good big game rifle?

The question is as open as if you had asked "what's a good satisfying dish for a big hungry man?" Too many answers!

I was in a gunshop this weekend, drooling over an odd duck of a rifle: It was a customized Siamese Mauser ('98) that had been custom stocked and rechambered to .45-70. Thinking of how much fun it would be to hotrod a 405 grain jacketed bullet out of that super strong action, I wanted to make him an offer (he had it listed at $1200, but I'll bet I could have had it for $900), so badly. I could see the hogs dropping to it. I could hear the "thwack!" of the bullet striking a bull elk.

Man. Talk about a great concept. And it's a completely different suggestion from every other post here. Weird? Yes. Limitless? No. For one thing, even hotrodded, it's going to suffer from drop issues. But it could easily be loaded up to be a going proposition for a novice at 200 to 250, and for an expert out to 300+, if he chose his shots carefully. (We're not talking about horsepower issues, here-- it's about being able to hit reliably, due to drop and drift.) But it's not out of line as an answer to your question. ("good big game rifle?")

Or consider how nifty some of the sporterized Springfields and Enfields out there are. I rechambered mine to .35 Whelen, and it's the cat's meow. (Any good rifle in that cartridge would be superb for the purposes you mentioned-- even sheep, with the lighter weight bullets.)

Agreed that the M70 Classic is the preferred breed of Winchester.
 
any .30-06 that you can buy and top off with a decent scope will serve you as well as any "super ultra short hydra diffinkill death-ray" magnum available.
there is a reason that .30-06 is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.
the rifle wont matter as much as the shooter so buy whichever one you can afford and learn to shoot it well.
 
Start with the .30-06 and research from there. It has the most available commercial loads. Ammo can be found anywhere. Does everything that needs doing in North America and a good portion of Africa without brain-bouncing recoil.
If you think you need more power, Federal High Energy and Hornady Light Magnums turn the '06 into a .300 H&H. If you handload you can reach this level easily and safely.

The rifle.....that's up to you. Get what fits and works for ya.
 
Rem 7mag all the way

I would go with the Rem 7 Mag as my first choice and if I had to pick another probably the 30.06.:cool:
 
I have been shooting a Tikka T3 lite for about a year. Chambered in 30/06, came standard w/ fully floated barrel, adjustable trigger, comes from the factory guaranteed to a one in group at 100yds. All this in a 6lb 3oz package. Not a bad choice for just over $500. I'm shooting 150 gr bullets at about 3000fps and it knocked the crap out of one elk and two deer this last fall.
Click to expand...

Elkman said it..

One more vote for the T3. Good looking gun with black synthetic under a stainless barel. Shoots as good as the guarantee.
 
May I suggest a Thompson Center Encore in .30-06 it has the power to take anything in North America although for our largest bears something a little heavier is recomended. Some good reasons to pick a 30-06:
1) You can get the ammo anywhere from gas stations to gun stores.
2) with the 06 there are alot of bullet weights out there that makes it very versatile.
3) Will not tear your shoulder apart with recoil

The reason I suggest an Encore rifle is that you can buy barrels for reasonable prices and make it a muzzleloader, shotgun, pistol or just about any rifle caliber you can think of.
Just my 2 cents worth
 
your getting some good advice here. My chioce would be the 30-06, i have owned a 7 mag, still have the 06. To much bang and kick for what little extra range ya get out of the 7mag for me, but then thats me. I hunt the sage brush a lot too,,, now,,,,, them new 300 ultra mags sure temp me.... ;) Pick the rifle your comfortable with that you feel you'll shoot well
 
remington 700 ruger no.1 7mm mag or 300 win mag

I have both the guns listed above and both are excellent shooters for large mule deer, elk and bear (would go with .338 or larger for grizzly). I am going bison hunting (not really hunting, kinda like shooting a large target at 500 yds) and am taking the .300 . As for those who say a 7mm Rem Mag doesn't have as much power and acuracy as an 06' I just want to let them know I dropped a large mule deer at about 650 yards with a remington 700PSS in 7mm Rem Mag with Simmons 6-24X50A/O mounted on Warne Tactical Ultra High rings, with a Farrell 20MOA 1piece steel base.

The simmons is the hidden gem of the scope world. I have a leupold Varix-III 3.5-10X44 that is only a little bit clearer (better lenses) and better for low light conditions, but it cost almost 400 more than the simmons. When I go hunting i don't worry about babying the simmons, where as I would be very gentle with the leupold because of the cost to replace. My wife dropped the rifle once with the simmons on it and i didn't even care about the scope (more concerned about the +$1000 rifle setup). The scope withstood the tabletop fall with only a ding in the removeable sunshade that was easily fixed.
 
You mentioned BEAR hunting?? If you are talking black bear then the 30-06 will be your best all around choice. If you are talking Big Bear, in my opinion the .338 would be the best all around.
 
TYBS I don't think that you can legally change an Encore rifle into a pistol or mount a pistol barrel on it, I think BATF would be very interested with you if you did. If you had a TC pistol and converted it into a rifle I don't think that would cause any problems though.

The only bear in CO is black bear that is legal to hunt, there are rumors of Grizzlies still here though.
 
switching encores over from pistol to rifle

In New York they don't mind if an encore ( or a contender, or a contender G2 ) started life as a pistol or as a rifle, as long as you have it on your permit as a pistol. However, you can't have a rifle barrel on it when it has the pistol grip on it, and you can't have a pistol length barrel on it when you have the rifle butstock on it...in fact the recoil pad has a notice molded into it that states that it is a federal violation to have a short barrel on it when the butstock is attached.

Encores are great versatile rifles, I can't say enough good things about mine.

get one in .30-06 and you'll be set for life....until you get the itch to get a varmint barrel in .223, then a shotgun barrel, then a muzzleloader barrel, then switch it over to a pistol.....it is a great obsession!!!!!!
 
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