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Best allaround round for everything from small animals to the scary ones .

.30-06, .300Winnie or it's shorter cousin I guess, .338 or .375

take your pick

lotsa guys lived to a ripe old age in the bush with much lesser calibers but I'd want at least a .270 but that's just me.

With all the bullets available today, hard to go wrong with any of the above to my way of thinking, you could cover everything though not necessarily fastest or biggest.

223AI with 62gr TSX's for the smaller big game and 150grainers for the big critters. Course you need a 1-3" twist....

Just run a 1/4" NC tap through your barrel and you're good to go.

Ha ha I'd like to see that! about a 2 1/2" long bullet?

Not sure what you mean about "small animals."

You can't go wrong with a stainless .338 Winny.

You could sqeak by with a .30 caliber ('06, .300 WM, .300 WSM, etc.) depending on what your pucker factor is with brownies. Plenty of folks come home alive toting varmint rifles (e.g. sub .30 caliber.) .30 cal will allow use of bullets suited for small animals.

I've never worried about having too much gun.

<<MM>>

Anything from a 30/06 to the 375 H&H is a decent choice. I have a 300 win mag, 325 WSM, 9.3x62, and 375 H&H. All stainless synthetic except for the 300 wich is stainless and accuracy inovations wood with titanium bedding block.

"Better a first rate soldier with a third rate weapon, than the other 'way around." (a favorite quote from the 'Col.).

Depends on whether you're hunting, hunting seriously, or just bushwhacking. One of my favorites for just messing around is a Winchester 94 AE in .444 -- light bullets for light duty; 300-320 grainers for heavy work; and cut down .410 wads full of shot for ground-sluicing grouse and ptarmigan.

For all-around hunting in the Interior, I mostly carry my .35 Whelen. Deer hunting is mostly a .280 affair, though I have a new .260 that will see duty this fall.

It's a big state -- there really isn't a "one size fits every hunt" cartridge, IMHO.

DN

FUnny you say that 2.5 inch bullet..... someone some years back managed to get a 300 whisper round into a 223 chamber, IIRC loaded with a 240, 30 cal SMK, and it managed to go off. All were ok and they drove the stuck bullet out of the bore, twas a very very very long 224 cal bullet after that...

Jeff