Nice lookin rifle there Don. Thats all a man needs to take down anything. LOL, I met a man that bought a .338 with a 50mm 2x14 scope (don't know what brand scope or gun) to hunt whitetails. He liked it, thought he needed it, therefore he owns it. Like I told ridgerunner, Its a matter of taste + how much shoulder you have + money + animal you are hunting = the gun you have/want. In this fellers case it was more about ego and money. lol, but hey I say buy what you want. Its going to be your animal that you harvest and eat, not me or anyone else (unles you share of course) and you only live once so be happy and take PRIDE in yall's hunting and respect the animal and the hunt itself and you'll find no ego, selfish pride, nor any want-a-be true hunter. You'll take pride and caringness in your harvest whether be it a doe or massive state record buck. Good hunting

Reloader

Don has made an excellent point....I have money now but due to an over whelming chritmas....LOL where the hell do you think I got the bright idear to put into a rifle...I mean seriously what better way is there to diperse your hard earned dollars.....Oh and one thing for the record.....my guns cabniet life seems to be pretty damn short....I like to waste shells faster then anybody I know but I think that has really started to show its ugly head over the last couple years of trapshooting....Hell I know a kid I used to hunt turkeys with that hunts nothing but deer and uses a .375 holland and holland.....its sickening....cause I love to eat deer meat Im nothing more then a meat hunter....but I will say you put a state record buck bull or bruin for that matter you wont have to hold your breath to see if im gonna pull the trigger...I have also thought about going into Blackpowder hunting...but that is a whole other topic.....

270 or 30-06 at that agr would be his best bet. maybe a 308

blackpowder is fun and CHEAP!! lol, I just hate having to clean the darn thing. I shoot a 10 year old 50 cal. knight inline blackpowder rifle. I load about 90gr and a 240 to 300 bullet. Its pretty accurate up to about 125yds. Any further than that its not that accurate, for me that is. Yall might shoot a lot further. Around here though the avg shot will be between 20 to 100yds. I've shot as close as 10 feet from me while sitting on the ground ( I was bowhunting though )

Reloader....thats an awsome looking buck....this years??....If I was to muzzle load I would most likely hunt deer for a couple years then split that off into elk only....due to a hell of a lot better seasons....I have also caught my self thinking archery....But I barely have the patientce for rifle let alone to chase them with a bow....LOL

Yeah, I got that on dec 4th. 10 point with a 19inch inside spread. I got'em on national forest. No food plots or anything. Just huntin' over a scrape a buddy and I found while squirel huntin'. He was way back in the woods, about 2 miles or so from any public Hwy. .... Bowhuntin is fun b/c you can get out in the woods b4 all the crazy folks do. I've shot a doe no more than 10 feet away from me while stalkin'. There ain't nothing like it in the world though. But you have to walk, work, and take your time.

Reloader, welcome to the site. Really like what your saying.

Let me say that I was young once too. I shot some magnums because thats what I thought I needed and, they do work well. But I did get to where I didn't like the pounding anymore. Then I finally realized I could do anything with the standard cartridges that I was doing with my magnums. I also reloaded then so it helped keep costs down,,,,sort of. Costs went back up because I shot more.

I had a real love affair with the 7mm Rem Mag and it is a fine cartridge. At the same time I had a 338 Win Mag. First three shots from the 338, off hand, put a bruse on my shoulder that lasted a week. But I stayed with it and learned to handle the recoil well enough I was using it to shoot ground squirrels. But about 1971, Ruger finally came out with the M77 in 7x57 and I got the first one into Montana. I discovered I could do all I was doing with a lot less recoil and powder. Next came a 280 Rem, in my mind one of the great cartridges.

Over the years I've had and/or used about everything from the 22 Hornet to the 338 mag except the new short mag and the Weatherby's. They are all good but bullet selection was critical with the magnums as they would tear up the bullets when they hit game at close ranges. They also tore up some game.

My bias runs the the 6.5's and the 7mm's and the 308 Win. I have and use a very nice 1903 Springfield in 30-06 that was built in 1945 by Paul Jaeger, very nice is an understatement. And I used to have a bias for the old Redfield scopes. Not because they were better than some others, I just liked them.

But the years have taught me a lot and not coming from a family that hunts much, I learned some hard lessons about rifles and cartridges. And most importantly I guess was what was prudent and what was ego. Alot of people equate quality with price. Not really a good yard stick. If you buy an expensive rifle or scope or even bases and rings, you may in fact pay more to get no more. The origional Ruger mod77 was one of the finest rifles I ever used. Notice I did not say most accurate. But they were well made, shot well, had fairly good triggers and handled very very well. I've had three old Sako's, an L461 and two L61R's. There were very very accurate but no more so that my Rem 700's or a number of Savage 110's I played with.

Value and beauty is in the eye if the beholder but function can be felt. That was the old tang safty Ruger mod 77. I discribed it once as "functional elegence". But it wouldn't be my choice as a match rifle or even a varmit rifle. One thing about them is the recoil lug, slanted as it is, it was not something I wanted to play with the bedding on. Those rifles jumped to the shoulder when I had them.

I also tried one of the adj. obj. high power scopes. It was an old 4-12 Weaver. Seems like I spent more time adjusting the parellex than I did shooting. Went to the 3-9x's and always seemed like I had the wrong power until I learned to leave it set on the low power. Then when sighting them in, at 9x you can watch your heart beat in the scope. Not so bad off sand bags but not so good in the field. Thats one reason why my 3-9's stay between 3 and 6x now and why I suggest a max 2-7x on a hunting rifle.

Your going to find at some point that the most important part of the rifle/cartridge combination is the bullet. It will make or break your view of the cartridge your using. A lot of people use light bullet's, I guess for the speed, then end up having to go to premiun bullets and about twice the cost to keep from tearing up the bullet's. Yet for all the years I've played with these things I've never felt the need for the expensive premiums. In the magnums I used heavy for cal bullets and in standard cartridges, mid range weight. The one time I did try a light bullet was with the 7mm mag and I was tearing up deer badly with 140gr Sierras. Then I shot a bear with it and the bullet didn't even get inside. That was it for light bullets and magnums.

I am rambling here like an old man. You guy's have a good night and keep one thing in mind. Enjoy your youth, you'll only have it once and only for a short while.

No Sir Mr. Fischer. Your not rambling on. I've always enjoyed a good talk with someone of knowledge. LOL, you call yourself an "Old Man". I'm not sure of your age, but I have more Old Folks as friends than younger (my age) folks as friends. LOL, my girlfriend even said I needed to get more friends my own age. She said it don't look right. I told her that I've learned more by being with these old folks in the past severel years than I ever would if I hung out with people my age all the time. My thing is that "you" and so many others have so much to offer to us Young folks. I don't see that many young people taking time with older generations to learn from THIER mistakes and better themselves. I wouldn't have traded any of my time that I've spent with "old folks" for nothin' in the world and I'm most certain you know exactly what I mean by that. It ain't all about learning about hunting and such, but about LIFE in general. Ridgerunner, you seem to be a very smart young man. LOL, its funny I said it like that b/c I'm only 25. My brother is 17 so I can say that. Anyway, Take head to what people such as Mr. Fischer says. I'm sure you understand what I mean or you wouldn't have asked the questions and made the statements that you have so far. But, don't take your youth for granted. I look back now and wish I had done things differently so that I may be in a better position or whatever. I'm talking about LIFE. Hunting is one of many of the fine pleasures we have in the world. Take your time, think b4 speaking and leaping, and you'll be alright.

Oh, Mr.Fischer, I have a 22 hornet that I've never shot. My uncle gave it to me a long time ago. Other than the ammo being $$ what can you tell me about this rifle. LOL, my uncle used it for turkey huntin' in VA. (its legal there). I know nothing abou this rifle. LOL, cute little thing though.

By the way, thank you for the comment "I like what your saying". That means a lot to me. It makes me think about all the times when I kept my mouth shut and listened and took in what all the old-timers had to say and how it has paided off. Thank you again for the compliment.

Well, I'm going to bed and to all a good night and God bless.

P.S: By the way, if you just so happened to be wondering what rifle that is in the pic, its a Remington 742 semi auto 30-06. This gun was made in the mid 70's if I remember correctly and my 1st gun, that I bought when I was 18, was a Ruger M77 06. My first rifle ever was an M1903 A3 06 with a target barrel and a sporting stock without the pistol grip. Sorry, I just thought I'd throw that in there.

Reloader

Reloader, I'm not a collector of guns, I'm a user. But tell me about your 22 Hornet. I know that Harrington-Richardson used to make it in the "Topper" years ago, had one. It's basically the same rifle as the "Handi Rifle" today. I think that Savage also made one in a bolt at one time. Might be wrong but I think it was a model 30 or 311?? Someone here will know . Also used a couple of a friends years ago, import's. One was fron Germany and had a double set trigger, beautiful. But as I look back other than estetics, not the best set up. Oh come to think of it he also had a Model 54 Winchester in it. Been some really dandy rifles around in it.

Now Ruger make's the mod77/22Hornet. If they weren't so proud of it I'd get one. $600 if I remember right. Can't remember if anyone else is tho.

Great little cartridge tho. We used to load up with a bunch of cast bullet's and go plinking cheaper than we could shoot 22 LR's. Then when we got serious we would load up some jacketed stuff and go for ground squirrels. Maybe some day I'll get another. With cast bullets it's still cheaper to shoot than the 22LR or mag either and will out perform both.

Hey Don, I can't remember what make the 22 hornet I have is. I've been pretty busy in the past few days and havn't taken the time to check it out. It sounds like a pretty fun rifle to "play with". You said that it was cheaper to shoot than 22LR. How? I do reload, but I only save about 4 dollars on a box of 06 shells vs. a new box. How much can you save on reloading 22 hornet vs 22LR? I bought a box of 22LR (count 550) for around ten bucks I think, maybe less. Anyway, I hope you and everyone else on the board had a good new year celebration. TTYL

Billy