accuracy for a 5-shot group off the bench under ideal conditions and from a cold/clean bore
• Effective range to 800 yards
• Variable power quality optic with reticle capable of providing accurate holdovers out to 800 yards
• 1" scope tube and 40mm to 44mm objective
• No bulky turrets
• Good scope covers