One gun hunter

[Dee]

pastrop, I used to do that. I'm 60 and sold my boat a few months ago. I'm back to the same canoe I bought 24 years ago. Guess what? It still floats as good as ever. Imagine that?
One of my main reasons was all the different calibers of ammo you have to have. I'm down to 4 calibers. Feels good, and a relief.

[jlchucker]

Pastorp, if you're old enough to take early retirement, you may want to consider it.  I retired 3 years ago at 62.  I was really hesitant about it, but after looking into it, then doing it, I was pleasantly surprised to find that my take-home pay in the end was only about 50 bucks less than when I was working.  Most of this was due to what comes out of your paycheck courtesy of various governments while you're employed.  My advice to you is to consult with a good financial planner and see if you can do it. If so, go ahead.  Two things to remember---Life's pretty short to spend it living to work; and the other is that your employer will forget all about you around a week after you're gone.  Live for yourself and loved ones and enjoy-be it with just one gun or a whole roomfull. Peaceful weekdays at the range can be very relaxing.

[pastorp]

I'm 64 jl, but if I retire now I'd be without health ins untill medicare at 65. Thats really a lot of the reason I'm waiting. I do have some health issues that require several meds that my ins. pays for.

Yes Dee, less is more in many ways. I've often wondered why I didn't just hunt with my first deer rifle all my life. It was a marlin RC in 30-30. It might not a been ideal for everything I've hunted but it would a worked. When I got my first job I bought a colt frontier scout, the marlin 30-30, & a model 12 in 16ga. I already had my 22 rifle my dad gave me when I turned 14. Really all the guns I needed....but I went down a different path.

Regards,

[GeorgiaDave]

Hello,

   I have always owned multiple guns since the day I was born. My Dad and Uncle both gave me a gun when I was but hours old. Even being born on an island 6000 miles away(Hawaii) did not keep me from begining to gather guns from my very first day. I do suppose that if you were limited to only one rifle, you would become quite proficcient. However, having a whole bunch of guns can lend to some accuracy as well. I am glad that I am not limited to only one gun. I have an application to fit any game from grasshoppers to elephants and am profficient with them all. If there is someone who only has one gun, get with me and I am sure that we can fix that right quickly. Have a great day.

Dave

[Graybeard]

Byron, can't you take your current insurance into retirement? I did but then I am retired from Federal Civil Service. I retired early at age 50. I turn 65 in March and am getting tons of mail trying to convince me to take out their medicare supplement. I don't even plan to take Medicare much less someone's supplement.

I was told back when I worked I was not going to be eligible for Medicare. Never understood exactly why but had to do with fact I stayed with my old retirement plan rather than going with FERS when it was offered.

The pay cut at retirement (dropped by $27,000 per year over night) was a real life changing experience for sure but it sure has been nice being retired all these years.

[briannmilewis]

Graybeard has the right idea. A three day work week from Tuesday to Thursday, minimum of 4 weeks vacation every year, and retirment at age 50 has always appealed to me. In high tech where we get paid pretty well (if our job has not been outsourced to India), I have often wondered what life could have been like earning $40k for 3 days rather than $60k for 5 days work. Why earn $60k if you can get by quite well on $40k? That has never made sense to me.

[Austin1]

Graybeard has the right idea. A three day work week from Tuesday to Thursday, minimum of 4 weeks vacation every year, and retirment at age 50 has always appealed to me. In high tech where we get paid pretty well (if our job has not been outsourced to India), I have often wondered what life could have been like earning $40k for 3 days rather than $60k for 5 days work. Why earn $60k if you can get by quite well on $40k? That has never made sense to me.

I will take my 5 day work week and 75,000cdn and 6 weeks plus 3 day's of holiday time too. I like the 6 weeks I worked for the same company now 20 years.but back to the OP go with the 30-06. I don't own one though as I have too many guns that willl do the same thing, ie 8x57 &280 Rem just for starters and really like my .308s
But for the one gun hunter you can't go wrong with a 06 I have 06's dies I help out my buddy's by reloading for them. At least here as a kid all you could find in the country stores were 06 and .303 british and 30/30 and sometimes .270. The 06 has to be the best you can buy factory ammo anywhere and even get good stuff like federal premuim.
I don't own one because I like to be different but the 06 is King!Just don't tell my pet 300 Win that lol or my hand me down .303 I love her too. Ie guns are all female as they have tempers too

[AkRay]

Whoever said "Never love something that can't love you back" wasn't a gun owner.  He couldn't have been.

[Coyote Hunter]

Anyone here just hunt with one rifle?  I think there is a lot to be said for the one gun hunter. I hunted for about 25years with one gun before all this rifle louney insanity infected me. I believe I was a better marksman during those years.  Whats your experience along these lines?

Regards,

For many years I hunted with a single rifle – a Browning take-down .22 I purchased when I got out of the service in 1974.  Then I moved to Colorado and in 1982 purchased my first centerfire, a Ruger 7mm RM.  The 7mm RM was my primary hunting rifle for the next 20 years and, if you ignore the Browning B92 in .44 Mag dad gave me in the late 80’s, the 7mm RM was my only hunting rifle.  (I did hunt with the .44 Mag one day a year.)  Then in 2002 I picked up another rifle, followed by another and another and another…  Now I have a fair collection including a .22-250, .257 Roberts, 6.5mm-06AI, 7mm RM, .30-30, .308 Win, 2x .30-06, .300 WM, .375 Win, .44 Mag and .45-70.

Hunt with one rifle?  Wash your mouth out with soap!  I much enjoy the load development for each new rifle and each year spend a fair amount of time practicing with the candidates for each fall’s elk/deer/antelope hunts.

Was I a better marksman when I had one rifle?  Absolutely not.  Back then, while I was a good shot, I rarely practiced and even more rarely at extended ranges.  Since I started to add to my collection I’ve started spending much more time at the range and have extended the ranges at which I practice.  Last time I was at the range I had a .30-06 and my 6.5mm-06AI.  The gongs at 500 and 600 yards were too easy with both rifles so I put clay pigeons out on the 600-yard berm.  The 6.5 was new and I was just fire-forming brass with a randomly selected load, but I hit two pigeons with a total of 5 shots.  (The three misses were very close and would have hit a 6” circle in my estimation.)   There is no way I could have done that just a few years back.  Now I am looking forward to extending my practice out to 1000 yards in the belief that long range practice makes me a better shot at close ranges.  (Plus it is fun!)

[sagegrouse715]

I sold one yesterday so I am currently down to only 17 rifles and shotguns.  I don't yet feel the itch to buy a replacement.  The last few deer seasons, I find I am carrying only 1 rifle, a 1950 Marlin 336A. 

[Tonk]

PasterP........Yep, I hunted for 20 years with the same and only rifle I owned at that time! A Browning FN Belgium .300 Win mag purchased back in the early 1960's and it never let me down one iota. Then I started reading a few of those gunrags and adding this rifle and that to the gun cabinet, which soon got over filled.
It was the most accurate out of the box factory production rifle I have ever owned for hunting big game!

I do believe you are going to need a pump shotgun on that boat of yours and some real firepower in a couple of semi-auto .308 at least. I hear Pirates on the high sea's numbers are increasing. I would have me a 50-footer at least for what your planing to do. Cheer's

[Winter Hawk]

PastorP,

In going minimalist, don't go too big on the boat or you will need crew, especially if you get a sailboat.  There is a fellow out of Craig, and I forgot his name, but he has a honking big sailboat he lives on.  He spends a lot of time as caretaker for the Forest Service when they have the barges set up somewhere.  My wife and I brought a 27 foot sailboat up from Seattle 12 years ago, when we got to Bar Harbor in Ketchikan there was no space available so we rafted up next to him.  I asked him how he handled the sails with just him and his wife on board, and he said he had never hoisted them in all the years he had owned the boat!

I have had many guns over the years, though not too many at one time.  My Winchester 88 (.308) has been with me since 1985, and has been the rifle which has taken almost all of my deer.  I had it Black-T finished over Parkerizing in the early '90s and that has held up great.  The only rust I needed to worry about was the bore, and that carried a coat of Break-Free when I went out with it.  Now that we are in Ohio I don't get to use it because they only allow shotguns, hand guns and muzzle loaders during gun season so the rifles just sit there.  Ain't selling them though, so none of you get any ideas!

When I was in the Navy in the '60s, we debated the merits of having only one .30-06 rifle to do everything.  The idea was to load up squib loads with #1 shot in lieu of a .22, and have different loads with heavier bullets depending on what was being hunted, up to 220 grain for the big bears.  It sounded good.  I don't know if anyone ever did it, though.

Good night all, have a Merry Christmas!
-Winter Hawk-

[WyoStillhunter]

This is a perennial topic for me.  My holdings are so redundant yet I hesitate to let go of individual items.

For example, in 2009 I fired exactly seven rounds through my Ithaca M37 16 ga. on one pheasant hunt to get my three bird limit.  Yet I own three 12 ga. guns, a 20 ga., and the 16 ga.  That doesn't count the 20 ga. that is on permanent loan to my son or the 20 ga., 12 ga., and .410 that will come my way from my father.  On the other hand I do not spend time thinking about shotguns or loading for them.  When I want to go hunting I select on and grab the ammo.  I did not fire a single round outside of that one hunt.

Rifles are another matter.  They take up think time, reading time, loading time, shooting time, etc.  I enjoy range time and shoot a fair amount out of season.  This year I committed to one gun for big game, a Rem. M700 Classic in 6.5X55.  I used factory ammo for antelope and deer, and a handload for elk.  Three half-days of hunting, five shots in all, three animals tagged.  I have three leverguns and two boltguns for big game, not counting the two boltguns on permanent loan to my son.

We won't even discuss S&W revolvers in this post. 

I have known for decades that one shotgun, one centerfire, and one .22 will cover every recreational or "other" need that Iwill ever have.  Moving forward is not easy.

[brianscott12]

I only hunt with one gun. Carryin two is just too much work.