Which of these rifles would you take hunting?

Ok the vibe seems to be m305 or just stay home lol. I'll have to see how accurate the m305 is I guess. If I can even get 4 inch group at 100 yards that's good for me. If it's all over the place I guess II'll use the 73 with 158 gr jacketed sp bullets. I know for sure it can touch holes at 50 yards, not sure about 100 though.
 
Brian46 said:
i wouldn't hunt with any of those either
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I wouldn't either., but I'll say exactly why:

I already have several options that I would enjoy hunting with way more than any of these options.

However, given the specified parameters of this hunt, success or failure would have little or anything to do with which rifle I chose.
 
essorx said:
You haven't mentioned anything about the "Norinco m305", "Mosin M44" or "winchester 73 in 357 mag". Though, I get that fudd would dismiss without argumentation former non-sporterized military rifles... So is your concern about the weight ? The caliber's ballistic ? .30 rifles (or copy of thereof) that were good enough to target humans in combat must be good enough for pretty much hunting anything in North-America.
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The .357 is slightly light for deer IMOP........ The mosin is a garbage road and a pita to carry in the woods and the m305 is a knock off Norc with a poorly fitted barrel and gas block (usually) that weighs over 11 pounds....... I was trying to be nice, but there, I said it......

The OP's question was "what rifle would YOU take hunting"...... I gave my answer.....
 
Superbrad said:
The .357 is slightly light for deer IMOP........ The mosin is a garbage road and a pita to carry in the woods and the m305 is a knock off Norc with a poorly fitted barrel and gas block (usually) that weighs over 11 pounds....... I was trying to be nice, but there, I said it......

The OP's question was "what rifle would YOU take hunting"...... I gave my answer.....
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I'd pick a Russian SKS over the 305, but how is an M44 a PITA to carry? I've carried both the M44 and the M305 over some pretty rough country and never had a problem.
 
All of the original choices are perfectly viable options. And I've hunted with most of them at one time or another. Best? far from it. But for an experienced hunter that wants a challenge, any of those options is capable of a clean one shot kill. Just pick your shots, and make it close.
You don't need a hyper sonic ray gun to kill a deer.
I've done it with a 44-40 loaded to 900fps.
 
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I'd be the dissenting voice here and would take the 357 lever action. Yes the 357 is pretty marginal for deer, but so is the 25-35 I walked around with for a few days last year.
I place more value on a rifle being easy to carry and handy to use than others, and my idea of a hunting rifle is not a 305 or a clunky mosin.
 
Robert Nicholson said:
While we are at it, better tell all those people with 30-30s to stop it. Get a magnum or go home.
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Most of them did stop on their own, when more adequate calibers came around.

Who hunts Mule deer with a 30-30 these days? except maybe the odd nostalgia hunter.

Most Mule deer will weigh 50% + more than a White tail, and shots will usually be a lot longer.

But even a 30-30 in the right hands would be a better choice than the OP' s guns.
 
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30-30 is still very popular in situations like the OP described. A deer won't shrug off a 357 from a rifle at 100 yards either. I'm more than happy to go overkill deer hunting (used lots of powerful cartridges at close range and longish) but we really can't discount how many deer have been very cleanly killed with much less. As always.....Shot placement...
 
The Outsider said:
Most of them did stop on their own, when more adequate calibers came around.

Who hunts Mule deer with a 30-30 these days? except maybe the odd nostalgia hunter.

Most Mule deer will weigh 50% + more than a White tail, and shots will usually be a lot longer.

But even a 30-30 in the right hands would be a better choice than the OP' s guns.
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I'm not sure where you hunt, but here on the Prairie shooting a mule deer at times is about equal to shooting the neighbours dog. I shot mine last year with a rifle at about 50 yards as it stared at me. My 9.3x57 did the job, but so would have a 30-30 or a 357 magnum.
 
Norinco m305 - short to mid range, accurate enough but heavy (and I think auto loaders are a pain in the butt for hunting in the field)

Mosin M44 - short to mid range, light weight, but loud and nasty.

winchester 73 in 357 mag - light weight and handy but limted range

12 gauge pump - light and handy, good stopping power, but very limited accuracy at range


I'd go for the M44
 
heronfish said:
I'm not sure where you hunt, but here on the Prairie shooting a mule deer at times is about equal to shooting the neighbours dog. I shot mine last year with a rifle at about 50 yards as it stared at me. My 9.3x57 did the job, but so would have a 30-30 or a 357 magnum.
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'At times' maybe, but at many more times its not that easy and hunts rarely go as planned.
That's why it's best to be prepared and have a proper big game hunting rifle with good optics that you can shoot well under all circumstances.
 
The Outsider said:
'At times' maybe, but at many more times its not that easy and hunts rarely go as planned.
That's why it's best to be prepared and have a proper big game hunting rifle with good optics that you can shoot well under all circumstances.
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I'll make sure to retire my old clunkers on this advice, might as well sell the bow too I guess.
You just may want to admit a lot of deer are still shot with a 3030, regardless of your opinion and they still fall over dead.
 
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