Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters What cartridges have taken the most NA game?

If birds be game, I might say 12 ga first...

In the last 20yrs, a ton of them have shown up in MS during our primitive season!

I started serious deer hunting in 1957 and bought my first center fire rifle then, a milsurp model 1917 Enfield in 30-06. Paid $11 from J. C. Whitney. Back then 30-06, 270 Win and 30-30 were about the only center fires that existed. 243, 308 were newbies 7x57 were around and 250-3000 were not chambered by Winchester or Remington. I'm saying 30-06, 270 and 30-30 have taken the most game by far.

I would guess a .22 lr first ,12 gauge, then .223 and then .30-06. With the .204 ruger catching up to .223s. Never underestimate the shear number of PD's and ground squirrels that can be taken per individual in a day.
I know in my lifetime, I have killed more animals with a .22 or a 12 gauge then the rest combined.

For Big game animals I would guess .243, .270 ,.30-30, 30-06, and .308. In the top five just because everyone has used them and they still remain popular. the .30-30 is the only one that is loosing popularity in that group, but someone is still hunting with them rifles.
The others I guessed because every rifle company offers them in cheap guns ,expensive guns and they all been around long enuff to rack insurmountable numbers by newer calibers.
From 1920s til the 80's .30-06 meant big game rifle.

Yep.

Here's one.

DF

I'd say, as have others, that the 22LR, 30-30 and 30-06 are the winners, in that order. Just my opinion, nothing t back it up.

Tate & D F - sorry I had not seen your posts.

Yes, I knew about MS and the 'primitive' weapon thing but that was well after I moved back to Ark.

I'm waiting for Ark. to do that ? ? It has been under discussion by AGFC.

Jerry

I think what adds to the .30-06 and .270 numbers is the fact that before 1940 ,many eastern states had very few deer. When the populations started expanding was the same time the .30-06 and .270 were top choices. There are a lot of J.C Higgins rifles in .270 and .30-06 that have killed a pile of deer in Pa. alone.

If you think a 7mm Rem Mag kicks, it tells me you have never shot one. Frankly, I cant tell the difference between the 06 or the 7 mag. But I like how the 7 mag shoots flatter than the 06.

This thread in my opinion is another classic example of stupid steriotyping of people and cartridges.
Grow up.

Knowing prairie goat from on here I suspect he has shot a 7 Rem Mag; and i also believe he has seen a fair number of dopes with the cartridge,since my understanding is that he guides hunters. Guides see it all...

When a cartridge is as popular as the 7 Rem Mag has been for so many years, it's going to end up in all kinds of hands,from people who shoot/hunt a lot to rank amateurs drawn in by the "magnum" labeling.

But as long as we're lumping shooters by the cartridges they use,if you asked me the cartridge that draws the highest number of dopes,I'd have to say the 30/06. I see it both at the range and in the hunting fields. They show up at the range with a rag tag collection of half empty boxes of factory loads with bullets of different weights. The rifle is loosely zeroed with nothing. They don't seem to know the meaning of the term.

Many don't own spotting scopes,don't seem to understand trajectory, stick the rifle into a forked wooden block to get "zeroed",and don't use rear bags.

What they call "groups" I call patterns. Being "sighted in" consists of hitting somewhere on an 8" bull at 50 yards; the more intrepid actually move the target to 100 yards. many have never been to the 600 yard range that's located less than 100 yards behind them,seemingly intimidated by the thoughts of actually shooting at anything over 175 yards or so.. 300 yards is off the charts

But they will tell you they are "all set to 500 yards". They are going "out west". Mmmm. Some poor guide like prairie goat is going to end up with them...the guides draw straws and the loser gets "guess who"?

On hunts they have had the worst tuned rifles,loosey goosey zero,and no doubt have generally been the worst long-range shots,and some of the worst game shots I've seen. "Clueless" comes to mind.

This isn't a condemnation of 30/06 shooters in general because I've also seen a lot of great shooters and solid hunters who use nothing else. But just like the 7 Rem Mag, the popularity of the cartridge ensures it's going to fall into the hands of lots of dopes. None of this should surprise anyone.

As to recoil of the 7 Rem Mag, I always thought it was a pussy cat. I shoot one (along with 270's and 30/06) 2-5 times a week. If it booted that badly I would leave it home.

I find it interesting how geographic location and personal history affects how people perceive the likely historical game tally for each cartridge in North America. It is fun to speculate, but in the absence of real data each persons guess is as good as the rest.

I have not heard anyone mention the many many caribou taken each year since cartridge arms were introduced to the far North. Inuit and Dene hunters mostly used 44-40 and 30-30 in the old days, and many still use the 30-30 today.

The .303 British was by far the most popular big game cartridge in Canada between 1920 and 1960 or so. During that period of relatively low game numbers in the USA I believe the .303 may have killed more animals in Canada than the 30-06 did in the USA. Just speculation on my part.

I'd guess that the .308 is at least as popular as the .30-06 in most of Canada. I have never met anyone who has hunted with a 45-70. Or a 30-40 Krag.

The .223 is gaining popularity very quickly in recent years In both the USA and Canada, a very poor big game round but common for reasons other than big game efficacy.

The extreme expansion of deer numbers in Southern and Eastern USA and the decline of caribou and moose in Canada will have drastically shifted harvest patterns and historical totals in the last couple decades. Very few hunters in Canada shoot 30 caribou for winter meat supply for their village any more, but many USA hunters can and do shoot that many little southern whitetails in the overpopulated south and east. I bet the .223 is passing the 44-40 as a big game round.

And I would guess the 7mm Rem mag is in the top 15, but not the top 5.

If one considers small critters (e.g., squirrels and rabbits) as game (the state F&G departments do) then I have to think the 22LR is the king of the heap. Every kid and small game hunter has used it on small game and with daily limits, a lot have been taken (as opposed to 1 or deer/elk per season).

12ga.

any place I've ever hunted in my lifetime, its been more 30/30s...

More nimrods carry them. than knowledgeable hunters carry an 06...

for a batch of reasons..

1. grandpa and dad hunted with one...I've got one that has been in our family 50 years now, bought new in 1966...

2. if they are buying one new, its the cheapest...

3. Ammo is the cheapest

4. it kicks less

5. it was always 'good enough'....

6. it held more bullets 6 vs 5 if not counting one in the chamber...

My experience of what I've seen... 22 LR first, and 30/30 second...


As an afterthought... a dear deceased friend in his youth, spent several years working on a 'sheep station' in West Australia...left CA after graduating HS and wanted to go to Oz for a few years before starting college... spent 1960 and 61 down there...

Rifles were a tool he said....he traveled OZ after his time on the sheep station ended before coming home...a WW I vet he worked with, had spent some time in Canada after the war, before immigration to OZ ( he was originally from Scotland)....told him the 303 in Oz, percentage wise was what the 30/30 and 30/06 were together in North America...

I'd bet in the USA and Canada it was the 22 LR and the 30/30 ( add the 303 to third place in Canada)....but I'd be world wide
the round most used on taking game was the old Brit 303... followed by a Mauser military chambering.. 7 or 8 by 57