Just kind of a fun thought experiment if you had to start over knowing what you know now. What would you get.
Dg rifle
Plains game rifle
Rifle for europe
Rifle for NA
Small game 22lr or similar.
and shotguns
12
20
Or 28 gauge
pick 2
Most importantly why you made your choice. And any fun stories related to it.
And if im missing anything feel free to add on. Just kind of a fun thought exercise.
DG rifle, and Plains game rifle: Blaser R8, barrels like 300 win mag and 375 H&H, with possible add on in 416. The reason is swapping barrels possibility and availability of calibers. Modern factories do not produce calibers over 9.3x62, and 375 H&H is rarity, while other larger calibers in factory rifles are extinct.
Reason: availability of DG calibers, and economy (Mauser DWM in 416 starts with 14 k price tag)
Rifle for Europe: I could use Blaser R8 in 300 win mag, but specific European rifle in design for my taste would be: CZ 550, Sako 85, 90, , Mauser M12, Sauer 101.
I would pick a specific all round Europe hunting caliber 7x64. With 5 round magazine, flush with stock.
Reason: European tradition and look, and no military calibers. Pure hunting purpose.
Shotguns:
For gentlemen's day in the field, side by side shotgun, 16 GA. Preferably Beretta
(16 GA At least. Smaller the gauge, more gentlemanly it is)
Reason: 500 years of Beretta history.
Side by side:
There is a real cultural tradition in parts of the British shooting world where a best-quality side-by-side (SxS) and, to some extent, smaller gauges are regarded as more elegant or sporting than an over-and-under (O/U) and a 12-bore. However, this is not a formal rule, and today many of the very best shots in Britain use over-and-unders and 12-bores.
During the Victorian and Edwardian periods (roughly 1850–1914), the great British gunmakers developed the classic English game gun.
At that time: the side-by-side was the sporting shotgun, virtually every aristocrat owned one.
and driven pheasant shooting itself was largely invented by the British landed classes.
Arguably, some people consider the side-by-side "more sporting":
A side-by-side generally: has more felt recoil, has a little more muzzle movement, different sight picture, requires slightly different gun mounting, however none of these make it dramatically harder.
But among traditionalists, successfully shooting difficult birds with a classic SxS demonstrates greater refinement.
For more rough hunt, shotgun Berreta silver pigeon, 12 GA, O/A (optional choice Browning b 525)
Reason, locking system of berretta makes it most elegant factory shotgun for my taste. And browning b525 descendent of B25 is indestructible Browning design, made today with extremely high quality control in Japan, both of them for reasonable price.
Smaller game, 22lr
I would not go to more power, like 22wmr and above.
Cheapest ammo. Training, plinking, small game, training the next generation.
I would choose Brno 2, cz 452, cz 455, cz 457. Maybe tikka t1x. Anschutz 1761 in some hunting stock
Reason: I have problem finding any better design in 22lr rifles, to combine the look, accuracy, handling, feeding as those that I noted.
It seams that gun factories today do not pay too much attention in workable and aesthetic designs, on 22lr rifles, produced for mass market to be on extreme budget level.
