Five Centerfire Cartridges for the Rest of Your Life

5 Calibers? That's almost spoiled for choice.
.223, Its everyones defence rifle, its cheap to shoot and can be used for a wide variety.
30-06, I live in north america and thats all I'd really need.

If I have to fill ALL 5
223 rem
6.5 creed
270 win
300 win mag
44 mag carbine

Honestly, I could probably live quite well with just my 5.56 AR, 308win R700 and 44mag '92.

1. 357 Magum
2. 9mm Parabellum
3. 44 Magnum
4. 223/556
5. 308/7.62

All my bases are covered.

9mm
.44 mag
.250 Savage AI
.280AI
.375 Ruger

1: .223 for varmint work/plinking
2: 7mm08 for freezer meat
3:...

I’m hard pressed to even want much else (let alone need) for any of my purposes.

Five rifle cartridges to do it all. (I have owned)
1) 30-30 Win Woods rifle
2) 25-06 Rem wide open places
3) 308 Win best all around
4) 300 WSM bigger stuff
5) 45-70 Gov knock them down

Five I would like to have to do it all (never owned)
1) 243 Win or 6mm Rem or 6mm Creedmoor
2) 6.5 x 55 Swed or 260 Rem or 6.5 Creedmoor
3) 257 Weatherby
4) 35 Whelen or 358 Win
5) 375 Ruger or 375 H&H or 416 Ruger or 416 Rem

I guess I could just use my 7mm Rem Mag for everything.
It's great that we have so many options for everything we can imagine.

1) .223
2) .243
3) .30-06
4) .375 H&H
5) .45 Colt

My remaining hunting lifetime is shorter than it "use-to-was", so it is relegated to three centerfire rounds. .223 Rem, 243 Win, and .270 Win. I happen to have 7 rifles that shoot one or the other and all will shoot 1/2 minute or better...just because they can...and I hold them to it!

I used to hunt deer etc. with a .30-06, but after getting a .270, it wasn't needed anymore, so gave it to a son who did.

All my centerfire hunting ammo is made up of carefully-made handloads that shoot way better than they need to. Such is the curse and PLEASURE of the gun nut!

Oh yeah, I almost forgot that my favorite "hunting" round these days is the tiny .17 HMR, which is used for varmints up to and including a few "coyotes of opportunity". I don't deliberately hunt for those critters with a .17, but if within a hundred yards, they're in BIG trouble from a TINY bullet.

JP

I reload so my choices reflect that I can roll my own and am not dependent on the market.

6.5 Creedmoor. It will handle most situations.
6.5 Grendel. See above, but with 1/3 less powder.
204 Ruger. Great for hunting small game.
6mm AR Turbo. 6mm version of the Grendel. This is my substitute for 223.
38-55. As long as I can find lead, I can make bullets

I wanted to include 308, but I can’t think of anything it could do the Creedmoor couldn’t except throw heavier bullets down range.

Okay, 5 centerfire cartridges for the rest of my life. I am primarily a whitetail deer hunter, but also enjoy bear hunting.I am planning a modest SA plainsgame hunt. I hope to do some more moose hunting.
First and foremost:
8x57 Mauser.
That covers my favorite rifle, has done fine duty for deer and moose up to now. Really, as long as I have that for a big game cartridge I could get by fine.
.45-70:
Primarily a show because it will cover my falling block Browning, a gift that I treasure, and my main bear gun so far.
.270 Winchester :
New addition which I quickly came to respect and love. Flatter shooting than all the above, easy on the shoulder but very effective on most everything I would potentially go after.
30-30.
Gotta have a good carbine round. I seldom am seriously hunting with it, but my woodland fall wanderings wont be the same without it. I never feel so "right still hunting as when I have my model 94.
Tied for number 5:
22-250
Small more that covers pretty much everything for varminting, coyotes, etc.
.357 magnum
Gotta keep feeding my Smiths. Probably the single most versatile handgun round ever developed, load wadcutter loads or down to light .38 special loads to full house magnum loads. tough call on this....because the .45 acp is more concealable in a 1911 platform...

All of the chosen rounds are firearms I load for and own.

223, 243, 308, 6.5 CM, 300 BLK. Which works great, since this is exactly what I have.

For strictly centerfire rifle:

1. 5.56 (for social work or general varminting)
2. 7-30 Waters for flat trajectory and “enough power”
3. .375 Winchester for close in CXP3 work
4. .44 Magnum or .30-30 Winchester lever for closein dangerous game
5. 7mm-08 for general all purpose medium range
6. .25-06 or .270 for long range hits on CXP2 game

And yes that is 6, 7-30 Waters would be my sacrificial goat from that list. What is yours?

Steve S. said:

.308
.308
.308
.308
.308
I am old school and extremely comfortable with this caliber - this would be enough for me in any situation.

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Same can be said of the old-er school 30-06.

.308 Winchester, .223 (5.56) , .44 Magnum, .357 Magnum and .243 Winchester would do it at this point.

.223 Remington
.270 Win (or .30-06, .308)
.375 H&H, because BOOM!
9mm (or .45ACP)

Skip the 5th, buy more ammo!

22lr
223
30-06 will cover it for me.

Since I can have two more for the heck of it I'll have my 45-70 and 358 yeti.

Hmmm, let me think:

1. 45-70 Government (kills mean things deader)
2. 30-30 Winchester (kills things dead)
3. .270 Winchester (The King)
4. 6.5 CM (The New King)
5. .223 Remington (might as well, everybody else does)

I could sub .308 Winchester for the 6.5CM. And this being a centerfire rifle specific question in the Rifle Country forum, I will leave out .22LF, .22 Magnum and .17 HMR rimfire cartridges and .9mm, .45 Long Colt and .45 Auto for pistol/revolver.

Some people are listing 9mm? Is there a hunting rifle chambered for 9mm Luger rounds?

For my needs:
1) .45-70 Govt (very versatile for everything from BP cartridge shooting to heavy duty hunting loads.)
2) .30-30 WCF (always had one and always will. Great lever action carbine deer cartridge.)
3) .45 Colt ( a great cartridge for revolvers and carbines. Easy to load.)
4) .44 magnum ( same as #3, but more for Super Blackhawk and Marlin 1894.)
5) .44-40 WCF ( recently committed to reloading this to feed an 1873 Miroku that I bought because the price was right, and will probably buy an 1892 Miroku in .44-40 from the same LGS also priced right. Lifetime guns.)

I could have included .45 ACP but I don't enjoy chasing brass any more, so I don't need it.
All of the above cartridges offer me bullet casting and handloading opportunities, and lots of fun shooting.

Now that I think about it though while I would love a .375 H&H for purely fantasy/adventure's sake, I would be quite content to have something in a 6.5 (either a 6.5x55 Swede or else a 6.5 Creedmoor).

I also could be easily talked into going with a .45-70 too (this would go great with my .45 Colt lever gun)!

gotboostvr said:

Honestly, I could probably live quite well with just my 5.56 AR, 308win R700 and 44mag '92.

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That's why I cheated to include pistol calibers - after my first 2 or 3 rifle calibers, I couldn't think of anything else I needed.

Varmints
.243 win
Deer
6.5 cm
.270 win
7mm-08 rem
.30-30 win

I don't hunt but would like to one day. I already have rifles in exactly 5 center rifle calibers so it is easy for me. Also, really boring. nothing Norma, Creedmoor or Ackley Improved. Also, nothing metric or wildcat. (Not that I have anything against those).

1) .223 - everyone needs an AR or Mini. Home defense and general SHTF.
2) 7.62x39 - everyone needs a Kalashnikov. General SHTF and social unrest stuff. Too cheap and effective not to stock up on. I love AK mags.
3) 30-30 - hope to hog hunt one of these days.
4) 308 - battle rifle.
5) 30-06 - hope to deer/elk hunt one of these days.