Features, add-ons and extras you wouldn't want to be without.

Gary D

Gary D

Regular
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Location
Gagetown NB
OK question for my fellow hunters. What are some of the features you find most desireable on a hunting rifle, what have you added to your gun or changed to make it suit you better and what extras on the market do you think are the cats a**.
 
My main priorities are reliable functioning, durability, consistent accuracy, and a good trigger. I may adjust a trigger, or possibly even replace it, and I may add a recoil pad or bed the action, but other than mounting a higher quality scope, in solid mounts, and putting on a sling, that is about it for modifications. I don't want or need fancy additions like engraving or fancy wood, a brake,oversized bolt handles, larger magazines, etc.
 
I love my oversized bolt handles on every bolt gun I own. Great in the winter when you have gloves on. Slings on my hunting rifles are also a must. I prefer leather adjustable competition slings that allow me to slide it over my elbow or wrap it depending on the situation for an amazingly steady shot. Personal preference I suppose. I also ensure all my hunting rifles are mag fed for ease of unloading.
 
Features I like: A decent trigger. Wraparound forend checkering. Detachable mag. Recoil pad on anything with more recoil than say, a 7mm-08. A decent-sized triggerguard and bolt-to-scope clearance for winter use with gloves.
My go-to rifle, an A-Bolt, lacks the wraparound checkering and large triggerguard, but I get by. I have considered re-stocking it.
 
The only accessories a well made rifle needs are a good quality scope in good solid mounts and a functional sling with a little padding for those long hikes. I personally despise detachable mags but that is my own opinion. As far as them rails and bipods and flashlights etc...I have absolutely no use for that junk on my rifle. I like good wood but find fiberglass or Kevlar to be functional and usually lighter.
Call me a fudd if you like, but as far as scopes go a good reliable variable or fixed power in Leupold or Zeiss with nothing but a duplex reticle, again I don't want all that distracting junk in my scope either. None of which is needed if you are intimate with your chosen hunting rifle and caliber and have hunted enough to be a decent judge of range.
Except for 50 BMG muzzle brakes are ugly and stupid and exceptionally noisy, if you NEED a muzzle break to fire your rifle accurately or acceptably maybe you should get a smaller caliber, again just my opinion.
 
Light weight, accurate enough to trust out to 200y.

I say 200 because 90% of everything ive shot was in that range. If im going to hunt big open areas ill take a target rifle.
 
Good open sights. Even with a good scope on the rifle, it just looks naked without irons, and most factory open sights are garbage these days. A sling is handy when it's time to drag something out, otherwise I don't use one. Other than that, just a good, basic, solid rifle.
 
On a general purpose rifle I don't want much; a decent recoil pad so the LOP can be corrected, solid mounts and a bullet proof scope that more than likely has a ballistic reticle of some sort. The means to attach one of a few favorite slings and or a Harris bipod since I live on the prairies. A decent trigger that may or may not be the one it came with. Chances are, it probably had some Devcon smeared here and there.Its nice if it can finish up around 8-9 pounds, and doesn't miss a beat for zero to 500 yard use.

So what about the muzzle-brakes, high powered MOA or yardage marked turret equipped scopes, illuminated reticles, scope levels, adjustable cheek pieces, bipods that haven't come off in years, truck axle barrels, extended bolt handles, 15-20 pound rifles and high capacity detachable magazines? Well, truth to be told I have all of that stuff too. For some narrowly defined, specialty uses some of that stuff is worth its weight in gold. Its just not for everyone, everywhere, everytime. It may not even be for most people most of the time.
 
Detach mags I have just discovered.
You don't need them on walking rifles.

If only one choice, a decently light trigger.
One pound or so.
I like to be able to think about what my eyes are doing,
rather than thinking about a crappy trigger and what my
finger is doing with it.

Next up would be fine cross hairs, not this mutli X chit.
 
Proper rifle design.

So that, with after lots of practice, it becomes an natural extension of yourself instead of unnatural-feeling object.
So that, when the target that you've stalked suddenly presents itself, you chamber a round, aim and fire instinctively.
 
blasted_saber said:
Butler Creek flip open scope caps.
Click to expand...


This is #1 for me, saves a LOT of headache and cleaning, I also don't have to worry about rain, snow, or debris when in the nasty stuff messing up my lenses. I have been using them so long I don't even notice myself popping them open as I bring up a rifle.
 
Limbsaver or Pachymar pad, sling with cartridge loops on floor plate models, neoprene scope socks made by my Wife, peep sights on my lever rifles, good quality simple scope on bolts, synthetic stock will be changed to a laminate or wood, in open country I add a bipod.
 
want: good trigger, good low-mounted scope and mounts, iron sights, simple lightweight sling, non-slip buttpad (recoil reducing for larger calibers), chamberings that are more than just-barely-adequate-for-perfect-shots-under-ideal-conditions, light weight

do not want: muzzle brakes, detachable mags, rifle-mounted bipods

like-but-don't-need: take-down capability, QD-scope mounts with a second scope ready-to-go
 
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