2 Rifle Battery for Texas

[rickt300]

Well as usual this time of year I go thru the delusional process of maybe cuttin a few rifles from the list.  I have a 6MM Rem., 6.5x55, 270, 7x57, 7MM Rem. Mag, 308, 30-06,30-30, 8MM mauser (2), 358 Win., 35 Whelen, and a 444 Marlin. My first thought is use the 7MM Rem mag and the 35 Whelen for the bulk of my hunting. The 7x57 is my really bad weather rifle. This year I am not going elk hunting in Wyoming but may hunt Oklahoma.

[Zachary]

All of your choices seem to fall in a category that pretty much overlap each other.  Forget about a "2 gun battery."  Out of the guns that you have, your .30-06 may be the only 1 gun that you will probably need to use in Texas.

Zachary

[superdown]

  use one of your more interesting rounds the 30-06 is venerable but boring . i have soft spot for the 358win the first deer hunt i went on with my dad thats what he used to harvest a really nice 3 point blacktail. good luck with your choice, justin

[Aardvark]

I'm partial to the 6.5x55..Which action is it built on?

[rickt300]

Trouble is the 30-06 was the only rifle I had for my first 12 years of hunting and I shot a lot of game with it, elk and Black bear included. It now holds solid as backup rifle and goes hunting occasionally. The Swede is a sporterized M96 that was my first toy after the 30-06 and likewise did a lot of game getting. I put the 7x57 together because I wanted more gun and a stronger action. This rifle has taken most of the game I have shot in the last 5 years. The 358, 35 Whelen, 444 Marlin and the 7MM Rem Magnum are the newest members of the club. Last year I shot all my deer with the 358 and my biggest hog to date wih my 7x57. The BLR is a good rifle but does not balance like the mausers I am used to nor does it have as good a trigger so I built the Whelen by rebarreling my 270. The 7MM Rem Mag is a very nice 1971 model BDL that is a super accurate rifle with a very good trigger and there is the perfect place for it's use on the lease. The Whelen has been perfectly weatherproofed for bad weather and the old BDL has had all that can be done for a wood stocked rifle to weather proof it. The 444 will most likely get some use night hunting feral hogs but the Whelen can do this just as well. I wil maybe use the 6MM Remington to take my does and a small feral hog for the barbecue.

[old06]

out of your list of guns the 270 and 444 seem to just jump out for me

 Good luck

[beemanbeme]

Actually all your rifle will do the same thing.  just some will reach further to do it.  You have the deer rifle niche filled to overflowing.  I'd keep the 7mag and sell the rest.  It's the only one with any versatility since you don't like the '06.  The big 7 in case you go elk hunting.

[rickt300]

I like the 30-06. Except if used as ones main rifle why have the rest? Is it wrong to fill the gun safe? I could go without the 30-30 , 6.5x55 and the 308 except I have plenty of bullets to shoot up in them. The delusion is really thinking I can pick two rifles to hunt with for a season and stick to it.

[charles p]

Suggest you buy a 7mm-08.  Can tell you are not about decreasing your armory.  Seriously, you need another rifle.  Tell your wife I said so.

[beemanbeme]

Do not buy a 7-08!  If you buy a 7-08, you can sell everything else that you have and will not have a reason to buy another rifle unless you go to Africa or hunt the great bears.  Mmmmm, a slick 7-08 in a Model 7 with a laminated stock and a 2x7 Leuy or a 7-08 in a mountain rifle with the same scope. 
!40gr bullet around 2800fps.  For elk you could go with a 160gr bullet at 2600+fps. 

[wncchester]

Previous poster is right about the 30-06; it's boring!  I mean it just works, all the time, every time, time after time.  Where's the excitement in something like that?

Well, yes that's what I usually use.  But I never did have much pizazz or go with the latest fads or follow trendy stuff so what else would anyone expect from an old fart like me?   

[rickt300]

I secretly load new bullets in my 30-06 so I can skip work, go to the range and shoot it. Year before last I used it to take my biggest Whitetail ever. Don't tell anyone though. Especially not my 7x57.

[MGMorden]

Previous poster is right about the 30-06; it's boring!  I mean it just works, all the time, every time, time after time.  Where's the excitement in something like that?

Well, yes that's what I usually use.  But I never did have much pizazz or go with the latest fads or follow trendy stuff so what else would anyone expect from an old fart like me?   

I've never found the .30-06 boring myself.  As I was growing up, it was what my dad hunted with (Remington 742 .30-06), and it was what BOTH my grandfathers hunted with (bolt actions - not sure of the models as I've never seen either gun in person - just been told about them by my uncles who inherited them).  To me, as a kid, a high powered rifle WAS a .30-06.  Heck I owned one as my first rifle (a sporterized Remington 03A3) - I was 13 or 14 at the time, and the only other rifle I'd even heard of was a .30-30 - which was only because my dad would lament that he should have never sold off his old .30-30 (which he'd gotten rid of before I was born) but should have kept it and given it to me rather than going out and buying another gun . 

It's just always had a somewhat majestic appeal to it.  I still do most of my hunting with a .30-06 (Savage 110 now though - it's my go-to gun - that first 03A3 was shot out and wouldn't even stabilize a bullet), though ironically my dad has since switched over to a .270 (he got it for Christmas from my mother a few years back).

6.5x55 is another "interesting" round I discovered later (I also have a .257 Roberts that I like a lot).  As to boring, the .308 Win takes that crown for me.  Same projectile as the '06 with none of the intrigue.  Sure it works, but it just feels "generic" .

As far as future rifles that would be neat to own - I'm kinda developing an interest in 7-30 Waters .

[firstshot]

rickt300
 

• "The 7x57 is my really bad weather rifle"
• "I put the 7x57 together because............... This rifle has taken most of the game I have shot in the last 5 years."

Use "ole reliable", the 7x57, as your primary. and, if you like, take one of your "newest members of the club" to get them blooded, but you don't need anything other than the 7x57 for Texas (or most anywhere else for that matter). 

My "Two Rifle Texas Battery" is a pair of 7mm-08's. (7x57 twins)  One is a Rem 700 Mtn LSS in 7MM-08 shooting 145Grn Speer Hot Cores rigged for longer ranges out to 300+ Yds.  The other is my "Woods" rifle, a Rem 7600 pump in 7mm-08 shooting 154Grn Hornady RN.

PS: Lets see some pics of that 7x57!!

firstshot
--------------------------------------------------------
Make your first shot count!

[257 roberts]

Last year I went to Texas and took a Rem.700 VLS 308 Win for the long shots and a Rem.700 270 Win, Texas deer are not big.( I shot my buck with the 308 and several does with the 270)

[rickt300]

The 7x57 really isn't pretty. Her name is ugly for a reason. And she has been my main rifle for a while because I like to hunt in bad weather, Seems there are big deer that feel safe in the nasty.  And I truly have yet to find the 7x57 lacking in any respect. But I am going to let the 358 or the Whelen take over the night hog hunting and the 7MM Remington magnum hunt the long shot stand. The 7x57 will still reside in a soft case waiting for a nasty day which will surely come.

[Mikey]

I'm sorry, but there simply is no such a thing as a 'two gun battery' in any state in the Union, or even in Texas for that matter.  Stop shortchanging yourself and get more rifles..................

Why, I simply cannot imagine anyone wanting to limit oneself to only two rifles.  I usually take 3 or 4 when I go huntin' - just have to be careful not to mix up the ammo.  Mikey.

[RaySendero]

Well as usual this time of year I go thru the delusional process of maybe cuttin a few rifles from the list.  I have a 6MM Rem., 6.5x55, 270, 7x57, 7MM Rem. Mag, 308, 30-06,30-30, 8MM mauser (2), 358 Win., 35 Whelen, and a 444 Marlin. My first thought is use the 7MM Rem mag and the 35 Whelen for the bulk of my hunting. The 7x57 is my really bad weather rifle. This year I am not going elk hunting in Wyoming but may hunt Oklahoma.

rick,

From your descriptions - I like the 270 and the 35 Whelen as a two gun combination!

Although, That 6.5x55 could sub for the 270 - which ever one floats-your-boat.

[Graybeard]

I never have understood or accepted the concept of limiting oneself to a fixed number whether it be two, five or ten of any type hunting gun or target gun. Sure from time to time you might find your finances limit you and you can't buy another rat then but there is always later. I some times get one just cuz I want it and haven't got it rat now and at times it might take me years to getting around to shooting it but dang it if I want it that's all the reason I need to buy one. A dozen is definitely not too many and in fact might even be a bare minimum.

[rickt300]

Allright then I concede to greater wisdom. My next project will be a 7-08  or 308 on a short M700 or model 7 built very light with a 20 inch barrel. That will uncomplicate things a bit.

[Swampman]

All of your choices seem to fall in a category that pretty much overlap each other.  Forget about a "2 gun battery."  Out of the guns that you have, your .30-06 may be the only 1 gun that you will probably need to use in Texas.

Zachary

Or anywhere else for that matter.  The .30-06 is de best.

Mark

[Slamfire]

I think you need a varmint rifle. It ought to be of the same model as yore .30-06, then you'd be able to practice on 'yotes, dillas, and such. Yore .30-06 would take care of any thing else you'd hunt, although it is a bit overkill on them lettle Texas deer. 

[rickt300]

I only listed my real deer rifle calibers. I have 2 223's and a 22-250 plus the 6MM Remington. The only varmints I hunt are feral hogs and coyotes.