Best All Around Hunting Caliber

[fighter31]

I am planning on buying a hunting rifle soon and i am wanting something that i can hunt deer, elk, and moose with as well as being effective at long range.

 

[Cajun_arShooter]

300 win mag is one of the Most capable hunting rounds hands down look up
300 win mag Wikipedia

 

[pntbllr228]

12ga

 

[peterf225]

I am planning on buying a hunting rifle soon and i am wanting something that i can hunt deer, elk, and moose with as well as being effective at long range.

I would suggest a 30/06. Plenty enough factory ammo to take any of the above animals at reasonable distances with proper shot placement. Many people think you need a magnum to take moose and elk but how do you think they were taken pre-magnum days? To me any magnum is too much for deer around here and neighboring states.

 

[sandman7925]

300 win mag is one of the Most capable hunting rounds hands down look up
300 win mag Wikipedia

I don't care for magnum rounds, but if you want to take game the size of moose than I would have to agree

 

[leVieux]

The primary arm of all of our snipers is the .308.
I had the privilege of hosting the ex-commander of the US Army sniper school on my boat for an offshore trip out of Brazos Santiago Pass several years ago. He explained that the US mililtary is very comfortable with the .308 and have worked out all possible combinations of loads, barrels, etc. He told stories of dead-on hits, "kills", at what I thought were ridiculous distances, but he stood by the stories.
Also, the .308 is available in "short action" models.
Remember, you said all-around. Ruger and Remington make very handy rifles in that caliber; the Remington Model 7 and the Ruger bolt-action carbine.
Plus, if TSHTF for real, .308 will be one of the most available cartridges.
Ask Dan Z; he is our expert on long-range rifle shooting.
Good luck,
leVieux

 

[leVieux]

12ga

I started to say 12GA, but, he did specify "long-range" !

 

[pntbllr228]

I started to say 12GA, but, he did specify "long-range" !

Oooooohhh. Didnt read the long range part. I just thought one caliber that you could hunt squirrels, birds, deer, and kodiak bears had to be the most versatile.

 

[MRBULLRED]

The primary arm of all of our snipers is the .308.
I had the privilege of hosting the ex-commander of the US Army sniper school on my boat for an offshore trip out of Brazos Santiago Pass several years ago. He explained that the US mililtary is very comfortable with the .308 and have worked out all possible combinations of loads, barrels, etc. He told stories of dead-on hits, "kills", at what I thought were ridiculous distances, but he stood by the stories.
Also, the .308 is available in "short action" models.
Remember, you said all-around. Ruger and Remington make very handy rifles in that caliber; the Remington Model 7 and the Ruger bolt-action carbine.
Plus, if TSHTF for real, .308 will be one of the most available cartridges.
Ask Dan Z; he is our expert on long-range rifle shooting.
Good luck,
leVieux

+1...

 

[LACamper]

Yeah, but everyone is going to want .308 and .30/06. Go with .303 British and there won't be as much competition for rounds! Same power range in a good RIMMED cartridge.

7.62 x 54R is almost as good, plus the guns are almost cheap enough to be disposable.

 

[deafdave3]

.300 Rum

 

[dzelenka]

Really, the 300 Win. or Weatherby Mag. would be the best choices; however, the fact that the OP is asking the question would lead me to believe that he is less than experienced with rifle shooting and a .30 mag is not the best place to learn. My all around gun was a .300 Jarrett which is a bit more efficient than the Weatherby plus I didn't have to use one of those POS Weatherby Mk V actions. I wouldn't go to the .300 RUM because it is a bit more than most can handle.

I don't include the .308 or .30-06 because they don't get the velocity with the heavy bullets to flatten the trajectory. For elk and moose, the 200 gr Partition out of a .300 mag is an excellent choice. When including moose at distance, I would prefer to use more than a 7mm. .338 is great, but a bit excessive on deer.

Those are my random thoughts.

Dan

 

[deafdave3]

All kidding aside, a .308 Winchester would be the best place to start. For me personally, its a toss-up between .308 Winchester and .30-06 Springfield.

 

[Cajun_arShooter]

Really, the 300 Win. or Weatherby Mag. would be the best choices; however, the fact that the OP is asking the question would lead me to believe that he is less than experienced with rifle shooting and a .30 mag is not the best place to learn. My all around gun was a .300 Jarrett which is a bit more efficient than the Weatherby plus I didn't have to use one of those POS Weatherby Mk V actions. I wouldn't go to the .300 RUM because it is a bit more than most can handle.

I don't include the .308 or .30-06 because they don't get the velocity with the heavy bullets to flatten the trajectory. For elk and moose, the 200 gr Partition out of a .300 mag is an excellent choice. When including moose at distance, I would prefer to use more than a 7mm. .338 is great, but a bit excessive on deer.

Those are my random thoughts.

Dan

I couldn't have put it in a better way ,I absolutely agree with this distinguished member .
There are a lot of knowledgeable people here and he's one of them.

 

[Win1917]

Realistically what are the chances you're going to go on an Elk or Moose hunt in the near future? The reason I ask is because if it's unlikely that you're going to hunt those animals that really opens the door for a lot of good inexpensive, low recoiling cartridges and rifles that will fit the deer/long range requirement very well.

 

[tbone]

It's hard to believe that no one mentioned the .270.

 

[XD45ACP]

I was just about to bring up the .270, I really like it and I feel its definately adequate for anything in north america short of big bears.

 

[leVieux]

It's hard to believe that no one mentioned the .270.

Jack O'Connor mentioned it.

And then mentioned it again.

And again. Over & over, for forty years. He really did mention it.

He took it to Africa and killed elephants with it. Lions. He may even have killed a cape buffalo with it.

He wrote reams about his love for the .270.

For most of us, the caliber has to be .30 or better for large game.

But; Jack was a real expert, like our Dan Z.

I'm just an armchair commenter. Who uses .243's for our little deer.

Mostly, just the camp cook, though.

This is a GREAT website !

leVieux

 

[lsu fan]

.270!

 

[rocko]

for the last 15 years i have been hunting with a Ruger #1 in 300 weatherby. i've killed whitetail to elk with 1 shot kills.