Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Light and Fast or Heavy and Slow for an All-Arounder?

Well, none of my rifles are easy to find ammo for anywhere: (300 SAUM, 280 Rem, 6mm Rem, 444, 7x57) except my 30-30...
good arguments made for the 308...
good rationale for a moderately loaded 300 WM...
and of course the 270!

lol...
i do believe i can get good performance out of one powder (RL19) and 100s in the 6mm, 160s in the 280, and 200s in the 300SAUM, with partitions and Nosler reload data...

I like a 140 to 160 around 3000 fps depending on the rifle I'm hunting with.

I have several choices between .22cal and .375

I tend to like my 7-08 more and more each year

If I was going one rifle/load, that would be it. And was for a number of years in several rifles.

Then I got looney..... and was, over time, given/bought several rifles, different calibers......and had to swap out / "fix" a couple bad barrels on acquisitions.....

I currently have two .30-06s - a RU77 tang with 17 inch bbl. (after removal of muzzle bulge - not mine! - @1.25 MOA) and a '98 with 27" heavy bbl. that I have here in the Arctic as a 500 yard caribou killer, for snow machine/ light hike use.

If I was to choose between them as is, I'd take the Ruger for handy - I've killed to nearly 400 yards with it. But given 'druthers, I'd fit a lighter 22" bbl on the '98 for all-round use (currently used only via snow machine travel). In '06. Ain't no better action than a '98, or better all-round caliber.

Using factory ammo with the current '98 configuration, and a solid rest, I can depend on a 3 shot group (if I do my part - 150 grain Hornady Superperformance) hovering right around an inch at 300 yards. Bugger's too heavy to carry around far, but it makes good meat!

.30-06 with 165 to 200 grain loads, depending...

Or you could up it to a .30 Mag, same loads.

YMMV, And yes, I have a .338 WM, and range down to a .243.

I have a 300saum and I use 168TTSX. I would not hesitate to use it for just about anything in NA. They aren't cooking along super fast but the load is accurate. I use varget.

Why the 168ttsx as opposed to the 150 you could push faster?

.284 Winchester, Speer 145 btsp.

As long as they are accurate, what else matters ....

So now 3 shots prove something?

I use 165 gr TSX in 300 H&H.

150 TTSX, Varget, find accurate load at 3100-3200

I've never been a magnum man. No, that's not about condoms. I'd have kept the 7x57 and given my son the others. I'm 60 and think all my hunting here out will be with a 6.5 lb 257 Roberts Husqvarna and a 7 lb 30-06 Husqvarna 1640. The two lightest, handiest, rifles I own. I gave up magnums, just don't need them.
Of course, to each his own as HE pleases. This is America.
One loads would be:
a) fast and medium (100gr PT) for 257
b)semi-fast and medium 165gr PT for 30-06.
That'll drop all but the big bears.

Selecting on rifle for everything is a compromise. Selecting a load for it is also a compromise. You specify a .300 RSAUM and list "antelope, hogs, whitetail, mulies, elk, moose, bison". That is quite a range of sizes and weights.

Erring on the side of caution suggests selecting a load more suitable for the largest animals rather than the smallest.

Kimber sure has some nice 300 WSMs and i never noticed any problem with the recoil and I hunt whitetails a lot with a pre 64 fwt 243.