Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles What's the biggest cartridge you'll ever need?

Over 200gr bullet, sd .250+, 2600+fps.

30-06.

probably could get away with my two 375 H&H's. Already have 1 416 Rigby and looking for another plus a 470NE coming.

It is hard to predict the future, but I don't see myself having much "need" for anything over a 270 wcf. My bullet weight of choice for 270 is 150 grs.

Sold my Ruger No.1 458 an while back, just have to make do with my 375 H&H. I really like this rifle.

with no plans to ever visit africa or alaska's big bears, I always end up at the same place...never a need for more than the ol '06. How boring am I?

Probably nothing bigger than .30-06, even though I've got a .270Win.




Leo

You are not boring, you are wise. I personally like my bullet choices to go faster than 3000 fps. I have a buddy who is a trophy hunter and he has at least, 2 dozen trophy's on his wall that fell to his 30-06 or 6mm.

One of the nice things about having one rifle you like is you get to grow old with it. None of my guns are older than 6 years. I once had an opportunity to own a 7mm Wby Mark V in 1977 but a burglary of the gun shop where it sat in lay-away nixed that. I finally was able to afford one after the two chick's flew the coop. Now it is me, my beyond explanation wife and my Loving-every-minute-of-it Weatherby, finally.

I'm proud for you.

My dad got me a .338 Win Mag as a college graduation present because he didn't know where life would take me and figured I'd be able to hunt anything in NA with it. SO, while I may not 'need' it, I'll always have a .338 Win Mag. Not sure for what I'll be able to hunt in my lifetime that anything else would be needed either...

reloader, I do have other rifles, but there all .270's, sakos and 1 pre 64-70fwt .270. my 06' is also a sako. I agree with Allen Day, that it's good to be familiar with an action/rifle and stick with it. It's taken years and many rifles to find what I like, but when you do it's a very nice place to be. I run 140's in the .270 and 180's in the 30'06. Figure I got it covered.

About 3 years ago they modified "primitive weapons" season here in Mississippi. You can now use metallic cartridges during this season, BUT there are a few catches.

1. Must be over .38 caliber
2. Must be a pre-1900 firearm or replica of.
3. Must have an exposed hammer.
4. Must be a single shot.
5. Must breach load


Come to find out a NEF Handi rifle is a replca of a single shot break action rifle that was first invented in 1878. It qualifies! That said a .45-70 loaded with the new ballistic tip 325gr Hornady .45-70 Lever-Revolution is about as good as anything else out to about 250yds. For that reason alone I NEED a .45-70 and that's about as big as I have.

I never liked muzzle loaders. The only reason I ever owned one was to extend my season.

Terry

I have never 'needed' any caliber larger than a 416 or 404, but I tried the rest of the big bores...settled on a 416 Rem custom rifle, a 375 and a 450-400 double as my favorites.

Docfoster,
That is a nice looking rifle, very nice.

These scenarios are so subjective. I could "get by" on a lot of cartridges, which means I don't "need" a lot of other cartridges.

So basically, this is the "one gun" thread all over. The best part for me is that I think I give a different answer each time! Today, the biggest cartridge I will ever "need" is: 35 Whelen shooting 250gr boolits. And that's only because some days I just "need" to carry a Whelen!!

Nice lefty Doc! I also think that my 375 H&H is the biggest I'll need but I want a 404 magazine rifle and a 470 double.

My lefty 375H&H:

375 H&H is probably the largest I'll ever NEED, but I already have a .416 Rigby, certainly won't need anything bigger.

Need? Well... probably a 30-06. However I own a really good .338 WM that I really like a lot, and a couple .325's too.

I don't have any desire to kill a brown bear, especially since the meat is usually just let lay, and African game holds little interest to me for some reason too, so it comes down to elk and moose. While my 30-06 perfectly capable of those beasts, I would most likely carry something a little bigger.

So I'm going to say .338 Win Mag, with the disclaimer that in North America short of grizzlies and the like, nobody "needs" one...

-jeff

.260 and 125 partitions with proper shooting but with that said the .35Whelen gets the nod for pigs, its just too dang effective. Not alot of stuff will put the big pigs down DRT like the .35

.270 winchester...

Doc, I hate to break it to you, but that gun is a defect-bolt is on the wrong side...reminds me of my brother holding a spinning rod and reel with the reel up-just don't seem right

Dave

The biggest round I�ll ever need is a 458 Lott, just to say I own one. The largest round I would need for hunting is a 300 Win but I get by with a 7mm Rem Mag these days.