A starter for this forum- What is your favorite rifle?

...I mean that you own?

My latest is an AR10T with an Eagle Arms lower, and an Armalite T upper.

I haven't gotten to shoot it much since I bought it just before Christmas. Only put about 80 rounds through it, most were load development/chorny work, and just grouping for the load work, so no just for fun shooting yet.

It's been quite a path to this rifle. It started about a year and a half ago in a pawn shop. I went in to look at what they had, and to pick up a couple cheap movies with my son (6yr old). Just before we left, he saw a flahs suppressor sticking up over hte top of the counter and asked what kind of gun it was. I couldn't see the rifle, but recognized the preban M14 flash hider, so I asked the guy if I could see it. He picked it up and I recognized the stock to be a Macmillan camo stock. I took a quick once over and saw some interesting things- earlier serial #, heavy barrel, National Match trigger and rear sight, so I asked the guy the price and it was under $1000. Long story short, I walked out with it. I couldn't afford it, and just bought it to resell. I knew I could make a quick $100+ on it, and if I didn't buy it then, it wouldn't be there for a full week at the price.

So about two months later I sold it for a nice profit. It turned out to be a USMC prepped National Match M1A. As much as I liked it, it was for sale from day one. So about a week after selling it I started looking for another gun to turn a little profit on. I found an Armalite AR10T on anauction site with no bids. I ended up winning it for $1250 and sold it a month later for $1570. I liked it, but again, it was just for $$.

So after a few buys and sells, the gun ban was to the point of dying. I had a recently converted no ban AK47 semi, and it was becoming hard to find just after the ban. I have a sound suppressor for a .30 cal bolt action, and had an itch for a semi to use it on. So, I went over my options, and ended up buying another AR10. I chose it becuase it's capable of excellent accuracy, is easier to use a suppressor with than an M1A, the barrel can be swapped at home, and it was a rifle just waiting to be liberated from the Postban status. So I started searching, found an upper, sold my AK, and bought a lower for the AR10 and assembled it. I pulled the trigger group out of my AR15, and took the 10 to the range. My first group using some standard match loads showed proof it was capable of grat accuracy. It shot well under an inch. So after a week of owning it, I was looking for someone to do the threading and cutting of the barrel. So I had it cut to 22", threaded to use my suppressor.

I went to the range a week later with some loads I was working on, and it shot right around 1/2" groups. It was getting dark quick ,a dn my main reason to the range was to test the function with the suppressor ounted. all worked fine.

Since then, my truck has been down for repairs, and the repairs have gone slow due to the temps outside, late work hours, and such. So another weekend of repair time and my truck is back on the road, and the AR10T will return to the range to finish the load work.

So it had become my hunting rifle for next year.

Whats your favorite and what makes it so?

About two years ago I started getting itchy for a nice hunting rifle. One that could drop a deer from great yardages, look nice, and shoot a grouping that would make people blink twice. This gun I wanted was going to be for deer, elk, moose, and even a group squirrel when I came across one. So I wanted a pretty heavy caliber with good results for distance. And eventually came up with a 300 weatherby magnum for choice.
I went to John Kontes (a nationally recongized gunsmith) here in pocatello, and I was on my way to getting a fully customized gun. I put a Choate Varmit stock on it, with a 26" Kreiger barrel. Remington 700 long bolt action (of course) Shepeard 6 x 18 scope on it with range finding capabilities (I hate to wait almost 8 months to get this scope, they sent it direct from the factory to another dealer here, it was one of the first ones made). I had a 1 1/2 lb trigger pull setup on it, and added a burris medium sized bi-pod. Overall cost was around 2,300 dollars. So far i've killed two deer and 1 bear with the gun. I've missed 1 deer because I was still new to the scope which takes some practice.

I've reloaded various bullets to try and find the best one, but to be honest, I found a remington pre-built shell that is so darn accurate and shoots at almost 3200 fps that it's tough to find a good load for it. I can take the bullseye out of a target at 100 yards on every shot. It does weigh quite a bit (almost 15 1/2 lbs ready to go) but I love it!

Next...

Lets see....My favorite SHOOTIN' rifle would be a a model 70 in .270. Nothing fancy about it....basic huntin rifle that shoots like a rail gun. This thing makes it look like I know what Im doing.

My favorite "lookin at" rifle is a model 92 winchester copy that I got from Navy Arms...its just plain beautiful. The finest color case hardening Ive ever seen on a rifle old or new.Shoots pretty good too.With the issue sights(which suck) and a load I worked up for this rifle it will bust clays at 100 yards every time. BTW, its chambered in 45 Colt. The wood I would rate at "select grade" walnut,, how that ended up on this rifle Ill never know.

I have to say my all time favorite rifle has to be my Rem700BDL 222Rem. Was first centerfire rifle I have ever owned. Paid a weeks salary for it way back in 1965. Included was a Weaver K-6 and 100 rnds of Rem factory ammo. I still have the scope, but it has since been replaced with a Leupold 6.5-20x40 VariX III. Had the barrel replaced once because of all the rounds shot thru it. Sure has accounted for a lot of ground hogs over the course of time. Wouldn't trade it for anything...still shoots half-inch groups at a hundred yards. Back in the '70's, when Indiana was giving VietNam vets $200 for just being there, I took part of that money and bought my first reloading set-up. RCBS Junior and dies...Redding #2 scale...and I was on my way. I've never shot any more factory loads thru that gun since.....ah if all my guns could talk. Bob in Indiana

curent fav would be my savage i rebarreled to .257 ackley improved. almost a .25-o6 with out the powder burn or recoil. savage in generay as i can rebarrel my self for as little as $100 once i bought the $25. wrench. tried the armalite AE10A4 .243, should have gone .308, had feed problems. you are working with a gas system that wants the right pressure. always after about 20 rounds it would act up. was getting .75@100 when it worked. ruger 10-22s are always good!

My favorite bolt gun at the moment is a Win. 70 Featherweight in 257 Bob

My favorite Contender rifle at the moment is a 22 hornet. Recently aquired and Made from a 10-22 'take-off' by On Target Technologies I'm looking forward to wringing it out.

From '73 to '93 the only centerfire rifle I owned was a M70 Win. in 270 Out of the box this old gun was a shooter right from the start. I still shoot it occasionally but for the most part it is retired but, not tired. Still has a lifetime of shooting left in it.

I have 2 favorites. I have always loved single shots. And have had several Ruger #1's over the years. Right now I have one in a 220 swift, and one in 25-06, and another custom in a 30cal. wildcat.
But the TC Encore is quickly gaining favor. I currently have 6 barrels for it. .243 AI 15", 30-40AI 15", 6mmAI 26" , 7BRM 24", 9.3X74R 26".
With a 218 Bee 15" on order, and I just finished partial forming brass to sent for another 6mm wildcat.
I'm sure those won't be the last. I'm still thinking on a .338 something :wink:
dave

I have come to greatly enjoy and respect my CZ-550 Lux in 9.3 x 62 Mauser.

First--the rifle. It's an updated Mauser turnbolt, controlled round feeding and all that good stuff. It has a single-set trigger, activated by pushing the trigger forward from its at rest/cocked position. It has the "hogback" style stock with Bavarian ovate cheekpiece, and screams to be fired with iron sights. That said, I mounted an old Redfield 1x-4x in the CZ mounts, and the stock fits fine with the glass sight too. Stock wood is walnut, and I like its subdued figure. Prettier than it needs to be, because it is going to get USED.

The caliber--9.3mm is fairly popular in Europe and Africa, .366" nominally. The 62mm case closely resembles the 30-06, and cases can be made from either 30-06 or 35 Whelen brass. This involves blowing the shoulder forward about 1/10" from that on the 30 or 35 caliber casings. I use both reformed 35 Whelens and some Graf's 9.3 x 62 brass in my rifle.

An incident a couple summers back prompted acquisition of this rifle. My wife and I were berry picking in the local mountains when an obviously pissed-off black bear made it known that we were picking HIS fruit. I had a Redhawk 44 on board, and covered our slow retreat with it. We never actually saw the bear, but could smell him and hear him plainly. I regretted the sale of my 338 Win Mag greatly at that time!

The 9.3 x 62 does a number of things very well--some of which were discernable prior to purchase, some of which were confirmed after some firing. "Book" ballistics show about 100-150 FPS gain in velocities over similar bullet weights in the 35 Whelen, and striking energies not far behind the 375 H&H. The caliber has a very sound reputation in Africa. The caliber accomplishes these tasks using 30-06 level powder weights and pressures--and BEST OF ALL--the rifles chambering this round hold 5 in the magazine, rather than the three held in the belted magnums like the 338 and 375.

Once the rifle was in hand, I started messing around with it using the Speer 270 grain soft points. These did very well, 1.25"-1.5" groups at 100 yards, running 2350-2400 FPS. Nosler 250 Ballistic Tips do likewise, and can do 2550 FPS and perhaps more safely. I have yet to try the Nosler 286 Partitions in my rifle--these are capable of 2350 FPS easily, and some users report up to 2450 FPS. Rest assured, any of these loads from the benchrest are quite entertaining, recoil-wise. Full-price admission, for sure.

Other loads--I have sent 95 grain Hornady .365" XTPs SCREAMING from this rifle, with pretty good accuracy. A case full of WC-852/fast was used with these bullets to fire-form the 35 Whelen brass, and several jackrabbits fell to its bark during that process. Fell--disintegrated--blew up--you get the picture.

Where the rifle gets its most usage is as a cast bullet platform. I use a Mountain Molds 270 grain ogival flat point design, and it will do 1.5" groups at 100 yards all day long with loads varying from 1400-1800 FPS. I also tried some Lyman #358430/195 grain RN paper patched to .367", and they shot very well from this rifle.

The 9.3 x 62 gets its reputation from work on heavy game, much of that in Africa. It is a very flexible caliber, though--and lends itself to "downloading" very well due to its smaller expansion ratio than those seen in the belted magnums. The 375 shoots only slightly flatter--and hits only slightly harder--than does the 9.3 x 62. This caliber fits in any 30-06 length action, and is available in affordable factory rifles from CZ and Tikka. I can recommend the caliber as a multi-purpose tool without reservation.

Another rifle/caliber in my collection that I have become attached to is my Remington Model 788 in 243 Winchester. I've had it for about 3 years now, and from Day 1 it did good things with 85 grain Sierra hollowpoints--95 grain Nosler BalTips--and 100 grain Sierra softpoints, both flat-based and boat-tail. My two previous 243's showed strong preferences for 100 grain bullets ONLY, and usually just one or two makes of same. This rifle's more generous preferences were a welcome change--making it the varmint-to-deer machinme it was alleged to be by the late Warren Page and its other cheerleaders.

About a year after I got the rifle, a board member at Shooters.com sent me a sample of cast bullets in 6mm caliber for a test drive in the rifle. After removing any copper the bore might have contained, I ran these atop 12.0 grains of Alliant 2400 powder/no filler, and they shot VERY well--close to the 1" @ 100 yards benchmark that cast bullet rifle types like me strive for. This has become its pet load--and it went with me last May on a ground squirrel hunt, where it did good work on the rats. At the Nevada Cast Boolit Shoot a week later, the rifle and load won the Best Group trophy, doing 1.48" in a 10-20 MPH crosswind. I think that was 10 shots, might have been five--not sure on that one.

Anyway, the rifle works--and it has become a fixture on trips to the desert to whack jacks and chase quail. Once the quail wear me out by late morning, I hang up the shotgun and stalk jackrabbits with the 243 and cast bullets. A few hours of that, and by mid-afternoon the quail have coveyed back up and I finish the day topping off the bag with "topknots".

Although my 222Rem 700BDL is my favorite, the 6mmRem 700VLS is a close second. After talking with several others about the 6mm, the suggestion made was to try the 70 gr Nosler BT and IMR4350 pwder. Seems like a neat combination there as some 400 yd prarie dogs can't testify too. :D Am willing to bet some of the 95 gr or 100 gr Nosler Partitions would do equally well for deer. I don't have 300 rounds thru it yet, but next trip for p'dogs, it will get a real workout.
Bob...

I can't say I have a favorite I like my Steyr 25/06 for deer, hogs and that size animal. I like my AR-15 for plinking and coytoes, it is NOT an assault type rifle other than Semi Auto, It has a 24" fluted krieger bull barrel, national match trigger, and a laminated thumbhole stock. My remington 204 Ruger is nice for playing mean games with varmints and just plinking. My Winchester 70xtr featherweight in 270 is great for looking at and a real shooter. Marlin 17vss in 17 HMR is fun for shooting in the backyard as well as one of three 10/22s. KDF built me a real nice 7mm magnum for elk and larger game. There is an ar10 on the way but it is just for looking at next to my Vulcan .50 BMG. Probably my favorite to shoot is my McMillan M-86 but it doesn't get used very much.