the ideal walking stalking hunting rifle

Boomer said:
Synthetic stocks for hunting rifles haven't been around all that long, so what was used before that? Wood. The idea that a wood stock is unsuitable for use in cold, wet, rocky, heavily forested environments, hardly seems reasonable to those of us brought up on wood stocked rifles. Not only did those stocks stand up to exposure to the elements for a couple of hours, we carried them for weeks at a time, often without giving them any special attention, unless they got wet. Our rifles wore the scars of hard use, but they never became unserviceable through normal use, although I have seen woodstock break from misuse or fail from recoil due to poor bedding. I still use wood stocked rifles, and my wood stocked rifles outnumber my synthetic stocked rifles by a significant margin, although fiberglass and Kevlar is making an inroads. To this day, I would much sooner have my rifles stocked in walnut rather than in a low quality plastic.
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Boomer, I personally prefer wood stock to synthetic. I have no doubt that a good, well cared for wood stock can withstand elements for many many years. But when walking and stalking in thick bush, I have quickly learned that in terms of appearance (if that matters to the carrier anyway) damage is inevitable. My beautiful and unnecessarily expensive Italian 20g SXS received a nasty scratch on the first day of an upland bird hunting, even though I was consciously trying to avoid it. My 870 which has come with me into woods many times has barely any varnish left on it. It is just that walking and stalking in heavy bush is very different from walking through the bush to get to a hunt stand. Terms like "thick bush" and "dense bush" mean different things to different People depending on their surroundings. In my area walking in the bush means a lot of bending over to clear hanging branches, some walking on beaver dams (not by choice) and occasional tumbling. To a certain degree it is also a matter of personal choice, so I would say to each his own.
 
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Kimber Montana. Mine happens to be in .270 WSM with a 4.5-14 VX3 with B&C reticle. I like a regular weight, wooden stock heavier magnum rifle just as much as the next guy but have developed an appreciation for low matinence lightweights that you don't even know are there until its time to shoot. For just playing with deer and coyotes I've usually got one kid or the other with me, and since I don't usually get to shoot when they are around the rifle may as well be as little PIA as possble. The fact that it doesn't give up much if anything in medium game performance doesn't hurt my feeling either. Its a solid 600 yard rifle, which works out to a pound per hundred.
 
I'm a Luddite (No hiding the fact , post history would bust me anyhow) but a plastic stocked rifle just feels wrong to me.
" It's swell; you can tell, it's Mattel!"
If you are armed forces or someone who is forced by job description to have a firearm, plastic makes sense.
But to say "I want to carry a firearm, but don't care enough to treat it well"... makes no sense to me.
Let's face it, when most of us find ourselves walking with or using a gun...well, it's usually looking like a pretty good day. We enjoy doing the activities before us.
Why not carry use something that is pleasing to the hand and eye?
That said, I'm a lever action carbine man ( back to the Luddite thing, lol). Caliber is optional.
 
Dogleg said:
Kimber Montana. Mine happens to be in .270 WSM with a 4.5-14 VX3 with B&C reticle. I like a regular weight, wooden stock heavier magnum rifle just as much as the next guy but have developed an appreciation for low matinence lightweights that you don't even know are there until its time to shoot. For just playing with deer and coyotes I've usually got one kid or the other with me, and since I don't usually get to shoot when they are around the rifle may as well be as little PIA as possble. The fact that it doesn't give up much if anything in medium game performance doesn't hurt my feeling either. Its a solid 600 yard rifle, which works out to a pound per hundred.
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Sounds like your enjoying that rifle!

Mine would be a Montana in 257 Roberts. I take that sucker everywhere with me if nothing big is on the menu. It has been carried many miles in steep country and will see many more for sure. If it is short range stuff and thick bush, I take a pre 64 model 94 or the trapper in turdy turdy but that's usually when I am on the horse.
 
SuperCub said:
Couple hours ..... Really?

What kind of bush is that anyways?
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Maybe haw berry trees ... But if your stupid enough to try and walk over them , well ....


I personally never seen the point in plundering thro thick bush for deer .. One they can hear good . Two they can smell good and three they can see good so why go through bush that you can only see 5 ft at best . Older grot his more user friendly
 
IMO the Winchester 94 is the most over rated gun to ever be on the market

The irons are amoung the crudest I have ever seen . I have seen better in pellet guns

The action is the loudest bag of hinges

The hammer is not ramped correctly for ease of cycling

The trigger most have been leased off red rider bb guns

And to top it all off ... It's top eject
 
Right now it is my stainless steel black/gray laminate stocked 23" barreled T/C Contender Carbine in 6.8SPC loaded with 95gr TTSX @ 2960fps.

If I'm not grabbing this combo I'd grab my FAST (folding) stocked OD green Robinson Arms XCR-L in 6.8SPC gives me 2850fps with the same loads as above.

Both these rifles with this one load give me 300 yard deer hunting and 400 + yard coyote hunting capabilities.
 
tylerjwitty said:
IMO the Winchester 94 is the most over rated gun to ever be on the market

The irons are amoung the crudest I have ever seen . I have seen better in pellet guns Can be changed to Williams Foolproof rear sights and a front optical bead 1/3 smaller then the brass factory bead.

The action is the loudest bag of hinges Two words: Lubricate it.

The hammer is not ramped correctly for ease of cycling This can be easily overcome for those with weaker fingers by merely recocking the hammer after you took the intial shot, so the bolt does not need to overcome the top of the hammer.
The trigger most have been leased off red rider bb guns Shoot it often enough and this is suddenly not an issue IMO.
And to top it all off ... It's top eject Who cares about that with irons? Besides one can more easily see into the chamber. This makes the design a tad bit safer to run IMO. If you really feel the need for a scope, you can always just purchase the Angle Eject model at a reasonable price.
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We disagree friend.

And may I suggest the longevity of the design appeals to many Canadian, American and Mexican forest hunters.
 
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There is only one ideal walking and stalking rifle and that would be a TC Contender or G2 in 6.8 Rem or 7-30 Waters if you handload and don't mind forming brass. Mines a hair over 5 pounds scoped and who needs more than one shot anyways.
 
tylerjwitty said:
IMO the Winchester 94 is the most over rated gun to ever be on the market

The irons are amoung the crudest I have ever seen . I have seen better in pellet guns

The action is the loudest bag of hinges

The hammer is not ramped correctly for ease of cycling

The trigger most have been leased off red rider bb guns

And to top it all off ... It's top eject
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Don't even remotely agree...

While side eject would be nice, I wouldn't change the design to get it... nothing carries like a 94, and it shoulders and points as well as anything... it also has a distinctive style and much history.
 
Brutus said:
We disagree friend.

And may I suggest the longevity of the design appeals to many Canadian, American and Mexican forest hunters.
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So do savage axis , doesn't mean there isn't far better options.

You listed MANY things that must be done in order to make the rifle useful and user friendly . Why not just get a real gun for example a old marlin . I had a 94 note HAD . It was an accurate enough banger

I just don't understand what the 94 brings over pretty much any gun . It's like vies grips , does nothing well
 
hoytcanon said:
Don't even remotely agree...

While side eject would be nice, I wouldn't change the design to get it... nothing carries like a 94, and it shoulders and points as well as anything... it also has a distinctive style and much history.
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I suppose it does fly through the air rather well . I prefer my blr lightening over it in terms of levers , and it's not flawless , faster follow up shots , something to wrap your hands around, bullet selection increases drastically with a mag, lever isn't likened unto attempting to loosen a 1 inch bolt with a 3/8 ratchet .

I don't more what to say bout them 94 s , I hate them.

Maybe I'm not very sneaky because most of my animals are shot and killed farther than I feel comfortable using a 94 which starts around 125 yards . YES I know a 30 30 is good for about 600 yards or something crazy however I prefer not to injure my prey , I prefer clean kills .
 
tylerjwitty said:
You listed MANY things that must be done in order to make the rifle useful and user friendly .

I just don't understand what the 94 brings over pretty much any gun . It's like vies grips , does nothing well
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Not one thing needs to be done to make a 94 "user friendly"... as a matter of fact, I have "undone" many improvements made by previous owners...

Everyone is entitled to an opinion... that's why so many different models are made...

While I enjoy my older Marlin's and my newer Henry's... I keep going back to my 94's...
 
tylerjwitty said:
I suppose it does fly through the air rather well . I prefer my blr lightening over it in terms of levers , and it's not flawless , faster follow up shots , something to wrap your hands around, bullet selection increases drastically with a mag, lever isn't likened unto attempting to loosen a 1 inch bolt with a 3/8 ratchet .

I don't more what to say bout them 94 s , I hate them.

Maybe I'm not very sneaky because most of my animals are shot and killed farther than I feel comfortable using a 94 which starts around 125 yards . YES I know a 30 30 is good for about 600 yards or something crazy however I prefer not to injure my prey , I prefer clean kills .
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See how opinions are... the BLR is my LEAST favorite of the lever action rifles... I detest the short throw lever... I have two in .243 and .308... and they see less use than any of the others... I have shot many whitetails at 150 yards with open sighted .30/30 94's and never felt that I was pushing the envelope... might as well have been a .375 H&H from their reaction to the hit...

As far as bullet selection, I shoot mostly cast, but I also load 150 Nosler BT's over 38/LVR and double jack... the performance would amaze most old school shooters.
 
My 40 year old Remington Model 700 ADL 243 is semi-retired now, but the wood stock shows the evidence of tangled brush I clawed my way through from northern Vancouver Island and the BC coast and Interior from 1974 until 1994 when I started increasing my selection of rifles.

Builds character.
 
For walking and stalking, short, light, handy, shouldering quickly and fitting like a glove. IN my humble opinion. Probably a different answer for everyone ..... For me that means my Marlin 1894 .44 mag when I am not hunting. (walking) And my Husqvarna .308 when I am hunting (stalking). They both wear aperature sights. Or my .270 or 7x57 Husqvarna's. They are relatively short and not too heavy. Low fixed power scope, or irons for me. I do not associate walking and stalking with long shots. As for the '94 discussion/derail! I find the Model 94 a delight to carry and use. As a hunting tool its still getting the job done (120 years and counting?!). And in the hunt photo below it served me as well as any rifle would have.

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Happy hunting!
 
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