The Ultimate Rifle Cartridge For Hunting

The .308 is just a bit more effective than the .30-06. The .308 is the ultimate caliber for hunting. The -06 is just a little bit less ultimate.

:cool:
 
Why would anyone want to have just one rifle? If you can pony the chips to go on an Kodiak hunt then you can afford a special rifle for that trip. A 30'06 would NOT be my choice for that hunt. The true blue is a wonderful round that covers a ton of ground, but a dangerous game cartridge it is not, same story as a pdog round (it works, but why put up with that kind of beating?).
 
frankly, if you go grab a remington catalog, and open it to the ammo page, and pretty much take anything from a .243 on up to a .35 whelen you will be well served. (Of course, the .30 carbine and the 25-20 and 32-20 are a bit weak, and should not be included, but you get the idea.)

Lots of elk are shot with .243's and .257 roberts and other "small" cartridges, and lots of deer are shot with 300 winmags and .338's as well,

What is the biggest dividing point on these uses is the design of the bullet used.

you can have three bullets, of the same weight, which will all perform as designed, which will be completely different in game. Lets take a

6mm bullet in 100 grains. you can have a Ballistic tip, which is almost a varmint bullet in the .243, opens really fast, shallow penetration and sometimes even in Coyote, will not leave the body leaving only one small entrance wound to sew up for the fur. Next you can have a 100 grain, VLD target bullet, with the performance of a near FMJ, drilling a perfect little hole in a deer, and as often as not, a perfect little hole on the way out. leaving a wounded deer with a good chance of running away far enough to die without being found. Finally, you can have a CT or Partition bullet in the same 6 mm 100 grain size, that will kill an elk efficiently if you do your job, and will anchor deer with perfection. All the bullets are the same "size" but completely different in use.


SO when looking at rifles, try hard to compare what loads are available and what those loads allow you to do. If you reload, then you can understand and use the flexibility of some rounds much better.
 
There are a lot of good cartridges around but none is the ultimate for all game. In some cases you are "overgunned" and in some cases you are "undergunned". The closest I have found has been the 300WM.
 
Mr Redneckfur: I do hope that for your sake that you have someone with you for back up toteing a big boomer for that charging grizz. We would like to keep you around for a while.

Yes, a 30-30 has been known to stop a bear, but a lot of them havn't.
 
3030's will kill bear dead, and have killed as many bear as maybe another cartridge. While I prefer something with a lanyard when dealling with something that wants to eat me, I would feel less worried about hunting a big bear with a 3030 that I could shoot well and quickly, than I would with a big boomer I usually missed with. On good side effect of the JMB design on the Winchester levers is the ability to reload without taking the rifle out of battery. That is, you can leave it loaded and ready to go while you stuff fresh rounds in the tube, which is a great confidence builder.

Mind you, I would much prefer to hunt that large bear with a stout 45 70 or the like in a 1886 SRC vs a 3030 in a 1894 SRC, but I would do it if its all I had.
 
30-06!! It is available everywhere and is usually included in all the preseason sales. 7mm-08 is not included in those sales...I know that for a fact!
 
+1 fisherman66

If I had to pick only one for the lower 48 it'd be the trusty ol' 30-06. Here I'd pick the .338 win or something similar (my first rifle purchased in AK was .338 RUM). While the 30-06 can fill a lot of shoes it doesn't fit some of them as well as a for purpose cartridge. I'm just starting to toy around with my 30-06 as a varmint rifle... until I can afford to buy a varmint rifle in a varmint cartridge that is. I could bring it to Kodiak, but why would I when I have a real thumper? etc. etc. For a go to rifle, 30-06 it a great base to start from though.
 
I believe that any 30-06 class would work. For any game, I'd prefer the 45/70. I like a big, heavy, hardcast, penetrating round. Big hole, big damage. With that said, I don't think that many hunters are going to make it a point to hunt with just one rifle. I don't know many around here even, with deer and hogs, who hunt with just one rifle. Lots of challenge in that, not too much fun.

Realistically, if you are able to hunt all of the game in the country, you'd likely want a battery of at least four. I know that is not the question. :) Best - Ted
 
I've a number of rifles in different calibers that would serve.

If grizzlies or Kodiaks were likely to be encountered, .35 Whelen would do nicely.

Now I wouldn't feel naked with a .30-'06 but I certainly wouldn't want the same ammunition in it, I'd hunt deer with.

But then, the same goes for my .35 Whelen, .45-70, and .300 WinMag.

I've got other rifles that would do well with the big bears but I'm not sure about downloading for smaller North American game.
 
I believe there is a reason that the .30-06 is the most popular caliber in North America if I am not mistaken. It is a great round and incredibly versatile. Nothing in N A that I would not trust the good old 06 to take down.


My .270 may be a little light for the really big stuff, but for deer... not a better cartridge has ever been made, and a better one never will.
 
Count me in with the '06 crowd. When talking "any NA animal", it edges out the .308 with the heavier bullets.

The .308 is an excellent cartridge with excellent inherent accuracy. It even has better ballistics than the '06 when using bullets weighing less than 165 grains. Above 165, the '06 starts to shine and the .308 starts to putter out.

I like the '06 as an all-around gun because you can go as light as a 55gr .224 slug (with sabot), 100gr hollow point, or all the way up to 250 gr bullets. With the Rem. Accellerators, you can get about 4000fps with the 55gr .224 which makes for a wicked varmint blaster (although accuracy is usually not top notch). For the big bears, you can load the heavy 250gr bullets and still get around 2500fps muzzle velocity. For the dangerous game (bears), you could even use the heavy Barnes solids (although not legal for big game hunting in most if not all states).
 
I like the .308 Winchester because you can load 20 grain rounds for varmints, although they aren't very accurate. And on the other end, you can load 220 grain rounds for hunting water bison. The .308 just shoots 'em better than the .30-06, which is why the .308 is the ultimate hunting round.

:D

:eek:
 
Count me in with the '06 crowd. When talking "any NA animal", it edges out the .308 with the heavier bullets............ or all the way up to 250 gr bullets..........For the big bears, you can load the heavy 250gr bullets and still get around 2500fps muzzle velocity.
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Stick_man who makes the 250 grain bullet and what data do you have that gets that heavy of a bullet to 2500 fps out of a .30-06? I know Sierra makes a 240 Match King, but I wouldn't use them to hunt with. I have data that gets a 220 grain Sierra bullet to 2700 fps out of the .30-06 but none for any heavier bullet than the 220 grain. I'd think the 20-30 grain heavier bullet would take up too much powder space in a .30-06 and still get it to fit in my magazine of my hunting rifles.
 
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