Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Of the big game cartridges, your bench warmers

I wonder what the second most popular cartridge is. I could check sales, but given the penchant of many here to argue ad nauseum about Creedmoors or 270s , I'd like to hear what you carry as a back up rifle when you go hunting.

I know that some live in the plains, while others hunt thick cover. But, if you couldn't use your favourite rifle, what is the second string, bench warming, last picked, second class, over the hill cartridge that you'd head out the door with?

It's probably silly to ask, but let's pretend that 270s and Creedmoors don't exist. We all know they are wonderful, but this post has to do with "also rans". Oh damn, my Lee Enfield is in the garage! I'll have to take the...

You get the picture. I carry a 30-06.

And you, is it a 30-06? a 308? 7mm Mauser? 280?, 30-30? 35 Wombley Hughes Howell Improved?

Well, my primary cartridge is the 7x57 (shock, huh?). My backup cartridge is the 7x57 in another rife with maybe a different bullet weight. And even though the bench goes deep, all the team members wear the same number. I guess that doesn't count then, does it?

I do, though, have both a .260 Remington and a .444 Marlin in the safe, but they're way in the back and haven't been shot in years.

.30-30 Marlin 336

-Jake

35 Whelen for me.

Lead hitter is a Remington 700 ADL 7mm Express vintage 1979 (a.k.a. 280 Remington). Second in the lineup is a Winchester M70 XTR purchased used in 1977 in .270 Winchester. 175 grain partitions in the .280 and 150 grain Nosler Solid Base in the .270. I have about 15 boxes of the old Solid Base bullets in the cupboard. The 175 gr partitions for the .280 are seconds from SPS.

30-30 mod. 94 with a William’s peep.

.30-06 Weatherby Van 2 SS MOA is first for big game (white tail deer & hogs), and 3 other .30-06s next, Ruger 77 in .270W next, .243W next, and if night hunting exclusively for hogs a .223/5.56 in AR15.

My bench, in order of playing time is:
6MM Remington
257 Roberts
260 Remington
7MM-08
308

6.5x54 Mannlicher-Schoenauer, the 6.5 Creedmoor of its day. If the Internet had existed back then, World War One might have started even sooner, due to arguments over the 6.5x54 M-S and OBVIOUSLY much more suitable cartridges.

I have a pair of rifles set up almost the same - very easy for me to swap from one to the other. Both are Rem 700 CDL's with 6x Leupold scopes. One in 30-06, the other in 25-06.

Some years I hunt more with the 25-06, say when mule deer and antelope are what I seek. And the bigger bore rifle plays a backup role.

Some years I hunt more with the 30-06, perhaps black bear or elk are on the schedule. And the smaller bore rifle plays the backup role.

I like 'em both and have been successful with them both. Am careful to not mix up the ammo!

Guy

Blasphemy!!!!!

My deer hunts are normally done with a .264 Win Mag while I prefer the .30-06 or even the .300 H&H for elk.....but the back up gun is almost always a .30-06 built on a VZ-24 action.

While I have eight rifles capable of big game, I have come to depend more and more on the old 30-06....It has earned my deep respect as a true big game cartridge.

Well, back before the boating accident claimed all my rifles, some hunts went like this:

Mtn Goat
Primary: Kimber 8400 .300WM, 165 TTSX
Backup: 700 Cabela's Mtn Guide, 7mm-08, 140 TTSX

Hogs
Primary: Mauser 98, 7x57, iron sights, 175 RN
Backup: 722, .300 Sav, 4x32 Conquest, 130 TTSX (accounted for all hogs)

Moose
Primary: 700 CDL, .35 Whelen, 250 SP
Backup: 700 CDL .30-06, 165 Interbond

Hogs (24HCF hunt)
Primary: RAR, .22-250, 75 BTHP
Backup: Sig P227, 230 HS

Dall Sheep
Primary: 700 Mtn Rifle, 7x57, 154 SP
Backup: 700 CDL .30-06, 165 Interbond (didn't make it onto the bush plane) Guide carried a Husqvarna mauser in .30-06

Elk:
Primary: 700 Mtn Rifle, 7x57, 173 SPCE
Backup: 700 CDL .30-06, 165 Interbond

Hogs (24HCF hunt)
Primary: Savage 99, Iron sights, 130 TTSX
Backup: Sig P245, 230 Gold Dots


Bunch o' other hunts were most likely just mixed 'n matched versions of above. Short of the iron-sighted guns, I could probably plug 'em all in interchangeably. If I'm close enough, they all work.

FC

For deer and pronghorns, primary is a .257 AI, backup is my old pre-64 '06.

For elk, the '06 is my primary, backup is an improved version of the .338-06.

Those are about all I hunt anymore...

416 Rem Mag
375 H&H
9.3x64 Brenneke
338-06
300 H&H
30-06
270 Win
6.5 Creed
22-250
222 Remington
223 Wylde

Pick and choose with the whims of emotions as the hunt turns.

So far, this highly scientific sampling has 6 30-06s of the 14 responses.

I am primarily a whitetail deer hunter.

My bench has the following:

#1 -- 30-06
#2 -- 308 WIN -- A Savage 99 loaded to 300 Savage levels

I use the Savage 99 for the stands in the woods. I use the 30-06 for the open pastures.

#3 -- 8X57 Mauser
#4 -- 35 Whelen -- loaded to 35 Rem levels
#5 -- 25-06 -- loaded to 257 Roberts levels.
#6 -- 30-30 WIN

If I can't go with my 257 imp ( 6mm rem).

I would have to go with my 350 rem mag.

For the past bunch of years, it has been a couple of M98 Husqvarna M146s chambered in 9.3x57. 250 gr AB or TSX loaded to give 2425 FPS. Pretty much a boosted metric .358 Win.

as mostly a deer hunter i have used the last 10-15 years a 257 Weatherby Mag. in a Ruger no.1 on the stand or for longer shots and now my walk around rifle for in the woods a Savage 99 - 284 Win.,if i bear hunt again a Ruger no.1 300 Win. Mag., my main coyote /critter rifle is a Ruger no.1 220 Swift. >but i keep a 556/223 AR handy which just might be the # 2 cartridge sold now days ?

We mostly hunt elk and black bear here, with the occasional mule deer tag although not so much any more.

The loaner rifle is a .30-06 zeroed for Federal 180gr Partitions. The .30-06 is about the right cartridge for the sort of people who end up using a loaner rifle

My backup is a CZ 550 Sonoran in 7mmRM. It's not as handy as the 7mm WSM, but is weatherproof.