Buck Hollow Sporting Goods - click or touch to visit their website Midwest Habitat Company

One rifle for out west

isu22andy

isu22andy

Active Member
Assuming you could only have one and only one rifle for out west Elk, Muley, Whitetail, and Antelope what would it be ? Curious to see the different answers and explanations.
 
30.06
Numerous configurations to suit the owner, wide variety of factory loads, (every shop you go in has them), proven round.

7mm options are there too but for an all around chambering, the 06 is hard to beat.
 
Probably 06 for ease of finding ammo,7mag in a mid 70's rifle because that is the only gun I have used out west and in Africa all 1 shot kills
 
I used to think that a 30/06 was the answer, but then I bought a 300 Win Mag. Then I bought a second one just to see if I liked it as much as the first. :rolleyes: Very accurate, lots of ammo choices, and availability. Maybe a bit more power than needed for antelope, unless he's way out there, then you have the trajectory to handle the job. Dead is dead! The extra power of the 300WM really shines when it comes to handling elk (or moose). I still like my 30/06, but it's retired. The 06 can and will do the job but the 300WM will do it better.
 
This is like the Dodge/Ford/Chevy question. You'll get a slew of different answers depending on someone's preference. Go to a western-based hunting forum like Muley Madness or Coueswhitetail.com or a western-based Facebook hunting forum and you'll get probably 50 different answers as to what is the best all-around rifle for hunting out west. You'll get everything from the .06, .308, .270 to the ultra mags and a bunch of "exotics" that few have heard of. Its hard to beat the .30-06 for everything you are asking a rifle to do. I love mine. My questions are these, though: What distances are you anticipating shooting? Are you recoil sensitive? What parts of the west? Arizona whitetail (Coues) are a blast, but a whole other beast to hunt (highly recommended though). Will you be developing handloads or shooting strictly factory ammo?

As HorseDoctor said, the .300WM is very hard to beat and its a popular cartridge for everything you want. I love my 300WM, too. 7mm Mags are also a great choice for an all-around western hunting rifle. I would recommend a muzzle brake for either of those two, though, to help tame the recoil, but wear good hearing protection because they are LOUD with the brake. If you want to go lighter weight, you can consider the 300WSM, although they are a pain to handload for due to the limited magazine length. I've helped two friends develop handloads for 300WSMs and its taught me that I'll never own one. A .270 and a .308 are hard to beat, too. All of the above are stocked on pretty much every western state ammo shelf.

If you want to go down a different route, look at a .280 Ackley Improved or a 6.5-284. I was about to buy a 6.5-284 when a buddy offered me his custom 6.5-300WSM (last payment next month). I wouldn't use my 6.5-300 on elk, but it will handle everything else out to 800+ yards. At the same time, its hard to beat a .260 Rem or a .264 Win Mag. They are lighter recoiling, but will do whatever you ask of them on any western big game. I know a lot of people who use a 300RUM as their go-to rifle. I was originally going to have one of those built up, but I decided to go with something my wife and kids could shoot all day long.

Whatever route you go, make sure you pay as much as you can afford for a top-end scope. DON'T skimp on the scope! Good luck!
 
Last edited:
Was thinking a 7mm mag over a 300 win mag do to a little less punch in the shoulder . I am a little bit recoil sensitive , not in the fact that it makes me sore but more or less makes me flinch . Doubt any distances would be over 3-400 yards but i don't mind pushing myself to see what I can do on some paper . Was thinking Vortex Diamondback or Viper 4x16-42 or 4x16-50
 
isu22andy said:
Was thinking a 7mm mag over a 300 win mag do to a little less punch in the shoulder . I am a little bit recoil sensitive , not in the fact that it makes me sore but more or less makes me flinch . Doubt any distances would be over 3-400 yards but i don't mind pushing myself to see what I can do on some paper . Was thinking Vortex Diamondback or Viper 4x16-42 or 4x16-50
Click to expand...

Those two are both pretty close in recoil and both are great choices. I have several friends who have both and you won't go wrong either way. I love listening to my friends talk about how their (insert cartridge) is better than the other one. If you are sensitive to the flinch, I highly recommend a good muzzle brake. It really makes a HUGE difference. A 300WM with a brake is about like shooting a 308 (or less). I doubt I'll ever get another rifle without a brake. It just makes them that much more comfortable to shoot. Check out the video I posted in our journal of my 8-year old son shooting his 7mm-08 with a brake on it.

I highly recommend Vortex optics, but stay away from the Diamondback series for what you are wanting. Its a great entry-level scope and my daughter started out with one. Its now on my son's rifle and it will serve him well for learning and shooting inside of 200 yards. The rule of thumb is that you want to spend as much as you can afford for quality optics. Low light performance and crisp pictures don't come cheap. I know guys who end up spending more on their optics than they do on the rifle. I just put a Viper HS LR on my daughter's 7mm-08 and I love it. It is so much better than the Diamondback and now I'm interested in one for my .30-06. I'll be putting a Viper PST 6-24x50 FFP on my new 6.5-300WSM when I get it, but I plan to use it out to at least 700 yards eventually, at least on paper at first. If you're looking at 3-400 yard shots (not uncommon on pronghorn; the norm on Coues whitetail), a 4-16x50 will give you plenty of magnification and light gathering.
 
I bought a 7mm for my trip out west and it put a hurtin on my elk and I will certainly use it for other non archery western hunts..........
 
isu22andy said:
Any brands ? Realize this is a ford vs chevy deal... but them tikkas sure are smooth.
Click to expand...

Right now, my top picks would be a Tikka or a Savage. I was a diehard Remington guy most of my life until a few years ago. Their quality seemed to falter and Savage made one heck of a run for quality. Savages are now one of the most accurate out-of-the-box rifles out there without paying the price of a Tikka or other high-end name.
 
I'd pick one no one else would so by default I guess it's pry not worth posting but I will ;).
.300 Remington ultra mag. I know why guys wouldn't pick it "kicks too hard" "loads aren't as common", etc etc. why I Did shoot that back in the day when I used to hunt ks....
1) can do it all like u said- could shoot a deer or a moose with it- whatever.
2) kick didn't bother me at all. Not a bit and when shooting at a critter- don't even know what kick or recoil even is or feels like.
3) best ballistic .300 over the win mag and Weatherby
4) I'm a lunatic that takes the view "you can't kill things too dead" or however u wanna put it. I spent too many years helping guys track deer they shot "good" but somehow they are so tough they didn't find em. I want a bullet or arrow to do as much damage as possible (& yes- ok, i don't need to blow a deer in half with a ballistic tip 50 BMG but I do want to pummel them)
5) bullet shoots flat, tight groups, and flat is great with any guesses on distance.
6) I'm just a bit nuts about wanting big stuff to devastate what i shoot so I have as low as probability of wounding as possible with as much damage as possible. This reaches a point of "what can't I handle". So- I had to rule out the Mini-Gun from The movie "predator" that the dude free hands (that's usually mounted to the chopper) as I don't think I could keep the mini gun/Gatling gun under control from my treestand or after hiking out west. ;). I shot a whitetail with my .300 at about 200 yards. Quartering to me more than I realized..... pulled a 10' line of intestines out the back of that deer with a hole the size of a mini football. To make up for it- i was forced to buy $15 in extra ground beef from grocery store because I really wanna kill em deader than dead.
That's my fun gun all around killing choice. Since Iowa has no rifles my fun gun for shooting "whatever" - coyotes, ground hogs, etc - again an overkill with a AR-10 .308 with ballistic tips. fun stuff!!
 
Savage 300 Win mag. Mine shoots great right out of the box. And dead is dead - no tracking required. Just use a bullet that won't expand for the smaller game, like antelope, & it will pass right through w/ less damage.
 
The more you shoot, the more a good/great trigger will become important to you. I have very little experience with the "Accutrigger" but have heard it's pretty fair for a factory item. I'm not sure I have any rifles (or slug guns) that have not had trigger work of some sort and that includes some with very highly touted factory triggers (Winchester MOA :confused:). Most have had either expert gunsmith trigger jobs or a complete trigger replacement.

As for glass, that is a very personal choice. As AZHunter stated, get a good gun and put a great piece of glass on it. I have been a loyal Leupold fan for close to 50 years. I don't even want to begin to start counting how many Leupold scopes I have. I really like their 4.5-14 x 40 scopes as a minimum for western hunting. I also have a VX6 3-18 on a 300WM that does very nicely. You can spend more (Nightforce etc.), or less (Vortex) and still get decent glass. Most important, if you're gonna scrimp, do it on the rifle, not the scope!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom