'06 or 7mm mag for main hunting rifle?

[gbran]

Whoa. I'm managing too many guns and too many calibers and want to make my life simpler. I currently have centerfire rifles in .204, .223, 6.8SPC, .308, 7.62x54, '06, 444 Marlin & 45-70.

It's hard for me to part with guns, but I have a 2nd safe and would like to park most of my heavy game rifles and replace them with one big game rifle. It will be an all-weather Savage in stainless w/synthetic stock. This will be a walking-arund gun. The biggest game I hunt is elk and to be honest, I rarely shoot past 250yds, but still I want as flat of trajectory as possible with enough poop to do the job. I also shoot black bear, pig and deer. Much of my hunting will be in a lead ban area, but '06 or 7mm are available in non-lead bullets.

I've whittled my caliber choice down to '06 or 7mm mag for an all-around game caliber.

Which would you choose and why?

 

[Max C.]

I'd say 30-06 since you already have a rifle in that caliber.

 

[jmr40]

I would keep the 223, 308, and 45-70. Those will do anything you need to do. The 204 and 223 fill the same niche. As does the 308, 30-06, 6.8, and the 7.62X54. The 45-70 and 444 are ballistic twins. If you were to keep the 223, 308, and 45-70 I could see adding a 7 mag for long range work.

If you are planning on selling everything and only keeping one rifle it would be the 30-06 for me.

 

[gbran]

I am keeping all my rifles, but will buy one new rifle in '06 or 7mm mag.

 

[bpl]

I'd go 30-06. It seems more appropriate for your hunting needs. I don't think the 7mag offers any practical advantage unless you do a lot of shooting beyond, say 350 yards or so.

 

[gbran]

Savage 116FHSS

http://www.savagearms.com/images/centerfire/weather/116fss.jpg

This is the gun I'm looking at. It has the Accutrigger and Accustock.

 

[Flash!]

I choose the 7 Rem Mag because it will do everything the .06 will do plus outperforms it at longer distances...... as I reload, the difference in ammo cost is not a big factor..... but if you don't reload, .06 is less expensive to shoot.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

I have one of each, and for some reason, the 7mm never leaves the safe. That could be due to the fact that I have a couple of thousand rounds of '06 brass, of course.

 

[jpwilly]

This one is going to boil down to your personal preferance. Both rifles will do pretty much the same thing at ethical hunting distances unless you're some kinda crack shot LD hunter.

Other considerations. 30-06 has more bullet selection and is cheaper to shoot and less recoil too.

 

[627PCFan]

30 cals cant touch a .284 for BC, but can you shoot well enough for it to help?

 

[MTMilitiaman]

I'd go with the 7 Mag, as that is what I use. But at the ranges you're discussing and indeed where most game is taken, there isn't enough difference for you or the game to notice.

The recoil difference is minute. The 7 Mag recoils a little faster, but not much more from a rifle of the same weight. If you can handle the 06, the 7 Mag should be no problem.

 

[hunter25]

I hunted with an 06 for my first 24 hunting seasons and now with 7mag for the last 4. I prefer the 7 for longer antelope shots but have really seen no difference on deer and elk.

 

[Art Eatman]

Sight in an '06 180-grain for two inches high at 100 yards and you'd be close to dead-on at 200 and maybe three inches low at 250. Around six inches low at 300.

How flat does a feller really need?

 

[Vern Humphrey]

How flat does a feller really need?

It depends on whether you do your hunting on paper, or in the field. (Most shots in the field are a lot shorter than those made on paper.)

 

[Ben Shepherd]

As art noted, it's a simple thing. And if you really do limit yourself to 300 yards with the '06, I believe the 165 offerings will fall within the same 8-10" circle as the 180s all the way to 300.

 

[Art Eatman]

One reason I'm sorta lacksadaisical about all this is from my results at 500 yards. I was meddling around and used up a bunch of ammo getting zeroed at 500. 22" steel plate.

All boat-tail bullets. 150 SP; 165 HP and 180 SP. They all hit pretty much to the same point of aim, give or take three or four inches and considering my old coffee and cigarette nerves. 0.8 to 1.1 MOA.

Since I pretty much get the same sort of results at my 100-yard range, it's hard for me to get real excited about all this.

 

[5whiskey]

Practically, honestly... get the 06. 7 mag is great if you hunt up to 600 yards out west or something, but for anything within 400 yards an 06 is easily worked. Set it to POA/POI @ 200 and you see about 3" maximum rise around 100 yards. You'll be shooting about 3 or 4" low @ 300. That's point blank on everything except a field mouse. I've had a 7 mag. What it's really good for is stout recoil, VERY loud report, expensive ammo, and marginal ballistic gain for the negatives in other areas. Oh yeah, it's twice as bad on barrel life. Go with the 06.

 

[a-sheepdog]

I like the 7mag. I have a nice Rem 700 in 30-06 and use it on occasion, but my 7mag is my favorite. The 06 ammo would probably be easier to find most places and usually cheaper.

 

[Arkel23]

Get the 7mm rem mag.

 

[Heck]

Both are great. You are going to get a little less recoil out of the .30-06 and wide variety of bullet weights. at the range you say you will be shooting i dont see much advantage to the 7mm. I have one but it gets passed over most of the time.

 

[The Deer Hunter]

They are both going to kill things very dead. At such a short range, the differences in trajectory don't even matter. I would go with the .30-06 because you can find it anywhere ammunition is sold and it comes in so many different loads.

 

[JShirley]

IF you didn't have an '06 already, AND you handload, I'd get the 7mm. Since you do the first, and we aren't sure 'bout the 2nd, the 06 seems to have it...

J

 

[ArmedBear]

At this point, lead-free 7mm and .308" bullets are available from at least 3 major vendors (Barnes, Hornady and Winchester).

I'm currently working up a load for the 165 grain Hornday GMX in a .30-'06. Seems to shoot well. It has the added benefit of being really similar to Hornady's (much cheaper) SST bullet, so you don't have to pay a buck a round for components, just to practice.

While Californians might be miffed at the lead ban, people who voluntarily try the new bullets seem to rave about their terminal performance. A long-time elk hunter and reloader I talked to the other day said that, now that he's tried them on elk, he'll never go back to jacketed lead bullets, not even bullets like Nosler Partitions.

If you already have the '06, I'd keep it. +/-3" MPBR of .30-'06 is around 280 yards with a good 165 grain load.

I'll guess that you reload already. If not, my main priority would be to start, and to develop a good lead-free load for the rifle.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

Good advice, all the way through your post.

 

[Uncle Mike]

06 or 7mm mag for main hunting rifle?

Savage 116.... 30-06
Savage 114.... 30-06
Tikka T-3....... 30-06

guess I'm saying I would consider getting the 30-06. hehehe

whoops... missed that '06 in your post, if you have these calibers then.....?
As bear said... roll up some lead free 30-06... I loaded some of the GMX's he is talking about but have not been able to try them out yet.