North America Big Game Rifle

The other option for those looking for similar ballistics is the 400 Whelen. 30-06 blown out to handle 410 diameter bullets. Not much neck so get a smith who actually knows what he is doing. Properly chambered and reloaded,

Click to expand...

The flaw in the .400 Whelen is lack of adequate shoulder for proper headspacing. the Colonel left the original 17 1/2 degree .30-06 shoulder on his creation. The cure is to cut the chamber for an Ackley Improved shoulder version, which makes a very nice cartridge, indeed.

The 411 Hawk is a futher variation on the same idea. Fred Zeglin does them.

I would never take a .243 or .270 on a bear hunt. Anyone who does is quite honestly asking to be bear poop.

In NA I'd be comfortable using my .308 or 30-06 for everything except Moose and Bear.

For Black bear I'd take my 300WSM, for Brown Bear or Moose I would buy another rifle in one of the larger calibers mentioned above, perhaps 338.

In fact, I did take my 300WSM Black bear hunting and I didn't feel under gunned.

Jake1996 said:

what about a 264 winchester magnum with 140 grainers you can down some sizey animals and with 160 grainers anything you wish on this continent as it beats the 270 win and the 30-06 and matches the 7mm remington mag

Click to expand...

I was thinking the same thing................kind of surprised it had not even been mentioned yet

300 win mag with barnes-x bullets............. moose, bears, elk, deer, goat , sheep,.......... one shot wonder. If you dont have to worry about brown bears... tiny 243 with barnes-x will kill them all one shot as well.

I've read that anything in North America can be hunted with a 30-06, so I'd probably go with one of those. (Actually, I did go with one, a Savage 111.)

Chris "the Kayak-Man" Johnson

I recently came upon an old Remington Model 760 Gamemaster .300 SAV. How would this .300 SAV round rate in this discussion?

Wow, I didn't realize American game has become so dangerous... a .300 win mag minimum.. geeze, I guess I am in a lot of trouble

I've hunted and killed up to Elk with a 7mm mag. That round will take down anything in the USA. The 30-06 would be fine too I believe from what I have read. Anything more than 7mm mag is over kill, hell my 7mm mag is overkill. I am replacing my 7mm mag with a .308. About all I hunt anymore is deer and hogs. After $25k worth of mounts I don't desire anymore.

If your looking at Grizzly or Moose I understand your desire to want to go magnum, but whatever you get just ensure that you will enjoy shooting it for a long time. I had my 7mm Mag for 10 years, it was and still is beyond reliable and accurate.

Never lost a single animal with it.

This is a very old thread and most opinions have been voiced,however to keep things in perspective I feel that I must speak up to defend what is arguably the most useful cartridge in the world.

I expect that the people that talk about game waste from a .375 H&H have in all likelihood never seen a whitetail shot with one never mind used one themselves.

I am fortunate enough to have 7 assorted hunting rifles ranging from 25-06 to .375 H&H and have used all of them at one time or another to hunt whitetails.

I can tell you from my own experience that the 25-06,the .270, the .264 WM,the 30-06 and the 300 WM waste a lot more meat than a .375 H&H.
( people that use the .375 H&H will tell you as will I that you can" eat right up to the bullet hole") Much like my 30-30

If you chose to reload for the .375 it only gets better.

There is only one minor drawback to using the .375 H&H and that is that the rifles chambered for it tend to be a bit on the heavy side. This might make it a problem if you are older,but I am only 70 so it is still not a problem for me.

TGR

If you are not shooting longer ranges and can handle the extra recoil I would second the 375 H&H, however hunting such a wide range of game anamals I woud recomand at leased two rifles. 375H&H is a BIT MUCH for deer sized game + the rifles are usualy 9lbs or more. I would have a 6.5x55, 270win, 25-06, or 308 for your regular deer use, and a heavy caliber for your once in a lifetime monster elk or brown bear hunts. If I had one rifle to hunt the rest of my life with I would be torn between a 6.5x55, 30-06, and a 270WSM. All of which are more then ever needed for deer, mild enough for regular use and can cleanly take anthing that ever walked with careful shot placement. Jack O'Connor took everything America has to offer including brown bear with his 130gr 270 SPs.

.50 bmg. Why mess around?

Because I like my shoulder attathced to my torso thats why Besides a good 50 BMG rifle weighs almost 50 lbs (my baby the M2 weighs more then that) There is such thing as WAAAAAAY to much overkill. 50BMG, 20mm, GBU-8 Avenger cannon, and M1A2 Abrams are a little messy and akward to hunt with. You won't track the anamals run you will be tracking where the anamal landed LOL. The up side is that you don't have to skin, gut or precess your kill just scrape him off the trees, fire up the grill and enjoy.

Enough for now. This will come up again, I have no doubt...