Some people on here have high end, custom,very expensive, exotic wood and proprietary caliber with triggers like a 17 jewel Swis

[jhjimbo]

Some people on here have high end, custom,very expensive, exotic wood and proprietary caliber with triggers like a 17 jewel Swiss watch. My question is: say it is the last day of the big game season and you have to fill your tag - deer, elk, moose, whatever. What is your go to, trusted, get the job done meat gun that you will go to so you can fill the tag? Gun, caliber, optics,age, ammo, etc. Describe it and how it has served you in the past, when it absolutely,positively has to bring home the bacon.

[jhjimbo]

Of all my guns, I would have to say my one go to meat gun would be my Remington 7400, 30-06 with Redfield 3X9 shooting my 180gr Nosler Partition reloads. Hits hard, accurate, super fast followup shots if necessary and has never, ever failed me. Nor did the predecessor I had, the Remington 742.
I know, it's a seim-auto, but I have never had it fail. My first 742 was in the '60's and I put hundreds of rounds through that one. Kept it clean and did not mess with the trigger and it was always there. 100yds with the 7400 and my reloads is about 2".

[Treestand]

My go-to Meat getter Rainy Day Gun-1970 Savage Model 170-C Pump Cal:35Rem with a Weaver K-4 Scope bough New in 1970. Shoots 1" @100Yd with Hornady FLX Tip Ammo to this day, Its my Bad Day Back-up Rifle.

[Guest]

My Old Ugly. 700 Remington ADL, .30-'06, Simmons 3X9 X40, duplex reticle on an IronSighter see- thru mount. Homemade leather sling, shoots a 165 gr. Nosler BT or Accubond like a laser.Never has let me down, has the marks for 38 deer and two elk to prove it. Don't know how many hogs and coyotes, and there are probably a few deer to the gun's credit that did not get marked.

[Sarge01]

My Sako A7 300WSM with a 3X9X50 Nikon Buckmaster scope shooting my reloads of 165 grain Nosler
Accubonds. When it is fired there is no doubt that the deer will be where it was shot.

[Ol Krusty]

I'm pretty confident with all of my rifles out to 200-300 yards but the one I like the most and that I reach for most often is my Rem 700 CDL in 300 Win.

[rickyno5]

As a fail safe, I'd go with one of my lever guns. Probably my marlin in .308 marlin express. I'd hate to drop my gun on the scope and have the hunt be over when it really counted. The accuracy and reliability of my marlin within 200 yds. is hard to beat.

[RockySquirrel]

Remington 7600 30-06, with Nikon scope. Only let me down once and a gun smith fixed that.

[DakotaMan]

I do much of my hunting on the prairie for deer, antelope and coyotes so I prefer a rifle with speed and long range accuracy. Most of my life, I've used a custom Mauser 98 chambered in 25-06 with a 26" varmint contour barrel, Timney trigger and 6.5-20x (prairie) or 2.5-10x (woods) Leupold scope. If they are standing or running, I can count on it to drop them very reliably in the worst of conditions out to 500 yards or so. It has failed me only once (weak bolt shroud detent spring after 40,000 rounds) so I had to let a fleeing antelope live for the next hunt.

A few years ago I converted the barrel to a .300 Dakota chambering and topped it with a 6.5-24x Vortex Viper PST FFP to give me range out to 1000 yards or so and backfilled it with a Rem 700 Sendero in 25-06 which does a very good job with just a little less accuracy and reliability for use inside 500 yards.

If I'm hunting deep timber deer inside 100 yards, just about anything works and I've used many rifles and shotguns effectively. For really messy stuff, the .35 Rem or .375 H&H are my favorites depending on the diameter of the brush and how many trees must be penetrated on the way to the deer.

[Ontario Honker Hunter]

I don't own a gun I can't rely on. Except the old Marlin 1881 in 40-60 which is a collectible not a shooter.

[99explorer]

I do not reserve a spot in my arsenal for any particular gun as the designated hitter for the last day of the season.
To do so would imply that the rifle I had been using during the first part of the season was inadequate in some way, and that now the time had come to get serious.

[Happy Myles]

Being a gun nut, who has had the opportunity to hunt a vast variety of game animals around the world, I use many different firearms. As traveling with firearms has become more difficult, have found myself using borrowed rifles more often. So I cannot say I have a "go to rifle". I find myself using a 300Win Mag the most with 180 or 200 grain bullets.

[Happy Myles]

As I have mentioned before, borrowed rifles around the world are normally 06 or 375. Gives one an idea of their popularity.

[Skeeb]

My Ruger Mk II, .270, Leupold optics. 150 gr. Accubond bullets, the only times that rifle had let me down is when I was at fault.