What is your minimum rifle battery?

Minimum rifle Battery?????? Depends on what you do.

Lets take CMP GSM Vintage rifle shooting.

You need a Garand for the G part. You need a 1903/1903a3 for the S part.

You need a M1917/Krag/Mosin etc etc for the M part,

Then there is the Carbine, and Vintage Sniper.

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Hunting: You need an elk rifle, a deer rifle, an antelope rifle, plus small game rifles and bird guns, upland shotgun, duck gun. Don't for get a couple African rifles in case you get an invite to hunt there, you want to be ready

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High Power, You need a M1A, an AR, and a couple thousand yard rifles.

Then there is F-Class and Long Range Precision rifle.

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Don't forget Cowboy Action Shooting.

That's just a small example, I'm still working on gathering the "necessary minimum rifle battery", I'll let you know when I get there. May not happen, I'm 66 and may not have the time to reach that goal.
 
Only need two to cover what was asked in original post (any game animal in North America) ... a .22LR and a .270.
 
minimum? thats no way to live. what about maximum?

This is america isnt it?
Last time i checked.

1. 22lr..... just cuz.
2. 1911 in nightstand to get me to my shotgun over the bedroom door.
3. Mossberg 590 to keep them off my porch.
4. Remington 700 in a .308 to keep them off my gate at the end of my 400 yard driveway.
5. Savage 110 FCP .338 LM to keep them off the highway leading up to my driveway 1780 yards away.
6. Dont forsake the beautiful AR-15. Cuz sometime they travel in large groups.

Seriuosly.... no im not a peckerwood living in the hills with too many guns.... but yes... seriously. :D
 
OP's question was about hunting and he lives in the interior of Alaska, not the suburbs of one of our deteriorating megalopolises.
 
I guess it would depend a lot on where you live but in the lower 48 I would say

1. 22lr
2. 12 Gauge
3. 243 Winchester (or 223/5.56 if you had to have an AR rifle/carbine)
4. 308 Winchester or 30-06.
 
Well I wasn't originally thinking -for- Alaska so much as saying that my choices are skewed since I live here already.

Good stuff though, I appreciate the 270 options to think about, in case I someday get to go to Wyoming to take on a speed goat.

I was thinking more towards folks new to long arms and how to help them not buy four rifles that are all good for the same thing; no one so far has suggested a 30-06 and a .308 and 2 other similar rifles as a good selection.
 
I live in far Northern Alberta. Not unlike Alaska.

22lr and 30'06 is all you need, period.

A 223 bolt is nice for practicing at the range on the cheap. My 223 and 30'06 are the same brand and type of rifle with the same mounts and scope. Practicing on one = practicing on the other.

Beware the man with only one rifle ;)
 
270, period. Can be loaded as low as needed for varmints and as high as needed for big bear (not recommended but it can be done). Realistically will take moose just fine.

22 is not a battery gun.

Jack O C would be rolling in his grave to hear the AR being talked up as a battery gun.

And yes 4 inches at 200 would be doing very good with an AR. I have shot enough to know that the accuracy is vastly over stated.
 
The most basic battery for me is:

* .22LR bolt or semi (10/22) for pests, small game

* .30-06 bolt with scope (Sako A7), with handloading especially it can handle a wide range of game (or a .270, .280)

Optional, nice to have:

* .223 For fur hunting the .223 in an AR15 would be handy and fun. But a bolt action like the Tikka T3 would be great as well. Very popular for coyotes here.


ETA: keeping it to just rifles and for Pacific NW where I am located.
 
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1. 22 LR

2. .223 AR-15

3. .308 Bolt gun

4. .45-70 Marlin (or .450)

Whoever said the .30-06 performs better than the .45-70 when loaded right doesnt know what they are talking about. The .30-06 may have the range, but it will never out-penetrate a equally well loaded .45-70 slug.
 
I could get along well hunting everything on this continent with a .22 LR, 30-06, and 338-06. If I were to do a lot of varmint or prairie dog hunting I would probably add a .223.

Jerry
 
22 LR
22-250
and any main battle rifle cartridge. 30-06, 308, 7.62X54R, etc.

Would be more than enough.
Marlin 981T
Savage of choice in 22-250
An a MN
If I were on a serious budget.

Really I would probably do it with 2. 22/lr and 6.5X55 or .270, 0r some other flavor of intermediate.
 
My choices would probably be...

Ruger 10/22 or Savage Mk II BV (.22 LR)

Savage 16/116 (.243 or 22-250)

Savage Precision Carbine (.308 Win.) or Winchester Model 70 Extreme Weather SS (30-06)

Marlin 1895 SBL (45-70)
 
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honestly all bases covered with .22lr and .30-06, i guess the additional 2 would be an ar in 6.8 spc(for pigs) and .270 just cuz. i don't know much about the behavior of the game in alaska, but those are the 4 i would choose.
 
.22WMR, AR 15 in .223/6.8SPC, .308, .338 WinMag. I guess the added barrel for my AR15 makes 5 guns, but what the heck. I could live with just those rifles and a decent sidearm, perhaps a .41Mag revolver. Lucky for me I don't have to live with 4 rifles. I have other calibers, it's just that those are my primary hunting rifles. I recently purchased a 17WSM which might replace my 22WMR as the rimfire of choice. It's a pretty good shooter.
 
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