Favorite All-Round Rifle Caliber

Best all-round?? .30-06

My favorite all round?? 7mm-08----will drop most anything I want it to---low recoil--chambered in small --light---handy rifles
 
m1marty said:
One day I will have a rifle built around this cartridge. I have been seeing alot of guys using it and the accuracy they are getting is phenominal. Seems to shoot flatter and buck the wind better than my beloved .308 loads too.:thumbup:
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The advanatge of the old Swede is, that for some bizarre reasons that the ballistics gods have chosen to withhold from us,it doesn't require the use of super premium bullets for anything you would normally use it for. Something about the combination of sectional density and velocity permits it to perform well and retain bullet weight even with old plain jane "WalMart" bullets. But as I would never use cheap bullets because I am an arrogant elistist bastid, I would go for the 7mm Mauser. To me, the .308 is not a better choice than the 30-06 unless you use it for the purpose for which it was designed......fitting a full power .30 cal into a short action. As allof the rifles i own are full lenght Wincester M70 actions, the .308 is not a better option for me. If I was going to buy a rifle based on that case, I would probably buy one of the short action wood stocked Kimbers and go with 7mm-08 or .260
 
a .30-'06 will kill any game in the lower 48 FWIW, and is one of the all time great calibres to boot as far as availability, accuracy, versatility, hard to go wrong with one imho.
 
Wabajack said:
So what do you feel is the best all-round rifle cartridge? from deer to moose (North America).
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marcangel said:
.300 Weatherby Magnum
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Look at that. You got the right answer in only the second response to the thread. :D

+1 on the .300 Weatherby. Factory loads are available to handle any animal on the continent, and if you hand load the round becomes even more versatile.
 
The 30's (.308 & .30-06) will take any game animal in the continental US at reasonable ranges. I suppose the real "cartridge" question would have more to do with your hunting style and the ranges you shoot at than anything else.

If you do all your hunting within 100 yards you could get away with 19th Century cartridges like the .45-70.
 
Wow, I'm suprised nobody has mentioned the .338 Federal yet. It is a new cartridge and yet unproven, but if it performs the way Federal says it is supposed to, I vote for this one.
 
+1 for the .30-06. Not only the most versatile, but the one you're most likely to find ammo for no matter where you are.
 
Allright, if the .30-06 is the best all around caliber. Then why are more rifles available in .308 and not .30-06?

(Asked somewhat retorically)
Edited to add: I vote .30-06
 
.300 weatherby is a good calibre but does recoil fairly badly and i shudder to think of shooting a hill country deer with one, though i suppose if ya handload ya could bring it down a notch (to about like a '06 lol).
 
Nimick said:
Allright, if the .30-06 is the best all around caliber. Then why are more rifles available in .308 and not .30-06?

(Asked somewhat retorically)
Edited to add: I vote .30-06
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because the .308 is shorter and ya can use it in bolt rifles with the short action and lots of folks like the looks of the short action vs the long (though i dont and i very much prefer the '06 to a .308, though a .308 is also a good round and almost the same as an '06 until ya get up to the heavier bullets)
 
SIFU1A said:
lots of folks like the looks of the short action vs the long
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WTF is the difference in the look? one is and inch longer than the other, BFD.
:confused: :confused:

Sorry for the thread drift, but this has been bugging me since I started .30-06 shopping. F#$*ing awsome rifle design, short action only... F#&$ !!! what the hell is wrong with long action. Too much work to throw the bigger bolt back? BUY A REPEATER!!!. [/rant]
 
I'll admit that I don't hunt, though I do own various sporting rifles, but if I were hunting deer I'd use my .30-06. But for any smaller, I'd go .25-06. As long as there's a "-06" I'm usually a happy camper. I'm unsure as to if a .25-06 would be able to handle a deer, but I won't be the one to chance it, unless I'm going for a headshot.
 
The 30-06 is the most popular caliber in the US. I like the .270. 270s have taken any kind of game found inn North America and coupled with the right type of bullet will knock anything on the continent down.

The Barnes X triple shock in 130 gr will make a one shot kill of elk size game out past 400 yards-if you got gun control.
 
There are so many great calibers out there.

If you really think you will moose hunt, .270 is at the bottom of the scale. But, I predict you will only shoot one moose (after you help field dress it, you will be done with moose hunting).

I hunt mostly Texas whitetails. We shoot does with everything down to .22-250. My favorite is .243 for does. For a bigger deer, I shoot a .270, 7mm mag and .308.

I would suggest a "varmint gun" such as .243 or .25-06 and then a bigger game gun in 30 caliber.

Be careful about the new short cartridges. Many will not be around long term. The ammo is more expensive and you can't buy it at Walmart in a pinch. A shorter cartridge burns more evenly and is more intrinsically accurate, however.

M.
 
Nimick said:
WTF is the difference in the look? one is and inch longer than the other, BFD.
:confused: :confused:

Sorry for the thread drift, but this has been bugging me since I started .30-06 shopping. F#$*ing awsome rifle design, short action only... F#&$ !!! what the hell is wrong with long action. Too much work to throw the bigger bolt back? BUY A REPEATER!!!. [/rant]
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i feel ya lol, i have never understood that one myself, i honestly prefer the long actions, but lotsa folks do like the short actions go figure.........
 
Get a Garand, and you're set! I've got a tanker coming in soon, I can't wait.
 
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