Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Caribou rifle

Well I placed a deposit on a Drop hunt for next year for Caribou a DIY hunt and yes I will be taking my Magmun why Its what I have hunted the West with since the early 1980's a .264 Win Mag not so much for the caliber but because It's my only all weather rifle as it has a Model 70 .264 Win Mag I had Cerkote put on metal HS Precision stock, Leupold 4.5x14 40mm CDS in dual dovetail mounts with Burris Signature Rings with a 10 MOA insert installed.
With it I have taken nemouris Antelope and Mule Deer with my longest shot just over 500 yards. Do I need a Magmun No as I use to have a .270 Win and I never have had a chance I would not of used it on the same shot opportunity and that goes for my 6mm Rem 700 BDL as well.
I will be Reloading Noslers 130gr AB bullets for the trip to Alaska. For the past 30 plus years I used Noslers 120gr BT on Deer and Antelope, but since Caribou are little bigger so I will use a little tougher and heavier bullet.
The older I get the less I see the need for a Magmun but it's what I have and I am going to use what I am use to.
Sometimes it's not the caliber but the miles I have carried it and grown accustomed too.

S A L U T E’ there 1100.

I enjoyed your post and understand and agree with your reasoning.

I’ve been hunting deer 45 yrs, this is my 46th season. I would rather be OVER gunned than under especially in bear territory.
I was interested in the 264 WM but the “Gun Writers” of the 70s 80s talked about its appetite for barrel throats. I never got one
instead went 7 RM.

When you’ve hunted a rifle many years it becomes 2nd nature to you and more of an old companion.

Wishing you safety, success, & a Great Hunt.

I don't like 7 Mags. They don't do anything an '06 can't do, especially at reasonable range, and a 300 Mag does it better. You can't buy my .338WM Ruger Tang, either.

I know where my prejudice (it is that!) comes from, mostly. I was given a NIB Mossberg 7Mag once. It had a poor stock design for me and kicked like hell!!! from a standing off-hand position, the most recoil absorbing position there is. I put 10 rounds through it and sold it. It had far more felt recoil than my .308 Norma mag, but then it was about a pound lighter. It did keep every shot on a paper plate at 200 yards, standing, off-hand. Lucky scope mounting too!

When gunsmithing, I had the opportunity to test fire quite a few more after working on them, different brands, etc. Never liked any of them but one. That was a Husquevarna. 3 shot cloverleafs at 100, and recoil seemed mild. Stock must have fit me well. It was fairly lightweight too - more so than most.

Bastard wouldn't sell it tho...... I tried. I am not THAT prejudiced!

To me, the 7 Mag and .340 Wby Mag fall into the same category - too much recoil, powder, and hype for what one actually gets out of them. YMMV.

The only problem I have with the 7mm Rem Mag is that the 270 keeps up with it and that with less recoil and blast. And if you shoot factory ammo and have a chrono you quickly realize the 270 keeps up with it with the same bullet weights.

Mike

I've had lots of 270s and 7 RMs AND an Oehler 33 since 1981..

270s don't keep up with the 7 mags. Newer powders help BOTH the 270 & 7 mags.

Jerry, try factory ammo. Winchester 270 150 grains will be within 50 fps of Remington 150 grain 7mm RM's.

FACTORY.... & ..... Remington says a lot.

I have chrono records of 7 RM 160 NP & 162 HBTSP at OVER 3150 fps. 270 Wins can't keep up.

Last factory ammo I bought was 2007 -- 270s for brass -- . 2008 --- 300 WM for brass.

But Jerry, my post clearly mentioned factory ammo.

Mike, I know that's why I said ,,,, Factory. NO harm No foul.

Well, we will just have to have different opinions as to the 7 RM.

Secondly, You CAN'T run fast enuff to GIVE me the 338 WM TANGER !
BTDT, never again.

I'd run away from a 338 WM Tanger faster than that Usain Bolt dude myself! You'd never catch up to me with that schidt.

Just returned from AK hunting in DC590. Caribou were very hard to locate but the weather was spectacular - with views of McKinley 8/10 days. On the last morning, spotted an average caribou and made a 1.5 mile stalk.
Settled the score at 275 yds with a Tikka 6.5 CM and one 143 ELD-X. Recovered weight is 107 grains. That tundra country is spectacular is its fall plumage! Obviously there are many calibers to choose from on this topic, but I wanted to do it with the CM. Next up is a solo bull hunt in New Mexico.

CONGRATS there whoop.

Sounds like BEE utiful country.

Awesome! No surprise that the 6.5 Creed did the job.

Well it worked 290 yards double lung shot and folded in its tracks.

Haven't gone thru all the replies, but having taken in excess of 75 caribou over the ast 45 years, with a variety of cartridges/loads, I'd say anything .260 and above is fine. Never warmed to the .243, tho I've owned one all those years- or most of them. Good cartridge to 300 for medium big game, using 100 gr. bullets. Taken several sheep to 200, and a moose at 70 - just never liked it much.

I have found my .260 with 140 gr bullets (the only kind it likes) to be perfectly adequate out to the near 400 yards I've killed wth it (including an elk at 150 or so)

.270... for gay... worked good.

30-06 worked good.

.25-06 with 120 gr bullets was excellent to over 500 yards!

Even the .338WM with 250 gr bullets worked well at 300 yards..

The key is to know your trajectory, and know the range.

That's not true on size IMO - but then I've only taken 1 cow elk ( might not have been "average" ) and 75 plus caribou. Yes, they are easy to kill. All of them, with proper placement. The North Slope bull caribou I have killed are about the size of the CO cow elk I killed- likely a bit bigger. Those farther south are considerably larger, including the two modest sized bulls my wife and I killed north of Fairbanks a month ago.

The caribou bulls I have killed here on the Kenai Peninsula put a (well, my) cow elk in the dust. Better feed, milder climate, and they ain't migrating 1,000 miles a year.

way overgunned there. why, that is a brown bear rig, there.

I don’t care for anything magnum for a hunting rifle.
Unless you plan shooting more than 600 yards.
I’ll take my 270, or 06 and be good to 500 +

The one I shot two days ago hated the 195gr Interlock ping pong ball that I lobbed at it, even at the pedestrian speeds my 8mm mauser generates. In fairness I think a .22mag would have worked at the super long range of about 75yds. Caribou always seem to die pretty easily if you hit them right.