What defines “best”? Availability of ammunition, moderate recoil, component options for the reloader, several rifle manufacture options for a particular caliber? If I were going to recommend a non-magnum rifle for someone who wanted to go hunting Mule Deer I would recommend the .280 Remington. It’s a modern caliber factory loaded to assertive pressure limits that can be found almost anywhere ammunition is sold. As an added bonus the recoil is very manageable with a wide variety of reloading components being available. If you wanted to go with a magnum length action the 7mm Remington is the way to go if you want more power with a little more recoil. For people interested in short actions the 7mm-08 Remington will perform to any level the shooter needs.

Providing that it’s open range and not some luxury high fence game farm, Africa, definitely. You can hunt jungle or savannah, plains game or dangerous game, small game or enormous game, one rifle or a three gun battery, the sky is the limit on the dark continent. I think for me I’ll always take hunting on the prairie grasslands over some dark, wet forest. I’m not saying that I would turn my nose up at Alaska, I would just prefer to trek across Africa while hunting.

The new .327 Federal is the way to go. You can shoot anything from the pop-gun .32 S&W to the .327 Fed. Ruger has a nice revolver in the .327 that would fit your needs. Just remember your own limits with a revolver as far as distance to the target.

For a back-up or emergency saw, wire saws are fantastic. Considering how light they are and can be coiled for easy packing anywhere in your day pack I wouldn’t go into the woods without one. That being said I wouldn’t want to rely on a wire saw for day to day camp chores, that isn’t what they are designed for. Keep the sierra saw for daily use. And remember, you get what you pay for with wire saws just like everything else.

That’s a tough combination considering tiny thin skinned fox and tougher all around coyotes. I would still stick with my 6mm Remington with 80 grain bullets. That puts down coyotes in their tracks at any range and wouldn’t be too much over kill on fox providing there is some distance between the fox and you.

400 yards is a considerable distance and I hope any competent hunter would try to observe the old rule of “get as close as you can and then get ten yards closer”. That being said, in non-magnum calibers I would recommend the .280 Remington or the .30-06. The .280 is my favorite non-magnum deer rifle. It’s a modern caliber loaded very nicely with factory ammunition and has terrific down range performance with very manageable recoil. The .30-06 has lasted for over 100 years because it can do anything any shooter wants to do with it. Using premium factory ammunition like Federal Premium it is very lethal out to the 400+ yard mark as long as you can accurately shoot that far. Me personally, I would always suggest the 7mm Remington Magnum. You can’t fault that caliber and it will perform in spades out beyond 400 yards if need be.

My favorite rifles have always had “Made in the USA” stamped on them. Some of the very well known brand names were marked “Made in Japan”. I can’t let myself purchase a firearm manufactured in a country that doesn’t allow its citizens to own their own firearms. I don’t necessarily “hate” those manufactures I just won’t give them my money. That being said, with the exception of my first centerfire rifle given to me when I was 13 (a Savage 110 is .30-06) all of my rifles are Remington model 700s.

For me the .30-06 is a lot of fun to hunt with because there are so many factory loaded ammunition options available. If you want to have a hot 06’ go with Federal Premium loadings and a 180 grain bullet, you can feel the difference in power through the recoil the first time you fire your rifle. Remington still lists a 220 grain load if you really want to lob some weight from your rifle, I haven’t ever used that particular round. If you want a mild load to practice with use Remington’s Managed-Recoil ammunition with a 125 grain Core-Lokt pellet. Really the sky is the limit with the .30-06. Me personally, I shoot Remington’s 150 grain Core-Lokt PSP when I want to dust off my old 06’ during deer season. It does want I need it to do on deer, what more could I ask for.

Using your sling, if you have one, to wrap around your support arm steadies the rifle considerably. Really though, the only thing that helped me to become more field steady is constant and continual practice, practice, practice, in a variety of hunting positions. After I make sure my rifle is still zeroed in the fall I practice sitting behind sage brush, sitting in front of a fence post, shooting around a bale of hay, etc. Any position I can think of that I might use during hunting season I try to use for a few rounds of practice. It’s really one of the most enjoyable things I do prior to hunting season.

With the restrictions you have given, you don’t want to beat up your new 06’, and you want to potentially be able to shoot a bear, none of your rifles are a good idea. The .30-06 with premium bullets and modern powder in factory loads would be alright for a black bear if the shooter does his part, and the .30-30 would be fine for mountain lions but it’s by no means a bear rifle. The .32 Winchester Special is so obsolete it’s not a contender, and if it were it would be in the same boat as the .30-30; fine for cats, unacceptable for bear. A good saddle scabbard will protect your 06’ somewhat but no matter what you do horseback you’re going to be exposing your rifle to a lot of potential harm. I hope you are able to decide what to do as far as your rifle decision goes but whatever you do don’t shoot a bear with your .30-30.

According to ATF a firearm must be at least 50 years old to qualify as a curio.

If your target is p-dogs the .223 is the caliber you want, if its coyotes jump to the 6mm Rem. The .22-250 doesn’t do anything the .223 can’t do with less powder and the .22-250 isn’t going to outperform the 6mm at long range or on larger game.

It depends on how often you plan to eliminate pests in feeders and how often you want to actually hunt at distance. For your feed truck rifle and the coon problem I would recommend a lever action rifle in a pistol caliber like .357 magnum. The bullet probably won’t go through the coon and damage the feeder. If you really want a .22-250 and you plan to treat it like I see most feed truck rifles I would look at a Ruger number one. The single shot falling block action is simple enough that the expected neglect won’t gum up the action. If you want a bolt action repeater look for an old Savage, pre accutrigger. Those are tough, cheap, and accurate rifles and you won’t cry when you realize the amount of dust and debris that is covering your rifle come spring when you are done feeding and start fencing.

I don’t have a lot of experience with the 7mm-08 but for my money on elk size game you can’t beat the Trophy Bonded Tip bullet in the Vital Shock line of ammunition by Federal Premium. That brand of bullet has been very accurate in the rifles I have used it in and has always been known for its weight retention and all around toughness. The Federal Premium line of ammunition seems to be very consistent and reliable no matter the caliber.

As far as I’m concerned you can’t go wrong with either of these rifles. My first rifle was a Savage model 110E (Savage’s early economy line), while it’s not much to look at I have never had a problem with it mechanically and it’s impressively accurate. I haven’t been around the Remington model 770 but I do know no one makes a better rifle than Remington and they stand behind their products (so does Savage). I would go to your local gun shop and bring each model to your eye and decide for yourself which one is the most comfortable to you. If I had one gripe about my old Savage it’s the stock, an inletted baseball bat may be an improvement in stock design. Don’t let me influence you there though, from what I have heard the new Savages are pretty ergonomically friendly. Whichever rifle package you’re the most comfortable with will be the one that performs the best for you.

I use 80 grain bullets in my 6mm Remington for coyotes and have good luck. As long as I don’t use hollow point bullets I don’t destroy the pelt. I prefer the extra power of the 6mm over my .223 for coyotes because they drop where I shoot them.

When I worked for a Department of Interior agency as a Biological Science Tech. we tried to leave them out for a full week. As long as a heard of deer or buffalo didn’t come by at night and fill up the digital memory around a water hole that seemed to work best for us. Any less than a week and we noticed a drop in activity in the vicinity of the camera. If we left it for more than a week we lost a lot of time if there were any technical problems. I would be a little nervous leaving my personal camera out for much longer than that if it was placed on public ground.