Best all around rifle caliber

Well, the OP already has one of the very best all-around big game calibers with his 270. The 223, good as it may be, is more of a varmint cartidge.The 22LR is a better small game cartridge for game intended to be eaten rather than to be blown to smithereens. For inexpensive target practice, the 22LR cannot be beat by any other firearm. If you can only have two rifles, one of them should certainly be a 22LR. You can always add to your basics later, but have your priorities covered first. A 45-70 would be fun too, but c'mon, get the 22LR first. Maybe the 3rd longgun should actually be a shotgun for some folks.
 
spending other folks money!!!!

You're title was a bit misleading to me, but I get it now.

I think you're on the right track with a bolt .223. In your price range, one of the budget rifles like the Ruger American on the Savage ????Axis, might be a good choice. Not a necessarily a big game rifle, but it will fill the gap between your .22 lr and the .270 pretty well.

Ammo for .223 is pretty plentiful, brass is common, and the .223 offers comparable reach and trajectory to the .270, so the little bolt will offer good practice.

Note I do not think the .223 is the "best all around caliber".....but a useful caliber for the rifleman.
 
Welcome Puma.
For plinking as you mentioned, a 22 LR is hard to beat.
Not clear if your a hunter. If so, a .50 BMG will drop anything. :D
(Just Kidding). If you can give a little more detail on what you want to. Do, there are some excellent resources here that have literally tried every manufacturer/caliber / ammo combination.

Good luck. (And ditto on the 7.62x39 inexpensive option comparatively.)
 
.223

Like many have said, your .270 will be fine for any critter here in the lower 48. I've used an old Win. on everything from jack rabbits to elk.

Several years ago I too was looking for a good, stout bolt rifle in 223. I settled on the CZ 527 Lux. Detachable magazine, iron sites, plus an added scope. Bullet proof. Ammo generally cheap, especially commercial reloads like the old Black Hills stuff. I take it mostly when I walk the dog on the abandoned logging roads. Kill everything from white rocks on a cut bank to old logger beer cans to diggers and rotten pine cones. A plinking masterpiece and one of the only calibers I don't reload for................
 
.270win in a good bolt rifle will Do It All! At least, if you are in the lower-48...


Want an excuse to buy another gun, or do you want to make your .270 Do It ALL?


Handloading is your ticket. Get a basic loading set, like Lee Anniversary and a Lee Collet die set and you are on your way. Get a Lee bullet mold or two and the world is your oyster!

.270 will handle 90gr hollowpoints up to 180gr Barnes, if you can find any. 150gr Partition Noslers will be enough to take Elk. Plenty of premium bullets to choose from.


One rifle will do the job, IF you handload for it...

The old saying is "Beware the man with only one gun; he probably knows how to shoot it!"

Cast your own boolits and your shooting costs just dropped to about a nickel a shot. Nothing more fun than tailoring your own ammo to meet your needs.

Just have to get a new gun?
.280rem has a bit more going for it, in terms of bullet weights and choices.

Maybe find a gunsmith to rebarrel your present rifle and also get a handloading set? Look at some online loading data and read the Reloading forums, then make an informed choice... Good luck!
 
Feel like I'm cheating on my (6.5x55) Girlfriend but..Hard to argue with the ole .30-06 Springfield..bullet weights from 100-220 gr..not much that walks crawls or flys on the North American continent that it won't take care of..The new Ruger bolt gun would fall in your price and a nice rifle
 
Bolt action 30-06 ... shoots everything from 55gr little sabot rounds to 240 gr bear / monster killers.

And there is surplus ammo out there so that makes practice rounds cheaper. Final thought, it's not a current military cartridge so during gun scares (see 2013) you wont see massive prices spikes unlike something in 308.
 
If you would like to shoot a lot and load your own try a small easy to load cartage like 204 or 17 hornet. They should be easy to load and won't coat much for components. If you don't want to load then take one of the Rim fires like 17 HMR or 22Lr. Ammo is out there just buy a few hundred rounds at a time.
 
Some good answers here. As has been stated, having a .270 means you have your "all around rifle", and there is no reason to get a .30-30 or a .308 as far as those rounds filling some kind of ballistic need (though I hear what your saying about the fast handling fun of a lever gun). Pretty much all centre fire ammo that's noy military surplus stuff is 1$/round and up now, so if you want something cheaper for plinking and affordably stockpiling you've got 2 choices, both of which have been stated in different ways; get a rifle chambered for a military round (.223/556, .308/7.62x51, 7.62x39, 7.62x54R, 5.45x39) OR a carbine chambered for a common pistol round
 
.308 Win, it is capable of taking most North American game with proper bullet selection and shot placement. Feeds well and shoots accurately out of both semi autos and bolt actions. Good for SHTF because of wide spread use and mass surpluses held worldwide. Not the most affordable plinking cartridge but more so than most common hunting rounds if surplus ammo is bought in bulk or reloaded. Light recoil compared to most hunting rounds, good for beginning hunters, much cheaper to practice with than .243 Win

About it's only drawback is that it's not ideal for home defense, but I could load my M1A (in a bullpup chassis with an OAL in the neighborhood of 30") with 110gr soft points loaded very light over IMR 4064 and probably have a perfectly acceptable home defense rifle.
 
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I loved my 270 Remmy.
I don't like 30-06 in any platform,don't like the cartridge.
I guess it's a family thing but that said I think it is one of the
best if not the best all around rifle cartridge. Especially for
the hand loader.
 
Still playin'?

Best all around in the USA lower 48 states, I vote 270 Winchester. Alaska, I vote 30-'06 Springfield. Never been to Africa, but will vote 375 H&H. There are many other great choices depending on location. I wouldn't choose 303 British, but perhaps in Canada, it might be a worthy choice. Perhaps there are places on the planet where 7.92x57mm Mauser is the best choice.
 
A 30-06 with handloads is a fine rifle suitable for just about anything you wanted to kill. My newer 30-06 has never shot a factory load and never will. You get the best of the 06 if you handload IMHO.
 
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