I like the “moribund” 38 WCF..........Pre-War Model 70 in 30 Govt 06
Hard to believe that I've been hunting (deer to exotics) for 70 years, so have quite a list of favorites. Shot my first buck with a model 92 in 38 WCF (38-40). A bit on the light side for deer, so quickly updated to a 98 Mauser on which a dear gunsmith friend mentored me into building the first .308 Win. in our area in 1953 or 54 which quickly became my first really favorite hunting rifle.
Next came the 30-06 in various platforms from 1903(s), to Garand(s), to pre-64 Win over a number of years.
Several years later, an FN Mauser in 308 Norma got the nod for the flatter trajectory and when I shot out that barrel, replaced w/a Douglas 300 Win Mag barrel .
When I took up hunting some larger critters (to present), my favorite big game hunting rifle is a Savage 112 in 338 Win Mag. Consistent sub MOA & is a hammer on anything I choose to hunt; flat shooting w/210 NP's for Nilgai & shoot 200 gr NBT's to same POI for smaller deer and whatever up to 300# or so.
If I ever get to hunt another eland, plan to do so with the .338 after working up a load w/275 gr Swift A frames or maybe the new 265 gr. Nosler ABLR's, whichever shoot the best. Shot this bull w/a Mod 70 in 375 h&h, but am confident the .338 will get 'er done.
Predator hunting is now my main focus, and for that, I prefer a semi. The Dtech 243 WSSM was my all time favorite for that niche, but unfortunately AR's were banned from the ranches I hunt, so next best choice is a .308 Win in a BAR. Not nearly as accurate as the 243 was, but with a bit of tweaking it now shoots MOA (most of the time) w/110 gr Varmageddons.
First trip out it performed well enough:
http://www.predatormastersforums.co...owflat&Main=342647&Number=3214841#Post3214841 but still doesn't fit me like an AR does.
Guess you could say I'm partial to .30 cal (or a tad larger
) and the .308 or 30-06 will pretty much do it all. I've gone full circle and it only took me 70 years to get there.
Regards,
hps