Al... Do I need to say that I feel real sorry for ya needing two rifles? Good, then I won't say it.
You can never have too many. On the other hand, do you need two calibers in the same style of rifle or could you have two styles in about the same caliber or maybe a rifle and a smoothbore? I'm just tossing this out as a thought.
I may step on some toes here and if I do I'm sorry but opinions on minimum caliber necessary for deer sized game have changed a lot since 1959 when I first hunted with a longrifle. My first rifle was a .40 and the deer I shot didn't seem to think that .390 was too small a ball. I have to add that I was 8 years old, my father was God, and he taught me to pass on any shot where I wasn't absolutely sure of shot placement. I didn't have a lot of choice since he was usually sitting right beside me in the deer stand. Hunting distances in the Texas Hill Country tend to be fairly short anyway. I passed on a lot more shots than I took. I still do, come to think of it. Anyway, back then most members of the now long defunct Powder Horn Club here in Austin were shooting originals or hand built reproductions based on original Pennsylvania rifles. Plains style rifles like the Hawken hadn't come into vogue and the average caliber was forty-something. Anybody who showed up with a .50 was toting a monster and could expect some good natured ribbing. So what changed? Nowadays I read that a .50 is very minimal when it comes to a serious hunting rifle. Really? Why? I don't know. Given that bit of info I'm surprised that the Colonists didn't starve to death when everything they shot ran away. Did they limit themselves to squirrels, rabbits, and turkeys? So what's with all the stories about killing bears?
I spent most of my adult life working as a paramedic. One of the deadest of the DRT (dead right there) men I ever saw had been shot by his 8 year old nephew with a tiny .25 acp pistol that the kid mistook for a cigarette lighter. The .25 acp is often referred to as a "mouse gun" and I'll admit it wouldn't be my first choice as a defensive pistol but this shot blew through the sternum and punctured the aorta, the main artery rising from the heart. It was sort of like blowing out a tire. The patient was dead despite our best efforts to save his life. It wasn't the caliber, it was the placement. I also worked an attempted suicide where the patient shot himself through a lobe of his right lung with a .44 Magnum. He was still conscious and talking to us as we wheeled him into the ER and he survived the incident although minus a piece of his lung. I doubt that anyone would call a .44 Mag underpowered but even so it didn't do the job the shooter desired in this case. It's all about accuracy and shot placement.
I'm not saying that you shouldn't get a .32 and a .50 in the same style if that's what you want, just that I hunted everything from squirrels and rabbits to hogs and deer with a .45 caliber for a very long time. Maybe a rifle and a smoothbore? Then you could add birds to the list. Just sayin'.
Storm
