Your Ol Faithful?

GMC403

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
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BC
I need to talk about (and read about) something other than this country going down the ####ter.


What is your “go to” rifle?

We always talk about: Best built, Purpose Built, Dream, Ultimate, Last to sell, One that got away........ etc.

Last night, I got home from work and decided to go for a stroll around the yard. I could hear something rustling in the bush and, well looky, looky Yogi was digging in an old stump not 80y away.

I ran back to the house, slid into my shop, grabbed a rifle and ammo from the safe and high tailed it back to my previous vantage point. (I have a tag, and live in a legal area)

(We all know how the mind starts to focus when adrenaline gets pumping), when running back to the house, I was thinking of how to get this to play out the best way possible. Are my kids in the yard?, Was there a cub(s) there?, do I have any room in the freezer?, etc......

One thing I don’t really remember thinking about was the rifle, it’s like it was a subconscious decision to grab what I did, and same with ammo.

So...... to make a boring story even more boring. There I was at the back of my property with my Ruger Scout over my shoulder, some 308 150gr sp’s in my hand.........watching the ass end of a neighbors fugitive black cow while he was eating some grass behind a stump.

It was at that point my wife yelled out the window, “the neighbors cows got out again!!”


So mine is my Scout I guess.


Happy Friday Everyone.
 
Tikka T3x Battue in 30-06. It sits in a B&C stock. Upgraded Mountain tactical bottom metal and trigger spring. Topped with a Leupold VX-3i 2.5-8x36 in a MaSi quick detach mount. Usually shooting 180gr Sako Super Hammerhead rounds. It's amazingly accurate and is the most versatile rifle I own. It's always the first one to get to come out and play when I need a rifle.
 
I have 2 either Pre-64 Model 70 in 30-06 or a custom Mauser in 7X57
Many years heading to camp I'll bring at least 1 other rifle that I think I want to try, but I never do???
 
Ha! Was easy choice up into my 30's - in Central Saskatchewan- only had one - a Model 70 in 308 Winchester with 2-7 Leupold scope. Seemed to work just fine for everything!!! Then bought a Model 70 in 338 Win Mag and installed a Leupold M8-6x - the "magic" rifle for elk. Then a Ruger No. 1 in 7x57, also with a Leupold M8-6x - the "magic" rifle for deer. Then the Mausers started showing up. Then the Lee Enfields. Then more Mausers. Then P14's, and M1917's. We have had three "problem" bears this spring in our neighbourhood and in our yard - no hankering to "shoot a bear", but I damn sure will if my wife or animals start getting hassled!!! So, these days, my "go to", beside me in the shop as I type, is a Husqvarna 9.3x62 built on an FN Commercial 98 action, with old-school Leupold M8-3x, with a sleeve of 250 grain Accubonds loads. Never yet taken an animal with it, but have no doubts about it at all!!!
In the fall, I quite like going for a walk along field edges, occasionally flushing up some sharp-tail or some "Huns", more often the Ruffed Grouse. After several other candidates, I have settled on my Browning Citori 28 gauge over-under. Pretty much a perfect match for that endeavour!!
 
I have two rifles that are tied, only the weather decides which one goes out... a Ruger M77 Mark II Frontier .358 Stainless/Laminate and a Ruger M77 Mark II RLS Carbine
Blued/Walnut .358. Both very accurate out to 300 yards, but have a dead on hold from zero to 200 yards, where 95% of my shots are taken. I am heading North for bears on Sunday and they are both coming along. I have only had these two for a couple years, but have taken half a dozen deer and bears with them, but what I appreciate most, is their compactness, wieldiness and incredibly consistent accuracy.
 

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Any one of my sighted in rifles with iron sights. Whenever I’m in a rush to pack it’s always one of them that get picked up, currently that’s usually this sub-4lb 5.6x50 Mag or the .375 Kemano M98. Either will comfortably shoot 250 yards on the irons and don’t really need any more.

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Any one of my sighted in rifles with iron sights. Whenever I’m in a rush to pack it’s always one of them that get picked up, currently that’s usually this sub-4lb 5.6x50 Mag or the .375 Kemano M98. Either will comfortably shoot 250 yards on the irons and don’t really need any more.

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Your a bold man, setting those rifles down on gravel!
 
For several decades my go-to was either one of a pair of Ruger MkII stainless model 77's, purchased new right after the MkII came out; they were actually of that first brief-lived production run that had the Mauser claw extractor, but not the boltface cutout so they were not controlled round feed rifles. One in .300WM, the other in .338WM; a third sibling in .243 never shot well and was sold early on. I almost never carried them as primary hunting rifles, but I always had one or the other with me on travelling hunts, to use as backups. They both shot a lot of game on rainy days.

Sold those recently; the gun that has now by default become my go-to is my Steyr Scout. Again, it's not really one I plan on using...but it's the one I often end up grabbing. I'm not really a .308 fan, but thanks to this one rifle I have killed a lot of critters with that round; some of them were even game animals! :)
 
Ruger M77 in 308WIN. Nothing special about her other then the fit is perfect for me and I shoot it well. My wife bought it for me, used, because I mentioned I liked it when I saw it. Great decision on her part.

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