Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles What caliber to add next?

222 is a great round.

If not into AR's and want a 223 a Ruger mini 14 (or mini) 30 are great guns and can be used for hunting.

A levergun for the long action because they're slim and fast...and cowboys.
And a Hornet, Deuce, or 223 for the short action. Probably 223 to start with...or whichever you find in a rifle you like.

Course you could get a 45 or 357 in a 92 and call it your short action

A Browning BLR in .358 Win/Marlin 45-70 guide gun for the short and either Ruger or H&H for the 375. I also suggest you sell the 300WSM as the 30-06 can do what it does, really. Have a ball though pard!

223 tikka fast twist a must for sure. Because no safe should not have a 223. Cheap fun and good for deer or wolfs

9.3x62 a classic heavy hitter

.33 or .375

Or whatever tickles your fancy.

I'll go with 338 federal for the short action in a bolt rifle.

And for a long action I think a 375H&H is sweet, a lot of gun and still fun to shoot in the right rifle.

Have fun and let us know if you decide to get something in the near future.

Sometimes it's not a matter of adding another chambering, as much as it is adding another rifle with a different role. As an example, it's totally possible to have 6.5CM hunting rifles in an AR10, a nice walnut/blued sporter, a stainless/synthetic hard-use sporter, and a heavier target/tactical platform. What holes do you have in your lineup that you want to fill? A blued steel looker? A stainless beater truck gun? A portable carbine? You might have the chamberings covered with the 6.5mm and .30cal rifles you already own.

.17

.....................Loaded questions. You did not specify what game. Regardless, if I were you I would go after a 7mm and a 338 either in short or long action at power levels DEPENDING on what game you are hunting. Maybe throw in a 375?..................More specifics please.

SA - 22 creed if you load or 6 creed if you don’t.
LA - 9.3 or 375.

I'd want to add a .223 and a 9.3x62.

Were it me - I'd ditch the 300wsm. Replace with a 223 and then add a 375 H&H/Ruger

If I need "more" than the 30-06, I need MORE and 300wsm is not that. Get up to the 375 and call it good. Rather have the extra in the belly with the 06 vs WSM.

I'd want a 223 as a do all varmint rifle tho the 6.5 might work but if I was saving fur - I'd think easier to do 223 and cheap to feed.

Just me, YMMV....

Couple of assumptions. You live in southern Alaska so I assume you have some wildlife sidearm protection for any local encounters. Putting that aside, I am assuming you can reload ammunition, if so this would be my recommendation:

Keep the 300 WSM, no matter what anyone says it offers more power on large game, especially when hurling 180 grain and 200 grain loads. The WSM hand loaded will show 250-300 fps velocity gains over the 30-06. On big bears or other very large game it would have enhanced performance at a distance with less drop and wind drift.

Take the 30-06 and rebarrel to a 6mm-06. As a light recoiling field carry rifle it would be hard to beat, especially given all the 6mm components that exit today. Twist rate should be minimum 1:8 or faster depending on preferable loads and game size. I have a couple of friends that use on long, long range coyote and deer, truly amazing bullet flight time to impact. In your neck of the woods it would find great use on sitka deer, black bears and such. Easy to load from 30-06 brass, which is in no short supply and load information abounds as it is a popular wildcat. Plus you’d have something different to show and talk about.

Good luck with whatever you choose.

1:8 223 T3, SWFA MQ

Easy choice: 223 or 204 on the low end and 375 H&H on the high end.

22 creed

0.45

For what I do hunt, I can technically take it all with the .22lr, 6.5CM, and .300WSM. The 30-06 is a sentimental family rifle and so it'll probably stick around either way, but I don't hunt with it very often.
As I said in an earlier reply, I hunt everything in Alaska. So truly, I mean this to be a conversation about 'what would YOU add' to gain versatility in a collection.

I'm hearing a lot of votes for .223
Would anyone who said that elaborate on why they'd choose .223 over a 6mm/.243 round?
Thanks!

6mm and the 6.5 creed have a ton of crossover for me. I'd have one or the other, not both.

223 is super cheap to feed.