modern mountain man rifle

I'd take a Marlin 336 in 30/30. I would also have a 22. If I could only have the one rifle, the 22 would be a Ruger Single Six - with both cylinders.

Also - a good simple 308, like the Savage Scout would be a good choice for a bolt action.

I hunt with a 45/70 or a 30-06AI. Deer hunting, I have rarely had shots over 200 yards, and while the 30-06 has roughly 1/3 more energy none of the deer I have shot noticed. What I am saying is I think energy is over hyped as is long range performance.

A lot does depend on where the mountain man lives.

tjg
 
A lot of good recommendations so far... especially taking the one that you shoot accurately with.

Just had to chime in as I'm a Browning fan (along with Marlin, TC, and others), and didn't see them mentioned yet. The Browning A-Bolt comes in a variety of configurations. Mine is 30'06, stainless, with a shorter laminated wood stock, and the BOSS-CR. It can really handle the elements, and the BOSS-CR allows you to truly dial-in handloads (as well as factory ammo).

The takedown BLR provides options and lets you pack a lever action with ease... in the capable calibers of 30'06, 7mm & 300 Mag. Apparently a creature of habit, again mine is '06, stainless, with a laminated wood stock. Someday I might try one of those Leupold Scout Scopes on it, but today my eyes still prefer peep sites.

A .44 (make mine a 629... what I usually hunt with) and a .22 (317 kit gun) handgun would round out my lineup for the scenario. The .44 is always with you, always ready. And since I practice a lot, the kit gun is plenty accurate enough for taking any small gun I want, without the need to pack another rifle.

And yes, I have a Marlin 1894 the remarkable Mr. David Clay turned into a TD for me, for a companion piece to my 629. Given my penchant for extended hiking and stalking, I tend to optimize strength, durability, portability, and accuracy.

Just two more cents.
 
Rotte said:
I love my Marlin .45-70, but if I had to pick one rifle, it would be a .300 Win-Mag. And a .22. Unless that counts as 2 rifles. :confused: :)
Click to expand...

YESS....I have both. The 300 Win-Mag kicks like a mule but it shoots flat for a country mile. The 22 is a 22.
 
"But if you want to be a mountain man, you can't be lazy in anything. Also, a long range rifle is NOT "needed". Granted long shots make up for hunting skill, but let me remind you that ALL of this game that is supposed to "demand" a long range shot has been historically, and is currently, successfully hunted with bows. A 40 yard shot with traditional archery gear is a long shot. If you can get that close with a bow, you can get within 100 or 150 yards for a shot with a .45-70 (or 12 ga slugs for that matter)."

Very well said Cpl Punishment.

While raised a rifleman (and why the '06 will always have a place with me), I've learned to prefer a .44 revolver or my 50lb recurve. If you know how to stalk, and know the area you hunt (as a mountain man would), distance shooting gets less and less impressive/necessary. (The exception being if you're overseas in the sandbox.)
 
Last edited:
First, if you can't get within 100 yards of elk,deer,antelope,wildpigs,etc, Hand over your mountain man badge:D. I love my 45/70,and would not hesatate to shot 250 yards at big game.I have taken game that far before. But now think a .30-30 or .308 would be the "ideal" all around rifle. My 45-70 was my go to gun when I lived where rifles are legal for deer. Since moving to shotgun only land I have traded for a 30-30 ackley improved. Not being a legal deer gun, I have played with reduced loads. I can shoot 113 cast bullets, 170 cast bullets, and 150 seirra rn jacketed bullets with acceptable accuracy with out changing my scope setting.
Since the gun that feels like it was made for my hands is a H&R single shot.
My choice would be a handi-rifle 30-30 first choice or a 308 would work.
Roy
 
I think we've established that 'mountain-man' shooting will likely be 100 yd or less, making 200 yd energy, such as Rotte listed, rather superfluous. Good thing, as my favorite for this application, the ubiquitous .30-30, has the streamline design of a Greyhound bus... except for those new rubber tipped goodies. At any rate, I sold my 336 .30-30 years ago, but with it's Williams Firesight (fiber optic) front and FP (peep) rear sight, it was super easy to hit a 10" steel plate repeatedly at 110 yd. Additionally, 2L pop bottles were easily and impressively dispatched at 100 yd. I was a public range RO and would let day-shooters, who couldn't hit that plate with their latest hyper-power hunting rifle & scope combo, take a shot - 4 of five hitting that plate on the first round. Only one person ever couldn't get it on the second shot. The ammo was my stash of Rem 170gr Core Lokt - bought on sale for $6.99. When my dozen boxes were gone, I sold the rifle. Dumb move, of course.

I still have a lever gun - a SS 24" Puma M1892 in .45 Colt - with a Marbles Tang Sight. Great combo - I can break shotgun clays at 100yd with 'cowboy-ish' loads. It certainly will take warm loads, the Georgia Arms 200gr Gold Dots making 1,424 +/-6 fps. That's 876 ft-lb. It may not vaporize a grizzly, but it should be good for providing normal dinner items. That round - or my 255gr LSWC or 250 gr Gold Dots - can also be loaded in my 4" 625 Mountain Gun, offering fair protection. The greatest attribute they have is simply that I own them - and have ~3k rounds made up for them, too. I have a 4" 10-shot 617 now for .22 LR - probably good for small beasties to 25+ yd.

I might consider a 4" SRH and 16"-20" SS Puma M1892, both in .454 Casull, if I had them, as better choices.

Stainz

PS Of course, I briefly owned a Ruger #1H in .458 Lott - 6k+ ft-lb. There is always a 660gr .50BMG - 13k+ ft-lb - if you need to bag a Studebaker at a mile. A good Busse Combat knife to field dress it, too. Gotta know where to 'draw the line'.
 
My only concern with smaller cartridges like the .30-30 is that, while a great cartridge, it's just not adequate for the likes of moose and bear found up north. Especially the pissed off variety. There are stories of .30-30 bouncing right off a grizzly's skull. Just like the big bore long-guns of the old northern mountain men, I'll choose something with a bit of heat to be sure.
That's why my sidearm is always my Seville .44 mag. I can tell you from experience, a .44 mag. at 10 feet will blow the antlers clean off a 1300 pound moose.
 
I was going to say something in .308 because of the variety of loads you could use in it for anything from small game to big game but somebody mentioned a .270 and I think that would be a really good one too.
 
Marlin guide gun, .45/70. I would be quite comfortable with my 336, though. I like the .30/30 round a lot. Even here in Nebraska where there's not near as much brush as many places I do next to no shooting over 125 yards on deer or about anything else I'd shoot with the 336. And I trust that gun.

Given the opportunity, I'd throw in a .22 as well. For truly mountain-manning it, I would use our old Winchester Model 06. That gun will be here and still shoot after a nuclear holocaust and the sun exploding. Grandpa traded a bushel of walnuts for it, and it's been in the family since. Not so decided on a modern .22. I really like my Ruger 10/22, but it requires pretty frequent cleaning and does jam fairly frequently if it gets a bit dirty.
 
A good quality .30 Caliber boltaction. Or a nice .30-30 lever.

.223? Ehh, no. Not for me.


With an accompanying .22 pistol.
 
I would like to make two comments.

on .30/30 vs. .44mag:

30/30 ought to have a muzzle energy around 1900 foot-pounds.

.44 mag loads are pretty often around 700 foot-pounds.

If the 30/30 will bounce off a grizzly's skull, the .44 should probably be shot into its pupil to ensure any penetration at all. Naturally if you are shooting it out of a rifle, you can probably get a fair bit of power out of it - say about as much as a .30/30!


On my own choice:

I have spent most of my life living in the mountains of Western Canada. I have no intention of living anywhere else again, and I have a lot of bush hours here. I come from a long line of bush nuts in Western Canada: my father was a prospector in the mountains here, his brother is a lineman, their father was a miner and they were both born in a mining camp on top of a mountain right here in Western Canada. We're all gun people and hunters. So I feel fairly qualified to answer this question FOR ME! Although this might not apply to everyone.

I would probably take my .357 puma. I can shoot it accurately out to around 125 m, and I have yet to encounter a problem with that range. The furthest shot my dad has ever taken, according to a recent conversation, was about 70m. His brother has shot animals at around 225 m, but rarely and only in pursuit of a trophy animal, following the laws of the province. If all you were after was food, I don't imagine that you'd ever need the range of a .300 winmag.

I do also love my M14s. I might take one of those, but probably not. The .357 is just so nice to use, and the brass survives a lot of loadings.

I have also had quite a bit of success driving 158 grain semi-wadcutters up around 200 fps. That's a lot of punch from a little rifle!
 
Stainz said:
I think we've established that 'mountain-man' shooting will likely be 100 yd or less, making 200 yd energy, such as Rotte listed, rather superfluous.
Click to expand...

Hmmm, can I infer from your statement that you have hunted large game in the western Canadian Mountains extensively? (This is the OP's original scenario)

I didn't take a couple shot this fall 'cuz the Elk were too far away. Over 400m. Way over 400M. That's beyond my comfort zone. So 200m doesn't seem superfluous to me. I'd have been pretty damn happy to have a 200m shot. Remember, you may be on one side of a valley or steep draw and your dinner on the other. Animals can see you from farther away in the mountains. The wind can be strange in those draws. Stalking is possible, but not easy.

I'm confident I can kill anything in North America at 200m every time I pull the trigger of my .300 Win-Mag. Confidence leads to success. Can you honestly say that about your .30-30?

Lots of hunters use bows to hunt Elk. I have enormous respect for them, to do so requires skill, discipline, and patience. And the ones I've talked to also say 'luck.' I'm learning to bow hunt myself. But bow hunters are not as successful as rifle hunters. If you are living as a 'mountain man' how much do you want to rely on luck?

All I can say is that the most popular rounds for big game hunters out here seem to be 7mm Mag, .300 Win-Mag, and .338 Win-Mag. I might be wrong about that, but all the hunters I respect use something along those lines.

Yes, a .30-06 will do, and many do use them successfully. Great round. Renowned North American hunter Jack O'Connor swore by the .270. But I don't see people carrying .30-30's. Go into a western gun store and say you want to hunt elk with a .30-30 and you'll get an interesting reaction. Some guys I know even think a .300 Win-Mag is underpowered for big game. Guys with more experience than me. I'm going to try to research whether anyone has killed a Mountain Sheep with a .30-30.

I have a compound bow, a .45-70, a .300 Win-Mag, and a .30-30, so I could hunt with one of several different weapons. I do agree with Cpl Punishment that a 420 grain round from a .45-70 behaves differently than a 180 grain round from a .30-06. That big old .45 has a lot of inertia and gets phenomenal penetration. If I'm going to be hunting close in, in timber, 150 yards or less, I actually prefer the .45-70.

But if I have to choose, the .300 can do it all. :D
 
Last edited:
misanthropist said:
I have also had quite a bit of success driving 158 grain semi-wadcutters up around 200 fps. That's a lot of punch from a little rifle!
Click to expand...

:) I presume to think that you meant 2000 fps, which is quite hot for a .357, but doable from a carbine. Very tempting to get one for just the reasons you mentioned.
 
30-30 is a cool round but i don't see why you would pick a round that is so limiting.
If that is what you have that would be different but if you are going out to buy a mountain rifle the absolute smallest ,shortest range i would go is a NEF handi Rifle in .223 because it is a very cheap single shot that can use cheap surplus ammo. Something in one of the old school military calibers would be the best like .303 in Canada or 30-06 in the US or .308 anywhere.

I like the .303 but the 6.5 swede and the .308 are nice choices. I still say a "real" mountain man would want a sporterized bolt action military rifle. They are cheap and way tougher than commercial models. While you can't get Springfields cheap anymore the 1917 Enfield is an excellent albiet ugly rifle.

Another cool inexpensive military rifle is the new Remington mausers made in eastern Europe. They are cool rifles available in all the popular cals and has a US style safety.
 
If I could only take one it would be my 12 Ga. Remington 870 pump; with the different loads, shot sizes, and chokes available, it will take down just about any type of game...

If only a rifle, my stainless Sako 75 in .30-06, I would change the way it is setup slightly though, it currently has a low-power Bushnell shot-gun scope, so I might up that to a better quality higher-power Zeiss scope if I had a see-through scope-mount and added iron sights for quick acquisition at close range.
 
yoz's friend said:
if you where headed out to live in the mountains what would you bring for a rifle? im not talking about a shtf rifle im talking about a modern mountain man do-it-all rifle. for the scenerio lets say mountains of western canada.
Click to expand...

First, I did move to the mountains and I brought the whole gun safe!:D

The Western mountains (where I live) have larger animals than the Eastern mountains. This certainly would help me determine how much gun I actually needed if I was going to hunt large game.

I love lever action rifles, and I own many, including, .22 LR, .30-30 Win, .357 Mag, .44 Mag, .45 LC., .45-70., and a few more in-between. Too, I own a few rolling blocks and an old original trapdoor in .45-70. However, considering the distances that I often have to shoot deer and elk at, here in the west, one is just as well off throwing a baseball at the game than shooting a short-range caliber. :) I have dropped elk and deer in dense timber with the .30-30 and .45-70, but neither is satisfactory at longer distances. I keep the short .44's, .30-30's, etc., in the trucks for protecting the home and ranch.

My first choice of rifle here in the mountains of Oregon would be the .30-06 bolt action. I guess perhaps my Ruger .270 would be my second choice. Someone mentioned a combo of guns, ".22LR/12Gauge/.30-06", and that sounds pretty close to all I could possibly want and need in this part of the world. Like knives, "one" gun or "do-it-all" rifle is most always a compromise. Having options is always the best bet. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top