I have shot many different cartridges, from 22 Hornet up to 458 Win Mag & 450 NE. I was going to ask about everybody's favorite. Instead, I'll ask what your favorite TWO are. Think two-gun set for around the world excursion. Please leave the 22 LR and the shotguns for another day. You can own all the guns you want, just take 2 rifles on this trip. (We will be on a fantasy trip, there will be no Government red tape about guns & ammo or visas & passports!!) Remember, you are on vacation, not surviving TEOTWAWKI. Yes, your favorite squeeze can accompany you if you want, BUT their guns are not for you to choose or use! One other restriction: NO CREW SERVED WEAPONS! must self-portable. (Full auto isn't a problem, belt fed is!)

I really like Rugar No 1's. For everything in the world, I would go with a pair of No 1's. The big boy gun would be in 375 H&H and the catch all in 7x57mm Mauser/275 Rigby. (I've groundhog hunted with 7mm Mauser in a different single shot, it kills them very dead!)

Ivan

I would go with my Winchester model 70 in .300 H&H magnum. I have a great hunting load worked up for it and it sports a Leupold M7 3X scope, a great hunting rig. And I would also have to take my Winchester model 1895 in 30-06. A 180 grain Barnes TSX will get the job done. Besides if it was good enough for Teddy Roosevelt it will probably be good enough for me.

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I’m gonna channel Jack O’Connor here. I like the .270 Win. and the 375 H&H. I have both in pre-64 Model 70 Winchesters. I have the .270 in standard and featherweight configurations. That is the perfect two gun battery to my way of thinking.

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Everybody could shoot

My favorite two for a hunt would be my
1. 2003 Rem ADL 270win w/ 130gr bullet
2. 2019 Win FWT crf 270 Win Short Mag
w/ 130gr bullet.

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SD social distanc'n since 1889

Right now my answer came to me no problem. It'll probably change by the time I finish typing this. Number one would be my Ruger African in 375 Ruger. It is a beautiful left-handed rifle. Number two would be my favorite deer rifle, my left-handed Ruger American in 270 Win. If I was using my brain more than my heart, number two would be my nicest left-handed Savage 110 with a slew of barrels, at least 243, 260 Rem, 6.5 CM, 25-06, 270 Win, 30-06, 7mm Rem Mag, and 300 Win Mag.

Mini-14 in .223 and M-14 in .308.

John

My two favorite hunting cartridges are 257 Weatherby Magnum and 338 Winchester Magnum. If I was going back to Africa I would take a 416 Remington Magnum.

Of the rifles I own:

Styer Scout in 308
Remington 660 in 350 Remington Magnum.

A retired friend went just to South Africa to hunt Cape Buffalo, the only rifle he took was a Remington 700 in 416. He put a little over $1000 in minor modifications in/on it. Replaced the iron sights with matched 3 distance sights that were above the scope bases and had every sight screwed and soldiered on! Beautiful gun for an ugly foe!

Lots of 375 fans here, I'm in good company!

Ivan

Have to vote .270 win on a Parker Hale 1200 and the tripple duce, .222 in a Rem 722 in a Stockys pistol grip thumbhole stock

Assuming I won’t be hunting dangerous game, I’d take my Browning A Bolt II in .308 and my Ruger 77/44. I could substitute a few different caliber A Bolts but that little .308 handles great.

My primary hunting rifles are Remington 700s, a '60s 30-06 and an early '80s 8mm Magnum. Both have Timney triggers set heavy, but as smooth & crisp as you'd expect.

I own and shoot many other calibers, including 22-250 and .243. If i were starting over I might go to .308 & .338 Win Mag, but the rifles that have served me well in the past aren't going anywhere.

Easy choices. My sporterized 30-06 Springfield 03A3 with a 2x-8x Balvar Bausch & Lomb scope. My little cousin took a deer at 225 yards with it. The other would be my scoped 45-70 1895SS Marlin. With the right ammunition choices there probably wouldn't be much in the way of big game it wouldn't take down.

Being a shotgun/revolver guy I only have 3 centerfire rifles. A LH 7mm-08 Savage Axis for deer and a LH AR in 6.5 Grendel incase the deer mount a counter attack would be the 2 favorites. The third is an AR15 carbine 223 incase things go south.

I’ve been selling and trading off my hunting rifles, due to medical problems can’t get much use out of them anymore. My two would be an old Sako FinBear 375H&H and a pre 64 M70FW .308. I haven’t got rid of the 308 yet but the 375 H&H I sold. I have sent quite a few down the road in last 3 yrs but for some reason feel naked without the 375H&H.

No longer an Africa hunter, so I list what I have on hand. Winchester pre 64 Westerner in 264 win mag and a pre 64 Winchester in 220 Swift. Good for anything I can currently hunt.

I sold my last 375 H&H about 8 years ago and feel a void in my life.

Do I really need one? No, but that has nothing to do with it! I still have a few hundred round and far more components. And stay on the lookout!

I had the No 1 for about 15 years and picked up a Weatherby Mark V Hunter or Safari grade. Some guy that owned a gun store offered me ridiculous money for the No 1 and I said yes. Then after my stroke, I realized i would not be able to utilize the Weatherby. I took it to Cabela's, and they offered about 25% of it's worth. I said no, and left it in the Gun Room while I shopped. When I got back, they had called the home office. The Home Office said offer me $X, that was about 150% of what I saw them selling for and took it! I made very good money selling them both, but I still have a hole in my soul that even my 450 NE Westly-Richards double won't fill!

Ivan

Well I’ll be the weird kid today. I’ll chose my 86 Winchester in 45/70 for the big stuff and my 92 Winchester in32-20 to clean up the little stuff. In this fantasy I’m going rough and tumble Teddy Rosevelt style.😎

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Dave
Regulators mount up!

A friends dad hunted Africa in the 1960's. I asked him once what he used and he said he only took two rifles with him and showed them to me. One was a Remington 600 in 350 Remington Mag and the other was a Sako O/U in 222 and 12 gauge. I know he took lion and rhino with the 350 Rem Mag.

Easy one a Savage model 99 in a .300 Savage 150 gr second a 30-06
Or one of these

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A plain old Pre-64 Winchester Model 94 in 30-30, and a Pre-64 Winchester Model 70 in .270 Win. with a Leupold Vari X-II 3 x 9.

Of the guns I own and thinking Africa it would be my Model 600 in 350 with a Redfield 4 power wide view Remington mag and my Ruger 25-06 Leopold 3x9

Anything in 30.06.

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No baby we aint

Easy choice for me. My pre ‘64 Winchester M94 30-30 and Remington 700 30-06.

Dan

I guess it really depends on what you will be hunting. Out of the guns I own, it would be my CZ .375 H&H - Which with the proper handload will handle anything deer sized to an elephant.

Second would be my neat little full stock CZ .223 - With the right bullets it will handle any game up to deer sized, as well as cheap plinking around camp. I don't shoot at game much past 300 yards, so both have the trajectory and energy to get the job done.

Larry

I suppose my Ruger .44 magnum carbine and my Marlin scoped 30/30 lever action. My AR-7 would also be a good choice but it’s a .22LR.

300 Super

That's sooooo hard!

Okay, rifle number one would be my Remington M788 in .308 Winchester. It will take everything except large, dangerous game and I know it ever so well!!!

I have a number of other choices but I think if I have to pick just one other rifle for this fictional vacation I'd go with my Marlin Guide Gun in .45/70. It can take anything and everything.

M788



No pictures of the Marlin.

Yet.

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Come and take it!!

I am not certain whether or not we are limited to rifles we own. If so, my 2 would be a Winchester Model 64 Deluxe Deer Rifle (.30-30) and a Browning High Power Medallion Grade (.30-06).




If we can bring anyone’s rifle, I’m paralyzed by indecision. With 2 rifles, 7mm-08 is such a versatile and flat shooting cartridge for anything up to big deer size. A pre-64 Winchester Model 70 in .270 Win would fit that niche as well. The .375 H&H seems like a great alternative for anything too big for the 7mm (or .270) to take down, but I want more than 1 shot regardless of how much I love the Ruger No. 1.

If this excursion is primarily for hunting game, my two choices would be my 7x57 Rolling Block and my friend's Marlin 45/70 SBL & some Barnes (or Buffalo Bore or Garrett) ammo for the really BIG STUFF!

Nobody else would likely have a Rolling Block on this safari (although it has been reported the Mauser was the choice of a famous African BIG 5 hunter as well as Mrs. Thompson) and it truly would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity...

If for purposes OTHER THAN primarily hunting I might have to go with Mr. Thompson's fave, 270 Winchester in my Ruger M77 Ultralight and one of my MSRs with 5.56 & 300 Blackout uppers to handle any "restless natives" that we might encounter on the way?

Cheers!

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Sit Reloader Sentiret

My old Ruger 77 round top in 7mm Remington Magnum with its Zeiss scope and handloaded ammo with 175 grain partition Noslers or Speer Grand Slams. 2nd rifle would be my Winchester 71 Deluxe with Lyman aperture sight and handloaded 250 grain bullets.

I’d grab my Remington Model 81 in .35 REM and my 700 Mountain Rifle in .280 REM.

I would "upgrade" my Springfield M1A NM to a M14 sniper rifle...
and for big stuff, I am torn between 375 & 416, might even be talked into 338 Lapua... bolt action of course...

Remington 760 in 30-06, and Ruger mini 14 in 223

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Robert
SWCA #2906, SWHF #760

I always take 2 rifles on trips away from home. The back up gun on deer hunts was quite often a 30/30 lever gun. The Canadian trips the backup is what was considered a Canoe Gun. This would be a tested rifle but not something that would bring tears if it was damaged or lost. It is going to happen sooner or later no matter how much care you take.
On one occasion in northern Ontario I flipped and lost everything and had to spend the night being ate up by mosquito and black flies. Sent to bottom a Remington 600 350mg. That was 1973 I’m sure it’s now made it into Hudson Bay.

Well you better be careful with bullet selection. In his book “Wilderness Hunter” Teddy has a Bigfoot story !!!

I’m sort of in your camp. I too have a .300 H&H, a pre-64 Model 70 Winchester, but my lever gun is a Winchester Model 71 .348.
Model 70 shoots best with my hand load, 180 grain Sierra boat tail and the 71 with a hand load using some early Barnes 250 grain.
With these two I think I’m equipped for most anything in North America.

This pair would do to hunt the world. My pair of Ruger M77 Hawkeye Africans, one .275 Rigby and a 9,3x62mm. Putting tradition aside, honestly, I would swap out the .275 for the .30-06 I completed recently built on a Interarms Mark 10 Mauser.

And a side note. The 9,3x62mm might be my favorite rifle. Every time I take it and shoot it I get a big silly grin. It is just plain fun.

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Bill Bates

I went to a Gibson’s department store in 1982 to get a M788 308 that was on sale for $180. They were sold out and I was given a rain check. I was in dire need of a deer rifle. I called a gunshop to see what they had and was told of a used Rem M700 3o-06. I asked if they would trade for a 1911 45, and the deal was struck over the phone. They threw in a new scope and a leather gun case, and I had my deer rifle. Can’t begin to guess how many I have taken with that rifle. It sits in the safe now as I primarily hunt with a handgun. My “ranch” gun is the mentioned 30-30 in my original post.

After all of this, I still would like to have a M788. They were Remington’s economy rifle, and every one I have seen was amazingly accurate. I have heard Remington dropped them because they were cutting in to the more expensive M700 sales.

Dan

In no particular order, a Mauser I built in gunsmith school I chambered in .257 Roberts.
A Savage 111 I rescued from a pawn shop in .270 Winchester.
A AR 15 I put together in 6.8 SPC.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I heard the same thing. Those 788s were just superbly made. Some had a safety issue that could cause an AD so I am always cautious concerning my rifle's safety switch (plastic little devil), muzzle direction, and so forth. Nary a problem. Time to shoot it again!

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Come and take it!!

I would take my Remington 721 in 300 H&H topped with a Leupold 4-12 and my Marlin 375 lever action topped with a Leupold vx-III 1.5-5

Kelly

My all time favorite rifle for being a joy to shoot is AR/.223. I'm still tickled with my choice to make a couple.

2nd place. Weee-e-e-e-ell....make it my SKS in, of course 7.62 x 39.


OK, I can never keep a favorite list within the questioner's parameters so I have to add a 9mm Ruger Pistol Carbine to the mix. I just LOVE carbines of any flavor. Even my ARs are 16"barrels.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

Browning BAR .270, 130 gr. bullets and a custom 9.3 X 62 Mauser 98 with 286 gr. soft points.

Al