SAY YOU WANTED to hunt with just one big-game rifle. Have it become an extension of your own body. Know it like the smell of your Dad's wool coat. Say you wanted it in a caliber flat enough to poke coyotes at long distance but powerful enough to make a bull elk take notice at the far end of a cross-canyon shot. Say you wanted it all in one package so you could always count on that one rifle to get the job done. Sound like a pipe dream?
The do-it-all rifle is not a myth, as many a seasoned rifleman knows. ...
As to the 7mm Remington Magnum, this fine caliber is often considered to be the ought-six's ballistic clone. The 7-Rem's small advantages in sectional density are offset by the .30-06's increased frontal area. The ought-six has an advantage in that more and heavier bullets are readily available, especially for the handloader, but basically, in the field you could choose one or the other and never notice the difference. So as versatile, accurate, and popular as this .284 is, the .30-06 retains an edge, and the .300 WinMag outclasses them both.
Not really a clone, although similar in capability. The 7mm RM can shoot flatter and deliver more energy at distance with recoil on a par or even less than a .30-06 with bullets of similar sectional density.
Where the -06 has an advantage is not so much in bullet availability but in the variety of factory ammo available. Even that advantage is due less to the choices available for hunting than to the relatively inexpensive ammo available for practice. For the handloader, the difference in bullet availability is generally unimportant. If one wants 220g bullets the .30-06 has the advantage, but most hunters would prefer jumping up in caliber if such heavies were required.
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... for many casual shooters, the .338 is simply too much rifle to shoot regularly or accurately.
... Let face it. You don't need a .338 for any whitetail walking the earth.
I would say the same applies to the .300WM.
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By contrast, the beauty of the .300 WinMag is that it is so well suited to the typical range of hunting experiences to be had in North America.
After plains game? 180-grain Ballistic Tips at 3100 ft/sec equal bad mule-deer medicine and devastating performance on pronghorns. The same load is a ringer in "beanfield" situations. Elk and moose in your plans? Load 200-grain Partitions or A-Frames at 2900 ft/sec, and be assured that you have the right gun! Feel like practicing on coyotes or chucks? Scream some 165-grain boattails at 3250 ft/sec, and worry about your end of the rifle.
I wouldn�t use BT�s at 3100fps, even in the .30/180g variety, but that is a different argument.
At ranges over 500 yards I�ll prefer my .300WM by a very slight margin, but for a �do-it-all� rifle the 7mm RM will get it done with significantly less recoil.
7mm RM, 175g @ 2950fps = If this won�t do it, I want something bigger than a .300... 7mm RM, 160g @ 3100fps = Yet to be found wanting on elk in my experience, works on mulies to prairie dogs, too. 7mm RM, 140g @ 3340fps = My choice these days (3200-3300). 7mm RM, 120g @ 3516fps = Talk about a �stringer� for bean fields...
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Like with all calibers, there are situations where a different caliber would be ideal, but for all-around versatility, flat trajectory, and high energy, the .300 Winchester Magnum7mm Remington Magnum shines, maybe like no other.
In the end, the choice of an all-around rifle depends on many factors. If you like a gun, you are much more likely to shoot it and shoot it well, so choose a rifle you like. Also, any experienced rifleman knows that where you hit 'em is much more important than what you hit 'em with, so place your emphasis on skills rather than on the size of the rock. But when all that is said and done, take a good hard look at the .300 Winchester7mm Remington Magnum.
You may not look any further.
Fixed that for him.
Last edited by Coyote_Hunter; 01/09/11.
Coyote Hunter - NRA Patriot Life, NRA Whittington Center Life, GOA, DAD - and I VOTE!
No, I'm not a Ruger bigot - just an unabashed fan of their revolvers, M77's and #1's.
