Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Why choose .30 cal or .27 cal when choosing your rifles?

If you wish to economize just get a 264 Win Mag. It will do everything a lessor 6.5 will do and go as long or longer than a 7mm Remmy. Later, when recoil becomes an issue you can pick up a 6.5x55 and wonder why you never just started there in the first place.

For a heavy rifle, wait until the need arises.

But if the rifle-looney bug bites, just hope you're not married.

I'm with the majority here. There's a darn good reason most have suggested the 30-06. It just plain works. I have no idea of how many total years combined experience in hunting and shooting there is in this site but it has to be a couple thousand years at least. Your family and friends you say use the 30-06. I wonder why?
The late great Townsend Whelen once said, "The 30-06 is never a mistake." Pretty much says it all.
Ammo availability is very important, especially out in the bush.
If you can find a copy of the book, "One Man, One Rifle, One Land", by Y.O. Jones, it's about a man who decided to hunt all species of North American game. He used one rifle, a Remington 700 BDL and two custom handloads. One used the 165 gr. Nosler partition and the other the 180 gr. Nosler partition and he took game from Antelope to the great bears with that one rifle.
I do wish he's given more details on the loads and more details on how they worked on game but nonetheless, that what he used with great success.
The late great Jack O'Connor was once asked what he would choose if restricted to one rifle to hunt the United States. he was said to have answered without hesitation, "The 30-06." Yup the 30-06 and not his beloved .270. There aren't too many peple with the hunting and game shooting experience of O'Connor so if he said, "30-06." I'd be sure to listen.
You can get whatever you want to use but remember what Whelen said. "The 30-06 is never a mistake."
Paul B.
Frankly, I dunno how I would approach only having four firearms. Probably with great anger.

On thing to consider... just because... what do you find when you fly into a remote strip in the wilderness???

Beyond that I"m thankful we have choices. It gives me things like 257 wtby, 7x300wtby, 32-20,30-30,308 etc.... IE I can have fun with what I want to for my reasons and could give a flip less about others thoughts.

That being said if you handed me a 30-06 and I had to make do with it for the rest of my life, no problem(though I'd rather have the little brother to it)

Thanks for all the responses guys.

As for availability of ammo. You can get all the popular American and Popular European Cartridges here. There are many hand loaders here and also many shooting factory ammo. Here is a link for the gun shop just down the road from me.
http://www.safariandoutdoor.co.za/category/bullets_or_koels
So availability is not an issue.
They do not have their factory ammo on their site, but they have a good selection

Varmint hunting in largely consists of fox hunting...

RickyD: I will wait until the need arrises to get a heavier rifle. But to get a licence in south africa can take up to 2 years in some cases. So if a trip I want to go on arises... the trip I wanted to go on may have come and gone before getting the rifle.

I think If I was to get a 30cal (in 30-06) it would have to be in the place of the 7mm rem mag. and then the next caliber up that would make sense would be the 9.3mm instead of the .338?

Is a .375 not overkill on antelope?

I think those would be great solutions.

Ed

Overkill is subjective... is anything on deer size more than a 22lr overkill. That being said with the right bullet a 375 and antelope wouldn't bother me at all.

IF I was to have to live somewhere it was hard to buy numbers of guns or such, I"d have to limit. But at that point I'd still try to limit to really common of wherever I MAY hunt in the future.

For me that leaves Africa out because I have no desire, but I"d have to consider Canada, Mexico, and a few other countries that might interest me, and then consider hard what rural US areas including AK that I may hunt again.

Though I typically carry plenty of handloads, if I were limited on guns and possibily limited on carrying reloads, then you have to lean more mainstream IMHO.

DOesn't say your choices are wrong or right though.

And many of us simply choose because its what we want or it performs the way we want. Me, I want 2 holes, and not much meat damage, others prefer bang flops, large holes etc... to each their own.

Wherever you hunt you'll want a backup rifle. So you might as well choose a likely pair, heavy and light, and set yourself up for any contingency, now.

There are "natural" pairs, like .30-06 and .375H&H (for example, only), whose trajectories are well matched. Then there is the most important consideration: that the pair provide you w/ a battery adequate for the game you'll seek. If you later decide to add to your first pair, you'll have a better idea for something specific.

A 200 grain .308 has an SD of .301. Fed has a .30-06 200 grain spitzer load that starts at 2550 fps. A 220 .308 has an SD of .331.

Expat

"my bad" with the sd... must have been tired. had the numbers in front of me...

I only read about half the posts.

Go find a rifle you like in any of the medium cartidges mentioned, and go kill stuff. If a decent bullet goes into the boiler room, the animal goes down.

Haven't seen a recommendation for a .223 AI though, which I find odd on this forum.

Truth be known, a 30-06 and a 22-250 would do just about anything I can foresee doing. But that would be no fun.

I have seen 2 posts here now that mention 223AI... Why choose a 223AI in any situation is you could choose a 22-250?

In the .22 range only a 223 and 22-250 seems to make sense to me... But I will have very little use for such a cartridge...

Assuming you can readily buy .22 LR ammo there and that the price spread between .22 LR ammo and centerfire ammo is similar to what it is in the States, a .22 LR rifle would probably be a better option in a four-gun collection than a .223 unless you specifically need a .223 for something (which you say you don't) or money is no object for ammunition. On the other hand, an AR-15 in 5.56 NATO/.223 for self-defense might be a consideration if you can purchase an AR-15 there.

Interesting choices, and a good question. If I were picking 7mm Mag vs 30-06 for general hunting, I'd pick the 30-06 any day. 30-06 ammo is available in a wider range of bullet sizes/weights than 7mm, and if you handload, the choices are truly staggering (I have bullets in .308 caliber from 100 gr to 240 gr, and there offerings available both lighter and heavier if you desire), allowing you to literally "do it all" with one rifle. In my experience, the 7mm Mag is a hard-kicking caliber, but that is highly subjective.

As for the .375 vs .338, I have rifles in both calibers and have to say that if I had to choose, I'd pick a 375 any day. Recoil in the 375 is very manageable, but every 338 Win Mag I've fired kicked the bejabbers out of me. I have my 338 for two reasons, the first being that a very great friend of mine built it, and the second being that it gives me a rifle I can use for long-range hunting.

As for the 375 being too much for antelope, I would disagree. Is it more than you need to kill small antelope? Absolutely. But so are most if not all the medium-bores. And while a heavy rifle will serve to harvest a small animal for camp meat, a light rifle will not serve if you have the shot of a lifetime at a trophy North American elk or African Eland. You can always handload a 375 with lighter bullets (even your own cast bullets) if you want to lighten it up.

Just my opinion.

wrt the ar-15... That would definately be my second choice for a self defence gun (after a 9mm pistol like the sig 226 x-Five)

But semi-automatic firearms (other than pistols) are not allowed in South Africa.

just get a .300 win mag or wsm and be done with it.

OK I hear that some people say that the 338 Win Mag kicks harder than the 375H&H..

The 338 Win mag has 86 grain H2O capacity. Typically slinging 200-250 grainers

The 375H&H has 95 grain H2O capacity. Typically slinging 250 - 300 grainers

How then does the 338Win Mag have more kick? Am I missing Something?

The .338 is normally chambered in sporter-weight rifles whereas the .375 H&H is generally chambered in rifles with heavier, "African-contour" barrels. Thus, the perceived recoil of the .375 may be less. I've owned rifles chambered for both calibers and didn't feel much difference when shooting them.

. . . . . . . . and nothing spells D-E-A-T-H in the traditional way any better than a well fed 30-06.

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