Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles In reality What caliber you need to hunt all North America's Medium and Large Game?

30-06 with 165 gr. TTSX

OR

7 Rem. Mag with 160 gr. TTSX

In reality there is not just one caliber that is needed for NA medium and large game. I have a 7mm-08, 300 Win Mag, a 358 Winchester, a 9.3x62 Mauser and a couple of 45-70's, any one of which will work for medium to large game with the right projectile. And, as you can see by the responses, these are so many more calibers that would work just fine. But, the thread is still an interesting read.

.30-06

To All,

ImVho, the 9.3x62 Mauser is THE caliber for every big game animal in the Western Hemisphere AND for Africa too, especially if one handloads.
(That "old school caliber" is perfectly suitable with GCCB for coyotes, whitetails, feral hogs, black bear & elk. - My choice for BIG bears, caribou, moose and African/Asian dangerous game is a JSP/solid 286 grain bullet from any of the commercial ammo companies. .- MANY tigers, elephants, rhinos & hippos have been efficiently collected with the 9.3x62 for well over a century.)

Btw, MY favorite big game rifle is a "reformatted" Remington Model 760, that was rechambered/rebored by JES.
That is the rifle that will go to Africa with me in the fall of 2018 for plains game, Cape Buffalo & (hopefully) a leopard. = Money won't buy it & it's in my will.
(My other "pet rifle" is a circa 1954 Model 760 in .300SAV.)

just my OPINIONS, satx

.375=1 cartridge for the world.

my previous answer would have been 30-06 for world wide availability. Never had one but have had a 280 remington (traded) and a 338 winchester magnum (hate it!). current thinking i'm leaning towards a 7/08 Remington over the 30/06 because I'm not going anywhere and it will be less recoil in a shorter lighter package.

If I was the type that worried about OTC ammo availability in the advent mine became lost (I drive everywhere I hunt so DON'T worry about it) I would go with a 30/06 or .308 Winchester as ammo for those two has always been available in every sporting goods store I have EVER gone in.

But seeing as I have no such fears, I would opt for either a 300WSM or 300WM. Can safely and humanly kill ANYTHING in NA with both. IMHO todays superb bullets allow you to kill a lot bigger animals with smaller bullets and a 180-200 grain Nosler AB or similar premium bullet will perform superbly on any NA game animal out to any realistic distance.

From a versatility standpoint I would have to say 30-06 as well.. Anything from small predators to the larger carnivores the '06 covers all the bases with the right bullet and shot placement. Todays bullet and powder selections makes it almost omnipotent as an all-round cartridge.
That said, I still lean to my .35 Whelen Ai as a go-to Big Game cartridge.

My grandmother told me when she was first married, she wanted to buy a rifle for my grandfather. This was in 1922 and the gun dealer told her that my grandfather could kill anything in North America with a 30-06. She bought the 30-06.

It seems like over 100 years later, the 30-06 is still capable of the same results, and yet the 6.5 Creedmoor has got the industry twitterpated thinking that something new is better...

30-06 w/ 180SP's has been doing the trick for me for 30+ years. Have not shot a Grizzly but it's worked fine on Moose, Elk & Mule Deer

cenrweshot,

Presuming that your rifle has a "twist" that will handle it, a 250 grain .30-06 bullet at 2300FPS is FULLY equal to the "well-regarded in Africa" .318 Westley-Richards.

yours, satx

Here is one of my favorite articles on the 6.5 comparisons. 6.5 shootout review

Summary - Who Wins?
The .260, 6.5x47, and 6.5 Creedmoor have almost very close ballistic performance. Factory ammunition for the 6.5x47 Lapua is down 100-150 fps versus the .260 and 6.5 Creedmoor, but an experienced reloader with a strong action can match or exceed their performance with hand loads due to the strong case design. I wasn't able to test the 6.5 Creedmoor in an AI-AW like the .260 and 6.5x47. My best guess is that it would match .260 Remington, but the variance would be within what we see barrel to barrel. For the same pressure, the .260 and the 6.5 Creedmoor will have an about 100-125 fps advantage over the 6.5x47 Lapua, with the 140-gr class bullets.
Anyone with a rifle in any one of these three calibers would be silly to ditch a working system to switch to another of them-- they are that similar. Make your choice based on component availability and price.
What will I do? Because of the primer issue in the AI-AW rifles, I get better ballistics from .260 than 6.5x47. I'm going to keep shooting the original Rock Creek / GA Precision .260 barrel until it's toast, and then look at which of .260 or 6.5 Creedmoor has better brass for a cheaper price for the next 6.5 mm barrel.

November 2009 Update!
I'm still shooting my original (2006) .260 Remington barrel on my AI-AW 2.0, and it's still performing great. I used the same gun, barrel, and cartridge to win matches in late Summer 2009 that I used in 2006 to win the Steel Safari. I gave back the Tubb gun in 6.5 Creedmoor (and its owner got rid of the 6.5 Creedmoor barrel), and I sold the 6.5x47 Lapua barrel for my AI-AW.

In the end, neither of these new upstart cartridges did anything for me that the .260 didn't. With the new Reloder 17 powder, I am now launching the 139gr Scenar at just over 2900 fps from my 26" Rock Creek barrel. Some of my associates are shooting a load using this powder at 2980 fps; however, the large firing pin hole in my AI-AW does not allow this.

I'm liking my 375, if you reload.

Antelope with 130 tsx
Mule deer and white tail with 150 or 165 depending on range expected...
180-200s for elk moose
Loads some 250 gr woodleigh if your in bear country....
Coyotes with 125 gr....
Driven by the good old 30-06. Kinda covers it all...

According to guides like Shoemaker in Alaska, the 30-06 will handle Brown Bears with the right bullets.

A 110g Vmax at 3.400 to 3,500 is a pretty fair long range varmint round. I have seen guns that will shoot under 1/2" MOA with those bullets.
A 150-180g at 2,800 to 3,100 is a pretty salty deer and Elk.load.

A 200 to 220g Partition will work on bears.

Not too many rounds will do all that with the wide availability of rifles and ammo , efficiency and low recoil of the 30-06.

And if big bears are taken off the list, the .308 is a close second.

I think for most of us this question isn't answered by logic, or problem solving but over the years if you are a rifle looney we become emotionally attached to certain calibers. For me I don't see not having a 30-06 and a 338 WM. I've shot my 338's so much I forget how mild the 30-06 recoil is. Then my 375 H&H is another one that I can't see doing with out. Just in case I ever get to go back to Africa.

Recently I downsized to 3 rifles. I kept my 22lr savage, 223 8 twist Tikka T3, and 6.5X55 8 twist Tikka T3. My 22 gets used for grouse, gophers and kids shooting cans out camping. 223 has 2 handloads, the 55 ttsx Barnes for small deer and 55 v-max for gophers and target practice. My 6.5X55 Swede has 2 loads currently, 147 eld RL 26 at 2730 fps that is my eastern Montana load and 130 accubond RL17 at 2920 that I use for the mountainous terrain in western Montana. I am however getting ready to load a 140 hornady sp interlock behind RL 26 and my target velocity will be 2800 ish. If it works out the 140 hornady will replace my 130 accubond load that is propelled by 47 grains of RL17. The accubond load with RL 17 is a solid load so it won't get knocked of its pedestal easily.


While my selection covers all the game I hunt with ease I wouldn't consider it the best for ALL of North America's big game though I'm pretty confident the Swede could get it done in a pinch.



Trystan

30 caliber, being a 300wsm/ wm or 30-06 vote going to the 300 if you ever want to drive 200gr bullets.