How many big game rifles do you have?

[Little Buck]

I've recently started decreasing the number of big game rifles I own.

I've had a very bad habit over the past 10 years or so of buying them. I ended up with somewhere around 16 or 18 rifles. The problem was that most all of them were of the same power level and were, in fact, very similar. None of them would do anything very much better than the others. I even had several that I had not only hunted with, but also had never shot.

What I'm doing is I've gotten it down to 7 that I plan to keep. Two of those are sentimental pieces (the first deer rifle I ever bought on my own a Browning A-Bolt 30/06 and a Ruger #1 7x57 my wife bought me).

Aside from those, I'm keeping three other "deer rifles" - a Ruger 77 30/06, a Tikka T3 .270, a Rem. 760 Carbine in 35 Rem. Obviously the Ruger and the Tikka are in the same class as the Browning and 7x57, but the Tikka was my pick of the litter as far as a rifle that just "fits" me. I'm keeping the 77 because it is a tank of a rifle and everyone should have at least two 30/06's. The 35 Rem. is staying because it feels the niche of a light, quick handling carbine that hits with authority (at relatively close range of course).

The other two rifles I'm keeping span the power levels. They are both Ruger #1's. One is a #1S in 300 Win. Mag and the other is a #1H in 375 H&H. I had bought these two to go with my 7x57 as a trio that could go around the country (and indeed most of the world) and serve well.

I've sold, or am selling, a bunch of rifles. My hopes are to take that money and purchase one custom rifle (probably a NULA in 7x57) and a nice shotgun (never really owned what I would classify as a truly nice one).

So how many big game rifles is enough? Do you have specialty rifles or a couple that can do most jobs acceptably well? Ever done anything like this?

LB

[Bill Gunn]

I honestly don't know, but I have more than a few that haven't been shot in 5 years (some 10 years) :rolleyes:
I also think it's time to do some thinning but I hate to do it, after a lot of reloading trial and error they all shoot very accurately.
After having a triple bypass in '98, I did get rid of the .458 Win Mag.
I didn't want all my new plumbing scattered all over my shooting bench :eek:

A couple of years ago I gave a friend (free) a 03A3, and a Mannlicher Schoenauer he was interested in converting to sporter rifles. They were old projects that I never found time (or interest) in finishing.
It helped make a little room in the safe...

[purple heart]

Little Buck, I only have about half as many deer rifles as you but I plan on
keeping them all. At least for now. I have got to the point where I don't
have the feeling I need or want to buy any more. Some are duplicate calibers
that were used rifles that I couldn't pass up. Some have a sentimental reason
for staying in my cabinet. My only use for them is deer hunting and they all
will do the job.
Being a reloader it use to be fun reloading for a different caliber or action but
now days I can't just load up something and run down the road to a sand pit
and shoot. That's kind of taken the drive out of wanting a new gun and
caliber. I can't see myself going through my guns and saying- what ones will
I sell- even though I don't need or shoot them all.
I guess I'm at a point in life -60+- where I'm ready to settle in with what I've
got. :)

[LampLighter]

Never was a collector. Often sold one to use cash towards the next. A good rule for you if you want to sell off some, is to sell all the ones chambered in .308. :p

[Justin Time]

My number of rifles fluctuates from year to year. I am a compulsive trader/buyer. I have shot every rifle I owned, and of the ones in the safe today all have taken game. I guess at the peak I had 30 CF rifles. I am now down to my all time low of 5 CF, but that will be going back up.

Currently I have:

Model 700 Titanium .30-06 that is my "do-all" rifle.
Custom built .358 Win on a 700 action that is my "bad weather" rifle
3 Marlin Levers: A 1950's .35 Rem; a .30-30; and a .44 mag. I've recently re-discovered how fun and efficient the lever action rifles are. Cheap to shoot.

I have no need for anything larger than .30-06 EVER, as the only animal I'd feel undergunned on this continent would be Grizzly. I believe that todays bullets make the .30-06 the equal to the .300 Win Mag/.338 WIn mag of the 1970's. I currently down-load the .30-06 and the .358 for whitetail.

I am missing out on a varmint rifle in .223- .204 class
I am lusting after another custom rifle in .257 Roberts Improved.
I would like to pick up a couple more levers in .32-20 and .357

Looking back 30 years with 20/20 hindsight I think I'd have done it differently.

I'd have picked 5 calibers (.223, .257, .30, .35, .44) and called it good. It seems everytime I picked up a new rifle I had to buy another set of reloading dies, a new selection of bullets, brushes & jags, and depending on the rifle: bullet molds and sizers.

[Bill Gunn]

Looking back 30 years with 20/20 hindsight I think I'd have done it differently.


Well........
If I could back 'er up about 40 years or so & do it over, I'd be rich, single, and have about 2 of everything that you didn't have to be married to :p:p

[Justin Time]

Well........
If I could back 'er up about 40 years or so & do it over, I'd be rich, single, and have about 2 of everything that you didn't have to be married to :p:p


That's right.:D

[Altjaeger]

I count seven at the moment consisting of 5 bolt actions and 2 lever actions. The 7x57, .30-06 and 8x57cover much the same ground but I would not know which to let go.

At the moment I also hold my son's three rifles while he is overseas includung my old Savage 99 in.250-3000.

[longpine]

I am new to this site, but would like to add my rifles to the post:

Savage 99C 308
Savage 99F 308
Savage 99EG 300 Savage
Savage 1899A in 30-30
Browning Micro Hunter A bolt in 7mm-08
NEF Single Shot with 30-30 BBL and 7mm-08 BBL.
Just my 2 cents worth. Thanks guys. Jim

[Twanger]

Well, lessee, 7 muzzleloaders in various calibers: 41, 45, and 50 cal, a .222 Savage, and .308 barrel for the Encore. I guess the Marlin bolt-action 12-ga slug gun counts as a rifle (rifled barrel) but throwing rocks is far more accurate. :p

[DancesWithKnives]

I have a bunch of rifles but 98% of my hunting is done with an early '90s A-Bolt Stainless Stalker in .338 with a 1.5-6x42mm Swarovski. Works for deer, pigs, and elk. I don't notice the recoil except off the bench and I do very little of that. I probably won't be buying more rifles unless something revolutionary comes out.

DWK

[BILL K]

I got none. lost them all in a flash flood on january 20th.

[Sabre]

I got none. lost them all in a flash flood on january 20th.

Sorry to hear of your misfortune Bill. I know what it's like as I lost my home and most of my personal posessions to the Susquehannah river in June of '06. Fortunately, I was able to get my guns and a few other personal items out before being forced to evacuate.

[Alan R McDaniel Jr]

I've had a very bad habit over the past 10 years or so of buying them. I ended up with somewhere around 16 or 18 rifles.
LB

16 - 18 is a bad habit?! Uh - Oh!

I'm gonna need a specialist.

Alan

[AK-49]

I'd rather have just one big game rifle that I REALLY like than a dozen that I just like. It took me years to figure that out.

[Smokey]

I have more then I need. I have sold a few over the years but not many. I have been giving some to my sons and daughter over the last few years. It seems lately that I use the same ones each year. I have had some of them over 30 years that I have not fired yet. You just get a little partial to some of them if you know what I mean.

[Hink]

I really see them as mini investments as they've all appreciated during the time that I've had them. The only junk I have is a matching pair 742 and 760 that I might wear out from use before I die as I tend to hunt the woods with them.

Over the years I've had good friends show up at the house after a layoff or some life perdictament and while too proud to ask to borrow money I was given first refusal on thier prized deer rifle with a hint that they'd like to be able to buy it back in a couple of weeks or so when things turned around. I never kept any or had any intention when the cash came in a couple of weeks later and they came to buy their rifle.

I've no need to sell them really as there's a little bit of everything in there and few duplicates of anything. As a damn fine man once told me they don't eat much once they make it into the safe.

[30-338]

I enjoy having a good shooting deer/elk rifle and having my wife hunting with me has increased or my excuse to add more rifles.

[André]

Presently 14 in assorted calibers.

[snake river rufus]

I quit selling/trading rifles ( you always lose money and end up wishing you had them back) many years ago so my safes/closets are fullish. Just big game hunting rifles the number, is around 100.

There is no such a thing as too many firearms.

[Don Wald]

longpine,

I love those older Savage M99's. I have two.
A 1936-vintage Savage M99EG in .250-3000.

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee86/DWald_photos/SavageM99250-2.jpg

and a 1953-vintage Savage M99EG in .300 Sav.

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee86/DWald_photos/SavageM99300Sav.jpg

[Rick Teal]

As near as I can tell I have 35 guns that many guys would consider to be big game hunting rifles. Many of them I own because they're interesting or I just use them for paper punching or "fun" shooting.

[Gil]

It seems that there are a lot of great used gun bargains out there and I cannot resist them. All the best...
Gil

[Indy]

As I get older I want to simplify my life and have fewer material possessions.

I sold a lot of rifles a few years ago. I can see keeping one for open country hunting, one for deer hunting in the woods, and a big bore for Africa. Any more is probably because you like to collect them, not because you hunt with them very often.

As an investment I think they appreciate no more, over a couple of decades, than common stocks. But they're a lot harder for your heirs to sell and a lot easier for crooks to steal.

[alan]

I lost all my firearms when my canoe flipped. Really, Mr. Obama .

[Badger]

I do not think I would list my guns on an open forum. We may get to list them all soon enough!

Badger

[PaJack]

Too many if you ask my wife...:D

[jbmi]

to many, but I'm not ready to sell any.
My goto deer rifle is one of my two 358win.( one lever, one bolt) then I'll drop down to my 338-08 lever, my 270 bolt, my 7-08 bolt, either one of my two 30/30 levers, my 35rem lever, or my 338mag bolt.
I guess I could sell 5 of them and never really miss them, but what can you do with a few thousand dollars today, you'd just pi$$ is away and end up with nothing. Better just to keep the guns.:)

[Hi Ball]

Well I do have several in varous places and different states. I consider the numbers of my collection off limits to the general public or the ATF, FBI or any other damn group that wants to know how many and where there at OK........Time for my shot & pills :eek: but you get the picture!

[bugsNbows]

I've been buying / selling etc. to tweak my favorites. Currently, I'm down to four:

Rem. 700 ADL in .243
Cooper 52 in 25/06
Sako 75 in 30/06
Browning X-Bolt in 300 WSM.

The Rem (beater / loaner) may be going soon though.

[swamp]

I sold all my firearms at a gun show... down to a couple of water pistols LOL

[Hi Ball]

SWAMP.......I'll buy that if you gift wrap it in $100 dollar bills!:D:D

[Rugerman]

10 unless my old tired mind has left me again

[bugsNbows]

Never have enough.

[Hi Ball]

Reading some of these posts on this thread is a bit morbid to say the least!:rolleyes: Sound like some are ready for that trip to the damn Undertaker!!!:eek::eek::eek::rolleyes:

Well, I sure as hell ain't planing any trip to the house of caskets anytime soon and my guns are increasing and NOT being sold at any gun shows either or maybe I should say period...........Geez what a bunch of old farts:p:o:rolleyes:

[Gil Martin]

Way too many are in my gun safes, but I bought them cheap and did a lot of work on some of them. I would not sell off any of them, because they will only cost more later if I ever want them back. One of these days, I may sell a few or trade a couple. All the best...
Gil

[TexasPatriot.308]

I got a bunch, but I aint saying cause Obama, Pelosi and Reid want to take them. I am 55 now and the largest caliber I shoot here in Texas is .308 but my favorite now and go to gun is a Tikka T3 in 6.5 x 55 Swedish. I fell in love with this caliber, it will take anything here in Texas and I got tired of getting beat up by other calibers and I think the magnum thing is just a fad (I wonder why so many hunters shooting those are bad shots?) for coyotes and even hogs and deer, my next favorite is a .22-250, you can hunt deer with it in Texas and it will kill a deer or hog very effictively, I also use a .17hmr and kill hogs with it with a shot thru the ear or even shoulder shots. we got **** loads of hogs here and believe me the .17 will do a job on them. when I go to the pasture I always throw a mini 14, open sight for hogs and coyotes in my pickup.

[rimrock]

the longer I hunt the more reasonable a buddies collection seems to be
hes only got a
FOX side bye side 12 ga,
a COLT AR15,
a 375 H&H SAKO ,
a 257 roberts BLR
and a 450 marlin BLR
and he always seems to do just fine!
the only reason he owns the 450 marlin BLR is his wife ask him what he wanted for his 40th anniversary, and she surprised him with it
he bought her airline tickets to Vegas and took her on a weeks outing, she wanted

[daniel paydar]

i own following rifles.
1- husqvarna 1640 in 6,5x55
2- ruger 77 all weather in 3006
3-husqvarna model 640 in 8x57js
4- brno 602 in 375 H&H .
cheers
daniel

[pepaw]

I have a few, but mostly because I have a wife and two kids who hunt.
I actually am thinking to adding to the herd with a Marlin .270 bolt. Sure hear good things about them.
Personally, I would be happy with my .223 and .260, but I have a couple of great shooting .222's and .243's that ain't leaving.

pepaw

[spooksar]

I collect so hunting rifles are around 90, Handguns 27.