What Are the Best Hunting Rifles Currently Made?

[tac]

There are TWO secrets to shooting a rifle that I'm going to impart to you.

#1 - THE most important tjinmg you'll ever get telt - see the trigger fingers? See how they make a right angle at the second joint? That is so that the trigger is pressing straight to the rear, effectively up your arm, and in that position it will leave an open space beteen the woodwork and you. That means that there is no sideways pressure on the gun as you gently squeeeeeeeeeeeeeze that trigger.



#2 - This is slightly trickier, and needs a little imagination. Having made sure that your rifle is empty, raise it to your shoulder in your usual hold. Hopefully, that means that you are pulling it into your shoulder with a firm pressure, and the gun may or may not be wavering around a bit if you are standing up. That's OK. If you are sitting at a shooting bench, with the rifle resting front and rear on some kind of supports, the same applies. Now comes the imaginative bit, bolstered with a bit of physical activity.

I want you to imagine that the rifle in your hands is actually made up of two separate pieces that are screwed together down the axis of the rifle somewhere between your two hand. One part that you are holding with your left hand - assuming that you are right-handed - is the forend. The part that you are holding with your right hand is the pistol grip. OK so far?

Now turn the left hand clockwise as though you are trying to unscrew the rifle into two parts. At the same time, turn the right hand ANTI-clockwise. FIRMLY.

WTH does THAT do?

Well, Sir, it steadies up that ol' bundook just like having it in a clamp, THAT's what it does. You can see the wavering stop right there in front of your peepers. Lots of us medal-winners do it, no matter what level of shooting we are at. I learned that when I shot the FAL, what WE call the SLR, in the Army, beginning in the late 1960's. It had a beautiful pistol grip and well-rounded forend that you could really get a grip of, even when wet. Trying to 'unscrew it' was a morceau de gateau, as we say. I won more individual and team medals than I can shake a stick at, until it was replaced in the mid-80s, and I stopped competition shooting with that popgun.

But whatever you do, DON'T tell anybody here, 'cos then it won't work. Between us, eh?

 

[pharmseller]

I'm a 'Merican, I don't know from meeters.

Parkin' meeters, powder meeters, bidness meeters, sure, but that's 'bout it.



P

 

[DeanMk]

The worst recoiling stock design in my experience has to be the pre 64 win model 70 stocks. On the flipside The Kimber Montana stock design has one of the best designs to mitigate recoil.

$5 Pachmayer butt pad on a 7.5lb. $300 Remington, not to mention pulling the gun firmly against your shoulder, works pretty good for taming recoil, too.


Dean

 

[DeanMk]

FYI, if we're back to cartridges and attendant recoil now, be advised that my father transitioned from the .30-06 T3 Lite stainless to the 7mm-08 T3 Lite stainless late in his hunting career to avoid recoil while retaining sufficient killing power for elk.

View attachment 558228

Shortly after my dad's 77th birthday he shot this bull with that 7mm-08. One shot behind the shoulder at 225 yards, 140 grain Accubond handload. The bull went about 90 feet and tipped over.

Anyone who claims the 7mm-08 is marginal for elk hasn't shot one with it.



P

Great story Pharmseller and I couldn't agree more.
My dad made a similar change, although he was in his 50's, with both his main rifle and shotgun.
In the mid-late 70's, he made the change from a Remington 725 with 3-9X Bushnell scope in .270 and a 12 gauge Remington 11-48, both of which he'd been carrying since the early 50's, to a Winchester 94 in .30-30 with a 2.5X Bushnell Phantom scope and a Remington 1100 lightweight in 20 gauge.
Really enjoyed that change for the rest of his huntin' days.
I'm still a fan of the 7-08, though....and I'm a rifle short right now...might have to rectify that.
Thanks for the great post. Was really enjoyable to read. =)

Dean

 

[tac]

Meanwhile, over here in most of the rest of the world, excepting the UK, of course, the metric system rules. In the military of the world, even the US, the metric system rules. Every time you look through your mil-dot scopes, you are looking metrically, and every time you put your hand in your pocket and pull out that 'one thin dime', you are using the metric system, and have done since the adoption of that metric dollar, with its 5, 10, 25c pieces. Even your gasoline is metric - four quarts makes one gallon, right?

Meanwhile, here in yUK. in spite of the fact that the metric system was adopted in 1971, the following measurements are still in the old Imperial measurements -

All distances by road, down to yard, and sometimes even feet.

All land measurements - acres first, and hectares second.

All heights, for everything from Nelson's column, to aviation [worldwide, that is, unless you are Russian - please look up the Delhi mid-air collision, because India uses feet and Russia used metres].

Weights, either or, sometimes both at the same time. Nobody would dare to sell beer except by pint of half pint...

We say 'miles per gallon' and not x number of litres per 100 kilometres, simply because we don't measure road distances in kilometers.

However, our RANGES, because they are formalised by the Home Office, who is the permitting authority for their actual existence, insists that they are measured in meters, since the UK is officially metric.#. It is a formality that is mostly ignored, unless the range is military, in which case ALL military ranges have been metric since NATO adopted the SI system back in 1967. All the ranges at the National Shooting Centre - Bisley - are in yards, because they are traditionally in yards. All British made custom rifles of the double rifle style have sights graduated in yards - only Johnny Forriner would use that metric stuff.

Astronomy uses non-metric, uh, metrics, second and minutes of arc and so on. The one place where decimalisation HAS taken root, and very sensibly too, IMO, is in the machine shop, with the adoption of the metrical inch. It is far easier to add up parts of a metrical inch than using sixteenths, thirty-seconds and sixty-fourths, even one hundred and twenty eighths.

And of course in reloading, our use of the pound AD, with 7000 grains in it, is far easier to use and comprehend than a gram/me, and can be used more accurately, IMO, but that's because that is what I am used to using. Proponents of the metric system say the opposite, but then they would. There are 15,400 grains in a kilogram, BTW. But only 1000 gr. Sure, you can go down to milligrams, but that's going too far down the scale, but when was the last time you saw a centigram or decigram being used? I'll tell ya - never.

The use of foot pounds as a measure of torque is easy to understand, but is kiloPascals per Newton Metre? And what about a Joule instead of a foot pound? Horsepower? Easy to understand. What is the metric equivalent?

Who cares?

 

[bbbass]

...............and that's how you diagnose and correct handgun single-handed target-style handgun shooting. Lefties, just do the opposite.

Ohhhhhhhh, I get it now. Nobody ever mentioned that to me before!!!

 

[G8rHunter]

...............and that's how you diagnose and correct handgun single-handed target-style handgun shooting. Lefties, just do the opposite.

I missed this, but BBBass quoted it and caught my attention. I am definitely going to use this target for awhile.

 

[G8rHunter]

There are TWO secrets to shooting a rifle that I'm going to impart to you.

#1 - THE most important tjinmg you'll ever get telt - see the trigger fingers? See how they make a right angle at the second joint? That is so that the trigger is pressing straight to the rear, effectively up your arm, and in that position it will leave an open space beteen the woodwork and you. That means that there is no sideways pressure on the gun as you gently squeeeeeeeeeeeeeze that trigger.

View attachment 558600

#2 - This is slightly trickier, and needs a little imagination. Having made sure that your rifle is empty, raise it to your shoulder in your usual hold. Hopefully, that means that you are pulling it into your shoulder with a firm pressure, and the gun may or may not be wavering around a bit if you are standing up. That's OK. If you are sitting at a shooting bench, with the rifle resting front and rear on some kind of supports, the same applies. Now comes the imaginative bit, bolstered with a bit of physical activity.

I want you to imagine that the rifle in your hands is actually made up of two separate pieces that are screwed together down the axis of the rifle somewhere between your two hand. One part that you are holding with your left hand - assuming that you are right-handed - is the forend. The part that you are holding with your right hand is the pistol grip. OK so far?

Now turn the left hand clockwise as though you are trying to unscrew the rifle into two parts. At the same time, turn the right hand ANTI-clockwise. FIRMLY.

WTH does THAT do?

Well, Sir, it steadies up that ol' bundook just like having it in a clamp, THAT's what it does. You can see the wavering stop right there in front of your peepers. Lots of us medal-winners do it, no matter what level of shooting we are at. I learned that when I shot the FAL, what WE call the SLR, in the Army, beginning in the late 1960's. It had a beautiful pistol grip and well-rounded forend that you could really get a grip of, even when wet. Trying to 'unscrew it' was a morceau de gateau, as we say. I won more individual and team medals than I can shake a stick at, until it was replaced in the mid-80s, and I stopped competition shooting with that popgun.

But whatever you do, DON'T tell anybody here, 'cos then it won't work. Between us, eh?

I have an idea that your tip may have an enormous effect on my shooting transformation! Thank you very much!

 

[pharmseller]

You lost me at "rest of the world."

I'm a 'Merican. There ain't no "rest of the world."

You can have yer meeters and bad teeth and warm beer and hairy wimmens.

I likes my inches and feet and pecks and bushels. I likes cold beer. I likes callin' my taters French fries and I likes callin' my cookies, well, cookies.

'Merica! Ruling the world since 1783!





P

 

[pharmseller]

And since you're ruled by a Queen, why isn't it the UQ?





P

 

[G8rHunter]

You lost me at "rest of the world."

I'm a 'Merican. There ain't no "rest of the world."

You can have yer meeters and bad teeth and warm beer and hairy wimmens.

I likes my inches and feet and pecks and bushels. I likes cold beer. I likes callin' my taters French fries and I likes callin' my cookies, well, cookies.

'Merica! Ruling the world since 1783!


View attachment 558683


P

Hell, yeah, that's the problem--trying to turn us into Euro's!!!

 

[FishnhuntOR]

Metric is so much easier.
It really is Too bad we don't convert.
Most people that complain about metric don't even know how to read a standard tape measure or how many ounces in pound, cup or gallon.
Smh.
Metric is all in 10s or 100s

 

[pharmseller]

Metric is so much easier.
It really is Too bad we don't convert.
Most people that complain about metric don't even know how to read a standard tape measure or how many ounces in pound, cup or gallon.
Smh.
Metric is all in 10s or 100s

Traitor.

I've got my eye on you.




P

 

[FishnhuntOR]

Traitor.

I've got my eye on you.




P

что вы имеете в виду? я не имел никакого отношения к выборам!

 

[tac]

I missed this, but BBBass quoted it and caught my attention. I am definitely going to use this target for awhile.

Why? Are you a single-handed target pistol shooter? I thought we were helping you with your new rifle-y stuff.

 

[Andy54Hawken]

Lets bring this back around to whatever the "Best" hunting rifle currently made is....
And everyone please keep in mind Rule Number One....
Be excellent to each other.
Andy

 

[turq]

I might add Weatherby Vanguard models to the consideration.
Starting at $599 MSRP (24" 308win )

 

[DB is Here]

Damn, I need to learn to argue better!!! She has five boots for winters, although I don't begrudge her having that many. At least that's a starting place!

Sir, these are heirlooms and investments that offer her protection and you some fun from time to time.
Tell me...does a wad of cash protect her. You're doing this for her...(Example of the line I've used w/ my wife from time to time)

 

[turq]

What if someone breaks in to steal her/our boots?
Snoring in the background that sounded like notanothergun...

 

[tac]

And since you're ruled by a Queen, why isn't it the UQ?
P

There is a profound difference to 'having' a monarchy' and being 'ruled' by a monarchy.

The yUK is a parliamentary democracy and just happens to have a royal family. Unlike the Saudi royal family that certainly DOES rule, the British royal family is a token monarchy that tens of thousands of Americans enjoy seeing. The Western world has NO ruling monarchies - at all.

HMtQ can advise her parliament on a course of action, based on her fifty-seven years as head of the Commonwealth, but she cannot tell them what to do. The last monarch to try that one out was executed in 1649 for treason, and the so-called 'Divine right of Kings' was abolished with the adoption of the first Commonwealth - a republic in all but name.

The present Commonwealth - by far the largest peaceful organisation of states on the planet - have HMtQ as their titular head of state, but she doesn't rule any of them.

Oh, yes, what's a 'UQ'?