Best all- around big game cal.

Big Game Hunting > Deer Hunting

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LongTatLaw:
Well, looks like plenty of people agree with me...

I love my 300 win mag! although any other 300 would probably do just as good.

I have had arguments with people about this and many many seasoned hunters make unreasonable claims about the capability of their weapon system. I first hunted with a 30-30, later a 30'06 which is the standard big game rifle in the Mountains of North Carolina. I then bought a 444 to kills GA swamp pigs... and I love that gun. Ive killed 50+ animals with my slug barrel on my 835 and I still own a 308. When I was looking for the rifle that I was gonna replace my 06' with...I went to the ballistic charts. I looked for heavy bullet, energy, and bullet drop...and then I pushed the distance because almost anything does the job at 200 yards. I wanted something with a bigger bullet that I could make easy bullet drop calculations on the fly in the filed.

Wanna know the best caliber. Ill say this... hunting a 200+ pound big game animal with less than 150 grains is under gun. Taking a 400+ yrad shot with a caliber thats gonna drop more than 24 inches at 300+ meters is well beyond 90% of hunters in the woods today. News flash... if ya want 150 or more grains and less than 24 inches of bullet drop... those two requirements (my own personal not anyone else's) would eliminate 3/4 of the choices on here.

There is one gun that rides with me...from the 80 pound bucks of Florida to the 400+ pound pigs in GA...to the mountain deer of North Carolina to the fram deer in Mississippi...to the BLACK BEARS in WSHINGTON.

If a rifle is legal and the game is in North America and isn't a brown bear... then Ill be killing it with a Walmart bought 12 year old Winchester Mod 70 in 300 win mag.

and anyone that thinks a 30'06 or a 270 is producing the same performance at the same distance as the 300 win mag in 180 grains at 200, 300, 400...ect yards

PM me and Ill send you a good link for ballistic charts ;)

jackelope:
i'm no ballistics expert, but wouldn't that be like comparing apples to oranges as far as magnums and non-magnums? 300wm versus 30.06?

Hunting Cowboy:
LongTatLaw,
Sent ya a PM!

Dman:
I have to second the .300 winmag as the best all-round. I started hunting with a .308, it did fine and was very accurate, but I just didn't like the "feel" of the gun I had, as far as taking a longer distance shot. I then shot a Savage .243 for a few years, just not enough knock down for bigger deer. Tried a 30.06 and again, didn't like the "feel" of the Remington 700 model. I finally bought a Weatherby .300 winmag in 2004 and promptly killed my best buck with it. I have taken four bucks in four years with the .300mag and all were bigger deer and all went down hard. I may not own another caliber again, though I'd give the .264mag consideration. I don't think the .300 is overkill at all for blacktail, I've never had much meat wastage. If I were to shoot at an elk, the only non-magnum cartridge I would consider using would be the 30.06.

jackelope:
I'd have to assume that not liking the "feel" of the gun had more to with the rifle itself than the caliber?
did you have problems killing deer with the .243?

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