Best All Around Hunting Caliber

[DeeMac]

So if you do not "have it" how would you go about "getting it" or are you satisfied with missing or crippling targets?

Barney, I don't like the idea of leaving a hurt deer in the woods to fend for themselves against varmints or disease, but unfortunately it does happen sometimes to the best of us. You could practice until the cows come home but if you freeze when the time comes, practice doesn't count for anything. Practicing against a piece of paper with circles doesn't mean you can actually kill a living, breathing thing. Either you pull the trigger with a mental image of that deer dropping where he is, or you don't pull the trigger at all. Now if we were talking about competition shooting or self defense weapons, that is a whole different ball game.

 

[dzelenka]

Barney, I don't like the idea of leaving a hurt deer in the woods to fend for themselves against varmints or disease, but unfortunately it does happen sometimes to the best of us. You could practice until the cows come home but if you freeze when the time comes, practice doesn't count for anything. Practicing against a piece of paper with circles doesn't mean you can actually kill a living, breathing thing. Either you pull the trigger with a mental image of that deer dropping where he is, or you don't pull the trigger at all. Now if we were talking about competition shooting or self defense weapons, that is a whole different ball game.

Bull.

 

[Paintball]

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

Agreed.


For me the 300 win mag is the minimum cartridge for all big and or dangerous game, but not too big for medium size game. I love my Savage Weather Warrior in 300 win mag. OP do some reading up on this round. If you are truly looking for a hunting round the 300 win mag is hard to beat.

 

[lsu fan]

Bull.

+1

 

[CAM_TECH_ARMS]

yall are all wrong a real man can use a sling shot marble thats the best caliber lol

 

[SpencerSS]

This is TABOO in hunting circles, but since its been asked.

I like the good old 308win, but one rifle is not my style. I've got to experiment and do new things to stay happy. With Whitetails as my primary big game to hunt, I can try many things. I've done 222rem-53TSX, 243win-100pp,100cl, 243AI-100NP,95NP, 270win-140btsp, 308win-150pp,180sp,220sp, 284win-140TTSX, 30-06-150cl, 357mag-158sp... that's all I can think of...still working on it.

I have a 284win, that I run with 140TTSXs, that's meant to be a 600yd max, all around NA rifle. I'm also a fan of 7mmWSM with a 180 berger VLD hunting, its a real long range killer.

I plan on building a 6.5WSM for a long range hunting rifle. The 140 VLDs are magical. I can easily keep them supersonic past 1500yds. And their performance on game is exceptional. 260AI and 6.5-284 are other good platforms to launch this pill.

 

[SpencerSS]

Agreed.


For me the 300 win mag is the minimum cartridge for all big and or dangerous game, but not too big for medium size game. I love my Savage Weather Warrior in 300 win mag. OP do some reading up on this round. If you are truly looking for a hunting round the 300 win mag is hard to beat.

The onlythings I can't like about it are the long action and belt. 300WSM fixes both. 308win adds recoil coinscienceness on top of that.

Many cart.s will pull all game duty with ease. The bullet should be picked carefully and hunter be capable.

 

[dzelenka]

The onlythings I can't like about it are the long action and belt. 300WSM fixes both. 308win adds recoil coinscienceness on top of that.

Many cart.s will pull all game duty with ease. The bullet should be picked carefully and hunter be capable.

The long action is one of the advantages of a factory .300 Win. While the .300 WSM is a good round, the short action is a hindrance for using heavy bullets that make a .30 shine on big game. The heavies intrude too deeply into the .300 WSM's case in a short action.

I see you like the 7mm WSM with the 180 Berger. I am in the process of building one on a long Remington action just for that purpose. It should be a great long range set-up.

 

[Ben Segrest]

Alternatively, I don't think that matters at all in a hunting rifle. Do people seriously practice with their hunting rifles?

Yes. I also hunt with my EBR's

 

[SpencerSS]

The long action is one of the advantages of a factory .300 Win. While the .300 WSM is a good round, the short action is a hindrance for using heavy bullets that make a .30 shine on big game. The heavies intrude too deeply into the .300 WSM's case in a short action.

I see you like the 7mm WSM with the 180 Berger. I am in the process of building one on a long Remington action just for that purpose. It should be a great long range set-up.

True enough, but I use the magazine about as much as my broken trash compactor. Plus your though on a WSM built in an LA works fine.

 

[Uncle John]

Although it most likely will not be that popular the 325 WSM will do everything with one bullet weight 220 grains. Felt recoil is about the same as a 30-06 with 165 grain bullet. It is great on deer Ive taken 6 with it so far all DRT.

 

[Ritten]

Although it most likely will not be that popular the 325 WSM will do everything with one bullet weight 220 grains. Felt recoil is about the same as a 30-06 with 165 grain bullet. It is great on deer Ive taken 6 with it so far all DRT.

You mean it'll do everything except show up on most store shelves when you need to go buy more ammo.

 

[Uncle John]

Funny thing about it when we had the ammo shortage you couldn't get 30-06 but there were plenty of 325 WSM because nobody had the rifle. Two out of three stores in Leesville carry 325 WSM no problem. I can also get all I want from Cabellas. Admittedly I dont need to stockpile thousands of rounds for the day the ballon goes up, I already lived through the End of the World.

 

[IndianaResident]

Agreed.


For me the 300 win mag is the minimum cartridge for all big and or dangerous game, but not too big for medium size game. I love my Savage Weather Warrior in 300 win mag. OP do some reading up on this round. If you are truly looking for a hunting round the 300 win mag is hard to beat.

Well that cut out the critical part of the post, but 300 WinMag seems to be the caliber of choice amongst the big game hunters I know, but also works well for their hog and deer hunts.

Though I believe my cousin buyers rounds with lighter than usual bullet weights, if that almost makes it a different animal entirely.....if you'll excuse the pun.

 

[mudmixers9]

i would say either a 7mm rem mag , a 300 win mag, or a 300 ultra mag. if u get the ultra mag you can get the remington power level ammo. the power level amo lets u have level one which is like a 30 - 06 , level 2 which is like a 300 win mag, and level 3 which is like the 300 ultra mag. therefore what ever the game you can choose the power you want to have.

 

[Lone Ranger]

My vote would go to the old tried and true 30-06 the round all cartridges are compared to. However if I planned to hunt dangerous game such as grizzlies or brown bear I would go with a .338 Winchester magnum or .375 H&H. Otherwise the 30-06 would suffice for everything else and has many times taken all North American game including big bears. But after researching recommendations from Alaskan guides I concluded that the .338 in most cases was the recommended minimum for grizzlies and brown bear. Since very few of us will probably hunt these animals I feel the 30-06 would be appropriate or if more recoil is no problem, I would recommend the various .300 magnums. If flatter trajectory and less recoil than a 30-06 is desired then I would go with the fabulous .270 Winchester.

 

[cottonmouth]

The .308, and 30-06 are both great and Ive killed a lot of deer with both but I prefer the .308 I've had very few deer
run after being shot and the ones that did didn't get very far. I can already hear the argument coming, but in my
experience, the .308 is a hell of a lot more accurate at long distances. I've shot both side by side for comparison at
about 300 yrds and the .308 outperformed the 30-06 hands down. As mentioned by another poster, if I was left with
only one rifle, I'd take my .308 I'm also currently looking for a good gun to throw on my fourwheeler and take with me
while roaming the woods and I wanted something tough, simple, and powerful enough to take out a charging hog should
I run into one again and for that I'm really liking the .44 mag lever guns

 

[hdfinder47]

22 LR and a good spotlight?

 

[Gus McCrae]

Bull.

Dan is absolutely right. Practicing on paper gives you the mechanical skills that are needed to be deployed when in the field. There is a difference between paper and game, but if you don't have the skills to hit paper, you won't have them for game.

 

[Gus McCrae]

BTW, my two cents on the best all around caliber....

.30-06 - Plenty of power available, lots of different types of ammo available, lots of plinking ammo available.... It's not the best for every application, but it does everything and is widely available in all kinds of configurations.