What's the perfect arsenal?
 

Is the perfect arsenal a ton of rifles, ie a perfect rifle/cartridge for every particular hunt/animal, or just 1-3rifles you know well and can do it all with?

I read once something like the following:

"Respect a man who has only one gun, chances are he knows how to use it."

In other words have zero respect for me.

Tom

I always like the more is better train of thought, but you still need to get enough pratice time in. It's just a lot more fun than shooting a 30-06 over and over and over and over.... :)

Do you want to be able to hunt any game in the US with this arsenal?

I would think you'd need a minimum or four rifles if you want to include birds, and be able to harvest meat from all.

I have a few guns, but over the last 3 years my Dad and my Uncle have both passed on and have left me thier guns.. Now its hard to decided which one to shoot.. But I like having options.

Wish I had this problem as long as no one had to die.

Tom

Yea, if you are going to hunt everything, it's more like four / five (including a shotgun) to be well armed with the "right" gun.

My answer requires explanation.


First of all I need four or five dedicated prairie dog rifles. One is not nearly enough unless you like standing out on the prairie twiddling your thumbs. I have 5

I shoot alot of Contender carbines and they inherently require several barrels from which to fool around with. I have 7 and 4 frames.

Need a couple shotguns for birds and even short range coyotes. I have 3

Need a dedicated coyote rifle for hiding in the tall grass something short and fast but it has to have plenty of range. I have 1-2 that fit that bill.

Need a few rimfires to shoot cheap stuff with and plink alot. I have 4

Need a long range big rifle for deer and elk. Need a couple light rifles for the same...mid range. I have couple of each.

Need some home defense guns. I have some of these too.

Need a pellet rifle for those pesky squirrels that eat our bird seed. I have 2 of these

Plus I also seem to end up with the guns that non gun families can't decide what to do with...some of these I may never shoot.

No respect here either..............

You could play golf with one or two clubs.
You could catch fish with just one or two plugs.
You could have just have cresent wrenches in your tool box.

Just depends on how specific your hunting needs are.

My granddad always said a good 12ga and a 22lr is all you'll need, for
whatever you need. I'd say he was about 98% correct.
He didn't do any long range deer hunting, or varmit hunting.
Throw in a .30-06 loaded up max and down light, and you could get by with about anything on this continent.

Just kinda rethinking my train of thought, I'm mostly talking rifles specifically, not shotguns, pistols...

Thinking having like 3 rifles would serve me better than 10...although I like the idea having a father/son covered adequately on all hunts, so that could mean 6 rifles...or perhaps 4 or 5 if some overlapped, but I think you'd be overgunning or undergunning perhaps.

I guess when it comes to hunting and shooting I have very specific needs. I wouldn't want to shoot prairie dogs all day long with my .300 Win mag and I don't even consider hunting elk with my .204s. When it comes to coyotes hunting I want more than one and less than the other.
If I know I will be walking miles over some serious mountains I'd be more inclined to take a 7lb. rifle than a 12 lbs. rifle.
If I know that with little cover and very spooky animals I need a long range rifle to stretch out my effective range, I take a rifle with range regardless of how much it weighs.

There may be some "one gun guys" that do it all .....I'm not one of them. But hey I have 27 sets of loading dies so I have to use them.

I like to have a different rifle for each day of the season...

I have more than i realy need, but less than i desire.
I do have the basics though ... and all I really need would be ...

1 12 gauge (have 3 but one will do)
1 22 (have several, but again, 1 favorite is plenty)
my 243 (a long time favorite)
my 6.5 X 55 (have 5 of these but one real sweetheart carbine)
my 30/06 (a trusty, ugly Savage that shoots well)
and the medium/large bore i don't yet have! (?? someday ..sigh)

In honesty I rely on fewer then I have, but I do like some overlap just in case so I'll say +3.

If I had to narrow it down I could live with 5 rifles.
22 Rimfire
22-250
7mm rem mag
338wm
375 H&H+ African DG/Futures

My bare minimum arsenal would be:
12 gauge shotgun
22 lr
.223
25-06
30-06
.338 wm
9.3x62
416 rigby / rem mag.

:)

I pretty much have everything i need already.

.243 WSSM- long range varmint and speed goats
.270 win - deer and such
12 guage super mag - birds of all sorts
other 12 guage- in case somebody wants ot accompany me
20 guage- in case wife wants to accompany me
45 acp- just in case
just recently got rid of my 7mm because i moved out of elk country and no longer required its services.

12 ga Shotgun
30-06
22 Lr
Pistol of choice

That would cover just about everything

Welll I voted for 3, because this is a hunting website and for all practical needs an arsenal of a .22-250, .30-06 and a 7mm rum would cover me for anything that I would ever need rifle wise.
That being said

I have a .30-06 rem. 700 that is my go to gun.
I also have somewhere between 12 and 20 other options depending on the game and the conditions.


Yes you can get by with 3 rifles. But if you have other options? Why do it. Its more fun to take 8 rifles to the range than just one!
-Jake

A typical day shootin pds requires more than a bolt -06 for maximum enjoyment.

to me an arsenal is a whole lotta killin stuff

not 6...a whole bunch

if i were to come and tell you this guy has an arsenal ...he would have 4-10 assult riffles...2 of everything else and swords and knives and gernades and rocket launchers..

a small arsenal to me is 10 long guns, maybe 5 pistols etc

bass pro has a nice arsenal

uhhhhhhh- ....nice set up dude.....they all look like they belong to a small army, so this is definatly somethin i'd tell sum1 that this dude has a small arsenal!

Birds and Bucks
12 ga. Rem. 11-87 w/ Lt Contour 26" barrel and syth stock
Hastings Rifled Slug Barrel w/ cantilever scope mount for above

Legacy
Winchester Model 670A 30-06 from grandpa updated with synth stock, Redfield 4-16x 44mm scope, free floated, 3lb trigger job

Plinking
Ruger 10/22

Late Season
Remington Genesis ML w/ 3-9x 40 mm Cabelas Pine Ridge Scope

Dream Hunts
Savage Model 112SS w 26" barrel in 300 WM, Simmons Whitetail Expedition 4-12x 44mm scope

Imagine what it costs to feed that pile a guns. If I recall correctly that was a 3000 rd. four day event. Try that with your '06. And unless your 22 lr has a reach out to about 400 yds. you won't be using it much.

i am not sure what you are talkin about. i was commenting on someone elses post!:spam:

you quoted mine.................

Well, considering I have a son.

A couple of high powered rifles that can really reach out and touch any big game in NA, a couple of scoped shotguns for deer and a couple of shotguns for turkey and other small game such as ducks and pheasant, a couple of good compound bows, an AR15, a 9mm and .45 pistols oughta do it.

i was jus sayin u had a cool set-up..i don have a -06 anything..but i think i understand ....your sayin-" try and run 3000 rounds through 1 -06" if i aint mistaken..

i agree, havin multiple guns allows fer more play time than havin a single gun.

What it boils down to is that I have the unique opportunity to shoot small, reactive, multi-distant, live targets pretty much anytime I want all year around on private land. To do that and have fun requires you have guns specifically designed for that purpose. No 30-06 fits those requirements.....neither does any 22 lr. That was my only point.

Generally we use heavy rifles in .20 and .22 cal with light, fast bullets that require only small amounts of powder producing amazing kills at long range and little recoil. You have to see it to appreciate it.

No spam, just fact.

According to my dad, 1 in every cal. and he favors bolt actions. His thinking is that in times like right now *what with the ammo shortage and all* he can still hunt or what ever with what ever he can get his hands on at the stores. He also rolls his own for the same reason. He actually does not trust ammo manufacturers, keeps tryin to tell me they have fixed the ammo some way so that it cann't be kept for long storage and some how its suppose to fit into some big gun confiscation skeem by the gov.

I have cal. I can use. I have a 30-06 & a 30-30 which is about the only pair that competes for the same use. yote's deal with the 223 cal. I have 20 guage and 12 guage auto loaders for bird hunting and of course no good arsenal is complete with out a really good .22 rim fire. I don't go into those magnum rim fires or the .17's because there just is no good use except as a range queen. so meh.
Off course I hear it all the time about it but really, who doesn't have a stock of their fav. loads stashed away so you don't have to go looking for it. Like right before a hunt or some thing.

Ive had as many as 12 CF rifles and 6 shotguns at a time, at one point. I liked a little bit about each gun, but I never really loved any of em. Now I all I have is my savage smokeless muzzleloader, and 1 remington 700 in 7-08. both have good scopes,that are mounted rock solid, both are SS & laminate so theyre not likey to wear out anytime soon, i have crucial spare parts for both, and enough components to make at least 1200 rounds for the rifle and 500 for the ML, both are awsome shooters , so Im good for a while at least in the rifle dept.
I might treat myself to a new 22lr though,for xmas:deer:

You need a gun for;


Small varmints

Large varmints / small game

Predators

Medium size game

Big game

Dangerous game


And either crossover guns or back-ups.