Thread: Hunting rifle

Tweet

I have recently been talking with some friends and cousins about taking up big game hunting. I was thinking something like deer, wild pigs and elk. I read a ton of info on different rifles and have kept coming back to a .45-70 Marlin guide gun. The plan is to get meat for the table(not for trophy) and to be out with friends and family providing for our families.
Anyone on here have any experience with a guide gun? They seem very popular for their weight, size and accuracy. Evidently the shoot fast and fairly straight, especially when loaded with Hornady Lever Evolution rounds.

My husband who is the gun afficando says that it is the same gun that they used to kill buffalo. it should do the job. he says that it is a light gun but will punish your shoulder. he says happy hunting, good luck, and stay safe. the weight should be good for long hikes.

If I had to go to just one rifle, I'd keep the Winchester 30-30. Light weight, readily available ammo, rapid fire, 7 round capacity and you wont need a cart to haul a box of ammo. Been used to kill everything from rats to elephants.

ought 6 will work just fine for doing that plus ammo is everywhere and you can find tons of surplus ammo thats really cheap. heck i like the old brit .303 works GREAT! still find surplus ammo once in awhile but a box of new factory loads isnt bad $. of course if you can find them like you can here, a 100 dollar 8mm mauser will keep you fed for a long time to come and surplus ammo is right on par $ wise with an 30-06 and so are ballistics, but the gun <mauser> is cheaper and will live jsut aslong. my 1942 has required no maitnence at all!

The .45/70 is a very old design, lots of better rounds out there. I'd go for a bolt action, Winchester, FN, or Mauser surplus,to name a few. 30-06, .270, 7mm are good deer cartridges. I have shot hundreds of deer with a P14 Enfield .303 British, now use a .308 Norma Magnum but it doesn't kill 'em any deader than the ol' 303. The magnum is more for moose and elk, but works on everything from muskrats on up.
If you're set on a lever action, get a Browning BLR or a Savage 99. .243, .308, .250 Savage calibres are available. Check out the gun shows, but take along someone that knows guns inside out, there are good used guns around.

I use a Winchester 30-30 with a 16" barrel for deer, you can get shells anywhere, and I use a 300 Winchester Mag for elk & bear. I reload my own.

Pat

30-30's aren't much good out on the bald prairie with shots of 300-400 yards being common. Flat shooting is a must.

Winchester 308

I dearly love my 30-30 Winchester in the Adirondacks but for a cleaner and quick kill on a whitetail deer or black bear my sporterized Lee-Enfield with hard to find 225 grain bullets can't be beat though the 170's aren't too bad - I had some odd ball 190's at one point as well but have never seen another box since. An -06 is as good if you choose your ammunition well - about the same velocity but a bit less energy in factory loads

My 300 Winchester mag is sighted in at 500 yards, and you won't see thru the scope after you pull the trigger, and you might get a black eye if you relax to much. I wouldn't use a 30-30 for that or a 306, 308 at 300-400 yards. My 16" barrel is for brush hunting, I use to use a 8 mm Mauser with a sniper stock, but it got to heavy after awhile.

Pat

What kind of country do you hunt in , bush with mostly quick shots under a 100 yards or the big open stuff like up here.
ive always liked the 45-70 a great close gun lots of bullet weight to plow bush plus hits hard at close range i would assume its a lever action so a quick 2nd shot is always there. over a 100 yards and things get funny due to low ballistic speeds lost of hold over etc
Would you be getting a scope or using open sites ?

I live up where pope does and use a 300 magnum too cause your looking at deer and shooting at them at really long distances so speed and hitting power come into play.

I think a really good all around gun is a 306 pretty good at longer ranges and also hard hitting enought to knock most things down.

To be honest with you can make almost decent hunting gun work for you as long as you know your bullets and the guns limitations. Spend some time with your gun no matter what you get and figure out what you can do with it. you will be surprised at what it can actually do and how accuate you can get

My first gun was a 30/30 marlin which is a slow bullet for this area but i put a scope on it and was knocking deer down at a 150 yards. The 45 70 has a lot more hitting power than it cause of bullet size.

.50 cal with sniper scope. Hit it from a mile away.

Ive not done a whole lot of deer hunting, but a 308 will drop what you need!! A nice remington 700 has been used forever with great results. if you hot rod one out it`ll do whatever you need, just ask Carlos hathcock, proven shot`s well over 500 yards.JMO

The 45-70 is a great old round, and in its day was hard to beat. It was designed to shoot Black Powder at a time when brass case's were just becoming the way to go, and even today is at its best when loaded with Black Powder and a really heavy bullet like the 530 grain Creedmore or Postel type of target bullet. The is a type of shooting were the 45-70 excels today and that is BPCRS that would be "Black Powder Cartridge Rifle Silhouette" here the 45-70 is one of the leading and most accurate calibers shot. At this game 1/4 of the targets are shot at a distance of 500 Meters, thats over a quarter of a mile. The target is a life size Silhouette of a Ram and weighs around 60 lbs being made from a high impact type of steel, the ram not only must be hit, it must also must be knocked over to score a hit.

Now with that being said the 45-70 was built and designed for Black Powder, when loaded with smokeless powder it turns into a real bear. In smokeless loads almost all of the ammo Companys use a 305 to 350 grain copper jacked bullet. a long shot for this bullet and smokeless is a 100 yds with any hope of accuracy. The 45-70 has a trajectory like a rainbow and in a light rifle like the "Guide" guns the recoil will just eat you alive. The Marlin you mention as well as most short barreled Guide guns weigh in right around 7 to 7 1/2 lbs. The early 45-70's wieghed as much as 16 lbs and in the BPCRS the rules call for a weight of 12 lbs 2 oz. Recoil is manageble in those heavy rifles in a 7 1/2 lbs rifle it is not fun.

You would be much better served with as your first rifle one that is fun to shoot and has recoil that you can deal with. A really good choice has already been mentioned and that would be the Remington Mdl 700 in .308 caliber. This is the caliber of choice at many many long range and position matches. It is routinly shot at distances up to and including 800 meters and loaded with the right bullet excells at this distance even today with some of the more modern and higher velocity rounds. Other rifles to look at in this caliber would be Ruger Mdl 77 and the Winchester Mdl 70. These are three rifles cabable of Very Good accuracy and at a reasonable cost. Good Luck!!

Roland

Thanks for everyone's feedback. I actually have a few ww2 rifles .303 and 7.62 x 54 cal, as well as 22's, shotguns, etc. An old neighbor friend lives in a fairly wooded area where a short light gun has it's benefits. I was thinking .45 -70 because I wanted a powerfull load for close range pig shooting, and also something that would work up to 200 yards for big game such as elk, and bear(not for sport, but self defense). I've been reading up on overall versatility and heard the guide guns properly equipted with a scope and lever revolution high grain(400+) will shoot 200 yards well. I also heard the recoil is extreme, but when used with a pachmyer decelerator butt pad, it lessens the kick, and with 300 grain loads it's not too bad. I wouldn't be using this one for the rifle range other than scoping it in. I like the lever action design as well. I was tempted to go with an old m1 garand or 30-30 lever action, but figured I will pick up an older winchester 30-30 for the collection at some
pointbut wanted the knock down power to stop the wild boar in it's track, since they come out of nowhere, and move quite fast! All of the above sugestions are appreciated, just wish I could collect them all. Something about gun tooling has always facinated me. My prizeof my current rifles is a 1900's pump action winchester .22 that was my uncles grandfathers' gun. Just a very cool small fun rifle.