I have changed my mind on this subject many times since my first shot in 1962.
Growing up in Australia where there is no DOW, no seasons or bag limits and you simply knocked on a farmers door and asked if you can hunt there meant that the several thousand animals shot by me and many thousands shot by others in my hunting camps, has seen an awful lot of cartridges and loads used to do what amounts as, the same thing.
I took the roller coaster up from the .222 Remington to the .460 Weatherby with multiple variants of the same caliber, meaning various chamberings and considerable loads tried to the point of now..............
The point of now, means if I was logical and rational in cartridge choices especially relating to "Gaps" which I no longer believe in means that simple is better, practice is more valuable and confidence is premium.
Probable the best twosome I owned was a pair of Rigby;s, a .275 with factory fitted Kahles 2-7 and a double in .350 Rigby No 2. With this pair I could hunt open or timbered areas and proficient with either in its range capabilities.
As of today, my thinking is to walk away from cartridge choices and concentrate on a pair of rifles that are similar.same so as never to be strangers. During my magnum days I stayed clear of the .308 and .30/06 but eventually chose a Winchester Featherweight in .30/06 as a reasonably light and practical all rounder. So have many others. I did trade it off briefly for a .338 Ruger but bought it weeks later because I missed it and knew it was one of the most accurate factory rifle I ever tested to that point.
Here is where I differ to others here. I do not believe in cartridge gaps, I learned there are only animal gaps and even then most of those perceived gaps can be distorted by range, terrain and field difficulties to again, create a window for options such Stainless over blued, long barrel over short, magnum over standard case, and so on.
I like hunting so am not much interested in the fad of long range shooting. I have killed at 600 yards with a 4 foot hold over and at 300 with a straight on hold so I understand the arguments or self imposed justifications some use.
I do not believe the "Most Accurate rifles in the world" claims because I have during rifle reviews seem a great many of factory rifles out shoot customs costing many times the factory equivalent. I have also seen these same Rigby priced plastic rifles miss some spectacularly easy shots at .30/30 ranges.
So where am I going with this.......
I have more rifles that I need and will never wear them out with the limited short season hunting in the US. There is no open seasons unless you are culling pigs and that is a different market. I like a .30/06, a .458 because with Barnes X bullets, it is no longer the 100 yard stopping rifles is was designed to be. The .375 is more logical and practical but I never warmed to it like I did with the .458's.
I like the practicality of the 7mm Weatherby though it is strangely one of the only Weatherby cartridges I have neither owned or used. Of the big 3, I like the .460 as it is built correctly for the recoil and more versatile that any scribe has demonstrated. I hate reading articles on the .460 as they are full of stupid and ignorance. The .458 is more practical for the average hunter as it is a try stopper and with the lighter weight Barnes X bullets, far more versatile that historical reports.
This topic should be forcing readers to invent the animal that cannot be taken with a .30/06 loaded with a 200gn TTSX or a 220gn Woodleigh or Partition that "CAN" be taken with a .375? If anyone can wrap their mind around that, then because every boy in the world had ADD during his school days, you would find yourself becoming distracted yet again by options within the same area based on Stainless over blued, long barrel over short, magnum over standard case, and so on.
John
