What is your “go to” weapon for deer hunting ?

Finnbear said:
When it comes to drillings maybe a blessing you never bought one, they are an addiction. Start off with a 16g/8mm, nice and versatile. Next you will find a scoped 16g choked mod and full with a 6.5x68mm barrel and think to yourself "hell that would be nice to have for the mountains"

next you find a 12g/6.2x52 choked IC/mid and think to yourself " damn that would make a lovely whitetail combo with some buckshot.

then you find a husqvarna in 18g/9.3x57r and think "wow i want to shoot some boar and the odd hare"

and on and on. They are such great guns, the older ones tend to be long and slender with straight stocks and fine irons, newer sauer ones (70s/80s) short and compact stubby things with claw mounted scopes.

Iam currently working on fitting a 1-10x24 scope with a red dot on my .243 for birding. Takes alot of work to fit one, the claw mount system has such tight tolerances yet each one is unique (handfitted) so fitting one that didnt come with the gun originally requires careful hand filing them out of steel scope rings.
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I have my own addiction Finn, single action sixguns and lever action rifles. IMG_3891.jpegIMG_3890.jpegIMG_0134.jpegIMG_4355.jpegIMG_4351.jpeg
 
Finnbear said:
i wish i could own even a single one. Handguns are a nono here, at least for hunters. Would need to spend 5 years competition shooting with a loaner or join the military reserves wich is not going to happen due to my not entirely Finnish birth status.
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Well, I feel for you. Where you are born is an accident of birth, no more no less. Even with all our problems, the USA is still the most free country on the planet and I’m glad I was born here, and more importantly, glad I was born in Texas.
 
Drycreek said:
Well, I feel for you. Where you are born is an accident of birth, no more no less. Even with all our problems, the USA is still the most free country on the planet and I’m glad I was born here, and more importantly, glad I was born in Texas.
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i could argue the same for Finland tho but for different reasons. Now if you implemented everymans right i would move tomorrow. Over here guns are lightly restricted by EU standards, everyone i know in my community owns a gun of some sort. Specifically concealable weapons and autoloading are restricted, that said i own a valmet "AK" in 308 and a civilian AK derived platform in 7.62x54r (russian made rifle for tiger hunting iam told) because those are considered suitable for hunting. Now an AR15 in 5.56 would be considered a duty weapon and reserved for military reserves (thats nearly every natural born man here due to the conscription system) and handguns are simply not legal for hunting at all.

on the other hand, everymans right means that in terms of "nature" there is no private or state property. Wanna fish, hunt, hike, Camp or build a cabin in the woods? so long as you steer clear of someones house (150m) and dont permanently alter their land its free real estate. Quotas on most species are also up in the air for wathever local hunters agree they should be.

Really the only lack of freedom we have is not being able to grab a 50bmg, 44 revolver or ar15 off the shelve and the lack of coffeeshops that dont sell coffee like my birth country
 
Finnbear said:
i could argue the same for Finland tho but for different reasons. Now if you implemented everymans right i would move tomorrow. Over here guns are lightly restricted by EU standards, everyone i know in my community owns a gun of some sort. Specifically concealable weapons and autoloading are restricted, that said i own a valmet "AK" in 308 and a civilian AK derived platform in 7.62x54r (russian made rifle for tiger hunting iam told) because those are considered suitable for hunting. Now an AR15 in 5.56 would be considered a duty weapon and reserved for military reserves (thats nearly every natural born man here due to the conscription system) and handguns are simply not legal for hunting at all.

on the other hand, everymans right means that in terms of "nature" there is no private or state property. Wanna fish, hunt, hike, Camp or build a cabin in the woods? so long as you steer clear of someones house (150m) and dont permanently alter their land its free real estate. Quotas on most species are also up in the air for wathever local hunters agree they should be.

Really the only lack of freedom we have is not being able to grab a 50bmg, 44 revolver or ar15 off the shelve and the lack of coffeeshops that dont sell coffee like my birth country
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We sell a lot of coffee here, but most of it is hog swill and priced like gold. 😂😂😂
I get mine at the corner store in town from the same woman for about 30 years. She makes it better than I can !
 
Drycreek said:
We sell a lot of coffee here, but most of it is hog swill and priced like gold. 😂😂😂
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the kind they sell in my birthcountry is herbal and smells kinda funky. Suddenly gives the strang urge to spin a bob marley record. Never been my thing tho so iam not missing mutch. I prefer my guns and the two shouldnt mix anyway. Finland is probably the second easiest country to get a legal firearm in europe, used to be first but the czech republic adopted a sortof second amendmend few years ago giving all citizens with clean records the right to own and carry for defence. Over here that is another nono. Ofcourse no law stops me from keeping my slug gun in the trunk incase i run into a racoondog, those guys are kill on sight here. Even get money for proof of death.

enough out of me for now, i have to go haul in my nets. Get the fish in before hunting season takes all my time. Slugs destroyed my garden so it will be a protein heavy winter this year. Even my pumpkins got destroyed.
 
Mannlicher Schoenauer model 1905 in 9x56ms shooting 200 or 250 grain soft points. The best still hunting rifle I have ever owned.
 
9x56MS said:
Mannlicher Schoenauer model 1905 in 9x56ms shooting 200 or 250 grain soft points. The best still hunting rifle I have ever owned.
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That sounds like an incredible rifle I can almost picture it in the woods with you what makes the Mannlicher Schoenauer so special for still hunting in your experience is it the balance the way it handles or just the memories tied to it I love hearing about rifles that have a story behind them
 
Lionelhook said:
That sounds like an incredible rifle I can almost picture it in the woods with you what makes the Mannlicher Schoenauer so special for still hunting in your experience is it the balance the way it handles or just the memories tied to it I love hearing about rifles that have a story behind them
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That rifle is like an extension of my arm. When I shoulder it the sights are perfectly aligned. It has double set triggers for use from a stand. The action is so smooth if you open it and point the rifle down it will close all by itself. I had wanted one since I read about it in the story by Earnest Hemingway. But I am a 35 caliber fan so when I saw this rifle in 9x56 ms (9mm=.358) I knew it was meant for me. The ammo for this rifle hadn’t been manufactured here in the states since the 1930’s. This rifle taught me more about reloading than I ever imagined. Just carrying it in the woods makes me pay more attention to my stalking. Gotta admit I have never seen another in the woods. There is a pride of ownership that I don’t feel with any of my other rifles. I also have a Remington model 14 in 30 Remington that is a very lively gun in the woods. That rifle is 106 years old. My Mannlicher is 105 years old. There is something about bringing these rifles back to shooting shape and hunting with them that makes every hunt with them a success whether I fire a shot or not.
 
9x56MS said:
That rifle is like an extension of my arm. When I shoulder it the sights are perfectly aligned. It has double set triggers for use from a stand. The action is so smooth if you open it and point the rifle down it will close all by itself. I had wanted one since I read about it in the story by Earnest Hemingway. But I am a 35 caliber fan so when I saw this rifle in 9x56 ms (9mm=.358) I knew it was meant for me. The ammo for this rifle hadn’t been manufactured here in the states since the 1930’s. This rifle taught me more about reloading than I ever imagined. Just carrying it in the woods makes me pay more attention to my stalking. Gotta admit I have never seen another in the woods. There is a pride of ownership that I don’t feel with any of my other rifles. I also have a Remington model 14 in 30 Remington that is a very lively gun in the woods. That rifle is 106 years old. My Mannlicher is 105 years old. There is something about bringing these rifles back to shooting shape and hunting with them that makes every hunt with them a success whether I fire a shot or not.
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The way you describe that rifle makes it feel almost alive I love how much history and pride you carry with it there is something deeply meaningful about restoring a rifle that old and giving it purpose in the woods again I can tell it is more than just a tool to you it is part of who you are what was the first hunt you carried it on after bringing it back to shooting shape
 
I had to have the open sight reworked into an express sight such as they use in Africa due to my wearing glasses at the time. I hunted woodchucks with it all summer before deer season. It was a bit of overkill but by August my confidence was sky high. Opening day of deer season had a buck following a doe right up to about 45 yards the buck saw me flipping the Mauser style safety off and ran down over the edge of the hill. I am a meat hunter so I shot the doe. She took 3 steps and tipped over. I chambered another round and sat there for about 10 minutes when the buck popped his head up over the ridge. He spotted to doe and took a couple more steps then stretched out his neck sniffing the air while looking in her direction. I raised the Mannlicher flipping the safety off and shot him in the neck dropping him on the spot. Then I sat back down allow the shakes to abate. Once I calmed down I opened the bolt and pushed the button on the receiver which released the rotary magazine spring pushing all remaining cartridges out into my hand. That Schoenauer engineer was a genius incorporating that feature into the magazine. Gathered my gear and moved to the doe and started field dressing, finishing her and moved to the nice 6 point buck ( no brow tines) and had just started him when my son came down over the hill. We hugged and I told him I was glad he was hunting with me this morning. He drug the doe while I dragged the buck. Luckily it was all down hill to the creek but getting them up out of the creek to the truck is where we built our sweat equity. My son said I can’t believe you filled both your tags that quick with a 100 year old rifle with open sights. I told him the Lord will provide. One of my most memorable hunts ever.
 
Almost forgot another important quality. It only weighs 6.25 lbs, and balances right at the magazine.
 
oaknut said:
It is. It was a small ring military Kar 98 mauser shortened by the late Cadillac, MI Gunshith Roy Stroh. I did the rest. The trigger is a timney, but it got complicated because I reduced the height of the magazine by over 1/2”, so I had to shorten the trigger housing, redrill the trigger pin hole, and make a new, shorter finger piece out of cold rolled, and then case harden it. The safety is a Dakota 3 position, like on a M70. Turned the barrel way down, too.

An interesting project. Fun to carry, but kind of hard to shoot without a rest.
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What does that beauty weigh?
 
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