Top 3 cartridges every hunter should own

What are we hunting?

22lr, 12ga and something in between like a .243 or 30-06 would cover a lot of bases.

.22LR,
12ga
.308 or .30-06

Honestly, there's no other real choices for North American hunting. This 3 gun battery will cover everything on the continent.

Since this the "rifle" section:
.22lr, .22 centerfire, and whatever bigger centerfire fits your big game.

Including rimfire, I will go 22lr, .243, 30-06

Excluding Rimfire, I will go .243, 30-30, 30-06.

like anything else. to each his own depending where you live and or hunt for me .308, 7.62 x 39 and any .22 long or long rifle...but everybody has their own niche for this.

I only three three rifle to hunt
.22 Magnum small game. pests
.22-250 coyotes and varmints
.257 Weatherby Magnum
If you say no rimfires. I would use a .22 Hornet
I use a lot of different calibers to shoot pdogs, but not counting those, I could get by with these three. If I was an elk, moose, or big bear guy I would go bigger. Maybe like a .375 H&H. At least a 30/06. My friend used to own a gun shop in Reno, he called me to tell me that he bought 4 guns from a guy's brother that lived in Montana all his life. When he died at 75, the brother sold all 4 of his guns; He said his brother lived up there all his life with no phone and no electricity.
All Winchesters all made in the 30-40's.
22 pump, can't recall if it was a 62 or the older one with a hammer.....
Model 1885 .218 Bee with a 10X Unertial
Model 70, .375 H&H with a 4X Weaver
Model 12 12 gauge 3" 30 inch full choke
Looking back on it, a guy could get by with that battery in elk/grizzly country just fine. Oh, he had a pistol too, a Colt SAA in .45, forgot about that one. All of them looked well worn, I bet there were some stories left to be told about how they got that way.

22LR for jackrabbits raccoons, squirrels, and skunks.
12 gauge for a whole bunch of things.
7x57, 162 grains at 2750 FPS, for all big game in North America except the big bears.

Hunting?

Small game, .22 and 20/12 ga.

Medium game, .223, .260, .30-06

Large game, 7mm-08. 300 Win Mag, .375 H&H.

Only three for everything: .22-250, .308, .338 Win Mag.

Being here in New Jersey I can say .410, 20 gauge and 12 gauge.

Anywhere else I'll be happy to have .22LR, 12 gauge, and .308.

Have and use the first two. Third will wait until I move to free America.

.30-06 for most medium to large game
12 gauge for birds or brown bear defense
22 LR for the small critters

Others I personall like are 30-30 and 45-70

I can't keep it to three but I can get close.

.308 for sitting a blind for deer size game / hogs,
.30-30 for walking around, working the property, walking up pigs in the thickets, HD.
7mmRM because I might actually get that big-game opportunity at some point.

.22 LR For the best pure survival rifle.

For me I say 30.06 the king of all beast

270 for deer at a distance

30.30. Cuz sometimes you don't need a 200 yard rifle

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Way too much overlap there. If .22 LR is 1 and .460 Weatherby is 100, those 3 cartridges are about 36, 39 and 40.

For me personally, if I could only keep 3 of my centerfire hunting rifles, it'd be my .220 Swift, my .25-06, and then deciding between my 8mm mag and .375 RUM.

Depends on where you live mostly.

But:
Nobody can keep house anywhere without a .22 Rimfire of some sort.

Then here in Kansas.

A .223 or .22-250 for varmints.

And a 30-06 for anything else.

PS: I would hate to do without a 30-30 Model 94 too!

rc

Small game using .22 Lr

Medium game using 7.62 x 39, 7.08, 7.5 Swiss,

Big game using .303 Brits, 3006 and 7.62 x 54R

12 gauge for birds and fowls.

I'd figure

.22lr
12 gauge
.30-06/.308

But I don't hunt.

22lr, 5.56, .308

Tough, and really regional. I will go .22LR, .308, and either 30 WCF or 45-70 depending on your locale and how much extra thump may be needed.

Top 3 cartridges every hunter should own. What are they.

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txcookie said:

Big game no need for 22s or bird shot

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In that case, and since this is the rifle forum, I'd go with 243 Win, 375 H&H Mag, and something in between... It really doesn't matter what.

Every type of medium-to-big game on the planet, from yotes to elephant and everything in between, is well-covered between these calibers - no matter what the middle choice is. 300 win mag? Awesome. 30-30? Nice choice.

Personally, I'm a practical minimalist, meaning I'm not a fan of having a bunch of guns lying around unless they have specific purposes. Idk if three rifles would be my magic number, but if it was, I'd say .223 (AR15), .45-70 (Henry lever), and a .300 Win Mag bolt gun would be all the rifles I'd ever need in my life. But I have zero interest in ever going to Africa.

I like the .223 and 308 and 22lr but where I live 22l is hard to get unless I have the time to campout at the store. and in NY we can order ammo through the mail which sucks. in the 308 I like 110 or 125 gr for varmint and 165 gr for deer .

Almost everywhere you go these three will be appropriate .

.22 LR (shorts capable rifle is a plus)

.223 Remintion/5.56 Nato (gun that handles both without petty arugument)

30-06 (grandady of the 30 calibers and still capable of doing it all)

For me it would be:
1. 220 swift for small game/varmint
2. 6.5-284 for medium game
3. 44 mag lever rifle.

I could say my 30-06 or 300 win mag but like the option of lever action as one of my three rifles. Could swap out the 220 for my ar-15 but my swift shoots .5 MOA all day long.

For me, I would suggest the following:

.243 Win (100 grain)
.270 Win (130 grain)
.300 Win Mag (165 grain)

Each of the three above cartridges have nearly identical velocity, ballistic coefficient, and trajectory. All that varies is how much energy is remaining at say 500 yards.

Geno

I don't know what anyone "should" do or what they hunt, but since you restricted it to big game, I'll put my own top 3...

- .30-06: It does all I could ask for.
- 7.62x39: Sometimes I just feel like taking an AK instead of a bolt gun.
- .338 Win Mag: Because I only need the '06 and x39, and the .338 is purely about fun.