Over the years, I have had built rifles and hunt with many different rifle calibers. From the 17 Remington all the way up to the 45-110 Sharps. Many different wildcats have come from this shop. From the 17-223, the Ackley Improved Cartridges, and the huge Ultra-mags, each one has their place in the hunting world.
 

When a customer comes to the shop to have a rifle built, the first thing I ask them is what cartridge they want to shoot. Typically, they already know, sometimes they have no idea. If they are kind of “Iffy” about what chambering they want, I ask them this question.

“What animals are you going to hunt, and how far do you want to shoot”?

Typical answer is. “I want an all round rifle that I can hunt deer with and take out West elk hunting."

This narrows the choices down quite a bit. One thing I have found in my Riflebuilding career is there isn’t much out there that a .300 Winchester Magnum won’t handle. From Coyotes to Moose, it can hang. Now there are “Better” cartridges for Coyotes, and “Better” cartridges for Moose. But for an all round cartridge, the 300 Win. Mag. is hard to beat.
 

For the recoil shy people, the ol 30-06 can do everything a .300 can do with a few limitations. You know, it’s not the caliber, or the cartridge, it’s how well you shoot the rifle.
 

The next thing for a hunting rifle is weight. I myself have lugged around some big rifles, and do you know what? They are all gone now, sold, traded, or rebuilt to a lighter rifle. Heavy rifles belong on a bench, or setting on a tri-pod. Big, heavy rifles end up not being used. Now I am not saying go with an ultra-light rifle, but a typical 9-10 pound rifle complete with scope is just right, and they shoot well.
 

Right now, I have three “Go To” modern center fire rifles that I use. They are a medium-heavy barreled .223 for varmints and such, a 9 pound .280 Remington switch barrel rifle that I use for deer and have used it for elk hunting, and a 10 pound .300 Winchester Magnum for elk on up. All of them are Remington 700’s with Hart barrels. There is nothing in North America that I can not grab and hunt with in a moments notice. The decision on these three rifles came from many years of trial, error, expense, and ego. But one thing is for sure, I had a good time doing it.
 

For your area and hunting technique, this 3 rifle battery might not suit you. You might want a 25-06, 7mm Mag., and a 340 Weatherby Mag. I have built and owned all of them and they will do VERY nicely.
 

Today, with prices of goods, fuel, and uncertainty, hunters must make good decisions and buy the best they can afford, because it will last. Hunters now days buy good stuff to start out with, dependability is what it is all about. Hunters have learned that by buying good equipment they only have to buy once.
 

You get a good accurate rifle, put a good scope on it, that rifle will do everything you want it to do.
 

The decision is yours, it is your hard earned money that is going to build your rifle. We can talk and talk, send email after email to get you into the rifle that when the design is done, you can set back and say….”Perfect”!

What I can tell you is, it will be just the way you want it, and it will be ACCURATE!

Josh Woods