Thread: Hunting rifle

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Ive not done a whole lot of deer hunting, but a 308 will drop what you need!! A nice remington 700 has been used forever with great results. if you hot rod one out it`ll do whatever you need, just ask Carlos hathcock, proven shot`s well over 500 yards.JMO

The 45-70 is a great old round, and in its day was hard to beat. It was designed to shoot Black Powder at a time when brass case's were just becoming the way to go, and even today is at its best when loaded with Black Powder and a really heavy bullet like the 530 grain Creedmore or Postel type of target bullet. The is a type of shooting were the 45-70 excels today and that is BPCRS that would be "Black Powder Cartridge Rifle Silhouette" here the 45-70 is one of the leading and most accurate calibers shot. At this game 1/4 of the targets are shot at a distance of 500 Meters, thats over a quarter of a mile. The target is a life size Silhouette of a Ram and weighs around 60 lbs being made from a high impact type of steel, the ram not only must be hit, it must also must be knocked over to score a hit.

Now with that being said the 45-70 was built and designed for Black Powder, when loaded with smokeless powder it turns into a real bear. In smokeless loads almost all of the ammo Companys use a 305 to 350 grain copper jacked bullet. a long shot for this bullet and smokeless is a 100 yds with any hope of accuracy. The 45-70 has a trajectory like a rainbow and in a light rifle like the "Guide" guns the recoil will just eat you alive. The Marlin you mention as well as most short barreled Guide guns weigh in right around 7 to 7 1/2 lbs. The early 45-70's wieghed as much as 16 lbs and in the BPCRS the rules call for a weight of 12 lbs 2 oz. Recoil is manageble in those heavy rifles in a 7 1/2 lbs rifle it is not fun.

You would be much better served with as your first rifle one that is fun to shoot and has recoil that you can deal with. A really good choice has already been mentioned and that would be the Remington Mdl 700 in .308 caliber. This is the caliber of choice at many many long range and position matches. It is routinly shot at distances up to and including 800 meters and loaded with the right bullet excells at this distance even today with some of the more modern and higher velocity rounds. Other rifles to look at in this caliber would be Ruger Mdl 77 and the Winchester Mdl 70. These are three rifles cabable of Very Good accuracy and at a reasonable cost. Good Luck!!

Roland

Thanks for everyone's feedback. I actually have a few ww2 rifles .303 and 7.62 x 54 cal, as well as 22's, shotguns, etc. An old neighbor friend lives in a fairly wooded area where a short light gun has it's benefits. I was thinking .45 -70 because I wanted a powerfull load for close range pig shooting, and also something that would work up to 200 yards for big game such as elk, and bear(not for sport, but self defense). I've been reading up on overall versatility and heard the guide guns properly equipted with a scope and lever revolution high grain(400+) will shoot 200 yards well. I also heard the recoil is extreme, but when used with a pachmyer decelerator butt pad, it lessens the kick, and with 300 grain loads it's not too bad. I wouldn't be using this one for the rifle range other than scoping it in. I like the lever action design as well. I was tempted to go with an old m1 garand or 30-30 lever action, but figured I will pick up an older winchester 30-30 for the collection at some
pointbut wanted the knock down power to stop the wild boar in it's track, since they come out of nowhere, and move quite fast! All of the above sugestions are appreciated, just wish I could collect them all. Something about gun tooling has always facinated me. My prizeof my current rifles is a 1900's pump action winchester .22 that was my uncles grandfathers' gun. Just a very cool small fun rifle.

A friend of mine is needing some quick race cash. He offered me a .300 Weatherby with 350 rounds of new bought ammo. 500 bucks for the whole deal. I should be jumping on this huh? My problem is I do not hunt, or shoot that often, just throw in a safe. I sold 17 of my 20 guns about 10 years back. But man what a deal that is.

You guys are too damn modern for me....You really want to go hunting, take along a Vintage Fusil Musket....No scope, just a long barrel with a single site at the end. heavy 64 caliber musket ball and some black powder







Who needs anything more, honestly too much modern artillery takes the fun out of the actual hunt.





Bill S.