Rifle minimalists

[woods89]

Ok, it's the off season, and I'm weathered out of work today.

A commonly heard phrase on here is "there's never a good reason not to buy another gun". Far be it from me to tell some one how to spend their money, but I was just wondering if there are others on this board who have just a few main rifles and leave it at that.

I own two centerfires and a 22, and the truth is, if I bought another rifle, it would cut into how much I shoot these. Arguably this would lead to being less familiar with the ones I have. Seems like fewer rifles means you can have good optics on them and buy lots of ammo.

With today's bullet technology I think almost all of us could likely get by with one moderate velocity 30 cal or less round for almost everything in North America unless we move into the long range field. If you shoot a lot the reality is probably most of us could get by with a moderate velocity 6-6.5mm. Make it 8-10 lbs total and go kill stuff.

I feel like this shocking confession might get me kicked out of here, lol.

 

[WCB]

I have a few guns and kind of agree with you. I shoot all my rifles a lot in the off season and am very familiar with all of them but feels like a waste when trying to decide between which take to the field. I have 4 big game rifles and 3 predator/varmint rifles excluding any .22s and about 10 shotguns.

couple of the rifles are hand me downs that are sentimental same with shotguns. But, all of mine get shot quite a bit....I don't get the guys that just buy guns and never shoot them. (unless they are collectible guns).

To each their own I guess

 

[rayporter]

but that is not fun at all. who wants to be stuck with one ol 30-06 when you go varmint killing? and the guns are 101 degrees when you open the case to choose the first one you will shoot for the morning? in a half hour you need to pick up another to let the first cool. and by the time you are on your third rifle the first one might be ready =if you poured water over it.

in the afternoon you can choose fresh ones that are only 105 when you open the case.

 

[Afhunter1]

I find your lifestyle choices disturbing.

 

[kid44]

I have often wondered that very same thing, why do I need so may guns when a couple would probably do?
A .30-06 or .270 will kill anything I am most likely to ever hunt and the money it would take to buy other guns surely can go towards more important things the entire family can benefit from. I am especially bad when it comes to handguns, do I need a .454 Casull, 2 .44 magnums, 2 .357's plus the others I own? No, I don't but I can't bring myself to sell any of them either.

 

[ChrisAU]

Well to stop the madness of buying rifles and buying rifles a few years ago I ordered a Cooper M92 with my (unique) last name as the serial # in 280AI as my end all be all rifle. I sold all my other centerfires, except the first rifle I ever bought, a cheap Savage Stevens 200 in 270 Win. My reasons echoed yours - great glass on a rifle I could then get very intimate with. I did, and man I loved it. Still do of course. Took my first elk with it (the one in my avatar).

But, 1 week into the 3 month long whitetail rifle season here this this past November the Cooper broke and had to go back to Montana for a lengthy stay. Now, there I was, beginning of a long rifle season, accustomed to this one rifle and the nice optics on it, and all I had was my old trusty 270 with a "cheap" optic.

The 270 quickly fell into the main role, but what if something happened to it? It also didn't have the nice optics of the 280, or the panache of the Cooper.

So started a whirlwind of buying rifles. I bought a Christensen MPR 6.5 PRC (heavy SOB), and a Winchester XPR Stealth 308. Sold the 308 to buy Kimber Hunter 243 which became a 358 Winchester, and then sold the MPR to buy a Bergara B14 6.5 PRC which is now at Kampfeld for some work and awaiting a new stock from AG Composites. One simple breakdown and my whole system came crashing down. Now I'll have a stable of unique rifles that I'll enjoy more than the old 1 nice one and one not so nice one ha.

BTW, first morning back with my 280 (which I got back with a month of season left ha), I killed one of my biggest whitetail ever, only the 2nd one I've ever had shoulder mounted.

 

[woods89]

but that is not fun at all. who wants to be stuck with one ol 30-06 when you go varmint killing? and the guns are 101 degrees when you open the case to choose the first one you will shoot for the morning? in a half hour you need to pick up another to let the first cool. and by the time you are on your third rifle the first one might be ready =if you poured water over it.

in the afternoon you can choose fresh ones that are only 105 when you open the case.

I can see your point with shooting varmints. That's something I don't get to do at this point so it didn't cross my mind.

 

[Ross]

Two rifles is all only hunting rifle tikka 7mm with leupold....practice rifle tikka .223 with leupold that is it just never wanted or needed more

 

[woods89]

I find your lifestyle choices disturbing.

I get it, but does it help if I spend that money on tags?

 

[woods89]

One thing to make clear, I'm not saying anyone should do anything different, just wondering how strange my particular set of priorities are......

 

[19hunt92]

I thought the same thing as you at one point, keep it simple. One rifle for big, one for medium and one for small. Shotgun for big, shotgun for small.

Then it rained and i couldn't shoot, so bought another. Then it rained again and again and again...

 

[ChrisAU]

Well to stop the madness of buying rifles and buying rifles a few years ago I ordered a Cooper M92 with my (unique) last name in 280AI as by end all be all rifle. I sold all my other centerfires, except the first rifle I ever bought, a cheap Savage Stevens 200 in 270 Win. My reasons echoed yours - great glass on a rifle I could then get very intimate with. I did, and man I loved it. Still do of course. But, 1 week into the 3 month long whitetail rifle season here this this past November the Cooper broke and had to go back to Montana for a lengthy stay. Now, there I was, beginning of a long rifle season, accustomed to this one rifle and the nice optics on it, and all I had was my old trusty 270 with a "cheap" optic.

The 270 quickly fell into the main role, but what if something happened to it? It also didn't have the nice optics of the 280, or the panache of the Cooper.

So started a whirlwind of buying rifles. I bought a Christensen MPR 6.5 PRC (heavy SOB), and a Winchester XPR Stealth 308. Sold the 308 to buy Kimber Hunter 243 which became a 358 Winchester, and then sold the MPR to buy a Bergara B14 6.5 PRC which is now at Kampfeld for some work and awaiting a new stock from AG Composites. One simple breakdown and my whole system came crashing down. Now I'll have a stable of unique rifles that I'll enjoy more than the old 1 nice one and one not so nice one ha.

BTW, first morning back with my 280 (which I got back with a month of season left ha), I killed one of my biggest whitetail ever, only the 2nd one I've ever had shoulder mounted.

I forgot to add that since this put me back in the gun buying world, I now have 2 more rimfires and want another...

 

[Afhunter1]

I get it, but does it help if I spend that money on tags?

Yeah I guess. As long as you are using your money for something constructive and not junk like family vacations, kids college funds, etc.

 

[Kimber7man]

its just like explaining my wife’s shoe buying. I “need” another rifle because it has a unique purpose!

 

[woods89]

Perhaps I should admit that I have quite a few more knives than I need. I guess we all have our vices.....

 

[TNKnoxville]

My motto in archery was beware the man with one bow. I carried this over to my gun hunting. Never worked for either....lol. Now I own 6 centerfire rifles and 5 bows.

 

[Unclemoe]

I like most here own way to many rifles but i spend 90% of my range time shooting my 6.5.

The rest of the time is plinking with the 22 or making sure the other dozen rifles still shoot the one or two shots a year i take with them.... but cant get rid of them because one day i may need to shoot one...

 

[Gorp2007]

I'm trying to be a rifle minimalist, but I don't know if it's going to stick. This year instead of buying a 308, I bought a 30 cal suppressor and I'm having my Tikka rebarreled. I'm not saving any money, but technically I'm keeping the same number of rifles.

 

[Glockster26]

I am dealing with this right now. I have a very nice 308 tikka and semi custom tikka 6.5, along with an older Remington 700 308 that I mainly just hold onto for sentimental value.

 

[Sccritterkiller]

I don't have a lot of different calibers but if I have a .45 pistol why wouldn't a .45 carbine not be a wise investment? Plus no man should live on DI ARs alone, need a few piston driven ones too...plus everyone needs .22 and .22wmr pistol and rifle..Don't get me started on scatter guns...

I have always preferred to be generalist over the specialist on many things in life including firearms.