I’ve been down the Marlin road to the tune of approx 125 rifles worth and still have a trio now . But I found something a couple months ago that’s light has a scope carries well and reaches far enough for most of the places I might shoot a deer . Mannlicher Schoenauer model 1903 carbine in 6.5x54 MS .

My friend that owns the CZ in 505 asked me to work up a load for it with the Barnes 525 TSX bullet if my memory is correct I load ONE HUNDRED and THIRTY grains of RL-22 in the thing and that’s actually a medium load . Now the knee slapped in this whole thing is he uses it sometimes in AR to shoot feral piggies along with another CZ in 416 Rigby another CZ in 375 H&H a Remington model 7 in 300 SAUM and a host of tacticool stuff with suppressors and thermal imaging stuff . Falls under the “whatever floats your boat” category . When I went I took a Ruger #1 in 7 Mag a 444 lever and a W&C Scott 10 gauge double . My battery was a little lacking in comparison LOL’s !

Rich,

I made deer rifles out of a .375 H&H as well as a .458 Winchester. For the .375 I used the Speer 235 grain bullet and 64 grains of IMR 4064 @ 2300 fps. The .458 load is Speer 405 grain flat nose and 65 grains of IMR 4064 @ 1800 fps. Both very mild loads and you could shoot them all day plus they didn't bruse the meat at those velocities. I took them from an article by Finn Aaggard. Have you thought of paper patching a 40 cal 180 grain lead bullet? I think you would have to use WW 231 or Bullseye to get the velocity low enough to regulate.

Harry

My High Wall in 38-55 is a joy to carry as well. I picked it up the day before deer season and the smith hadn't put sling swivels on it yet. It's not a light rifle but carries and handles well and I think I'll leave the swivels off of it.

Harry I have a reduced load for my 375. I'm using a 225gr Sierra pistol bullet and IMR 4227 IIRC. You can eat right up to the hole. My 500 BPE is using a 365 gr cast bullet and 30gr of Trail Boss. I'm thinking either of these powders will work in the 450-400 with some 300gr Hawk soft points.

My now deceased friend I got the custom stocked Interarms Mark X Whitworth 375 H&H from used the 235 grain Speer in PA for deer but don’t think he ever shot one with he did however plunk a couple groundhogs .

Perfect weapon for groundhogs.

You are absolutely right Bill. I've had to stop a charge more than once from those tenacious little beast.

I recently gave 54 rounds of vintage Winchester factory silvertip ammo to a friend with a mod 71. I found it in a can at a gold mine if you can believe that.

Here are a few of my favorite rifles.

First is my old tang safety Ruger M77 .243 win. I've put a lot of meat in the freezer with this rifle.

https://a4.pbase.com/o12/10/209910/1...KbH.m77243.jpg

Next is this BRNO #5 Deluxe .22 LR. It is a great little shooter.

https://a4.pbase.com/o12/10/209910/1...9.brno5dlx.jpg

This new Ruger M77 Hawkeye African 9.3x62 is rapidly becoming a favorite because it is just so fun to shoot.

https://a4.pbase.com/o12/10/209910/1...72.ruger93.jpg

Winchester .45-90's were designed as an "express rifle" and are rifled to shoot bullets in the 300gr range and shoot straighter with those than with the 400 and up size bullets. And there's no need to push the big cast lead bullets at high velocity to get accuracy or killing power. 1400-1500fps is more than enough. I keep all my loads well below 1600fps. There's no way you could even cycle a 500gr bullet in a Win '86 without stuffing the bullet wayyy down into the case to the point where there was no room for the powder. I have to seat my Lyman 400gr bullets up over the first band at the base of the ogive on the bullet to make them short enough to cycle in my '86. I think they can be a tad longer for the High Wall, but not much. I much prefer the 292-337 gr bullets from Lyman and Saeco moulds.