I have a close friend that I've spent several dozen, rather enjoyable trips to the local range and a few, mule deer hunts with in Colorado and one in norther California
hes one of those few guys always willing to pitch in and split the expenses and work along side you if you need to haul a deer out of some canyon.
he only owns and hunts with a ruger #1 light weight rifle in caliber 270 win,
and thinks its the ideal mule deer and whitetail deer rifle.
To be honest I tend to agree with him, that it is a damn good choice,
how many of you honestly only tried 4-5 or more rifles, before deciding on what you prefer?
but I asked him while we were at the range today
,
why he selected that particular rifle?
his response kind of surprised me, ,
he said,
"
.... honestly, I went into a local pawn shop about 35 years ago and asked if they had and good deals on hunting rifles,
up to that point Id never owned a rifle.
he showed me a marlin 35 rem and this ruger #1 in 270 , he wanted $225 for the marlin and $550 for the Ruger,(it had a 4x weaver scope on it also)
I asked him why the ruger was so expensive..... he simply stated that a 270 win in a ruger falling block could shoot flat enough and hit hard enough to kill elk,
out past 400 yards, the marlin in his opinion was a 150 yard deer rifle at best"
having no prior experience I took his advice.
and having remembered seeing that ruger single shot advertised in the back of a recent hunting magazine for considerably more money....
I simply handed him my credit card... I've never regretted that purchase"
now I tried your 375 H&H carbine and Ive tried a BLR in 358 win , and a BAR in 280 rem, and a savage bolt action 308 win.
I think I made a damn good choice, and yeah, it was mostly luck, but I like the rifle and trust it! and as youve seen its been very effective! "
I think most of us have tried several dozen rifles, some we owned, some we borrowed for a couple shots from friends just to see how they felt and shot,
I would have saved thousands of dollars over the last 50 years If I had stuck with the first rifle I found worked well,
but Ive generally wanted to try about everything I ever saw just to see if it worked better.
I personally have found about 8-9 rifles I trust, but I keep grabbing my 340 mark V fibermark or sako bolt action carbine
maybe its a problem, but while I have no problem hunting with a 358 win or 450 marlin BLR or mod 78 falling lock, in 300 wby
and Ive done that, many times, if I'm serious about collecting a decent elk or mule deer the weatherby get taken out of the safe 9-out of 10 times.
I would expect very few people are still hunting with the first big game caliber rifle they ever purchased, 35 years later.
btw
http://www.handloads.com/loaddata/default.asp?Caliber=270%20Winchester&Weight=All&ty pe=Rifle
in his rifle 54 grains oh H4831 and a speer 150 grain bullet, and a 215 fed primer has consistently produced near 5/8" 3 shot hundred yard bench rested group's
https://www.speer-ammo.com/bullets/r...0-sp-bt-bullet