How many hunting rifles do you have?

I own a .30-06, and a number of inexpensive .22s and .17s

I'm fairly minimalist; not really into the "more is better" mentality, and wish it were easier to get rid of some of my inexpensive small caliber rifles, as I disregarded quality for quantity during my broke college years. Ideally, I would have 3 rifles: small, medium, and large, to put it simply. Good actions, with classic stocks, and set-and-forget optics (no dialing for me).

"Fudd" may as well be my middle name
 
Great topic. I have way too many that have accumulated over the years. Ideally, I’d have only 3 to 5 and know and trust each one, but I love each and every one of my many other rifles, some I’ve not even fired. It’s an addiction.

My passion is hunting and guns, but with two small kids, I don’t have the freedom or money I once had to go hunting. It’s hard to let my friends go when I can likely never afford them again.
 
Now that I'm sitting here quantifying all of my hunting rifles I realize I have too many. Way too many. With that said i'll never admit that to my wife. Most of them have a couple loads that they shoot so good I don't want to get rid of them.

I've been making a switch to building rifles off of "custom" actions and have been valuing quality over quantify. I've had great luck with Zermatt actions and love the fact you can swap the bolt face so they leave you options for the future. The problem I have is that I never sell any guns.

In all reality I could be more than fine with 3 hunting rifles. I'm talking big game rifles and I'm not counting .22s.

I could get away with the following:

1. 22 Creed / 6 Creed - for my use it'd be a short barreled deer rifle

2. 6.5 or 7mm variant - 6.5-284, 6.5prc, 280ai etc. For little bit longer range medium sized game

3. 30 cal gun for everything else. I'd keep my 300prc for this one since it's a tack driver.

If I'm being honest, you could do it all with rifles 1 and 3 though.

Are we supposed to talk about lever guns, pistols, or ARs now?
 
I own two rifles dedicated to hunting out of the ten that I own. The Bergara twins…

IMG_2622.jpg


The top is a 6.5prc for bigger game. And the lower is my 6.5cm coyote killer.
 
CoHunter1991 said:
I am at a point where I have 6 very solid hunting rifles but for some reason I am always looking for a new one haha Is a seventh overkill? I know it is definitely unnecessary but was curious on what my fellow Roksliders think/ have.
Click to expand...
If you like them, I don't consider 7 excessive. Or 70, if you like them, and your life's obligations are being met.
 
StupidLightweight said:
Great topic. I have way too many that have accumulated over the years. Ideally, I’d have only 3 to 5 and know and trust each one, but I love each and every one of my many other rifles, some I’ve not even fired. It’s an addiction.

My passion is hunting and guns, but with two small kids, I don’t have the freedom or money I once had to go hunting. It’s hard to let my friends go when I can likely never afford them again.
Click to expand...
Yeah this is my boat also. after hearing everyone's opinion over the last few days I'm leaning to sticking with my 6 and putting more rounds through them.
 
CoHunter1991 said:
I am at a point where I have 6 very solid hunting rifles but for some reason I am always looking for a new one haha Is a seventh overkill? I know it is definitely unnecessary but was curious on what my fellow Roksliders think/ have.
Click to expand...
You can never have too many! There is a point however where one must make room and possibly sell a few to make upgrades to others!
 
Beware of the one rifle man.....

I am very much a minimalist. I have two Aero Solus rifles. Almost identical in every way. One in 6.5 Creedmoor for varmints up to medium thin-skinned game. And another in 6.5 PRC for big game such as elk. (I understand that this is a controversial choice but not the topic for today.) I get the benefit of being very familiar with these rifles regardless of which one I am shooting. Both are built light enough to be carried many miles yet heavy enough to be effective for my NRL Hunter matches. This specific choice also consolidated some my reloading supplies and equipment as a bonus. I am what some would refer to as a "tinkerer" so every time I get the itch to buy a new rifle, I tinker at the reloading bench instead.

We seem to live in this world of extremes. It's not a back country rifle unless it's 4 pounds. And it's not a big game rifle unless it's a 300 PRC. It's not a varmint rifles unless the cartridges have a muzzle velocity of 3600 FPS. To me, the hunting community is directly affected by good marketing. Some just enjoy the endorphins released by the purchase of the latest and greatest rifle and some just enjoy an exquisite collection. Both of those reasons are perfectly acceptable. For me, having a very deep understanding of the rifle, its specific characteristics, its specific ballistics. etc. makes me a more effective hunter. It's hard to do that with 10 rifles.
 
I have way too many guns from my younger years. As I got older, quality over quantity became more apparent. It’s hard to sell used rifles unless it’s discounted so much it becomes a major loss. The whole “guns hold their value” thing is BS; like everything, a used gun is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it… and for me, that has always been way less than I paid for it new.
 
AZ_Hunter said:
I have way too many guns from my younger years. As I got older, quality over quantity became more apparent. It’s hard to sell used rifles unless it’s discounted so much it becomes a major loss. The whole “guns hold their value” thing is BS; like everything, a used gun is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it… and for me, that has always been way less than I paid for it new.
Click to expand...

Nailed it!
 
Four:
I have a 1962 Remington in 30-06. It’s the rifle I learned to hunt with, and it has a lot of sentimental value.

It was replaced by a Tikka T3XL stainless in 30-06.

Browning X-Bolt Stalker in .243

Latest acquisition is a Tikka T3X stainless in 7mm-08. This will be my main rifle for hunting in the future.

Probably won’t get any more.
 
One nice thing about a collection of guns is it gives inexperienced shooters in the family an opportunity to try different calibers. If Little Jimmy thinks he’d be deadly with a 338 - let’s go shoot some prairie dogs and show us what you got. If Becky Sue just likes the way Creedmoor rolls off the tongue and wants to put the kabosh on an antelope with it, we’ve got one to try. Growing up, it was really nice to actually pull the trigger on a variety of calibers - it doesn’t take long to figure out a 22-250 is more fun to plink with than a 270.

The ultimate test is in the field hunting and shooting next to your buddy and whatever he’s using. When your buddy always knocks the snot out of critters and yours tend to go a ways, that says a lot.
 
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