go to all around gun

A 92R in 357mag would be a good choice for a knock around carbine .. a carbine you keep in easy reach .. maybe to carry while walking to the barn at night , walking the fence line ..
I have a Kel-Tec 2000 9mm carbine with Glock mags for such tasks .. I have it loaded with 124gr HST and or Punch ammo .. mostly what I’m most likely to run across is a Meth Head , Feral dog or a coyote ..
Im sure this combo would be good for any thing like that..
I have dispatched a rabid raccoon and a few groundhogs ..

But a 357 R92 Trapper could be a more than capable replacement for my “ Barn Rig”
And it could be used for deer hunting also


My Great Uncle was a care taker for a 500+ acre estate for over 50yrs 1920 to early 1970’s .. he was provided a home and a small farm on the estate… his everything rifle was a old bolt action rifle in 22 Hornet … dispatched ground hogs , feral dogs , coyotes and harvested more than several deer … that was the first center-fired rifle I ever fired …
Also his home place and farm with 20 acres was deeded to him when the family sold the estate..
 
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definintions and more comments

It's pretty clear that one fella's idea of "all around rifle to have with you" go to gun, is quite different than another's, and I suppose that makes sense. Kinda like pickin" a wife, to each his own.

I've batted this idea of a "go to gun" (long gun) around for a number of years and mentioned some of my choices over the passage of time. For me, go to/do all means just that. I want to be able to take it anywhere in the country (legally), hunt medium game to the size 300 lbs or so, use it as a PD/HD weapon to 300 yds or so and be able to defeat soft cover and perhaps compete in some type of practical rifle competition to the same distances. If this sounds like a certain vintage gun writers ideas and his pet project, you're right, but I do not want to muddy the water, so I am not being specific.

I left the pistol caliber lever carbine (mine was a .357) due to limited range and power. In my case, not only did the cartridges run out of steam at 150 yds , I could no longer run the sights out to the carbines max range. But even when I shot it well, the idea of a long gun that only had the power and reach of a football field seemed a bit lacking. Adequate, usually, but not ideal.

I've known several men who really liked the .22 Hornet. Two of those fellas hunted hogs in Great Smokey Mtns. NP for the government. Both shot the old Savage 340, the one man had his lopped off to about 18" "cause it was lighter and easier to carry in the thick stuff". When Ruger came out with the stainless/synthetic 77/22 Hornet, they both bought one, easier to maintain in the wet and rough and tumble hunting they did. They would make extended back pack hunts, spiking out over the course of several days. They could carry an ample amount of the Hornet ammo w/o sacrificing weight or bulk. Interestingly, they handloaded a heavier bullet for their hog killing. claiming the factory 40-45 grainers did not penetrate well enough to suit. Head and neck shots only with 50 gr(I think) reloads. That was over 30 yrs ago and my memory is a bit hazy. Bureaucracy raised its head and the gov't mandated they hunted with issued with issued rifles of larger caliber, so their Hornet hunting days ended, at least professionally. Both those guys were exceptional woodsman and crack shots, regular Davey Crockett types.

I mentioned that my current GP/do all rifle is a .308. That harkens back to the scribe alluded to earlier, who reasoned it had sufficient power for all tasks and was widely available, to the point of internationally available. My thought these days is that it MAY be just a bit too much cartridge for the GP role. The other cartridge I suggested was the 7.62x39 and others have mentioned the .30-30. My own thoughts recently on those intermediate .30's and GP use is MORE than adequate, and ALMOST ideal. What really may be the ticket is something in between.

Hmmm? There was mention of the 7mm-08 and that indeed splits the difference. But I'll suggest another, what about the 6.5CM? I'm not sure how much punch the 6.5CM would loose from a 18-20" bbl, which is the max length I would want the tube on a GP rifle. The 6.5CM solves the short neck problem of it's relative the .260 Rem, allowing full powder charges with useful heavier bullets. The heavier slugs of the 6.5 bore gain an advantage over 6mm/.243 for bigger medium game, and they slip the wind like magic And the 6.5CM has less recoil than the .308. Whether the 6.5CM is more available than .308 I cannot say, but the CM sure seems to have taken off in recent years.

Now this is all random thoughts, I don't even own a 6.5CM. But a short barreled 6.5CM bolt carbine with a modest scope might make an interesting GP rifle if the ballistics are there and I suspect they would align with that certain old scribes model for the his GP project, the 6.5 Mann carbine.

I wonder what Jeff would have thought of that?
 
I'd vote for the 7mm-08 over the 6.5 creedmoor if hunting was a top priority--otherwise if plinking things at 1000 yds or more I'd take the 6.5 creedmoor. Might even take 280AI/284 win/280 rem mag/ over either of them. :)
 
I mentioned that my current GP/do all rifle is a .308.My thought these days is that it MAY be just a bit too much cartridge for the GP role.
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I don't think so, unless the definition of General Purpose has mutated. Or maybe it has become regional, not many grizzly bears or buffalo in Cherokee.

But the General Purpose rifle must be powerful enough for the biggest game and accurate enough for the smallest. And have ample range for target or game. It should also be reasonably portable. I read a lot of posts about using a target rifle for hunting. Ugh, oof.

Once upon a time, that meant you just got a commercial version of your country's service rifle and ammunition to suit the outing.

Hmmm? There was mention of the 7mm-08 and that indeed splits the difference.
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I think the Steyr Scout was offered in 7mm 08 for sale in jurisdictions not allowing private ownership of military calibers.
 
GO TO GUN

I started this and all the responses are cool, I have an idea that the Swedes came out with a good go to gun when they built the 6.5 Swede with an 18 inch barrel, only thing I would change would be to get rid of the full length stock, and 6.5 Swede is a soft shooting , and powerful enough for Moose.
So that should be able to handle anything in the lower 45
 
"and Watson, bring your ...rifle"

I mentioned the 6.5CM and the 7mm-08 as chamberings for a GP rifle as conversation points. I do not own a rifle chambered in either, , though bamaboy is quite fond of the CM and does amazing things with it at Elkton. Of course he is punching paper and ringing steel, way further than I will ever shoot at a deer or hog. I have his brass and my own a set of 6.5CM dies and have promised him ammo......with his assistance.

The .308 offers a very wide range of bullet weights and .30 cal is well represented in all bullet types. Because of this I think it is likely a better choice as a one-all hunting cartridge for widely varied game types in a short, light, GP carbine. But I have no doubt the CM would cleanly take medium game (hogs and deer) easily. But I think the .308 would take bigger game, like, elk, moose, even the big western bears, better than the CM, especially with the right bullet, namely something bonded or a Partition. Full disclosure, I have never, nor will likely ever, get to hunt elk, moose, bears or buffalo. Could we call this the North American Big ....Four? Wait, there are three species of big bears.....grizzly, brown and polar...hmmmm?
Big Six?

Concerning the 6.5CM as a utility cartridge, launched from a short tube making 2500-2600 fps with its heaviest bullets, I would definitely want a premium bullet to take on big game. I have the same stance regarding taking whitetails with the .223 and possibly the .243. They work, but angles, shot placement and bullet selection are critical. You hear the same comments regards the CM and elk. I do have personal experience to comment on regards those cartridges and deer.

Coming back around to GP use, not just hunting, and discounting hunting the North American Big Six:), I see that Ruger offers their Ruger American compact in 6.5Cm with both 16.5 and 20" bbls. The 16.5" model is offered with a brake,and I suppose could thus take a suppressor to result in a shorter rifle, which is likely what Ruger intended. I bet that pepper-pot brake is loud otherwise. The 16.5" model is only offered in Gucci-flage and is higher priced than all the other American family members, making it far less of a bargain. But ditch the brake, damn the cost, mount a simple LPV with an illuminated aiming point (ala' Crossfire II, or if you want to spend more on the glass than the rifle, a Trijicon) and forget about the Big 4, ...I mean Six, and that might be a handy GP carbine. You could add the ACIS mag conversion option to the compact model as an after market and have higher mag capacity if it mattered (it doesn't to me).

The result would be a 36" long, less than 7 lb (hopefully, the naked rifle allegedly weighs 6 lbs) bolt carbine capable of taking medium game cleanly at near all ranges, and some big game if well shot and loaded to distances most of us should likely not be exceeding. With one of the LPV;s to say 6x or 8x, you could theoretically, punch paper and ring steel (with big enough aiming points) to 800+ yds, or crank it down, light up the dot, stuff in the clunky AICS mag, and shoot and scoot out of domestic urban /suburban trouble to save your own skin from human threats. If you buy the plain black version, you can save $200 bucks on the rifle, but the barrel will be 4" longer and the rifle a tad heavier. The 6.5CM reportedly recoils 25% less than a comparable .308, so all this comes at less abuse to your shoulder.

The result would be a budget rifle exceeding $1000 if you went whole hog on the optic and Gucci stock. Since I paid $313 for my blemmed Predator in .308, I'm not gonna do it. Besides, I keep a couple of 200 gr Partitions in the butt cuff, in case a buffalo does wander down Main St.
 
I finally got around to reading most of the posts.

Webleymkv said:
It seems like a lot of younger people who have only had experience with the "black rifles" are suddenly discovering just how useful, handy, and downright fun lever-action rifles can be.
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It might be the economy as well, as they're realizing the MSR is probably the most expensive rifle to own. I say they're the most expensive for a few reasons.

1. They're modular and easy to change cartridges.
2. Following the first line of reasoning, they're easy to add accessories to.
3. They cost more to feed as they eat larger quantities of ammunition much easier than most other rifles.

Levers while they can be operated rapidly and accurately with practice, still slow the shooter down. That coupled with the slower reload time, keep shooters from expending as much ammunition at the range.

@bamaranger, look at the Burris RT-6 for an LPVO. I think you'll like it.

@stagpanther, I like the .308 for many of the reasons you pointed out.

@FrankenMauser, I love that you mentioned the .270. That is and always will be my first love. It was my first true big game rifle in the form of a Parker Hale 1200 with Japanese Bushnell Sportview 4-12X40. If only I had been wise enough to not look any further into the abyss. ;)
 
The more expensive lever guns were selling out in a day a couple of months back when I was shopping around. I finally gave up and put my money elsewhere.
Was my intention to use it as the go-to-gun
 
Seems like this gets asked several times a year. Then the OP goes on to tell why they think their whatever is better than anyone else's choice, but OK, I get it.

Make mine a commercial Mauser 98. Absolutely idiot resistant, rugged, and reliable. Maybe not a benchrest rifle, but you won't find a better rifle anywhere. The design is so good it has been copied repeatedly and never bested, most famously in the Winchester Model 70.
 
rickyrick said:
The more expensive lever guns were selling out in a day a couple of months back when I was shopping around. I finally gave up and put my money elsewhere.
Was my intention to use it as the go-to-gun
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Amazing how not to long ago lever guns were what a deer hunter bought if they had a limited budget. Turn the clock ahead 30-40 years and the average blue collar worker can only dream of buying a new, quality lever gun as their hunting rifle or as a backup.
Kinda like blue jeans and fajitas, and I’m sure I’m missing something….
I’m waiting for the 180 flip on the old clapped out mower market. Maybe then I can buy a new sexy Marlin 44.
 
levers

We kicked the cost issue regards new levers around on another thread just recently. Time was that a scoped Marlin 30-30 was a very common deer rifle in a lot of parts of the country.

That same Marlin was cheaper than a M70, Rem700, Savage 99, or the Rem pumps or autos, Ammo cheaper than'06 or .270 too. I live a short drive from a public range and scavenged brass there quite often 20- 30 years ago. By far the most common spent centerfire cartridge (excluding 7.62x39, which was selling $100 for a 1200 rd case and SKS carbines for $100 more) was indeed the 30-30. As an aside, you would have been amazed at the .22 WMR brass laying about as well.

All that changed with the introduction of the poly stocked, matte finished bolt rifle. I bought a poly stocked Rem 700 ADL for $333 bucks, but a poly Savage 110 was even more affordable. Thirty-thirty brass started drying up, and '06 & .270 became the norm. With the advent of really affordable bolt rifle, aka the American, the Axis and others, bolt rifles in serious calibers became even more common, while lever rifle prices contnue to climb. I couldn't tell you the last time I saw a hunter with a Winlin afield.

Faced with the choice of a naked lever rifle costing $1000 plus with 150 yd range for deer and hogs, and a scoped Ruger American for about $600 that will kill deer, hogs AND elk farther than you will ever shoot, it is easy to predict what the average fella will buy.

Back to GP rifles , my only argument against the '06 and .270 is that the longer action adds weight and the bigger cartridges require longer barrels to realize their potential. I have a 20" barreled bolt carbine in '06. It is a gorgeous rifle, mannlicher stocked, and it will shoot bugholes with really heavy .30 cal bullets . But it is not all that faster than a .308, and it has a tremendous amount of flash and blast if you run it full throttle. Add to that it is noticeably heavier than the .308 carbines in my safe. The go-to/do-all rifle is desired to be handy and portable and every ounce counts. I'm a big fan of the .270 (read too much O'Conner) but a .270 carbine would be an odd duck.
 
I bought a Weatherby Vanguard .270 Win.from a co-worker that was a 20-18 inch ?lightweight. He had won it in a raffle and was brand new.
Beautiful wood, shoot really good and sounded like an A bomb going off. I didn’t keep it for long.
 
Been doing some thinking while reading through all this and have a few thoughts as well. One, it think that a GP rifle should also be the one and only rifle one has should things go belly up. It would not only serve as a GP rifle but as a SHTF gun as well should circumstances demand such use. Probably barrel length should be in the 20 to 22" range. Probably sort of along the lines of Col.Jeff Cooper's ideas about a scout rifle. Cartridge should be IMO the .308 Win./7.65x51 NATO. Sights, a receiver rear sight and post front and an extended eye relief scope fixed power at 4X.

I have several rifles chambered to the .308 ranging from a Ruger M77 RSI with 18.5" barrel to a Winchester M70 Youth Ranger I won in a raffle. It now sits in a Ramline stock and with its 22" barrel will run the 165 gr. Speer Hot Core to 2610 FPS, the same velocity I got from the now long gone Speer Nitrex ammo. That load does 2550 FPS from the RSI. More than adequate for most game. Velocity for a 20" barrel would most likely be about halfway between the two rifles.

I picked the .308 to be the cartridge because it's common, easily found most of the time, is accurate and recoil is reasonably tolerable. Rifles can be made quite light if weight is a consideration, However, I do have a custom Mauser in a Lawson thumbhole stock that with scope, sling, 20" soda straw barrel and a lightweight but strong piece of wood weighs somewhere between 5.5 and 6 pounds. Not bad off a bench but a bear to hold steady in the field. The very lightweight barrel heat up quickly. It is easy to carry and rough trying to hold on game while winded climbing that mountain. The tin is, if ne wants a GP type rifle, some compromises are in order.
Paul B.
 
Paul B. said:
From many years to about 1982 I drove a Ford F150 4x4 and probably spent more time than not roaming the first Nevada desert, then the Arizona desert after a job transfer in 1970. During that time that truck had an Indian blanket seat cover that had a pouch that ran alongside the front of the bench seat in the truck. It was a bit uncomfortable with a scoped bolt action rifle but held an M94 Winchester or 336 Marlin carbine right handily. During a deer or elk hunt it held the appropriate rifle for the task at hand. IIRC, it was around 1982/3 that I traded that truck off for something newer and lost the option of that style seat cover. :( I rigged up a scabbard that hung behind the seat and used it instead and that worked until that truck went down the road. Last two truck though really had no convenient way to store a rifle which is something that bothers me but seriously, health problems pretty much keep this old desert rat out of the desert anymore.
Still, if I were still able to get out and about, most likely it's be my old M94 30-30 that gets to ride along.
Paul B.
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I lived the same life. I wonder if we ever met.
 
Limiting this to just what I currently own, reaching into the safe to pick my go to, would be my Model 70 Supergrade, in .270 Win.

It’s not ideal for everything, but good enough all around.

It’s hunted squirrels, prairie dogs, antelope, deer, elk, grouse, and a bunch of other stuff. It may be a bit big for some game, maybe a tad small for others, but it’s always gotten the job done.

I’ve had it since I was 14 (31 years now), and know how it handles and shoots without thinking about it. I’ve have several other rifles, but the .270 is probably the favorite out of the big rifles.

My Ruger .22 Hornet would be a very close second. Been with me 20 years, and has been shot a lot, and like the .270, shoots very well for me, but being a bit on the small side, it dosent quite take first place.
 
A lot of factors go into what one might consider important in their "go-to" rifle including the cost/availability of the rifle, cost/availability of ammo, and what attributes they value over others. As I said, if I lived elsewhere my choice would probably be different, but if I didn't already have my Winchester and was looking to buy a "go-to" rifle I might choose something different too. When I bought my M94 about 10 years ago, I paid $370 for it IIRC; I highly doubt I could find even a well used .30-30 lever gun for that price today. I also reload and have a decent supply of components to keep the .30-30's in the house fed (my wife owns one too). At the time I bought my Winchester, .30-30 was still relatively inexpensive ($20/box) when you compared it to other rifle cartridges loaded with bullets of comparable quality (JSP hunting bullets). Also, at least at that time, pretty much anyplace that sold centerfire rifle ammunition would have .30-30 ammo.

Were I to buy a new "go-to" rifle today I might look at a different action type than a lever-action simply because lever-guns have gotten so much more expensive. Even a well used Wichester 94 or Marlin 336 can easily go for nearly double what I paid for my M94. Also, .30-30 ammo isn't as cheap or available as it used to be though its really no worse, in my area at least, than most other centerfire rifle ammo with the exception of .223/5.56. Honestly, since pretty much any medium-to-large bore rifle requires handloading to maintain affordability these days, my Marlin 1895G would be a serious contender for "go-to" rifle if it weren't an older model which only has a 4-shot magazine tube.

There are also a number of other rifles which would be, imho, very good "all-around" guns if they were as widely available or inexpensive as they used to be. A Lee-Enfield No. 5 "Jungle Carbine" is handy and fast-cycling and .303 British is more than adequately powerful for all but the biggest of game, but both rifles and ammunition are a lot scarcer and expensive than they used to be and the Lee-Enfield's rear-locking bolt and often "generous" chambers aren't friendly to long case life for the handloader. Likewise, the various models of pump-action and semi-automatic hunting rifles that Remington used to make like the models 750 and 760 would be nice and came in very capable calibers, but they're out of production, I rarely see used ones ?ZS C
anymore, and when they turn up they're quite expensive. An SKS or Mini-30 would be a capable rifle as they're relatively short and light, semi-automatic, and 7.62x39 is reasonably close to my .30-30 in power, but again both rifles and ammo are a lot more costly than they used to be (I really wish I still had my Yugo 59/66).

I tend to eschew a lot of bolt-actions for "all around" rifles because, while they certainly have their uses and I own several, I find most of them to be somewhat lacking when it comes to defensive use which is an important factor to me. With a few notable exceptions like Lee-Enfields and various straight-pulls, I can't cycle the action of a bolt gun nearly as quickly or efficiently as my lever-actions. Bolt-action rifles also usually have relatively low magazine capacity (5 rounds or less) and often have fixed magazines which are relatively slow to reload. If I were to choose a bolt-action rifle as a "go-to" gun, I'd definitely want a detachable magazine or at the very least one which could be reloaded with stripper-clips. Similarly, many of the bolt-actions I might consider for my "all around" like Enfields, Schmidt-Rubins, and even Mausers and Mosins are chambered for cartridges that, while certainly capable, are becoming increasingly rare and expensive.

As I said before, it's really a balancing act of what each person values and what they have access to. Since I already have my M94, already load .30-30 ammo, and factory .30-30 ammo is, at this time, no rarer or expensive than anything else comparable the Winchester is what works best for me. Fortunately, I'm not limited to just one rifle so I can have different models and calibers to accomplish different tasks.
 
My rifle that feels like it almost shoots itself when I I use it would be my savage 99 in 300 savage. It just feels good, for me anyway. No scope, iron sites only.
 
My brother was lucky enoough to acquire one of those, and is the only lever gun he has.
I had one at one time and is one of the ones I let get away that I wish I still had.
 
I have several bolt guns and both a double-barrel shotgun and several handguns. The family has about 200 acres of land adjacent to our house lot, so I get to hunt varmints and shoot out to about 400 yards on our son's property. My bench is located on an access road that allows shots out to about 300 yards, though my target holders are at 100 & 200 yards, with natural backstops at both locations.
 
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